Have you ever felt like Elijah as recorded in 1 Kings 19? After a great spiritual battle with the prophets of Baal, God’s man runs away, fearful, tired, lonely and lacking purpose. The story tells how God met and cared for and revived the heart of His prophet.
During this last year and a half I think many of us have felt the tiredness and discouragement like Elijah felt. I know that we have experienced spiritual battle in our ministry sending new missionaries, and many of our staff have faced difficult circumstances trying to reach students with the Gospel when they weren’t able to go on campus.
To help meet these needs for refreshment and renewal, our National HR team met in person for a 5 day conference in Colorado and I (Steve) was glad to be part of it. We got to connect, refresh, hear from our leadership and plan out areas of special focus for this year’s work serving our staff.
We spent a great time with Jesus and each other in the Rocky Mountains! In morning devotions we focused on ways the Lord replenishes our spirits and renews our minds. We said goodbye to some wonderful leaders and hello to new ones who joined our team. We encouraged each other and delved into meaningful conversations about our past year’s experiences.
It was great to hear from some of our national leaders who reminded us to expect spiritual battle as we work to take the gospel to all the students in the US and the world. We looked at ways to help our staff through the complexities of our cultural settings and conflicts, and we worked on strategic planning where we evaluated critical needs among our staff. An important discussion focused on the placement of our staff in ministry roles that maximize their strengths and skills.
I’ll continue to help our staff by making our job openings known internally and by giving our leaders data which helps them make sure that each staff is known and valued for their part in the ministry.