SPACE finance update

I'm hesitant to even post this... but... If you were inclined to pray with us that God would provide the balance... or if you felt inclined to give.... that would make this post... well... worth it...

Finances as of August 8:
Baltimore - $3553/$3000 - 118%
NOLA - $12853/$10590 - 121%
England - $18049/$24700 - 73%
Cameroon - $17110/$34800 - 49%
Hungary - $55061/$62260 - 88%
Cam + Hungary - $10235/$22000 - 46%

Here is the GCC online giving page. Your prayers and support are so vital - thanks for being a part!

2008 England is home

Safe and sound - they arrived home on Monday afternoon. Well, except for one passport. Remember, that's the singular thing you cannot deal without.... More on this team soon...

Cameroon team flies home Saturday afternoon.

SPACE 2008 Field Update

The England team lands today. The Cameroon team, our last team in the field, is still gone until Saturday. For those of you keeping track at home, if all goes according to plan A after today, 16% will be out in the field, while 84% of our teams have gone out and come back home safely.

2008 Hungary Reflections

[For more details, see all the 2008Hungary posts and the 2008Hungary photoset.]

::: Kids Program
The kids program we put on was pretty awesome. Here are some rough notes on the framework we used. And to give praise again where it is due - the vast majority of this program was created by high school students, not adults. We did have a few advantages though. First, we had two educators on the team and our students had a lot of experience with kids. Secondly, we were a returning team, so we knew what it could look like. But still - these kids hit a home run with this one.

+ 56 kids - ages from 0 to 12.
+ Coverage for 11 sessions - ranging from 90 minutes to 3 hours.
+ Must be culturally relevant - target audience are third culture kids who come together once a year for a conference where they get to see their friends, many of whom are the only ones that can relate to each other. An American-bought VBS curriculum was not an option.
+ Program must be divided by age groups so that we can serve kids appropriately.
+ Breakdown by ages: 0-2: 13 || 3-4: 8 || 5-6: 4 || 7-8: 16 || 9-12: 15
+ Overall theme was "Running the Good Race", coinciding with the 2008 Olympics.
+ Program days are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Morning program segments were centered around the Olympics while evening sessions were "theme" nights.
+ Theme nights: Monday - Pirates and Princesses, Tuesday - Campfire and PJs, Wednesday - Wacky Tacky, Friday - Olympic Closing Ceremonies.
Also, see D's post about this subject. Also, if you are trying something like this, our program sheets might help. Leave a comment and I will get those to you.

::: Path to Cross Cultural Service
This original element was intended to have certain people share their experience on the mission field - ie: what would you tell students that are interested in a future in missions.

However, this element certainly blossomed - every person that came and spoke to our team were amazing people and I truly appreciated their authenticity, honesty and optimism. They believe, like I do, that the future is ready to be forged and that these students have the power of change in their hands and their hearts. By the end of the week, I had people from CA asking me when they would get their chance to talk to our team. Just based on that, I wished we had another two or three days. Instead of just sharing with our team, it became serious investments into our students, stoking their passion, imagination and dreams.

The quick list speaker list:
Alan and Deb Hirsch - what makes a church, the power of youth, don't be domesticated.
SSeevers - tangible paths to serving with CA, internships, short term, long term, etc.
M and T Rapp - how God called them, details of cross cultural service you don't think about, God guiding every step of the way even when it was really bad, why Europe.
PGraf - God redeeming your life, Europe being the most difficult because it's so expensive and that people here are comfortable.

Along with this, there was a real synergy with CA this year. Our team really felt like an integral part of the tribe and that along with so many of them blessing us was humbling and exciting. I'm predicting that there are even more opportunities with CA in the future.

::: Baptism
At the beginning of the trip, AR approached me saying that he was interested in getting baptized. Rats, I forgot my fake professional Christian card. We made him talk it through with his parents, since they weren't going to be there. But definitely one of the personal highlights of both this trip and SPACE.

::: Logistics
Logistics just about killed me at times. 26 people were on this team and it wouldn't have been so bad had it not been for our travels in and through Paris lugging all of our luggage - consider that an excellent mistake [like Dan Pink says.] The original plan had been to check our big luggage all the way back to DC, but that didn't work. Despite luggage, traversing a major urban center with a group that large is infeasible - take my word for it. We broke into smaller groups for almost all of this kind of travel but even still, it was a lot to manage. Add to that any kind of unexpected issue - people that get sick, trying to hire alternative transport, awaiting another team to arrive - and there were a few times when I found myself completely unable to make any kind of decision. Worse than decision paralysis, I didn't know the complete status of how my team was doing at these particular instances. If you lead at any level, ambiguity about the health of your team is completely unacceptable.

There are a few operating principles we will use from now on:
+ Planning based on optimal team sizes - not just on how many it will take to be successful for a specific project.
+ Teams will more sensitive to the combination of city centers, public transport and large amounts of gear. We need to be smarter about deciding where to stay if we have to haul a lot of stuff.

A few locations and resources that we used - no complaints about any of these, they were awesome:
Vienna City Hostel - Clean, great part of the city, easy to get to, very affordable, friendly and awesome service.
All Seasons Paris Gare de l'Est Château Landon - two minute walk from a Paris subway stop and a five minute walk to a subway stop that was a hub. Clean, safe, affordable for Paris, great service especially when we did team worship in the lobby. And it was the only place that would accommodate a group of 38.
Limores - we used a shuttle service in Vienna to and from the airport and also hired a luggage truck in Paris at the last minute. They were absolutely great about it - drivers were on time, friendly and totally accommodating. The NYC-based staff also went way out of their way getting in touch with Paris services on a Sunday trying to get me service for luggage. And... the Vienna shuttle was for $10 a person. You read that right....

::: Budget
The overall budget looks something like this, per person breakdown:
$1361 - airfare
$1060 - conference costs [8 nights and all food, including transfer to/from airport]
$20 - child ministry supplies
$25 - coach service - Vienna [two directions, airport and back]
$90 - lodging costs - Vienna [2 nights]
~$8 - food, grocery store for lunch and pizza for dinner - Vienna
$7 - subway - Vienna
$200 - lodging costs - Paris [2 nights]
~$5 - food, pizza one night for dinner - Paris
$30 - coach service - Paris [one way, to airport]
~ $2806 [26 people - although two kids had discounts for airfare and conference costs.] Mission in Europe is expensive. At the time of this posting, we are close but not 100%. [I'll have a financial update posting early next week.]

::: The Team
I know I say this every year, but I think this team was one of the best that I have helped lead. All of them were so willing to serve, to be stretched, and to own pieces of the trip. To watch each of them come alongside a missionary kid or baby, hold their hand, dress wacky tacky with them, or lead a small group about running the good race, those are the why-we-do-this moments. Not only that, but each one of them was so open to learning and growing, whether it was from our leaders or from CA people, they are learners and have adopted a learning posture to life. I'm excited about their future as well as expecting them to do amazing things.

The leader team was also one of the strongest I have worked with. The principle of "everything based on leadership" was executed well on this team - each one of them had cross cultural experience, had experience with youth culture and understood deeply what are trying to do with SPACE. This leader team represents some fruit that you and I - and others - are starting to see in our leadership investment. Keep in mind that it took greater than four years. And once again, most of the leaders and students are going to continue on well past SPACE and do things we can't even begin to imagine yet.

Keep watching, investing and praying - the impact this team made is going to take SPACE ... well, I don't know.

Photos: Pirate night; Closing ceremonies in swim caps; the baptism; PGraf investing in our team; Parliament in Vienna; our team in Sopron.

Hungary - Running the Good Race Videos

This is the final program day's video and all of these videos were put together by our students. See how much fun they are having - imagine traveling through Europe with them....

See all the videos at the 2008Hungary playlist.

2 Connect Videos

Two videos below from Jenelle, who works with CA but is also originally from Maryland and GCC. The official conference blog is here - if you are interested in hearing some of the sessions, there are media files that you can download there.

You will enjoy these, some of our team is on there and there is at least one person talking about the fun our team had with the kids.

Connect - Friday Highlights from Jenelle D'Alessandro on Vimeo.


Connect - Wednesday Highlights from Jenelle D'Alessandro on Vimeo.

Deb and Alan Hirsch

This is Deb Hirsch along with D and I. If you've been around the blog for a while, you know that one of SPACE's influences was the book, The Shaping of Things to Come, co-written by Deb's husband Alan.

When I found out that the Hirschs were going to be at Connect, I emailed Alan to see if they might be able to spare just a bit of time to talk to our team. Both Alan and Deb came in one evening and interacted with our team for about an hour, talking about responsibility, the future and what makes a church. On another evening, some of our team hung out with Deb while she shared how she became a Christ follower. And other students got to have a meal with them. And some found them on the playground. And on and on.

They loved sharing their lives with our team. And despite writing a few huge books, speaking all over the world and being one of the most creative and innovative thinkers about mission, Church and culture today, they are real people who love helping others live life.

[Related: TheForgottenWays and A Taste for Each Other]

And Neither Of Us Drowned

Andrew getting baptized - July 30, 2008.

Me and MikeD

This is Mike Dauphinee and I and my ice cream cone. Mike is one of the missional consultants on retainer with Christian Associates. His role is to assist and coach church plant teams with regard to leadership development, team dynamics and overall effectiveness. Mike is also a Myers Briggs and StrengthsFinder swami. Mike was one of the many, many people at the conference that went out of their way to invest in our team.

Hungary team is home

We rolled in late yesterday afternoon and everyone was safe and healthy. It was a great experience and I'm still astounded and amazingly proud at what this team was able to accomplish.

We had a whirlwind of a day in Paris, which included a few decompression sessions, meeting up with the Cam team [who had flown all night and had to drag their bags through the subway too] and seeing the sights. It was worth it though. Two of my favorite memories include climbing to the top of the Arc de Triomphe with my family [285 steps], and both teams worshipping in the hotel lobby.

Of course, I have a bit more to tell you, once I recover a tad.

Hungary - Monday

The Cam team arrived here yesterday morning. After a whirlwind day in Paris, both teams depart for their destinations today.

Actually, the Cam team just left along with the shuttle we hired for luggage and two of our team. Hungary leaves a 0830 this morning. All teams did the sights in Paris yesterday which was a lot of fun. We then did a send off for the Cam team and did a final decompression session with the Hungary team. It was good to get our minds off of the Hungary experience for a little while. But even looking back on it now, it was pretty incredible what this team accomplished.

Back to DC this afternoon, if plan A works out.

Hungary - Saturday night

We have arrived in Paris, after a grueling subway journey with all of our luggage. Not fun. In fact, probably my worst subway experience ever, but a good learning experience.

KeelyN and MichelleK are a bit under the weather - appreciate your prayers for them.

Hungary - Friday afternoon

This is Megan and Teal. They have served in the south of France for just over two years and came in to talk to our team about the realities of serving cross culturally. They touched on topics like how hard it is for your kids to adjust at first, how God called and continued to encourage them and why they do what they do.

Last program meeting is tonight - our Closing Ceremonies. We depart for Paris tomorrow afternoon.

Friday am

Last day of program pray for keely a bit under the weather - so much
appreciation from ca staff

Hungary - Wednesday

AR got baptized on Wednesday, here while in Hungary. Our whole team and the whole CA community was present for it, which was a really neat experience. He's the first person that I've ever baptized, so that was a true honor.

Video of it will be uploaded later.

Hungary - Tuesday evening 2

Tonight was Campfire and Pajama night with the CA kids. Our team did another great job executing a fun theme night which included smores [graham crackers, marshmallow fluff - easier to travel with, and chocolate], a movie, and a craft involving "making fire." ha.

LB also hosted an almost sleepover with some older girls, while the guys went on a night hike.

We have a daily team meeting after program ends for evaluation and decompression. This week's meetings also include special guest speakers. Tonight's speaker was CA's director of recruitment. This element is meant to give our students a tangible example for how to get involved in missions full time.

I actually attended the session tonight - they had new staff commissioning, an introduction to a director of operations and a director of North America and some project update videos, and a talk about "Shortcuts Lead to Erosion."

Hungary - Tuesday evening

The team is continuing to do well although AR and SS have sore throats and probably slight temperatures. We are keeping them well hydrated and giving them drugs for the pain. We'll continue to monitor.

Last night's Pirate and Princess theme evening was a blast - there were so many kids that came dressed up. Really fun.

This morning we continued the Olympic Running the Good Race theme. This afternoon was time off so the whole team took off and went into downtown Sopron. This included seeing a few old churches, the Fire Tower, the old Roman ruins and a Hungarian grocery store.

Tonight is Campfire and Pajama night - including a girls almost-sleepover and a guys night hike.

Hungary Team Guests - Monday

2008 Hungary team and our special guests Alan and Deb Hirsch. They spoke to us for a little while about being young and wild for Jesus, what makes a church and how transformation is within each of us.

[Related: The Forgotten Ways]

Hungary - Monday afternoon

Things are going great with both team interactions and the actual children's programming. Our team is investing all of their energy - they are already tired but it's a good tired - the result of expending almost all of their energy for someone else's benefit.

Most of the time spent lunch time with one of the 'missional consultants' that are here on site to help CA with team dynamics, leadership development and missional effectiveness. MikeD talked about strengths, the genius that is within you and how to capitalize on making the most of that.

Things are going well overall. The lunch time discussion is going to help propel a lot of our team into a lifestyle of impact.

Hungary - Sun aft

PreConference ends - all staff arriving for official conference, starting right after dinner. Our team is doing well, but feeling a bit of pressure to get things done efficiently and as planned. One thing that is needing adjustment is communication. In order to do this, we have assigned a "runner" role and we have gotten the walkie talkie's out. Walkie talkie's were always planned since we were at two locations but the runner is going to open up communication even more. And walkie talkies are so cool.

Like one of my mentors says - communication is perfect in cemeteries because everyone is dead.

Olympic opening ceremonies start tonight.