Every year from right after Christmas to the last week in February I am concerned about one thing... trying to put together a staff for the summer. I drove over 1200 miles by car, spent 24 hours in airports and airplanes, 65 hours sitting in uncomfortable chairs interviewing great people (who made the chairs seem comfortable). And then try to keep all of that information in my head and heart and locate the notebooks where I have my notes and thoughts.
This week, the coordinators gathered up at Calvin Crest on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and looked at the applications of about 95 people to try to see the hearts through the typed words. Nellie and I and others give input as to the conversation we had with each of them on the phone, in the Starbucks or Tully's, in a church or at a school to add to the flesh. We try to listen to the Spirit to direct us as to who God is sending us for His work during those 10 weeks.
Now I would like to stop right there before continuing on to the rest of the story. "...who God is sending us" is a tough set of words. We get many people who come telling us that "God is calling them to Calvin Crest" or they feel led to apply and they do and some get hired and some do not. This perplexes me. How do we know who God is hiring and for whom He has other plans. (I use the masculine here because it is convenient, not because of plumbing.) We do try to listen for direction, overriding some experiences that were not positive with the person or we become so enamored by the person that they have to be on staff but end up not hired. Some we hire, knowing it was God, only to find out in the middle of summer that they end up leaving. Was that really God if it didn't work out perfectly.
I trust the hearts of the coordinators to seek first what The Voice is telling them. I trust they are not just putting people on their teams who they like and think they are so qualified. We trust that they will faithfully do that which God is telling them to do. We will help train them to listen for The Voice and to try to discern between lunch and Truth, and then to be faithfully obedient to The Will and Instructions and do the Kingdom doing.
We did select some good people. We also did not select some good people. We are trusting God that there is something else and right for them this summer. We know and have heard countless testimonies of those who were first disappointed by not being on staff but then God showed them the place they were suppose to be. China, SF, LA, working in the churches and neighborhoods where they grew up. We chose some people who did not put that position down on their application but felt there leadership would be used inspite of the name of the position. Some times leadership does not come with a title.
I am convinced that we tried to hear The Voice and placed those into positions within The Will...
3 comments:
I was a part of two of those weekends, they were intense...
looks like an amazing staff.
i look forward to the stories
I remember those weekends and I wish, with all of me, I would have just relaxed and realized-- people aren't always "guided" so much as they just want to be there. And I wasn't "led" so much as I wanted them there. We all want everyone to get the experience. It just sometimes can't happen, right? Some people we couldn't place because of just practical things and some because of our own preferences and flaws. But nowhere was there the crystal ball for which I was always searching. And no way was anyone in or out of The Will. That's just my personal perspective.....cause, you know, I'm not as mystical as I once was.
And you my friend, are more practical as well. It suits you and I think it will bless the staff.
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