Sick with Adventure

"Living Out LeaderTreks"  - A series on the core values and leadership principles of LeaderTreks. I'll share how they are lived out in the company and in my own life.  To start from the beginning click here  

ADVENTURE

Well Ladies and Gents,
I'm back from my first GRAND ADVENTURE

And Ellie was my inspiration all the way.

"Adventure is Out There!"

Move In Us

My church started a new series today called

STRETCH OUT YOUR HANDS

During the Lent season we are focusing on Praying for God to "Stretch Out His Hand" to give us boldness in sharing the gospel and enabling us to accomplish God's Mission.

Today was...
    Stretch Out Your Hands to Move In Us

Pursuing Adventure

"Living Out LeaderTreks"  - A series on the core values and leadership principles of LeaderTreks. I'll share how they are lived out in the company and in my own life.  To start from the beginning click here  

Adventure

We pursue adventure by taking risks that push us and others beyond perceived limits
spiritually, relationally and physically

We pursuing adventure also by having fun and generating excitement

And yesterday was

ADVENTURE DAY

I went to church at IKEA

This morning I went to church at IKEA

Okay, so not really, 

but I did go to IKEA
and I did worship God.

One of the things that drew me into the Jericho Road Church community was

serve weekends.

The 2nd sunday of every month we don't meet for services, we meet for service projects.

Yesterday was
February Serve Day

As a church body we collected and assembled World Relief Good Neighbor Kits.

Refugee Families arrive at O'Hare with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

Good Neighbor Kits is a complete set of basic items that will make an apartment function.

So Jericho Road Church gathered all week long
and Sunday morning we collected and began to assemble.
Our goal was to collect 6 FULL KITS to donate to World Relief.

So after assembling what we had collected

we went shopping!

Teams went out to Aldi, Wal-mart and IKEA!

Here is the results of our IKEA shopping!

 We did it! 6 FULL KITS that got dropped off at World Relief today. 

I feel so blessed to be a part of a church that seeks to get out of our metal chairs on Sundays
and act like the body of Christ!

Jody and Lizzy (the creeper in the background)
Two of the women God has blessed me with through the JRC community
and part of my IKEA shopping team.

"When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord your God."

Lev 23:22

"When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord God may bless you in all the work of your hands."

Deut 24:19

How are you serving those in your community?

Stay and Talk a Little While

"Living Out LeaderTreks"  - A series on the core values and leadership principles of LeaderTreks. I'll share how they are lived out in the company and in my own life.  To start from the beginning click here   

People

So confession time again... I lied to you. My dear devoted readers. I told you on Wednesday that I would post again tomorrow - but tomorrow was Thursday. And no post :(
I'm sorry, I tried, but yesterday when I sat down and pulled up my page... nothing. Nothing was coming.
So, sorry for the lie, but here is the second day of PEOPLE!

I loved college!

Do you want to know why?

It was because of the community. Now I am an introvert (I hide it very well), but when I wanted people, they were right down the hall. There was always someone to eat meals with. Homework parties happened all the time. Saturday mornings you just hopped on down the hall to chill for the day.

But slowly, as the years passed on, and we moved to different halls and different dorms, different apartments in town, and finally graduated *poof* away goes the instant community.

Now, I have to be intentional. And I must admit always following the "Mission First, People Always" value becomes a little more difficult. Sometimes I forget that "People Always" is a part of that value.

When I first moved to Chicago I lived with a family whose community group met at their house. So I very quickly got plugged into my church through this weekly meeting and hanging out with these people. After a month and a half I found a permanent host family, but have continued to deepen friendships out of this group.

However, I found myself thinking more about putting the mission first over the people.
As the evening went by, I caught myself thinking about how "late" it was getting.
How I wanted a full 8 hours of sleep.
How because the mission was first it was important to go to bed to be on time to work.

So off I would run with lame excuses.

But with the new year I've realized, I should stay and talk a little while.
Yes it's important for me to be at work on time.
Yes it is important for me to get sleep.

But building this community is very important. It is People Always.

So i've set aside my 8 hours of sleep some nights at living room group and stayed and talked. I've done the "late" night Denny's run with people who God has placed in my life RIGHT now. And I've decided that it takes being intentional to put the Mission First and keep the People Always. It is not just about the Tuesday night meals together, sometimes it is about Friday night craft night and Sunday lunch after church. 

It is about finding the times that i can stay and talk a little while. 

People Always

"Living Out LeaderTreks"  - A series on the core values and leadership principles of LeaderTreks. I'll share how they are lived out in the company and in my own life.  To start from the beginning click here   

People

We build intentional community through service, sharpening one another and shared experiences.

We build selective and enduring partnerships by delivering more than we promise.

LeaderTreks has a saying,

"Mission First, People Always."

Our mission is what drives us, 

it is what helps us to plan our steps,
it is what  guides us.

But the people are what get the work done.

That is why LeaderTreks seeks to build intentional community.

It is one of the reasons that I don't get my own personal office in my first year on staff.

It is one of the reasons that we have staff events where we all can just hang out and relax.

It is one of the reasons that we strive to seek to provide excellence in delivering what we
promise to our partners.
Because these partners are people, seeking to accomplish the same mission of spreading the gospel.

Internally one of the most basic ways LeaderTreks lives out this principle is how we celebrate birthdays.
In the age of facebook and the "I'll just leave a wall message",
we make sure that each employee (and their spouses) feel special on their birthday.

Culver's (the best custard EVER) is picked up
The ENTIRE office gathers in the coffee area
and we sing the worst rendition of the Birthday song you'll ever hear
Then we eat, talk and laugh.
The birthday person shares some of their favorite birthday memories.
They do this because they know that people who feel valued will work harder for the mission.

LeaderTreks is making sure they always value their people and thus keeping the mission first.

Check back tomorrow to see how I'm living out this value in my own life.

A Excellent Confession

"Living Out LeaderTreks"  - A series on the core values and leadership principles of LeaderTreks. I'll share how they are lived out in the company and in my own life.  To start from the beginning click here  

I'm currently reading a book called Unfriend Yourself. The author looks at some of the benefits and dangers that our social media provide us. One of the promises he warns against is that our social networking says it is okay to "make it all about you." Not only that, but that you should present the best "possible" you.  He writes:

"When I log on to Facebook, I find that I want to put my best foot forward; as a result, I find myself bending the truth and skirting circumstance, ever so slightly to offer my "friends" the best part of myself, the part of me that is the coolest, the funniest. I announce to others something good about me with the goal of getting others to think a certain way about me."

I don't want this blog to be simply that - my best foot forward. I want it to be a true reflection of myself. The Lord's Beloved Child who is seeking the righteousness that God gives. However, this implies that I am a flawed human being. I've shared a couple times my flawed self.

This is one of those posts.

Excellence

I completely agree with this value in thought...

and as Doug shared yesterday I see how I can live it out on trips.

But I must confess - 

I have trouble living it out daily in the office.

All throughout the fall and continuing this spring we've had sessions in which we have been taught information about the company and about our roles and the job that is to come as commanding trip leader this summer.

But I have not excellently reviewed this information. I've diligently collected it, and organized it, but when it comes to actually reviewing and studying and knowing it... 

I have not done an excellent job.

So today I leave you with a prayer request:
Please pray that I learn how to apply this value in my everyday life.
Pray that I have a clear evaluation of what I am giving my all, 

my excellent effort, and what I am not.
and pray that I begin to form a plan on how to begin to give excellent effort 

to the areas that I have only been giving mediocre attention.

Committed to Excellence

"Living Out LeaderTreks"  - A series on the core values and leadership principles of LeaderTreks. I'll share how they are lived out in the company and in my own life.  To start from the beginning click here  
Excellence

LeaderTreks defines it as such:

"only the best" through hard work, consistency, personal responsibility and integrity

We show this by being committed to the cause, the organization, one another and the people we serve.

Some people might think this is a difficult value to uphold being as we work with students,
and not only do we work with students,
but we give them ownership and leadership.

Doug Franklin (the founder of LeaderTreks) describes how we live this value out in our relationships with our host partners and students.

Check back tomorrow to hear how I'm applying this value in my own life.