The one part of our work that I [Chris] have positively
loved the most since entering our ministry life, is our co-workers. I’ve been amazed at some of their stories and
have made some of the best friendships of my life in these last five
years. This past weekend, I had a reaffirmation
of just how much I love the people I work with.
I went to Dallas for the Evangelical Missiological Society
conference. The event was held at the
Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics, where we studied in 2012 in
preparation for the field. I had been
asked to present during the conference and I also volunteered running sound and
doing some photography at the conference.
It was a full visit in more
ways than one.
In part, it was full because I was busy. I was all around the conference taking photos
whenever I wasn’t checking on projectors in the different presentation
rooms. I also ran the sound board a few
times for some sessions. In the middle
of it all, I presented during a thirty-minute session. I don’t think I did a very good job on my
session, but so be it. I like these
things to marinate in my mind and I didn’t really have my topic fully
“tenderized” in my head, so it was a little rough around the edges.
Even before the conference began, having arrived a day and a
half early, I visited with two different longtime friends from Virginia that
have relocated to Texas, in addition to seeing my sister and her family that
live around the DFW area. Also, when the
conference ended, I was able to visit briefly with the church that we called
home during our time of training in 2012.
Those visits were all fantastic and relationally rewarding.
But, with apologies to all, the greatest fullness from the weekend was from being
“with my tribe…” my ethnoarts family. I
was able to spend at least a little bit of time with more than 15 of my
ethnoarts colleagues during four days at the campus in Dallas and it was
straight up joy.
For those of you that at some point in your life have been
in love, do you remember the butterflies you got in your stomach when you were
about to ring the doorbell to pick up your date? The anticipation of the moment that you
finally get to be with that someone special?
That’s the feeling I get whenever I’m about to be with my tribe. I know it sounds silly, and maybe even
foolish to describe it in those terms…but that’s the type of feelings I have
when I’m with these folks. They are just
awesome to be around and I can’t get enough of their company.
One thing that has been really difficult to describe in our
last few months of furlough is the closeness I have with my ethnoarts family
and how it can be a bit taxing emotionally that some of us have such deep
connections but are scattered far and wide around the world. I have colleagues from different domains that
I love very much and that work right beside me in Cameroon…but it’s just not
quite like being with my tribe.
So now it’s back to Virginia, where there is only one of my ethnoarts
family nearby instead of more than a dozen.
But be assured, my mind is always wandering to the big calendar in my
head, thinking how long it is until the next time that I get to be with a large
segment of the tribe…and the next time…and the next…even looking forward almost
two years to various meetings and events where I will be enjoying some here and
some there. I truly work with the best
and most fun people in the world. You
could say it’s bittersweet, but I don’t think that’s quite right: they’re so good, so sweet, that they outclass
the bitter. Sweetbitter…that’s what we'll call it.
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| With mentors and colleagues Frank Fortunato, Robin Harris, and Brian Schrag. |
