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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So to follow up on the clock analogy, what makes Compassion tick? Which gears and teeth make Compassion run and how?

Are there letter-writing genies in the basement? Does Compassion’s headquarters even have a basement?

Do Santa’s workshop personnel kick it here during the off-season addressing and licking envelopes and sleighing over to Togo, India and Honduras to drop off sponsor letters? Payroll and finance must have a tough time keeping up with the influx of elfishness.

No genies. No basement (that I’m aware of). No elves. No sleigh. (Although there may or may not be a task force looking into the cost benefit analysis of said magical sleigh. Postage is expensive.)

Today, I will break this down into a very high level overview. It won’t be totally satisfying but one must start somewhere. We can get into the nitty gritty later.

First the Ministry Paradigm. Or rather, my version of it.

Before you tune out, the Ministry Paradigm is basically a high-level representation of how Compassion is organized to best serve children.

And when you think about it, every organization should have a specific goal: mainly to take the mission and vision, devise a strategy to implement change, employ specific operations to reach the desired outcomes, and measure them along the way to gauge impact. Right?

I think we can all agree that the children are the main focus of Compassion’s work. The children are the reason you sponsor, and it is you who allow us to serve them.

Now, we’ve got two sides of the equation. Two main feeders serving Compassion’s children — church partners in the field and sponsors here in the U.S. (and abroad). A gross misrepresentation, but go with this analogy: hands and money.

First, the hands.

Implementing church partners are those churches on the ground in developing countries that host the child programs. They provide services to children ranging from spiritual education to meals to health checkups and more.

How do they do this? With a lot of help. Undergirding all implementing church partners is an entity called International Program.

International Program’s main function is to implement and communicate programs. There are four programs that holistically serve children from infancy, potentially through college: Child Survival, Child Sponsorship, Leadership Development and Complementary Interventions (CIV).

The diagram below may look familiar to you.

The indiscernible numbers along the bottom represent the ages of children as they move through Compassion’s programs. The red line moving through the model represents Complimentary Interventions that complete the core programming as needed.

Disaster relief, water projects, infrastructure development and income-generating activities all affect the environment in which children live.

Interventions relating to AIDS, malaria or education are activities that supplement development outcomes of children. These are CIV.

We talked about the hands —  now, the money.

If you look back up at the Ministry Paradigm diagram, you’ll find sponsors, donors and supporting church partners play a crucial role in supporting children. Without these key players there would be no Compassion.

So, if you sponsor a kid, that’s you. You in Missouri, you in Canada, you in the U.K.

The Global Partner Alliance is the main body supporting sponsors, donors and supporting church partners. Its main function is to attract and engage sponsors and donors.

The Global Partner Alliance is made up of the 10 partner countries that fall voluntarily under the Compassion International umbrella. That is Compassion U.K., Australia, Korea, Switzerland, Italy, etc.

So, what drives the relationship between the hands and the money? How do you ensure that what’s happening in Togo is the same thing that’s happening in Guatemala, and that Compassion Deutschland is on the same page as Compassion Korea?

Good question. It’s the executive leadership of Compassion International, housed here at the Global Ministry Center in Colorado Springs.

They provide leadership and coordination at the highest level. They are the go-between for International Program and Global Partner Alliance, ensuring long-term integrity of operations and communications. No small feat for an organization of more than 2,000 workers serving more than 1 million sponsored children in 26 countries.

Undergirding it all is Global Support Services. Its main mission is self-explanatory but worth repeating: to provide shared support services across the greater ministry of Compassion International.

That, in its most basic form is the big picture — a high-level look at how Compassion is structured to carry out its mission of releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name.

Tune in soon for a breakdown of life and structure here at Compassion International in Colorado Springs — the Global Ministry Center. We’ll take a deeper dive into Global Support Services.

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Lest I misled readers with my first entry on the epic move from New York City to Colorado Springs, I must confess that I am not a true city slicker.

While yes, I did most recently come from NYC, it was only a two-year stint for graduate school. An unfortunate amount of that time was spent in a university library.

I grew up in a suburb 30 minutes outside “the city,” as it’s referred to. (There apparently is no other city comparable in the world according to New Yorkers, so the definite article is used.)

My town was pretty standard: backyard, front lawn, dog and cat, older sister who bossed me around, friends “on the block,” peanut butter and jelly in a paper bag, squashed.

I walked to school, played kickball in the street and stoopball at my grandma’s before requisite the 19-course Sunday meal.

And while man’s talent seems to reign supreme in Manhattan’s skyscrapers and Broadway shows, God’s talent reigns supreme here in Colorado Springs at Compassion. From the glory of Pikes Peak and tremendous Colorado thunderstorms, to the daily happenings in the conference room near my desk at Compassion, God is sovereign and present.

Part of my first three months here at work has been spent trying to figure out how Compassion functionally works. And that is what I’d like to pass along to any interested readers.

I won’t bore you with a PowerPoint presentation on the organizational matrix, but I will attempt to scratch the surface of a beloved organization in order to help us all understand what makes Compassion tick and how it actually does the ticking.

But first, here is the surface.

In order to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name, we’ve got to implement programs that reach the children. That requires funding and support.

So, Compassion is set up to do all three: attract and engage sponsors and donors, provide shared support services, and implement programs.

And mind you, my next posts will not be the official version. So please, take this with a grain (lump) of salt.

I’m still getting my bearings here and will be drawing from large corporate documents, orientation presentations and conversations with co-workers.

So, while I’m striving for integrity of information, do not take this as canon, but rather the unofficial version. Understood?

Be assured that it will also unavoidably be tainted with my humor, which often falls flat.

Thanks for coming along for the ride!

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“So you moved from New York City … to Colorado Springs? Wow.” Full stop. “That must be a big adjustment …”

“Yes indeed,” I reply.

And that is the most common reaction I (right) get. What makes me chuckle though is the momentary look of utter confusion that passes over a person’s face as the “How” and “Why” questions begin to percolate, fighting their way to the mind’s surface.

It is as if my co-worker could, for the very briefest of moments, still get a whiff of the cab that took me to NYC’s LaGuardia Airport three months ago. The taxi driver was a cologne-toting, disco-listening, ’70s throw-back who threw even me for a loop, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a strange co-mingling of cab and cologne left on me.

But in all honesty, I chuckle at myself more than anything. Because I fully realize I do it, too, right back at my co-worker telling me he is from a distant town in eastern Texas or a one-stoplight town in Nebraska.

And I go shuffling frantically through the file folders in my mind to come up with something, anything, only to arrive at the “N” section out of breath. I find that my Nebraska file is empty — save for the dusty “Lincoln” filed in 1987 during the lesson on state capitals that I never mastered.

Slightly embarrassed, I refocus on my conversation partner, knowing that my sheepish smile is perhaps conveying an equally disconcerting non-meeting of the minds.

I chuckle, thanking God for humor and grace. And that’s what makes the world go round — God. I suppose that is how I landed here in the Wild West after all.

And by “suppose” I mean it was all Him, and by “here” I mean Compassion International’s Global Ministry Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

One of the best parts, right off the bat, has been realizing that these momentary non-meetings of the mind are so unbelievably insignificant in the face of a mission so clear and near to God’s heart — releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name.

Over the last three months I’ve been learning about my co-workers. Nebraska, for example, is a brother and a friend who dispenses grace like orange slices at a kid’s soccer game.

The once shamefully empty file folder in my head is bulking up very slowly with remnants from his life and how God is continuing to make him a man after His own heart. I can now locate Nebraska on the map, and even the town where he’s from.

And this has been my experience thus far of Compassion-ites. Truly amazing. Amazingly talented. People of creativity, ambition, grace and, oddly enough, compassion.

Another amazing part about work at Compassion so far is knowing that in some teeny tiny way I’m able to do something for kids growing up in poverty — the ones struggling to fight the lies that tell them they don’t matter and will amount to nothing.

I played soccer with them in Brazil and lost miserably; I was blessed to visit them in Panama at their schools and was humbled at the loving reception; I was toured around cities in Tanzania by kids living and working on the streets. Kids on glue to quell hunger pains, but kids eager to hold my hand and show me their world.

I’ve seen their resiliency and determination in the face of impossible circumstances and I know that God is in their midst. That His presence is there.

So maybe the fax machine near my office intimated me on day three, and maybe I can’t find pizza with decent crust in this town, and maybe I’m still fumbling around in my new role here at Compassion, but the list of things that just don’t matter in light of God’s glory, continues to grow.

And hopefully I’m growing too.

So, in response to the “How” and “Why” questions on my cross-country move … I suppose airplane, moving truck and God don’t really suffice. But what I see in my mind’s eye is liquid grace trickling through God’s labyrinth, running together and overflowing. Joining New York, Nebraska and Compassion International.

And now, a 12-year-old girl in Colombia, Elizeth, I’m blessed to sponsor. Humbled for perhaps the billionth time in the last three months, I thank God. Daily.

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Hello. My name is Ally Patton. I’m a Las Vegas native currently attending the University of Nevada, Reno.

This past summer, I interned at Compassion in the Global Ministry Center. There, I worked to establish the Delivery Community* as well as to formulate a detailed road map for upcoming project management training intended to further equip and empower Compassion staff.

When I started my internship, President and CEO Wess Stafford offered a revolutionary idea during my first day of staff orientation. He held up his hands and used his thumbs and index fingers to form a triangle. This top-down pyramid is the traditional model of leadership.

Yes, I’d heard this before. This is how the working world functions — the base supports the top, and the top, due to its position, makes the final call on all projects, decisions, etc.

But then Wess moved his hands, flipping that triangle upside down and said this is how leadership is supposed to look.

I gawked as Wess explained he may be in a position of leadership, but that didn’t mean he was at the top of the triangle.

Instead, he calmly clarified that because of his position in leadership, he was the bottom point of the triangle. As a leader, it is his responsibility to serve and support the rest of the organization — the staff, the global partners and, most important, the sponsored children.

That day I squirmed in my chair, confused by this role reversal. This is not how business functions. This is not how projects are executed. This is not how the world works.

But while this is not how the world works, this is how the kingdom of God is meant to be.

Philippians 2:3-8 adds value to this worldview and the concept of servant leadership. In the New International Version (yes, I prefer this version over ESV) this reads:

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!”

When I arrived at Compassion, I came as a culturally aware college student from a secular university. I saw these verses in Philippians as vital to following Christ. Yes, implement them at home, with friends, at church and in the streets. But in my occupation?

Surely, this didn’t have a place in the power plays of the business world.

Due to previous work environments at my past jobs, I was baffled by the integration of Compassion’s core values into the attitudes and work of all staff, from the bottom to the top.

Why was everyone so nice? Why is everyone poured into their work 100 percent with no complaints? Why aren’t people fighting their way to the top of the ladder, of the triangle? Why do they want to help me? Why does my role matter to them? Why do I matter?

I didn’t understand the idea of the upside-down triangle. Perhaps more striking, I didn’t see its place in a grand-scale organization.

But after a mere month my heart changed as a result of working in such a Christ-centered environment.

Through what I (far right) saw in others, I saw a need to change within myself. I was blessed every day by the servant attitude my co-workers and supervisors exhibited.

I learned that to lead I must serve, that to give is better than to receive, and that to help others is better than to solely help myself.

As you carry out your work, regardless of your position, you are in a position of power. You have the opportunity to lead, to execute and to finish projects that matter to the people involved.

I encourage you to not buy the lie, the worldly and culturally acceptable belief that traditional leadership denotes power. We don’t need all-knowing decision-makers. We need responsible leaders who lead by example — by Christ’s example.

Compassion has a long history of good stewardship. Partake in that legacy. Do nothing out of selfish ambition, be consistently humble and look to the interest of others. Actively seek to invert the triangle, and then watch God’s kingdom impact our world.

*The Delivery Community is targeted to Compassion staff interested and engaged in Project Management. Through regular group meetings and the Intranet, employees come together to learn how to more effectively manage projects and deliver them on schedule, on budget, and within scope.

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In October, my crazy friend, Marc, and I will be running a marathon! To build the stamina to run 26.2 miles we started training months ago. I underestimated how much of my time and energy this consumes. We meet early mornings, usually around 5 a.m., for long runs.

Some mornings, it’s rainy. Or cold. Most mornings, my bed feels so cozy and the thought of hitting the pavement sounds ridiculous! However, I know in the end, the discipline will pay off when we cross the finish line.

In order to keep our minds off the pain of running, Marc and I usually talk about a number of our favorite things, but rarely do we talk about spiritual disciplines. Although lately I’ve been thinking a lot about fasting, which is weird since training for a marathon means I should probably be eating more food.

However, there are a number of different ways to fast – with refraining from media outlets and food or specific drinks being quite common. But regardless of what the fast is about, they all make me uncomfortable. I told this to Marc, a relatively new Christian, and his response stunned me.

“Well, I don’t understand fasting. Jesus Christ died on the cross for me, and in return, I’m supposed to give up Starbucks? Seems like we’re missing the point.”

Whoa! Instantly, I was humbled.

When I fast, I usually chose something that won’t necessarily bother me too much… like abstaining from Starbucks or Facebook. Marc and I discussed the issue of fasting for the next couple of miles. We compared it to our marathon training.

I realize that much like my marathon training prepares my physical body for the task ahead of me, Christian fasting is a discipline for the soul. By fasting, I make a conscious decision to sacrifice comfort to draw closer to the heart of Christ. Fasting allows us the privilege of sharing in His suffering.

After a couple of miles, I realized that maybe my problem with fasting is that I was missing the point all along. As with all things that are difficult, such as fasting or marathon training, there is also so much joy to be found.

May we challenge ourselves today to pray about a way we can experience the discipline of Christian fasting, and in doing so, enter into the presence of our God.

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