The Ending of an Era

January 17th, 2001 - Marks the day that I first started working on a team called the "Commitment Team". It was my first job working in a Christian environment, my first job working on a computer, and my first job where I felt truly wanted and accepted. Fourteen wonderful people welcomed me on that cold Wednesday in January. They went around in a circle and said their names and how long they had been working with Compassion, and most had only started a few months earlier. Bill, Nancy, Allie, Gayle, Barbara, Scott, Susie, CarolG, CarolW, Christie, Mary, Connie, Alisha, and my dear boss, Robert. I was immediately amazed at their kindness and how they were so excited to have me join their team.
I soon grew to love them all and we developed deep, lasting relationships with each other. We went through a lot together. The first month I was there, we were hit hard with sponsorship requests and voluntarily gave our Saturday mornings to the work of the ministry. I loved those Saturday mornings. Robert would bring in huge "B-52 Bomber" burritos from Classic Hamburgers, and we would crank out as much work as we could. I loved sitting at the long tables in front of the huge Chapel windows that looked Southwest towards the Twin Peaks. I loved folding the child packets and putting them in envelopes to be sent off to their new sponsor. I loved taking huge stacks of child photos and marking them as available for sponsorship. I loved the time when our team would gather for breaks and pray or read or rest on the big couches in the corner room. I loved the fun Hawaiian potlucks we would have and the big birthday celebrations.
Three months after I started we moved from our jam-packed office into a beautiful big new office building. With the move came many changes and the Commitment Team changed right along with it. We gave processes to other departments, streamlined work flow, added new tasks and helped those around us. Compassion has grown from roughly 300 employees to nearly 600; and from 350,000 children to over a million children. Our little Commitment Team has seen 39 people come and go over the past 7 years, and each one of them had a heart of gold. We've prayed for one another, played pranks on on another, laughed with one another, stood by each other during hard times, and together we've released children from poverty in Jesus' name. Seven years is a long time to spend on one team, but I could spend the rest of my working days with this wonderful team - they were more than just coworkers, they were my family.


Late last year, I found myself in a quandary; facing a decision to leave my beloved team and start down a new road. I resisted the thought of ever leaving my team, and opted against applying for other positions. Little did I realize that God would be working in my life and changing my heart ever so slowly. Last month, I realized that He was calling me to serve Him in a new way, and with a new team. His hand worked not only in my heart, but in all the circumstances around me and suddenly, before I knew what was happening, I was interviewing for the position and was offered the job.

April 25th, 2008 - Marked the day that ended a very special era in my life; my last day working on that wonderful team, now called "Constituent Account Services".

April 28th, 2008 - A new road, a new team, a new purpose begins. A new era in which to serve my Lord, Compassion, the precious children and their sponsors.

"But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations."
Psalm 33:11