Visiting Student Venture Headquarters (Orlando, FL)

Can I just say how great God is?! I was able to fly down to Orlando, FL on Sunday (9/21) to meet with the headquarters staffon Monday (9/22) for a tour, staff meeting, and interview. I wanted to write a more detailed message to you describing the events of the day and what my thoughts were after it was all done. As always, I value your opinions greatly and encourage you to let me know your thoughts as you hear me share about this whole process and opportunity. As you all know, I am quite verbose...so please bear with me as I share...or at least make sure you have a chunk of time set aside to read this mini-novella of an update...hehehe. =)
I was quite nervous beforehand and didn't really eat much for the two days. After waking up quite early at the hotel I stayed in, I got a ride from Warren Bane (the Director of National Recruitment) to the headquarters and was thoroughly amazed at the beauty of the "campus" itself. There were mini lakes, essentially, with fountains and a vast expanse of fields and trees surrounding the two to three very large buildings that resembled mini-White-Houses. I got a quick tour of the inside of the buildings and was introduced to several staff here and there. There was a staff meeting at 10 and I was happy to sit in on it.

What was so refreshing was how the staff took time to pray before their meeting, lifting up prayers to God as they remembered staff out in the field and people who are raising support to become full-time staff members, and prayed for God's hand to be upon them all as they seek to do His will. After the meeting, I was able to sit with Warren and Mike, another Leadership Development National Director, over lunch. I got a nice overview of the heart and vision of the organization and later sat in on a phone call to Google before having my interview with two other staff members, Lauren & Andy. Again, I was overjoyed when they prayed with me before the interview...it put me at ease; the interview went for about an hour and a half, and I was very comfortable during it and able to answer all their questions well.
Basically, here's what I wrote down during my flight back to Syracuse (so it'd be fresh after such a full day) that encouraged me:

1) The spiritual environment is beyond encouraging. There are countless ways and opportunities to receive training, be stretched, learn more about your giftings and how to be spiritually healthy and continue to grow in faith and fruitfulness. They even give you 1 day per month to take off and spend the day with God, get spiritually re-energized...or even just whenever a break is really needed, they'll encourage you to take, like, a prayer break during the day or something!

2) The physical space is amazing! So open, colorful, aesthetically pleasing, condusive to collaborative team work. Very different from the very unpleasant space we use at SU for review...seriously, I almost went crazy in that one small room with white walls and, what, 20 people in it during application review season?!

3) I had a list of questions I'd written out the night before and all of them were answered during the day without my even really having to ask about them!

4) There is much room for growth and movement into any direction and ministry area within this organization because it's so large and has so many facets. I'm totally psyched about this because, instead of having nowhere to go up or around (like at SU), there are many possibilities with this organization...and they encourage it! They say that if they see your gifts and skills being better used in a different area that you'd love more, they'll encourage you to go there...rather than people trying to keep you somewhere just because they need something from you.
5) They do things to make sure staff and their families can connect, communicate and socialize together so as to build a sense of "Family" overall.

6) My interview was about 1 hr 30 min, and we covered a lot of what I've already been prepping via filling out the application...so that was a relief! Praise God =)

7) My role on staff would be to identify potential future staff from various pools, follow and track them through their process of considering joining Student Venture placements around the country, and be available during their search to guide, listen, and encourage them. I'd probably have the freedom to define my position and duties/parameters too as they're open to that. I also might have the chance to work directly with high schoolers too, mentoring/discipling them if that's what I'm interested in.

Once I finish my application and send it in with my 7 recommendations, they'll review it asap even before Nov 1 and tell me if I'm pre-approved, which basically means I'm approved and "in." That will be my green light to proceed with giving my 1 month notice to SU because I'll have to go to the 5 week training session in January and I don't want to miss any of that! During training, I'll be able to send out the official announcement to everyone I know to tell them I'm joining Student Venture and I'll start building up my network of Ministry Partners and raising funding and support. When I've raised all my necessary monthly funding, I will be a full-time staff member and move down to FL where they have people to help me find housing and get situated.

Overall, I felt a great sense of peace and excitement as I went through the day. I kept thinking to myself, "I would love to work here!" There were many things that were positives, and not many that were negatives other than things that I am nervous about (like raising support)...but even those are nothing because if God's calling me to this, I belive He will provide and this is a way He's helping me to grow my faith and trust in Him. I'm still feeling good about things and haven't seen/learned anything that would be a deal-breaker for me. I still have some questions that are in the process of getting clarified, but the bottom line is I can see myself thriving professionally and spiritually there, getting discipled and being used more fully than how I'm being used now at SU. I don't see the door closing at all yet, even when I'm faced with the daunting task of raising support (I'll have to raise money for both the training time and monthly too) or relocating.

In weighing the costs of leaving Syracuse now that I've finally felt more invested and involved, I see that starting anew with Student Venture and Florida would mean I'd gain many more opportunities to grow overall and be more effective in the long run for the bigger picture of God's plans. I understand that God will continue the work he's begun in Syracuse even if I'm not here...but it's a hard decision in some ways because I've just begun to get rooted here! But, I told God I'd go wherever He'd send me and that I would trust His plans, not mine. =)

It's interesting because in the past, when I'd interviewed for other jobs last year, there was always something holding me back from saying I'm passionate and excited about those jobs. With this job, it's the opposite - I am confident I believe in the mission, vision, purpose and values of this organization and because it's all for God's glory, I am certain I can say I'd be passionate about it! I feel it in me, but I've been hesitating to say it out loud - "It's confirmed; God is calling me to Florida!" I don't know what's keeping me from saying it...but perhaps I'm waiting for that last peice - the application approval. So, I'm going to try my hardest to complete my application as soon as possible.

In closing, here are the photos from my visit to Student Venture/Campus Crusade for Christ International,Inc. headquarters in Orlando, FL on 9/22/09: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=121247&id=580456650&l=a228b3a645

Thank you again for your continued support and prayers! I'll keep you posted as things progress...
Many blessings to you,
Gahlai

"Lemme call you back…God’s calling on the other line!”

(An update on my life so we can keep in touch…)My dear friends,

First, I apologize for not keeping in touch so well with you! I hope this message finds you in good health and doing well. You may or may not have known that I have been earnestly praying and seeking God for career direction for the past 2-3 years; I’ve felt ready for something different for quite some time now. I knew I was learning a lot at my current job, but there was always something missing that kept me from feeling that “click” in my Spirit that said this is what I would give my life to do all the time! Last year, I’d actually interviewed for several other jobs on the college campus that were related to recruiting for a specific program. While I was always one of the top 2 candidates, the other person always got the job…and I never really felt myself getting fired up about those jobs. In the meantime, I was getting more and more active in ministry related activities in and outside of the workplace, and I was learning to have a greater love for God so that Christ was taking over more facets of my life and being. Realizing that I have become a great recruiter for my employer, I found myself also realizing that I can and should be an even more effective recruiter for Christ.

Back in June, I’d visited my sister in Korea (she’s teaching English out there) and was able to meet up with my friend Amber, who’s now pastoring a church plant out there in Seoul. I did some music ministry with her and got to meet and hang out with the young adults she ministers to. That really got me interested in missions work as I seriously considered joining her in her ministry there in Korea. So, upon returning to Syracuse, I looked again at a web site my friend Liz had mentioned back in October of 2008 – www.rightnow.org. It’s a site that is like the Craig’s list of missions opportunities. I browsed through their postings (part time, full time, short/long term missions opportunities), bookmarked a bunch, and finally filled out a profile for myself and submitted it to the RightNow people so they could connect me with a missions coach. My coach, Heather T., was able to talk with me and recommend 4 organizations that would be a good match for my interests and giftings. She reached out to those organizations and told them of my interest in their ministry work, and within 1 week, 3 of the 4 organizations contacted me back. The last one was the one I was most interested in, so it worked out well that I was both busy that month and not as interested in the other 3 because the last one, Student Venture, finally got back to me after a month – which is when I finally had a break in my workload to focus on this stuff again! I ended up speaking with Warren B., the National Director of Recruitment for Student Venture (www.studentventure.com), which is the jr/sr high branch of Campus Crusade for Christ, Inc. (www.campuscrusadeforchrist.com). The position is a full-time staff position with the national headquarters as…guess what…a Recruitment Specialist!! Which is exactly what I’m doing now, but it would merge my passion and love for God with my professional life as I seek to recruit new staff members to join and work in the field to mentor, disciple, and train up high schoolers to be solid in their walk with the Lord.

As I think and pray more and more about it, it’s almost as if God was leading and preparing me for this possible new job ever since I was a teenager: I was the quintessential example of why it is of utmost importance to have something like Student Venture around in high schools to disciple and ground young people in their knowledge of and relationship with Christ. As a teen in high school, I called myself Christian but I didn’t really live like I was in love with Jesus – I was just coasting by. I was lukewarm and under the radar both in school and when I went to church. I didn’t want to make any waves and so I didn’t “wear Christ” on my face and sleeve like I do now. But, like most young people, I thought that going to college would solve my problems and I’d finally “find myself.” Instead, because I wasn’t grounded in Christ, I sank into pit of all the things the world uses to tempt you to fall away from God. I firmly believe that, if I’d had someone mentoring me in high school and helping me to find my identity in Christ before I went to college, it would have been less likely for me to fail so miserably at everything as I tried to find happiness, purpose and acceptance apart from God. As I pray, search God’s Word and consult with trusted Christian friends about this opportunity with Student Venture, I hear and believe more and more that this is God’s leading: in His grace and mercy, He is showing me that he can use what was my greatest shame and regret to bring Him glory by helping others avoid the same mistakes. So, in that sense, I identify very strongly with the mission, purpose, vision and values of Student Venture/Campus Crusade for Christ and see how this could be the way God combines my recruitment experiences with my past personal experiences.
Love,
Gahlai
*Next time…an update about my visit to Student Venture headquarters in Orlando, FL to meet with staff and have an interview!

"Going Gahlai" when I should be sleeping...

Just like the title says, I'm blogging instead of sleeping...which isn't the best thing because I've got so many meetings tomorrow, I'm bound to fall alseep during one of them due to the lack of sleep I'm gonna get tonight!!

Hahaha...but, it's worth it to get this thing going. I'm really hoping to use this blog to keep all of you updated on what's going on in my life. This already has been a year of many changes, and I'm currently praying through and moving forward into possible new changes. I know this sounds very nebulous right now, but I'll explain later.

For now, I hope and pray you are well!

Love,
Gahlai