I am a sucker for reality TV. Seriously, if someone is weighing himself or trying to win a quick-fire cooking challenge or ripping down a house on TV, I’m there.

But I’ve got to tell you, working at Compassion spoils you for pop culture. Suddenly everything is in perspective.

Before starting my job here, I used to love Extreme Home Makeover. I loved seeing the crazy kitchens, the creative design and the happy people. I would cry with them when they yelled with Ty, “Bus driver, move that bus!” And I still do love the heart of helping and generosity it is spreading.

But since being daily faced with the realities of the majority world, I can’t help but be distressed by our sometimes-trend toward bigger is better and more is more attitude. We seem to be in a never-ending game of one-upmanship.

I don’t personally think there’s anything inherently wrong or sinful about a big house. What is dangerous is the subtle message we are ingesting that if our homes aren’t big, if they aren’t new, if they aren’t decked with the trendiest design, it’s a reason to shake our heads shamefully. We can begin to look around at what we have and think, “This isn’t that great” when we compare it to the over-the-top luxury we see.

It’s sad. We have so much! Think of Joshua’s home in Indonesia.

Home security in Indonesia.

Vanity dresser.

Mood lighting.

Kitchen island.

He and his family all sleep together in one big room, his father with the two older brothers on a mattress by the door, and the mother with the younger siblings on a bed.

His favorite part of his home is the mattress. It gets lots of light from the front door. But he wishes the roof was a bit better so he wouldn’t get rained on at night.

His mom wishes the electricity worked more often — they share it between eight families.

When asked what he thinks about living here, Joshua said, “I like it here because I have so many friends.”

The sweet heart of a child.

I don’t propose we all move to open-air shacks and share one bedroom between six people. But I do propose looking around at what we have! Appreciate it. See it for what it really is.

How sad it is when we “tsk” at the great blessings we have as not enough. When we complain about this or that little detail of it. (I’m speaking from personal experience. I HATE my ugly old kelly green bathroom and can look beyond the beauty of my home to that one seeming blight.)

What may really need an extreme makeover is not necessarily our homes, but our hearts.

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I hit a point several weeks ago where I didn’t think I could handle seeing one more thing or reading one more article about Haiti. I needed some distance and recuperating time, which is a good thing. But despite the time of stress and trauma, there is one thing we must keep doing:

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” – Ephesians 6:18, (NIV)

Imagine this.

You’re at work and you run into a coworker. You ask them how they’re doing. Their aunt has just passed away, and they’re having a hard time dealing with it.

Then you’re sitting in a meeting at work. You look around and realize that every single person in the room has had a loved one die in the past month. One a cousin. One a pastor. One a father.

Now imagine that you haven’t slept in your own bed for one month. 30 full days.

You’re not sure your home is safe, so you, your spouse and your kids are sleeping in a tent outside. At night you hear the dogs bark and cars roaring up steep hills. You don’t remember the last time you got a full night’s sleep. You duck inside your home in the mornings to shower, but other than that, you stay clear away from those uncertain walls.

Now imagine you have also just had your brother and and a good friend both pass away on the same day.

You haven’t had the time or space to grieve. You go to work each day and the day is jam-packed. There are so very many things that need to be done.

You and your coworkers try to keep up each others’ spirits. You play hangman at lunch, laughing together to relieve some stress. The busy-ness and the laughter help you get through each day.

I’m not trying to be dramatic or to emotionally manipulate you. I’m just trying to paint a realistic picture of what our brothers and sisters in Christ in Haiti are going through right now.

Will you continue to pray for our staff, the saints, who are being used but are being put to the test?

It’s been beautiful to see how the Body of Christ has been raised up through this tragedy. Christians in the Dominican Republic have been volunteering every day for weeks to help. Christians around the world have been raised up to pray and give. The church in Haiti itself has raised up to be a light in Port-au-Prince.

One month after the earthquake, Christians in Haiti held three days of fasting and prayer, gathering at the Champ de Mars near their destroyed presidential palace to beseech God. They spilled into the streets wearing white and black in remembrance of loved ones.

Wess will be visiting Haiti at the beginning of March to speak to our staff and to speak to the church in Haiti, encouraging them to continue being a light, being the ones stepping in to help the hurting.

Though this is a time of grief, it is also at time, a time such as this, for which God has prepared the Church.

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Haley Birdyshaw, a supervisor in our contact center, took a group of employees on an exposure trip to Guatemala. The trip was a life-changing experience.

Many had never traveled outside of the United States, let alone experienced extreme poverty first-hand. As a result, their perspectives changed from “I answer questions on the phone” to “I make a difference in the life of a child.”

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Do you talk with God? Or do you talk at Him or to Him?

How much of your prayer life, your conversations with God, is about you? You talking. What you want or need. What you think should happen.

When you’re listening, are you interested in what’s on God’s mind? Or are you really just listening for God to talk about the subjects you choose?

I mostly talk at God. That’s a 99-percent most. God usually can’t get a word in edgewise in “our” conversations. I’m talking. And I’m talking about what I need and what I want, as if they are somehow different, and as if I know better than God what I need.

“Hey God. I’m not interested in that subject. Why do you keep bringing it up?”

But once a year, at the beginning of December, I make an extra effort to get over myself. I ask God, “What do you have planned for us next year?”

It’s like asking your father, “Hey, Dad! What are we going to do this weekend?”

2010 in One Word

So, even though I’m not your father, you should do this:

Ask the Holy Spirit what He has in store for you in 2010. Ask Him to give you a one-word theme for the upcoming year. Not a phrase, not a statement, just a single word.

That last sentence is more for you than for the Holy Spirit. He knows what’s going on.

But this is for you – One Word. It’s a document for you to download, written by Dan Britton, Senior Vice President of Ministry Programs for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

One Word contains suggestions to help you make this “one word” thing a spiritual discipline rather than some nifty hoot of an idea that will quickly fade away like a worn out New Year’s resolution.

This practice of asking God for His yearly theme in my life gives me strength in the tough times. It renews my spirit, giving me a sense of purpose when I feel hopeless, annoyed, angry, afraid … anything but in control and confident.

It helps me stay connected with Christ and His plans for me throughout the year. Not perfectly, but definitely in times I probably would not.

Every year, with a little prayer time, I have found God eager to tell me what He has in store for me in the following year.

Remember this, and I can’t emphasize it enough, you’re not choosing a word. The Holy Spirit is giving it to you.

In 2009, the Holy Spirit laid the growth card on me. And when I told you about it last December, I said it sounded painful.

Well, 2009 wasn’t really painful. But it wasn’t easy either. I got to grow through a lot of old habits and immaturity.

And even though 2009 is almost over, the growth isn’t. The words the Holy Spirit shares with us each year establish the foundation for the words we get in the future, which means I’m going to be growing the rest of my life. Duh!

For me, 2009 was a year to begin getting beyond my “only child” behavior, which tells people the world revolves around me and they should wise up, stop resisting and get with the program.

It seems I’ve made a little progress, because for next year God’s word to me is:

SHINE

It sounds promising.

In case you’re curious, before I was promoted to lessons on growth, the Holy Spirit gave me lessons on obedience (2006), relationships (2007) and reconciliation (2008).

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Last month I was in the Dominican Republic helping out with a vision trip. The last time I was there was in 2008 for my fifth anniversary with Compassion. I went with my wife, Gloria.

The first place we visited on that trip in 2008 was a Child Survival Program (CSP) at Jezreel Student Center. Following the presentation of the program’s facilities and a discussion of the benefits the moms and babies receive, we had the opportunity to do a home visit. It was this home visit that broke Gloria’s heart for the Child Survival Program.

Perhaps it was my ability to see this young girl’s plight through the eyes of my wife, but for the first time I was truly struck by a young mother’s vulnerability and helplessness.

The young mother’s name was Katherine, and she lived in a small plywood hovel that was just to the side of her mother’s home. Plywood and tin, and not enough of either to actually keep the elements out.

In fact, we were told that Katherine would sleep in the small twin bed with her baby and her brother, who was mute. She seemed sad and lonely, but she shared through the interpreter what Compassion meant to her and how her life was already changing because of the Child Survival Program.

Since then, I have thought many times about this young mother and her situation. In fact, it is the one story that I tell about the Child Survival Program.

The only protection for a young and vulnerable woman and her baby was an old piece of plywood that she would pull in front of the opening of her tiny shack. The holes in the walls and roof meant that it rained as hard inside her house as outside. The dirt floor would quickly become nothing but mud, which made the exposed wire from the stolen electricity to run the one light bulb that much more dangerous. She would make candles in order to afford enough food for her and her baby, but if she could not make and sell candles, they would not eat.

On this trip, we had planned to visit a CSP center for our new friends from Oklahoma and Texas, businessmen mostly, plus one gentlemen named Ray who has a ministry to executives.

As we drove to the Child Survival Program, something seemed familiar. As we pulled up on the street outside the church, I knew that I was at Jezreel Student Center again. I was instantly on spiritual alert.

The night before, we had prayed that God would do with us what He would. That we would be open and available to what He wanted to do for us … to break our hearts on this trip.

Honestly, I believe I was expecting great things for our guests, but assumed as a co-host on the trip that I was going to be too busy “hosting” to be moved. Boy was I wrong!

As the CSP presentation carried on I wondered about Katherine, but was soon caught up in the presentation by the pastor, the staff and a drama presented by some of the moms.

Then it was time for our home visit. As we walked toward the house we were to call on, I wanted to ask the pastor if she knew of the woman who lived down a small alley in a tiny house … but I realized that would describe most of the women in this barrio.

Soon, however, I realized that we were heading in the same direction as my last visit. In fact, we turned down the same alley. Walked down the same treacherous trail with broken concrete and water-damaged pathway.

We turned to the right and we came face-to-face with Katherine’s house.

“God, what are you doing?”

Well, we actually walked right past Katherine’s house to a close neighbor for our home visit.

“Whew! I thought you were really going to mess with my heart, God. That was close.”

We had a nice visit with the mother and her two beautiful children. At the end of our visit, they asked if I remembered Santa (the older daughter of the mother we were visiting). Apparently, Santa remembered me from out last visit.

After our visit, I asked if we could walk down the hill to Katherine’s house and see if she was home. She was.

In meeting Katherine the second time, God wrecked me.

Katherine was changed. Her countenance was brighter and she was more open. She had learned valuable skills from being a part of the Child Survival Program, and she was now making and selling jewelry in order to support her family.

Although her countenance had changed, her living conditions had not.

The shack with the dirt floor in which she lived looked no more protective than it had before. She had painted a window on her plywood door, but the door still provided no more protection than when I was there last.

My translator told me that Katherine’s daughter, Villeny, had done her last CSP weigh-in and was moving from the Child Survival Program into our Child Sponsorship Program the following week.

“Is that it God? Is that why you brought me to back to the epicenter of my broken heart for CSP?”

Somehow, Gloria and I feel a very special connection to this family and have a desire to see this family through. And now we have the opportunity to do just that. To be a part of Villeny’s life through her participation in our Child Sponsorship Program, and Lord willing, through the Leadership Development Program.

Katherine is not yet a believer, and I cherish the opportunity to pour into this small family with my wife as their sponsors.

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Friends! It has been much too long. I’m sorry for my extended leave of absence as of late. But I promise … I have a pretty good excuse. Let’s catch up, yes?

Let’s talk Twinkies first.

The Twinkie Project has undergone some serious plastic surgery. Face-lift. Tummy tuck. Lipo. The works. We’ve trimmed her up real nice and purdy. But don’t fret, it’s all for the best.

Who was the surgeon, you ask? Thankfully, not me. I did not excel in anatomy.

This project has been handed off to a team, as in several people, who will be taking it to infinity and beyond. Three highly qualified and ridiculously creative gentlemen are now driving the Twinkie Project to another level of awesomeness. I am still participating in helping to bring it to life, just on a smaller, less time-consuming scale.

Among the many changes that it has seen, the Twinkie Project has been renamed. Granted, the “Twinkie Project” was never on its birth certificate, so the code name still applies for now.

Without giving too much away, I will say this — it has grown much larger than I would have dared to dream.

Turns out the basic idea behind it — sending young people abroad to broadcast their lives to us and teach us about countries and peoples we don’t know — is not so new. As a matter of fact, there are several other organizations and companies that have pioneered this concept.

Only thing is … Compassion is the only one among the crowd that really does something so beautifully different — partnering with the church; equipping pastors to minister to their communities more holistically. We empower and enable people who have the hearts for ministry but not the means.

So while our little “Twinkie” looks like the other Twinkies on the outside, we’re filled with something entirely different on the inside.

Who knew Twinkies could make for such spiritual metaphors? Moving on.

Meanwhile, while the Twinkie has been under the knife, I have been up to some mischief of my own.

Working. Doing my new job. My real, permanent, big-kid job. I GOT HIRED!

I am now an official team member of Donor Services and my role on the team is that of Donor Services Specialist. What all does mean exactly? I have no idea.

KIDDING!

I’m pretty sure I have one of the best jobs in the building. I am hereby responsible for taking the stories and information that we receive from the field (i.e. the countries we work in) regarding the Child Survival Program and working with writers and designers to create crazy-awesome reports that we send to our donors.

See? Uh-mazing job.

And because we serve a big God, donors keep pouring in despite every outside force or news report telling us now is not the time to be giving away your money.

So I stay plenty busy and I couldn’t be happier.

I guess you could say that the intern has finally graduated. God’s timing is not mine, but it is better. His plans have been rich with blessing and had the last year not transpired the way that it did, I would have never known His goodness, His faithfulness or His perfect provision for each day.

So now that I’m not going anywhere … it’s time to have a little fun.

There’s no such thing as detention in the work world, right?

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Dan Trumble, a managerial accountant in Finance Business Partner Support, tells a story of one man’s salvation brought about in a way that only God can orchestrate.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Sean Dana, an International Trip Manager, has been leading sponsor tours for more than three years. On one of his first sponsor tours, he had an opportunity to bring a lifetime of joy to children who rarely get to play, run or laugh because they live in the midst of extreme poverty.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Jacob Kitonsa began working for Compassion in Uganda in 1999. He currently works in our International Program Group as a Senior Leadership Development Program Specialist.

Jacob shares that working for Compassion has given him the opportunity to root himself in Christ, to establish himself as a Christian, and to make his life his ministry.

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Now, I know the organizational structure of a company is not all that exciting, but it does say a lot about how an organization is run, what its priorities are and how it tries to achieve its objectives.

Just take a look at your church.

If it has a senior pastor, five associate pastors, two youth pastors, three children’s ministry directors, two worship pastors, three small group directors and a congregation of 50 people, that’s a problem, wouldn’t you say?

Top heavy, perpetually over budget, ridiculous amounts of overhead.

Now say it’s located near an inner city and its main goal is to do targeted outreach. Now the church is potentially lacking in both talent and funding to achieve its outreach goals.

Mission and budget are crucial pieces of the puzzle for an organization. They drive strategic planning one year and five years down the road and govern the here and now.

They help dictate the best structure of an organization and enable managers to make important decisions around hiring — Who? For what purpose? When?

Last year alone Compassion grew by 371 full-time employees — a 19 percent increase. We have more than 1,500 International Program staff in the field — 67 percent of our total staff is made up of nationals. That says a lot about how we use our resources and go about our mission.

Organizational structure is important, especially for us as we have been growing so rapidly.

You all know we’ve surpassed 1 million concurrently sponsored children. What on earth does it take to support a boatload of new employees and more than 1 million sponsored children?

Well, let’s take a quick look at the mission-keepers and budget preparers at Compassion. They fit under the umbrella title Global Support Services and are one part of what makes things tick here in Colorado Springs.

Global Support Services serves all of Compassion across the board. Made up of Ministry Services and Administrative Services, it is one of four main business units within the Global Ministry Center.

The International Program Group, International Partnership Development, and USA are the other three. (We’ll talk about them another day).

Above those four business units are the Chief Financial Office, Executive Vice President David Dahlin and a small group called MI2 or Ministry Integration and Innovation, which provides across-the-board leadership and coordination for the long-term success of all of our ministries.

Providing oversight and invaluable leadership is the Chief Executive Officer, and the heart of Compassion, the beloved Wess Stafford.

But we wanted to get into the nitty gritty, right? Well, here goes.

The business unit I work in, Ministry Services, is made up of a few different departments. Some are fairly self-explanatory and others might need a descriptor or two.

In no particular order, we’re talking about Human Resources, Information Technology (IT), the Global Strategy Office, Facilities, Travel, the Distribution Center and Procurement. (Apologies if I’ve missed any).

Administrative Services is made up of Finance and the Office of Risk Management. And maybe these sound like laundry lists, but each one is a living, breathing organism. These are some of the gears in the great Compassion machine.

In Administrative Services, take Finance, for example — the budget preparers. (And budget preparation is only one small aspect of what they do). The Finance department alone has a key objective, values and a vision statement.

The Finance function enables the mission of Compassion by

“providing excellent financial services that promote integrity and stewardship while equipping the global organization to make wise ministry choices.”

Its values center on trust, teamwork, communication and being proactive and customer-focused.

Lastly, its vision by 2015 is to transform in order to

“provide value-added, influential and outstanding financial services globally while modeling excellence in customer service, innovation, collaboration and education and training.”

These are talented folks. I’d personally like to invite a few to work some magic with my personal finances, but alas, they are busy serving Compassion’s mission to make sure that we are financially viable now and in the future to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name.

In Ministry Services, let’s take a quick look at the Global Strategy Office.

It is made up of the Office of Corporate Planning, the Global Project Office, Global Internal Communications and Business Enterprise Architecture. Intimidating sounding names, eh?

I thought so when first coming on board.

Well, Corporate Planning folks are essentially the mission-keepers. They work to ensure that “both the long-term (three to five years) and short-term plans (within the fiscal year) for Compassion and all Compassion domains are clearly aligned with the mission to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name and move Compassion closer to our envisioned future.”

Biz talk for they keep us on track. They connect our mission to measurable outcomes so we can know we are doing what we set out to do.

Mission. Budget. Organizational structure. There is a lot more to talk about with regard to these things, but I’ll leave us here for now.

Next time we can explore some of the other major business units or dive into a smaller division, like the Distribution Center, to finally figure out how all our child letters get in and out.

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