Monday and Tuesday we hosted in Atlanta 36 youth pastors from all over from the north, south, east and west (20 different states). I love that the Cadre dot the nation and, with the addition of two Canadians, hopefully eventually the globe. Cadre 220 was incredible, fun, funny and just plain awesome.
The world keeps getting smaller and smaller. Today, one of the guys, Pete, emailed me and said "Hey Judy, I forgot to tell you...since it's a small world, I know someone who knows you. You helped get him connected back with God. He's a youth pastor in my area. Do you know Ben Stuckey? He said you were the best..."
I love that he is in the trenches in the same area as Ben. Plus, it's great to know you are making a difference.
I love the fact that I get to coach such an incredible team of Master's Commission Cadre leads, they made me smile with their text over the last three days...
James wrote, "I love you Judy! Thanks for caring enough to coach me!!! I will have my phone on loud. lol"
Kayla wrote, "Thanks judes. I love you so much really and I can't wait to learn all that I will from you this year."
Jay wrote, "Judy you are an amazing woman of God and thanks for being a mentor in my life. Love you :)"
Robby wrote, "Hey, thanks for the coaching. It really means a lot that you're willing to do that."
Those were text from about 4 of 15 of the MC students that I am personally and intentionally investing in this year. Between the Cadre, the MC gang and Oxygen, I honestly think I have the greatest job in the world. Things that make it so...
1. As you can see, we say, "I love you" a lot and really mean it. It took me awhile to get used to it, but now would not want to live without it!
2. MC Atlanta's tag line is, "It's a family thing." If you hang out here more than five seconds, you quickly realize that is an undeniable fact.
3. We live and breathe authentic affirmation.
4. We coach hard. Students and youth pastors know the only reason we do is out of the enormous amount of love we have for them. We will do everything within our power to not only prevent them from trainwrecking their lives and ministries, but to set them up for short-term and long-term success.
5. We work circles around the rest of the world. Lazy youth pastors who use the word "balance" to justify their laziness drive us insane. I remember Mark saying, "I don't want to be balanced, just healthy." It marked me.
6. We fight against "favoritism". We honor and coach the individual regardless of what they bring to the table and can "do" for us.
7. We disarm our insecurities by talking about them.
8. The staff is "for" each other.
9. We are genuinely just plain friendly.
10. We have the most amazing friend, mentor and coach at the helm leading by example in every area.
Who Are You Intentionally Caoching? Know they are hungry for it!
4 comments:
Hey Friend -
I'm so proud of you!
You are one of the healthiest, most un-balanced people I admire.
Live strong.
Lean into Jesus.
You matter.
- Mark
Interesting but I have to wonder about the comments in #5 vs the comments in #6.
As someone who works often with groups and is very aware of the individuals within those groups, I just find it a bit odd that you could believe that no individual needs some degree of balance.
I could never work in the style that you do, going all out until I'm exhausted. Not only would other areas of my life suffer (ie: family) but I would just reach a point where I couldn't function effectively, personally or professionally.
I have always respected you and Mark as well (Yep, still watching, just from a distance, LOL) but I can't even comprehend working like you guys do. I have to respect myself enough to honor both my strengths and my weaknesses. I bring that same mentality to any group that I work with.
I'm glad to see that thins are going so well for you down there. It's clear that you choose to surround yourself with some amazing people. That's ever so evident just by meeting some of your friends.
Maybe I'm just not really clear on how one honors the individual while making a blanket statement.
I guess it's just become part of my mission in life to get people to stop and look at the individual rather than a group.
Peace!
Rhonda
Friend,
It all depends on how you define "balance." Not to be balanced doesn't mean you are a workaholic. It just means that at different times in life you lean in differently. There are times family requires you to lean more into them than work, there are other times work requires you to lean a little bit the other way and then there are other times you need to lean more into taking care of self. Our family needs are very different, so I wouldn't think we would match. However, I do believe there are times people use the word "balance" to justify laziness...especially with countless hours being spent on the internet, facebook, watching tv series, etc and little on relatiosnhips. As far as the rest of the statements, I think your reading into it a little too much :-) Love ya tons.
I appreciate your clarification and I understand better where you're coming from. Thank you.
As far as laziness goes, you'll notice I never claimed to not be lazy at times. I'm sure there's a good reason for that. LOL.
As for my other comments, those come from my own experience and my own work. I often read between the lines. It's both one of my greatest strengths and my greatest weaknesses. It also can drive people a bit crazy. :D
Keep up the good work and know I am proud to call you my friend.
Love you lots too! (((hug)))
Rhonda
(who likes to lean in and learn from you at times too)
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