Every June, several of us (relatively) new folk in InterVarsity gather in Madison, WI, near the headquarters of InterVarsity, for 10 days of training in fund development and chapter building. The event is called Orientation for New Staff and I am currently on break from the first full day. I type to you, faithful blog reader, from the charming Michelangelo's Coffee Shop located on State Street in downtown Madison. This place has certainly broken into my top 5 all-time coffeeshop list - quiet but soulful music, plenty of space for both isolation and community, and of course, great coffee. So far, I am pretty impressed by Madison - this downtown area is packed full of outdoor and indoor activities, fantastic ethnic restaurants, and some of the cleanest streets I have seen in a while.
One of the secondary (though some might consider it primary) benefits of this conference, aside from the wonderful training that InterVarsity consistently provides, is the foundational community that is being built here. No matter what line of work you are in, it is always hard to be a lone soldier. In ministry, it is fairly common for folks to feel overwhelmed by the weight of their ministerial world and lose sight of community, accountability, and vulnerability in the name of dependability, responsibility, and pride. At ONS, thus far, I have found a large gathering of like-minded (though interestingly diverse) 20-30-40-somethings who have a genuine heart to see the Kingdom meet the Campus and are just dying to find other people to share that with on a peer-to-peer level. We've had a great time so far and I am so thankful to be able to be here with such devoted and enthusiastic co-laborers. Please pray for us as we continue to live and work as a community, developing much-needed fundraising skills and experience, and learning how to build our chapters into true pictures of the Kingdom in our midst.
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