What I Learned @ Welcome Week

We just finished our first week on campus at American University (AU) and I can honestly say, I have never carried so many refrigerators in my life! Although it has been fun helping students move in and ice blocking down hills, it has been all about the relationships we can build.

So I thought I would share with y’all what I have been learning. Oh yeah, and sorry for the lack of blog posts as of late. Can we still be friends?

Creating a movement doesn’t happen just because of intentionality. At our leader’s day-treat, Mike showed us this Ted Talk (less than 5 minutes and well worth every second).

One of my biggest takeaways was the reckless abandonment of self and demonstrated passion of the guy that started the movement. He could have been the most technical dancer but without passion, the movement wouldn’t have begun.

You can’t serve what you aren’t eating. Or, you can’t lead someone personally where you have never been yourself. Often times, we expect x, y and z out of those we influence when we are only bringing z and y. I am guilty of this all the time…

Don’t expect what you aren’t praying and planning for. We desire to see students connected into small groups, so we plan and pray for that. So much so that our followup and connection isn’t copmplete until someone joins a small group. It’s that mentality that has our groups filling up so fast this year (and the passion of the leaders). Pray, Plan, Do!

Do things that would be fun if no one else showed up. Despite Irene ruining our canoeing trip, we did a ridiculously awesome game night. During setup, someone said, “If no one shows up, we are going to still have a blast!”. Unless we are creating events we want to be at, then the system is broken.