Sending a Sender.

It was a weird spring for me this year, as I labored to send out teams of students and staff on mission projects this summer, but also prepared to go myself.

Now more than ever before, I see the importance of a support team to stay in the US while people are sent out around the world with the Gospel. Being a 'sender' myself, I recognize the strategy and significance - but this summer I step into the 'go-er' role (I know, probably not a word...).

A few weeks ago we had our Briefing conference, where 150 people gathered together before being sent out to 6 countries for the summer. As I sat with my team learning about security issues and campus guards and code words, a dozen people worked behind the scenes to ensure that these 150 people could go to the world with the Gospel this summer. As I type this from my international dorm in a rather large city in East Asia, I see the importance of people back home that can directly support what we are here to do: take the hope of Christ to Asian college students.

Speaking of support teams, I can't forget about the awesome financial and prayer partners I have! The senders at my office would not have a job to do if it wasn't for faithful friends who give and pray generously - not only to me, but to all our summer project students. More than $500,000 came in this spring for these 6 projects. That's a LOT of givers- and lots of pray-ers who go before the Lord to ask for provision for others. If you're a sender, giver, or prayer, thanks for what you do!

Top Five Tools for International Sending.

Below are the top 5 things that make me good at my job (besides D.I.C.E. and the Holy Spirit, of course) :) - these tools are super important in allowing me to send the large number of college students overseas from the Upper Midwest:

5. Google!
Not only do I get an instant answer to a question from this fabulous website (ie: what's the current exchange rate in Uruguay?), Google has a few other important platforms: Google Docs, (shared spreadsheets and surveys) Google Translator, (because I don't read Turkish), and Google Blogger, (which enables me to share my wonderful thoughts with you!)

4. A file-sharing system
Our office (and region) uses a file-sharing system called SugarSync, which allows me to set up folders for each of my 12 vision trips, 6 summer projects and 8 stint teams. I couldn't do my job without this. A file-sharing system greatly increases my capacity to keep track of so many files, and make sure that each trip leader has what they need at the right time.

Along with providing a way for dozens of people to access the same files all at once, file-sharing systems provide a place to hold important documents from year to year. With a few clicks, I can find documents regarding summer projects in 2007. We often joke about not "reinventing the wheel" - and file-sharing programs help us stick to that philosophy.

3. A reliable visa agency
A visa is a piece of paper from a foreign government giving you permission to enter a country. I obtain about 200 visas a year for our various international trips. There's no way I could get that many visas without having a trusted agency in Chicago that actually submits the paperwork to foreign consulates for me. The best feature of using this visa agency is their awesome website. I can type in a country, and the purpose of a trip, the resident country and state of the traveler, and immediately get instructions on the process for applying for the right visa. It's genius, and has made me look like a genius on many occasions.

2. A trusted travel agent (or 3)
I am lucky to have a trio of stellar travel agents to hook me up with good deals. Not only do they provide the basic booking of tickets, they have my back. They offer advice, catch my mistakes, and have taught me a ton about international group travel. They also help me look like a genius.

and finally...the number one tool for international sending...is...

1. Microsoft Excel!!
If you know me at all, you knew this would be number 1! I. Love. Excel. I have so much data I need to store: from tracking $500,000+ in donations each year, to ticket prices and locations for each of our 25+ trips, to passport names and birth dates for travelers.

When I see a jumbled mess of information, my brain automatically wants to categorize it into a spreadsheet that will make numbers and names make more sense. I have a very high value for easily accessible, very concise, and extremely reliable data.

I need to end this post with a shout-out to my boss, who is always very willing to figure out a way to get me the resources I need to do my job well. Sometimes I'm not even sure what that resource is, but with his vast knowledge and expertise in the field of Operations, my questions are never a problem!

Paperwork.

I'm amazed at how many forms it takes to send a team of missionaries overseas.

For one student, there are 4 forms from Headquarters and 5-8 donation forms sent throughout the spring. Some projects have visa forms, as well, and I'll need multiple copies of the same form.

The Upper Midwest will send around 157 people overseas this summer. Some quick math tells me that I will handle something like:

628 Headquarter forms
798 Donation Forms
170 Visa Forms

That's 1,596 forms. It's a good thing that 'Input' is one of my strengthsfinder themes.

I wonder what I use more: paperclips or forms?

How My Blog Got Its Name

If you've ever wondered how I came up with the title and tagline of this blog, wonder no more! Today's the day you find out.

It's pretty plain story, actually. A college friend, LL and I were talking about my blog, and how I could make it into a more focused ministry blog. I frequently talk about how much I love cubicles, so the title came together pretty quickly. LL is very familiar with Campus Crusade and our mission, so I was not surprised when she combined the admin side of ministry with the end goal to come up with the tagline. Pretty clever, that LL. I think she enjoys hearing about my trifling matters amidst working on her PhD.

The real question is: do I even use paper clips in my day-to-day job?

Little did LL know, the tagline she dreamed up was perhaps foreshadowing my role in ministry. I wasn't ever 100% sure of what I'd be doing at the Regional Office upon finishing my support, (I wasn't too concerned with the actual job, I knew it would be fabulous).

I mainly use paper clips every day when students send in their donation checks. It's pretty systematic (some would say boring, I suppose) - open the envelope, count the money, scan the checks, scan the form, mail the checks, file the form.

But this monotonous procedure represents a monumental faith step: college students trusting God to provide their finances in a way they probably haven't ever experienced. Knowing that each envelope I open has a story attached keeps me focused on what's important when they fill out the form incorrectly, or miscount their money.

So, the name of the blog is pretty accurate, with one clarification: I'm using the paper clips, in hopes that God will use me in the lives of college students, who will change the world by taking the Gospel everywhere. I just had to shorten it since all that wouldn't fit in the little bar at the top. :)

Webinar Wednesday - Woes & Wins

Today, I hosted a live, 45 minute Webinar over the internet for students that are going on US and International summer projects. A coworker of mine covered the strategy of summer projects, and gave a biblical perspective on raising financial support, and I covered the tools and procedures we use to raise support and process the donations once they are given. (Some staff joined in as well - so cool to think we had people from all over the US meeting together for the same goal, via the internet).

I hosted the first of these webinars about 3 weeks ago, which I was initially really nervous for. That one went flawless. Today was another story! The actual webinar went fine, but there were quite a few little things went wrong along the way- starting before I even got to work.

Last night, we got 4 inches of snow on top of an inch of slush, making the morning commute awful. After spending 15 minutes digging out my car, I managed to put my elbow in the middle of my breakfast while attempting to get into the car. (I ate the breakfast anyway...tasted just fine!)

Because of the roads, the coworker who was supposed to help with the first part of the webinar couldn't make it in, so we had to scramble to get him set up on the program at his house. I had neglected to reserve the big computer TV system I wanted to use, so about 30 minutes before the webinar I had to rethink the setup for the broadcast.

Regardless of the little hiccups along the way, the webinar was a success. It was so fun to 'stand' before a group of nervous students and guide them in the support raising process. When I went to Brazil on project in 2007, we didn't have these great tools and processes; even in the last four years there have been major advances in websites, procedures and tools for students and staff to make the process of raising support and tracking donations much easier. I think it's a great example of leveraging technology to enable us to increase our capacity for sending students around the world.

Perpetual Change.

About this time 4 years ago I received a huge packet in the mail regarding my summer project to Sao Paulo Brazil. Inside was a mess of papers and information about raising my financial support, from brainstorming names to writing letters and making phone calls.

This year, when students were accepted to a summer project, they receive an e-mail with most of this information. Tomorrow, I am doing a live MPD Webinar for summer project students. Donors can even give online now using the same website as Campus Crusade staff.

If each of the 85 students send in an average of 25 donation checks... that's over 2,000 checks to process in our office! Eeesh. Maybe in a few years (or next year!) a majority of the gifts will be made online. Maybe all this fancy electronic automation will streamline me out of a job!

One of the potentially frustrating things about Campus Crusade is that things are constantly changing. Whether it's ministry strategies or job titles or processes, we live in a constant state of needing to adapt to the present reality. (Even our student leaders feel this on campus).

Regardless about the frustrations that perpetual change can bring, it's exciting to think we are becoming more efficient and effective at building spiritual movements around the world.

Old info in a new light

This morning, the Ops team met to discuss something I love...

...strengthsfinders!
(picture me saying YES! with a fist pump, and you have an accurate description of my reaction to finding out what we were covering in our meeting). (If you don't know what Strengthsfinders is, click here for an overview. It's the concept that each of us has themes in our lives that are so innate, we may not notice them or think about them. But by learning about them and honing them, they can become incredible strengths).

We did a variety of individual and group exercises to help us better understand how our strengths can work for us, how they work for others, and how they may even work against us.

It wasn't just learning what out strengths were or explaining them; this was serious stuff. Totally insightful. I finally met someone who also has the individualization theme (seeing unique characteristics in others, how people work together on a team, etc), which was really helpful. I'm still not totally sure how I can utilize that theme in my current job or in my personal life, but I have a few tracks to run on now.

The other interesting exercise we did was try to relate all of our strengths together, which was a challenge at first. After some help, I came up with this:

Amy, the human coin machine
1. Input: The coins (information/data) are collected.
2. Analytical: The coins are organized and analyzed.
3. Individualization: The coins are sorted into categories.
4. Significance: The coins are deemed important, less important, etc.
5. Strategic: A decision is made as to what we could do with the coins that would be best for the long-term.

That's the best I could come up with, but I'm open to suggestions :)
Watch for a follow-up post from this as to how my strengths might be of help in decoding a campus.

Operationally Building Movements Everywhere

Here's a small picture at a typical task for an operations team member with our regional office:

TCX, our annual winter conference is our biggest event. It takes all of our 200+ staff in the Upper Midwest to pull this event off. One of the biggest days at the conference is registering all of our attendees. Successfully pulling off the registration at this event takes a lot of preparation.

My role this year is making sure every student that arrives has a room. Of course, we don't just assign them any room with anyone - we try to keep students with their campus or geographic area (what we call a missional team). If you're from a small school in South Dakota, we try to put you with others from your state.

It's actually a simple process. Once students arrive at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Minneapolis, they check a sign in the lobby that lists what campus is staying on what floor. They head up the elevator to their designated floor, where they meet a staff member who assigns them to a room. From there they drop off their luggage, and finish registering on the 3rd floor of the hotel.

Part of my role involves training 24 staff in how to properly register the students. I love involving campus staff in ministry operations. I think it's important for them to see how important operations tasks are, so we on the Ops team and they as campus staff can continue to work well together.

With around 1450 students this year from over 100 different campuses, the hardest part lies in sorting data. I have an Excel file of every students' name and campus, and will sort through to count how many male and female students registered from every campus. I then consult a list of missional teams, and group the campuses into their geographic areas.

The next step is to obtain a list of rooms from the hotel that we have. I generally planned for 1600 students this year, which means we book 400 hotel rooms. I try to pair the number of rooms needed with the number of rooms available on a floor. Basically, we book the entire hotel.

(Along with the students, we have around 250 staff in attendance, (with their children), 125 high school students for a similar conference of their own, and 75+ Volunteers and guests. Over 2,000 people!)

This task of assigning students a hotel room is just one in a list of responsibilities that I have. I'm betting that not many of the 2,000 conference attendees will think about this process. But it's actually a task I enjoy and an area I love.

It's easy to get lost in the details. It's even easy to forget there are students attending the conference, as my interaction with them is sometimes limited. But when I overhear a student talking about sharing his faith for the first time, or chat with a student interested in serving with Campus Crusade in a role like mine, I'm reminded about the purpose of the details. I do the details in order to build spiritual movements everywhere. It's our hope to continue to pray and think about the ways God can use them to advance His Kingdom - during and after college.

Week One Thoughts

Whew! My first week of work at the Regional Office is down in the books. It was great! I really like my team and the other officemates I've met this week. I feel so privileged to be serving with Campus Crusade, especially in the Upper Midwest region.

What strikes me most after this week is that God really does equip those he calls to serve Him. I've heard this promise many times, but I believe it now, in a different way. He's been growing my heart for the world in a few different ways since new staff training, specifically in the last 4-5 months. Looking back I can see Him preparing me for switching to a new role within the Operations team: coordinating our international summer missions projects.

I'm a quote collector (collecting and archiving all kinds of info is one of my strengths). One of my favorites is from Amy Carmichael: It is a safe thing to trust Him to fulfill the desires that He creates.

I have desires that He probably won't fulfill in my life, for whatever reason. Some of them are from the world, constantly forced upon me. Some are true desires He's given me. Many people cite Psalm 37:4 as one of their favorite verses: Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. This doesn't mean God will give me what I want. It means He will place the desires He has for my life in my heart. When I take delight in Him, the desires won't matter so much.

God's given me desires to do things that I never pictured myself doing. The reason why doesn't matter, because it's not about me - it's all about Him.