Big Gringo
Mucho en "La Fe"
La Fe carries a lot of significance. In Spanish, La Fe means the faith. In InterVarsity-speak, La Fe also stands for Latino Fellowship, representing the needs of over 35 Latino staff and 1,200 Latino students across the country.
As part of my ministry with InterVarsity, not only am I responsible for nurturing la fe lives of college students, but I'm also priviledged to serve the ministry of La Fe in InterVarsity in a few capacities. Locally, here in Los Angeles, we now have a team of staff - full-time & interns - that serve together to empower & advance Latino ministry to reach and serve the 350,000 Latino college students here in the greater L.A. basin. Tomorrow night we'll have our first of 4 training/leadership meetings for this group of staff, and we'll plan and prepare for the "Cumbre de Alabanza" event on November 17th.
In addition, I also serve (as the lone gringo) on the National La Fe Servant Leadership team - a coordinating team of staff from La Fe for the broader ministry of InterVarsity across the country. As the only non-Latino on the team, I'm still finding my place, trying to listen carefully for exactly what it is that God has me on that team for. Not that I doubt my own commitment to ministry in the Latino community. But offering national (or even local) leadership as a gringo is a dance that I'm still learning the steps for.
Regardless, though, I'm travelling Thursday morning to meet through Sunday with that team and the other ethnic-minority leadership teams in InterVarsity for a historic first meeting. While each ethnic-minority community has had a leadership team for 10-15 years, this will be the first time that all 3 teams have gathered jointly to discuss & grow the ministry of InterVarsity nationally. Again, my place at the table in these meetings will be unique, as I discern what role I am to play. Lots to learn, that is for sure.
As part of my ministry with InterVarsity, not only am I responsible for nurturing la fe lives of college students, but I'm also priviledged to serve the ministry of La Fe in InterVarsity in a few capacities. Locally, here in Los Angeles, we now have a team of staff - full-time & interns - that serve together to empower & advance Latino ministry to reach and serve the 350,000 Latino college students here in the greater L.A. basin. Tomorrow night we'll have our first of 4 training/leadership meetings for this group of staff, and we'll plan and prepare for the "Cumbre de Alabanza" event on November 17th.
In addition, I also serve (as the lone gringo) on the National La Fe Servant Leadership team - a coordinating team of staff from La Fe for the broader ministry of InterVarsity across the country. As the only non-Latino on the team, I'm still finding my place, trying to listen carefully for exactly what it is that God has me on that team for. Not that I doubt my own commitment to ministry in the Latino community. But offering national (or even local) leadership as a gringo is a dance that I'm still learning the steps for.
Regardless, though, I'm travelling Thursday morning to meet through Sunday with that team and the other ethnic-minority leadership teams in InterVarsity for a historic first meeting. While each ethnic-minority community has had a leadership team for 10-15 years, this will be the first time that all 3 teams have gathered jointly to discuss & grow the ministry of InterVarsity nationally. Again, my place at the table in these meetings will be unique, as I discern what role I am to play. Lots to learn, that is for sure.
posted by Scott @ 2:00 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Does IVCF ever engage alumni in these discussions? I was active at IV for 4 years at NYU as an undergrad and would love to contribute ...
I'm not sure what other regions do, but here in LA, we're trying to keep our Latino alumni more involved, especially in larger events like "Cumbre."
But I'm not sure we've really done the best job at engaging alumni over the years. Do you have any suggestions about how to engage alumni in the discussion?
I have several ideas from the seemingly obvious to maybe less so.
1. Keep in touch. In an era of technological innovations like email and blogging, there's really no excuse not to keep alumni informed of what's going on generally with the campus and more specificly with discussions such as La Fe, etc. You and Abner are the first IVCF staff members I seen engage the La Fe discussion in a platform like this one where we can have dialogue.
2. Ask for help. It was years before the new staff minister at NYU after I graduated ever reached out to me for any reason -- never mind to ask for help (which he never really did, despite my offers to help) -- even though I was one of the most active student leaders in my four undergrad years and was ministering at a church within walking distance of the school and was a graduate student on the campus.
3. Invite. Invite alumni back to campus to attend special events, speak on relevant topics, mentor student leaders, participate in panel discussions, etc.
4. Identify. Identify alumni that might be able to contribute insights and leadership to discussions like La Fe and engage them on that level.
5. Advocate. Sometimes it's easier for alumni to be the bearers of hard news for management to hear rather than the staff workers. So advocate for their inclusion in the process and empower them to be candid and frank.
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