Hello from Colorado!

Hello from Fort Collins, CO! We just finished the Epic National Staff Conference portion of our time here. It is so encouraging to gather as an Epic family to celebrate what God has done this past year, and be challenged to serve with faith and boldness from our national leaders. Some highlights:

* Hearing the history of the Epic Movement: how it started with 4 staff and has grown to about 70 (including interns), how it was almost called GenerAsian, and how Tommy Dyo joined to become our first Epic Movement National Director.

* Hearing the mission, dreams, plans and possibilities ahead

* Getting into working groups to strategically plan for topics like, “How can Epic bring the gospel effectively to lost students in the Asian-American community?”, “How can Epic develop and empower Asian American women in leadership?” and ” How can Epic mobilize laborers for humanitarian ministry and justice issues and integrate Epic’s mission with these other significant Kindom callings?”

* Being reminded that our mission is: “Mobilizing the untapped to the unreached.”

One thing that strikes out to me about this conference is how everyone demonstrated incredible transparency. Tommy Dyo talked about his “rats and trash” theology: how if we have trash (sin) in our life, rats (consequences of sin) will naturally follow. Take out the trash, and the rats will slowly go away. I really appreciated how many people openly shared about trash in their life. This is so refreshing, especially in an Asian American context where “saving face” and not sharing problems publicly is valued.

My favorite line from today was shared by a sister who spoke very vulnerably about something she has been trusting God for several years. Although God has not answered her prayers as she has been hoping, she shared how she continues to trust in God’s goodness and faithfulness. She read a devotional by Rick Warren who wrote, “God is never in a hurry” and “God’s delay never destroy’s His purpose.” This struck me deeply, since I tend to be a very impatient and easily discouraged person. I was reminded today that the purpose of our relationship with God is not for our personal happiness or comfort, but for God’s glory and our sanctification.

It is a blessing to be able to serve alongside my Epic Movement co-workers. Even when we don’t always have our acts together, we can accept and cheer each other on along this path to work for far greater purposes than we can achieve on our own. Just one more reason I love my job!