Saturday, March 21, 2009

Work Group Update

Today our Chloe's Place Foundation Building Team met for most of the day. I am in awe of this group of women who have committed to bring our vision for Chloe's Place to reality. There is so much to do as we have facility, staffing, promotional, legal, volunteer, and collaborative decisions to make and policies to develop. The program component is pretty much intact, thanks to our collaboration with Hope House of Colorado, though we have to tweak it to meet our state regulations and facility restraints.

Today we:
  • Prioritized tasks to meet commitments and opportunities for promoting our work in the next few months.
  • Focused on refining the content and presentation of our promotional materials.
  • Considered the process for expanding our work group
  • Started work on building our governing board
  • Enjoyed lunch and getting to know each other better
We are, on one hand, in a holding pattern as we await the decision of the church that is considering housing Chloe's Place. On the other hand, we are preparing to move quickly, trusting that we will get good news about the facility.

We are receiving an increasing number of requests to meet with potential collaborative partners. I'm scheduling into late April, at this point! We are starting to receive requests to speak to groups... very exciting.

One motivation for writing this blog is to express my personal reflections on pursuit of the dream and vision. This week I read a statement by Chuck Swindoll , a pastor/teacher I admire, about his commitment to ministry. It really struck a chord with me. I am taking his words and changing them a bit to express my commitment to leadership in the ministry of Chloe's Place... I am sold out to this work- whether lonely or surrounded by friends, misunderstood or affirmed, exhausted or energized, resented or respected, all alone with my computer or presenting to a crowd, under the gun or relaxed in the sun. God has called me to lead and that's exactly what I must do, like it or not, in season or out of season. For me there are no other acceptable options. The calling to establish Chloe's Place is an incredible joy and privilege!