West Meets East

We are finally back in the city and revving up for the start of a new semester. This is always my favorite time of year. I’m excited to meet the freshmen and see what God will do this semester!

We recently returned from our NYC metro team staff retreat. It was somewhat sad that our team was so small. Usually, our staff retreats have at least 15 people attending. But with people still raising support, others leaving the city for various reasons, and babies on the way (this is an exciting reason!) we only had 10 of us there. It was humbling for us to consider our scope (1.5 million students!) and the size of our team. But I am believing that God is going to use us to show His glory and help reap a great harvest of souls. Please pray earnestly with us for God to intervene!

One good thing that came out of the intimate size of our group was that I definitely felt a community and camaraderie that I never experienced before in all the 4 years I’ve served in the city. Part of the reason was the size, of course, and the fact that most of us were “veterans.” But I also think that part of the reason is that more than half of us there were Epic staff. Asian Americans tend to naturally be community-minded and want to hear from everyone in the group. A couple of us even shared how we felt like we got to know everyone in the group a lot more after our staff retreat. What a blessing!

All this to say: I am really interested to see the dynamics of the team now that a majority of us are Asian Americans. Will we step up and let our thoughts and ideas be heard in our weekly staff meetings? (We tend to be the quietest on the team!) Will we be given more leadership roles? (I can see that happening already) Will we be more direct when wanting to communicate an opinion that goes against the “louder voice”? I guess you’ll have to stay tuned to find out.

Which reminded me of this awesome designer (Yang Liu) who created all these different images representing Eastern and Western culture. Some of my favorites (from http://mountainrunner.us/2008/01/differences_between_eastern_an.html) are very true for my team:

Opinion

Way of Life

Contacts

Anger

Me

Handling of Problems

Check out Yang Liu’s website (www.yangliudesign.com) to find out more about her “Ost trifft West” (East Meets West) exhibit.