Por Fin (Finally!)

Well, I am ashamed to admit that it's been three months since I last blogged. The good news is that at least Jessie, Bella and I were able to see many of you during our Christmas trip home (thanks yet again to my parents' frequent flier miles!). To be honest, I have been wanting to blog since we got back to Colombia in January, but we have been in a seemingly constant state of flux since arriving and unsure of what exactly was happening so I kept postponing writing hoping for more certainty.

And I think that finally there is enough stability for me to begin to write about some of the many recent changes. To make a long story short, I have moved from working in CDA's International Communications and Public Relations office to working in CDA 's department of Spiritual Wellbeing. For the last several years, everything spiritually related was under the leadership and management of the Departamento Bienestar Espiritual (department of spiritual wellbeing). The previous director of that department stepped down, which prompted Carlos (Missy's husband who is now the new head of the organization - another big recent change) to ask me to take over the leadership of the Spiritual Wellbeing department. I spent the two days I was given to consider the offer really prayerfully evaluating the position, and talking with Jessie and then decided to accept this new challenge. However, in deciding to work in the department, I clearly communicated that I was not going to simply replace the previous director and continue the work as it had been done. I only accepted this new responsibility with the understanding that I would be working to actively change how spiritual things were managed by the organization.

I drafted a document that although it only took me three days to write it, was the product of a year's worth of observations, conversations and a lot of thinking and praying. In this document I laid out a plan with two primary focuses, the first was the "heart of the matter," in which I stressed the importance of our own personal walks with Christ and the second was "leadership development." A key part of my new job is take the spiritual responsibility and leadership that had been delegated or "outsourced" to the department of spiritual wellbeing and return it to its rightful place on the shoulders of our leaders. My new job is not to be the pastor of CDA or the man responsible for the spiritual health of the organization, but to be a resource, an ally and a help as we reteach CDA's directors the importance of taking spiritual leadership for their position, beginning with the head of the organization and moving on down through the general mangers, the school principals and so on, all the way to the security guards and women in the kitchens.

As I have been transitioning into this new role, I have had the chance to talk with a lot of the key people in the organization and the majority are very excited about the changes and wish they had happened sooner. Some of them are older, more mature Christians with more training than I have and just needed to be given permission to go ahead and do it, and others are younger and excited but full of questions since they've never been in a position of spiritual leadership before. It is going to be a challenging and hopefully rewarding role - a role that is ultimately transitional. During the remainder of our time here, I will be trying to empower leaders, help develop leaders, and figure out what to do with some of the nuts and bolts that remain from the department I inherited.

Please keep Jessie and I fervently in your prayers along with CDA, in particular Carlos our new executive director, as we this new stage of growth. Pray for wisdom, patience, grace, understanding and strength for Jessie (and me). Please also continue to pray for my Spanish; I was comfortable carrying on conversations or participating in meetings, but now I'm having to lead some devotionals and occasionally speak in front of large groups of people and this is extremely humbling and difficult for me still.

Thank you for your patience, and for your continued giving.

Jim

PS: Bella is now walking! She started a few weeks ago and is more and more like a toddler/kid and less like a baby. Pretty amazing!