From the Cubicle

Metrics

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:10:00 +0000

Being able to measure how you are doing in a task is helpful, no doubt about it. Recently, the recruiting team at SIM implemented several ways to collect data to tell how many people were inquiring with SIM...and even more importantly, how far they were getting in the application process. Once you have that kind of information, it becomes easy to see which parts in the application process are weeding people out -- or even where we, as recruiters, aren't doing a good job of keeping the lines of communication open and people are falling through the cracks.

We were able to see who on our team had the best track record for getting people through the application process. It allowed for smack talk and friendly competition. We found out who was dealing with the most amount of people. (That was Cindy, bless her heart.)

Here's what I think is most fascinating about all this data so far: It hasn't helped predict who will actually make it through the application process with SIM. When I initially contact someone who's interested in learning more about SIM, I usually spend 30 to 45 minutes talking with them. I ask them about their church, what types of ministry they've be involved in, what they are interested in, their vocation background. Obviously, it's not possible for me to know them well in under an hour, but many times we do hit on very personal topics. Regularly, I'll have a "gut" feeling about whether this person or couple will actually follow through and apply to become missionaries; however, what the numbers show is that I actually have a poor track record in doing this. Several of the people I least expected to apply to SIM are ones that have sailed through the application process and are in the final stages of approval.

Which I guess does confirm to me something I already knew. God doesn't call the most winsome, the most qualified, etc. He uses the ones he chooses, ones I wouldn't necessarily be able to pick out of line up.

GMHC Blur... On to the Personnel Conference!

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:41:00 +0000

When last I blogged, I had every good intention of snapping a couple of photos at GMHC. Well... I should have learned by now that there isn't a lot of free time at these types of conferences to rummage around in my bag for the camera and grab a couple of folks for picture time. Adding to that at GMHC, one of things I learned is that doctors -- for good reason -- are focused. There wasn't a lot of time to shoot the breeze with folks. It was really impressive, actually. You had 3,000 thousand medical personnel singlemindedly moving from booth to booth asking pointed questions to help make the decision, "Which mission organization should I choose, and where should I go?"

And yet, Ray, a regional representative for SIM had the presence of mind to snap a couple of quick ones:

Sanctuary where we gathered for plenary sessions.

That guy with the white hair in the front on the left is Dr. Louis Carter. Google him. He's a legend.

Just doing my thing. This young doctor and her husband are interested in becoming missionaries.

...and starting tomorrow I'll be on the road again! This time it's for the largest missions personnel conference in North America...called Personnel Conference. You know those HR guys: super creative. That said, I'm really looking forward to this. In quite a few ways I feel like a black sheep in the missions community. I have very little "real" missions experience under my belt, and of course, I work from a cubicle. I think sometimes those who are missionaries in other countries or folks in the pew here in the US fail to really understand what I do and why it's important. When I get to a conference like the one I'll be at this week, all those barriers are removed. All the folks there will be like me! All of us need want to feel understood, and this will certainly be my opportunity for it this year.

Aside from good fellowship, I'm really looking forward to learning from my peers at other mission organizations. The obstacles to the home offices of mission organizations are many these days and recruiting well trained and discipled missionaries is becoming harder and harder these days as I've written about before. There aren't many things that get me more excited than a bunch of people (that love people) getting together to figure out how best to send out more missionaries. I love my job at times like these.

Global Missions Health Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:41:00 +0000

...or GMHC. Whichever you prefer.

Yesterday, I drove to Kentucky with some co-workers who are here with me in Louisville for one of the largest (if not the largest) medical missions gatherings in the world. Tomorrow, doctors and nurses from all over the country will descend, interested in using their vocational gifts in needy areas of the globe.

This is the first time I've ever attended, and I'm told it's a sight to behold. Many times, it will be shoulder to shoulder as living gridlock slows down the aisles between rows of mission organizations' booths.

There will be plenary sessions and breakout sessions on all sorts of medical issues. I plan on jumping in on a couple of these even though I'm fairly certain that a lot of it will be over my head. There's a reason I'm not a doctor.

I'm hoping to snap a couple of photos along the way...

What the heck is that?

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:27:00 +0000

Walking into work today, I noticed this:

I was told it was a "kora" from West Africa. Similar to a harp, but with a lot less string, musicians in The Gambia and Senegal have been playing these for about 200 years. A missionary kid growing up, one of SIM's new missionaries currently at our headquarters for training, was fascinated with the kora as a child and eventually built one for himself. The strings are fishing line and the lowest bass note is -- get this -- made out of weedwacker line.

Not surprisingly, there are the "Eric Claptons" of the kora. Here's one:

On My Bookshelf

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:08:00 +0000

Back in college, it bugged me to no end to be reading multiple books at once. Now, I seem to have 3 to 4 books open at a time. I'll hit a couple of chapters hard and then put it back on the shelf for a couple of weeks. Here's a quick list of what I've been reading recently:

Cross-Cultural Connections by Duane Elmer
Ministering Cross-Culturally by Sherwood Lingenfelter
Have We No Rights? by Mabel Williamson

All three get at how a missionary must change the way he sees the world and adapt to thinking and acting in different ways in a new context. The first two are very helpful at putting categories to how diverse cultures think about such concepts as time and logic. The third book asks us to consider giving up our "rights" when we go into other cultures. We can't cling to the thought of, "Well, if I can just have X then I will be able to cope with this new culture." The idea being that Jesus gave up his rights as God to become a man, so how much more should we be willing to give up our rights. Have We No Rights? is considered a classic and can be downloaded for free on your Kindle since it's in the public domain now.

Urbana 12

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:28:00 +0000

My friend, Christina, posted the first (I believe) promo video from Urbana 12. I'm not sure I'll be going this time around. We'll have to evaluate as a team at SIM if going to Urbana will be part of our strategy; however, I did go to Urbana 09 and posted about it.

One of the things I noticed in the new Urbana video is that it pulls heavily from archived footage of past Urbanas. I was thinking to myself, "How many people over the years have become missionaries because of Urbana?"

The Man Who Stayed Behind

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 16:26:00 +0000

Perusing my Twitter feed, I found this article linked to by Nate, an SIM missionary pilot based out of Kenya. Nate mentioned that he had flown this guy (in the article) into South Sudan a number of times. Inspiring stuff.

Photo: Nate Killoren working on an aircraft.

So who wants to go to Liberia?

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:23:00 +0000

Waiting for me in my inbox this morning was an email from Liberia. SIM needs doctors and dentists in Liberia! Spread the word.

Below is a vintage picture of an SIM nurse in Liberia. Retro even.

Passing Names

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:11:00 +0000

So much of what I do is networking. Someone will call SIM or email or somehow get in touch with me, but really, they need to connect with someone else completely. Most of the time I just pass that contact info on to the right person at SIM, maybe send an introductory email to all involved, and then never hear about it again.

This morning I had the unique opportunity to hear where one of those handoffs seems to be bearing fruit: I got a call from a pastor at a church in Georgia -- or maybe it was an email? I can't remember. Anyway, I had a quick back and forth with the gentleman, and I passed him along to our church partnership division. I was stopped in the hall this morning by the person I handed him off to. "Do you remember that pastor from Georgia you talked to a while back?" I didn't. It was then revealed to me that the church has sent a doctor to our headquarters who has (coincidentally) served short term with SIM many years ago -- as in this doctor is meeting with SIM personnel a couple of cubicles over as I type this -- to talk about how this church can start sending out more missionaries.

I think what I continue to learn from serendipitous revelations like this is that each time I make contact with someone trying to find the right person at SIM, I need to be exceptionally relational. That initial phone call may set the tone for that person either to give up and never contact SIM again or I may be the first link in a chain of lifelong partnership.

Das Boot

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 14:07:00 +0000

If you've ever seen the movie Das Boot, you know the movie follows the boredom and tedium of a German submarine. Most of the movie -- to put it crassly -- nothing really happens. Except when they run into the enemy. I've heard it expressed this way: ennui punctuated by pandemonium.

It often feels like that at SIM (though I wouldn't associate the negative connotations of 'ennui' and 'pandemonium'). There are long stretches of time where I plunk myself down in my office chair, peruse Facebook, answer email, and make a few phone calls. I sit through a meeting. This, of course, is pretty old news if you've read this blog before. For goodness sake, it's called From the Cubicle.

However, from time to time, a lot happens all at once. A man from Zimbabwe comes to speak and you dance around while praising God in another language. A missionary who's served since 1967 retires and challenges the next generation of missionaries. College students spending their summer in cross-cultural ministry internships pass through the office. That's my week so far. It shocks me out of my routine.

Let's take Phyllis first. She left for Nigeria in 1967. Served there for 18 years. Went to Niger next, learned Hausa, and kept teaching faithfully until this week. Her retirement was a humble affair. She was given a small gift. Several people testified that "Niger would not be the same without Phyllis". Many more testified that they had been discipled formally or informally by her. All the the while, Phyllis politely stood by clearly a bit embarrassed by all the praise. I never get sick of seeing an older missionary who's served faithfully for many years that did it because it was the right thing to do. God said go to them so they went.

A local church, Warehouse 242, raised money for a chicken farm in Zimbabwe. It will go to help fund care for AIDS orphans and widows. It's a part of a SIM ministry called Hope for AIDS, a ministry that seeks to get local churches involved in ministering to AIDS patients in their communities. How can you not get excited about that? Especially when you have a gentleman from Zimbabwe explaining all this to you AND leading you in a song where you get to do hand motions. "I've run and run all over, over." Then you actually do run and run all over because that's how the song goes.

And then there are the Stephanies. I met both of them on a trip to Liberty University this year. They bubble over with conviction and excitement as only college students can. They didn't know each other before this year, but in a couple of days, they will be on a plane together to Asia to go help out SIM teams working among Muslims. It was a struggle just to get here. They almost didn't get their visas. They both had to raise $8,000, which is a ton of money for a shorter trip. (They have lots of transportation costs.) But they're here, God has filled in all the gaps, and they are ready to leave.

I suspect next week will lean towards email, phone calls, and Facebook -- which is important too -- but I do love when there's hubbub and hullabaloo in the office.

Go and Make Disciples

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 14:03:00 +0000

Not being accustomed to staying in nice hotels, much less a suite, I took photos of the room. What I should have taken photos of were the 40 mobilizers present in Indianapolis a couple of weeks ago. 10+ mission organizations were represented at Mobilization Ideation. There at the Wesleyan Church headquarters, we were trying to tackle the issue of "How do we do a better job of sending out missionaries?"

The suite I stayed in was near enough to the headquarters to walk, so it made sense to pony up the $90 a night to stay there. At the headquarters, unbeknownst to just about everyone, brainstorming was happening for the future of mission from the US.

Before attending this one day event, I didn't even know mobilizers from different organizations got together -- and apparently they didn't. Up until four years ago, those who recruited for mission organizations had no outlet for trading stories and swapping best practices and certainly no way to commiserate. Out of a strong mind to continue reforming how we engage the next generation of missionaries who are now attending college or getting their first post-college job, someone asked, "How do we recruit young missionaries?" and before long, we had identified the hurdle: Many young people have not been discipled well. There are many reasons for this, one of the big ones being that many college students aren't members of a church while in college.

So what do we do? Mission organizations have to do the discipleship themselves. I have to do it myself. This I am convinced of: If life-on-life discipleship, mentoring, apprenticeship don't become hallmarks of short term cross-cultural ministry, we will miss a generation of American missionaries because they will not be equipped to do long term ministry. They may burnout or fall into sin patterns or simply not be willing to do hard things (because no one ever told them to take a break or kept them accountable or asked them to befriend and love their neighbor with Gospel).

Waiting for...

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Wed, 11 May 2011 17:13:00 +0000

If you have ever seen the film Waiting for Guffman, you know that Guffman never shows up. Meanwhile, hilarity unfolds. The movie, of course, spoofs Beckett's quintessential existential play, Waiting for Godot, a play that does not try to hide the plain similarities between 'Godot' and 'God'. I have never read Waiting for Godot nor seen it performed, but from popular culture, I know that the waiting the two main characters engage in is meaningless and seemingly a waste of time (and a lot less lightheartedly funny, it seems, than Waiting for Guffman).

Existentialism aside, I have found myself waiting expectantly. For one, I'm waiting to get on a plane tomorrow for Indianapolis. On Friday, I'll sit down with a group of people from many different mission organizations who will be asking the question, "How do we better encourage and resource people who want to be missionaries?" That's something worth waiting for!

I've also been waiting for Christ's return. I have been thinking through and coming to terms with the tension between my sinfulness and my redemption. Both are true. I am both redeemed and fallen. Paul of course sums it up in Romans:

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

That desire to what is right is thwarted regularly by my sin nature. It's frustrating! By the work of the Spirit, I can love my neighbor as myself, and yet, in the next breath I can given into the desires of the flesh by "throwing a friend under the bus."

Rather than just filling time (as in Godot), I am struggling through my sanctification because of my future hope. Come quickly Lord Jesus.

Ordinary

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 01:03:00 +0000

One of the toughest parts of keeping a blog up-to-date -- and this blog is certainly not up-to-date -- is finding a subject to write about. I've found lately that I don't blog because I don't have much to blog about. Working in a cubicle, what I do most of the time, isn't boring to me. I like answering emails and taking phone calls, but it doesn't make itself conducive to writing exciting headlines. "Well, you see today, I talked to a guy from Seattle, and he wanted to know if we sent people to New Zealand. I said, 'No, we don't.' He said, 'Okay. Thanks.'"

And so, instead of waiting around until something more interesting came my way, here I am: I'm writing about the ordinary. I appreciate the ordinary. I'm even thankful for the ordinary. While I may not be eating bugs and dodging cannibals, just like every guy who's slugging it out in the cubicles of America, I'm doing it (the cubicle thing) -- and liking it most of the time -- because it's all for the glorification of the King.

Easter, the most unordinary day of the year, makes the ordinary extraordinary. When you're The Redeemed, everything you do (and I do) is of eternal significance.

That doesn't mean it makes for good reading, though. I love my corn flakes. I can eat them to the glory of God (as silly as that sounds), but I don't need to blog about them. But mundane doesn't mean insignificant. Christ is risen! The ordinary has a little extra.

A Candid for the SIM Website

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 17:22:00 +0000

I’m never a fan of posed photos; however, ever now and again, whether you like it or not, you have to face the music – or lense – so to speak. SIM has just decided to allow their missionaries to post profiles on the SIM website. Since I’d like to have my profile up there, that means I needed a decent photo of myself. There are requirements for such a photo. It has to be a photo of just me. It also has to be a photo of me not mugging for the camera. It also can’t be a photo where I’m out of focus, too far away, or too close. I noticed that I had no photos of me in the last three or four years that fit the bill. After having dinner with my folks, I asked to have my dad snap a quick shot of me in their backyard. I thought the stone wall worked. So, next time you see this photo, it’ll be up on the SIM website.

The Best Day Ever!

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:20:00 +0000

Was amused by this recently.

Missionary Barrel

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:59:00 +0000

Missionaries are notorious for wearing just about anything if it’s free or cheap. I am no different. I found this perfectly good cotton night shirt/house dress with a beautiful floral pattern on it. I may have gotten a few strange looks around the SIM office, but the important thing is that I paid absolutely nothing for the outfit. My friend, Ginger, decided to take a picture of this. Another friend, Helen, said, “She’d never look at me the same way again.” I must have made quite the impression. So what do you think? Do the pastel colors work for me?

Buried far from Home

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:02:00 +0000

I got an email this morning about a missionary with SIM that died in Nigeria recently. Her funeral will be held in Jos, Nigeria, and she will be buried there. I find it a beautiful testament to her service that she would be buried where she ministered: far from home.

How much does it cost to recruit a missionary? (Part 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 20:03:00 +0000

A lot. It’s costs a lot. Any time I – or one of the people I work with – take a trip to a college, a church, a conference to talk to people about the need for people to GO, it’s expensive. Let’s run down the list of what has to be paid for:

rental car
plane tickets
gas
housing
food
materials
conference fees
labor (however long we’re there)

Most of those are the big ticket items. I’d also like to add coffee to this list, because I can’t count the amount of times I’ve taken someone out for coffee to talk over what’s going on in their life.

So is it worth it?

Not if you are going by any standard of fiscal responsibility in the marketplace. The only way any of this makes sense is if the task of GOING is worth any price – which it is.

After coming back from Campus Crusade’s Encounter winter conference, I received this email from a student I talked with:

Thank you so much for the email and for talking to me and showing me real interest and attention at Encounter. It was so great to meet you and definitely a God thing :) I am super interested in being a missionary after I graduate and I am hoping to become a career missionary if that is what God wants :) lol But I have decided that I think I'm going to go with [a different mission agency] instead of SIM simply because of advice from my parents and pastors. I do really want to stay in contact with you as I'm sure I'll have tons of questions about the mission field and how things go as being a full time missionary :) I will definitely find you on facebook. Thank you again so much for showing so much interest and care in me at Encounter :) I have been truly blessed and changed because of you and what God is doing in your life :)

God Bless friend :)

Think of how much money was spent on getting me to this conference to talk with this one person! Hundreds of dollars! And this person isn’t even going with SIM, the agency I work for!

SIM, of course, is only a tool. The agency she’s pursuing is a part of the denomination of the church she attends. It’s a better fit. Who knows how the Lord will use her; I’m convinced however he does, it will be worth much more than a couple hundred dollars. It’ll be worth what will never perish.

1000+ Students Don’t Lie (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 19:38:00 +0000

Whether it was musical corporate worship, listening to speakers, dancing their little hearts out, or talking me about being a missionary, it was a bit amazing to see how excited these students were at Campus Crusade’s Encounter. Seriously, 1000+ students don’t like: The Lord is doing something big through the Mid-South Crusade leadership.

Watching all these students (video above) bow their heads and pray over their campuses was a highlight of 2010…and it happened right before midnight on December 31st! Some of the students got down on their knees and faces, spilling tears across the floor.

Students were encouraged throughout the four days of the conference to scratch their artistic itch my painting, collaging, sketching. The above chalk drawing was my favorite. A purple flower never looked so good.

Brazil! Espresso! Starbucks!

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 17:04:00 +0000

Blog posts look (and sound) more exciting with multiple exclamation marks. This is not mere hyperbole, however. I'm really that excited about my new coffee mug. I have a friend who we'll call Josh (his real name), who happens to be smitten with a woman in Sao Paulo, Brazil who we'll call Brenda (also, her real name). Josh, up and sells a guitar so he can buy a plane ticket over the holidays to spend time with Brenda. (Which you may have noticed will make a great country song, the whole selling a guitar for love and what not.) While in Brazil, Josh has the presence of mind to look out for his friend Pedro (not his real name) and buys him a huge Starbucks coffee mug and espresso beans to go along with it. Josh made Pedro very happy this holiday season. You can't see it, but there is a huge smile behind the mug on that mug.

Encounter 2010 (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 21:56:00 +0000

Two days ago, I showed up in Greensboro, NC for Campus Crusade’s Mid-South Winter Conference. 1000+ students drove from all over five states to make it here. I’ve been amazed at how many students have been interested in cross-cultural ministry…including the bearded guy, Aaron, below, who’s already applying to SIM.

What Child is This?

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 19:11:00 +0000

Nicole Witt and Christa Wells (with Pete Sallis) at one of their What Child is This? stops in Charlotte. The whole concert series was conceived to benefit children through SIM.

Gospel Quartet

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:35:00 +0000

On a much lighter note from my last post, on Thursday, a Gospel quartet came through SIM during our morning prayer service. They’ve been singing for about 40 years. Two are preachers. One’s a counselor. The other’s a builder. Through five or six songs I saw a few of the grey haired ladies wipe away a tear or two. Probably took them back a few years. I don’t know what it was, maybe being raised in the South, but I loved every minute of it, all the amens and hallelujahs.

So how did the quartet come to us? They’ve got a long standing relationship with SIM. They toured Nigeria in the 90s. They also happen to park they’re tour bus behind our facilities. Where else are you going to park a tour bus?

If this is uncompromisingly cheesy to you, I totally understand.

A Window into Mourning

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:58:00 +0000

I almost feel too devoid of emotion at the moment to write this post and yet, writing is part of how I process, so maybe it's a good time. Maybe I'll start by telling you exactly how everything played out yesterday.

This is how Lisa Miser, an SIM missionary with her husband, Scotty, in Bolivia, starts her blog post concerning the death of her son, Zion. How does one even go about that?

When something like this happens, it gets spread around SIM pretty quickly. I found out through email, and I’ve gotten updates since, but I found that reading the Misers blog – hearing Lisa’s own words – helped me best pray for them in their time of need. I wrote this after reading her latest post:

I appreciate your deep and open honesty in describing your grieving process. I hesitate to say it, but from the outside looking in, it's beautiful. It's a picture of honesty that the average person rarely gets a window into. I guess, for me, it's a practical lesson of seeing what struggling with God (even wrestling with Him) looks like when the storm comes. Thank you for letting us all in.

I don’t know the Misers. I’ve never met them, but I am encouraged in how they are wrestling with God through this process. I will probably never know what it feels like to have my own child die. I pray I don’t; however, I can learn from the Misers. I am learning from the Misers to trust the Lord in all circumstances.

I am in a fairly stable point of life right now, and I’m really thankful for that. Things are never perfect, but I have very little pain and frustration in my life. I am not guaranteed that. We grow through suffering, and at the risk of sound pessimistic, I’m pretty sure I’ve got quite a bit of it coming just around the corner. I don’t welcome it, but I know that is the means God has ordained for my sanctification (Romans 3:4-5). Remembering what Lisa has written could come in handy.

Nick’s Roast Beef

noreply@blogger.com (Luke) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 18:03:00 +0000

Recently, I spent three days at Gordon College, just north of Boston. Most of the time I spent praying. There just weren’t that many students interested in talking missions with me at the SIM booth. I kind of figured this would be the case going into it. Booths are old school. They’re scary. Students sometimes avoid them.

The last night I was there, however, I was able to round up seven students I’d met over the last couple of days. I took them out for dinner with a missionary from OMS. We met up at Nick’s [World Famous] Roast Beef, a standby of Gordon students over the years. I listened to the stories of the students over the sound of fry munching. The trip was worth this dinner alone.