Equipping Others

Orientation just wrapped up last week at Engineering Ministries International! (EMI)  Every 4 months a new group of interns arrive to serve on project trips around the globe with EMI. This is a packed week of training and personal development as new staff and interns participate in team building and attend classes on topics such as culture training, the history and current work of EMI, & what is good vs. harmful/ineffective mission, etc.

This past week we had a total of 14 interns from the U.S. & Canada participate at orientation in Colorado Springs. Six of these interns will remain in the U.S. office and travel abroad with a project team for 2 weeks on various master plan and design projects.  The other eight interns were sent off to EMI's other offices around the world in Cambodia, India, Uganda, Nicaragua, & Canada.  

Facilitating Intern Orientation at the Hideaway retreat center (Photo credit: Toby Wong)

In my role as the US Intern Coordinator I get to help teach and equip as well as foster a sense of community among the interns during this busy week. For now, I am simply assisting in these activities as I continue the on-boarding process to staff while continuing to work at my previous job. Next year, however, the current Intern Coordinator will be passing me the baton in regards to both orientation week as well as general recruitment, mentoring, and mobilization of U.S. based interns around the world. Part of my role will include traveling with one project team each year to practice and grow in my own design skills as a Staff Engineer!

Over the next 4 months I will continue to spend each Wednesday at EMI; facilitating the U.S. intern discipleship class and involved in mentoring as I continue the on-boarding process to joining full time next year! I'm looking forward to future orientation weeks at EMI when I will be able to fully engage in this ministry of equipping others to seek restoration and design a world of hope.

Deep Gladness

My pastor recently preached on the topic of work-we all work, whether from an office, our home, or the field-and the reality is the Lord has declared work to be good. It existed before evil in Eden, God modeled a lifestyle of work, and created each of us with our own unique strengths and interests to pursue. Our jobs can be frustrating and a drag, but they can also be a source of inspiration and passion. Regardless, they provide us a sense of purpose and fulfillment when we contribute both to our own needs and others. And we glorify God by pursuing our work with excellence and integrity. Those were the points of his sermon. The purpose of our work should be to pursue...

...God’s glory, the world’s good, and our own joy! 

I have been reflecting on those ideas a lot this past year. I love the community, type of work, and opportunities I have found to serve and explore here in Colorado. Yet, for the past several years I have had a consistent sense that I am being prepared to pursue those things in tandem and not just jump from one type of pursuit to another...

Which brings me to a career change announcement: I have accepted a full-time position at Engineering Ministries International and will be beginning to transition to it in January! I will be working as their Intern Coordinator while continuing to explore opportunities as an engineer on project trips each year. I am currently working toward getting my professional license before then, but am ecstatic about this new opportunity. I believe the Lord has been preparing me for EMI most of my life, but especially over the last decade. For those who know me well, you know at least portions of the journey I have spent exploring opportunities within design and ministry since beginning college.  

Volunteering on a design project in Trinidad & Tobago!

I hope you’ll share in some of my excitement as I step into full-time ministry with EMI to see even more people restored to God and our world restored through design. I’d also like to hear about how God has uniquely equipped you to pursue and glimpse His glory, impact the world for good, and live out your own joy! We each of have a part to play regardless of the type of career, work, or ministry we may be involved in. 

In college, a mentor would consistently remind us of this quote by Frederick Buechner: "The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger coincide." My confidence rests in God, knowing His calling, and the deep gladness found in partnering with others to design a world of hope.