Kevin's midsummer evaluation

I (Kevin) wanted to give you a brief evaluation of my summer since we are at the halfway point of the Leadership Project. I am learning much about myself, sin is being revealed to me, and I see our students growing and being challenged. I will begin with myself. I came into the summer expecting the students to learn more about the gospel and themselves than myself. I have been on these types of projects before, even in a leadership position. But I am amazed at how much I am learning about myself this summer and hope that my students are learning as much about themselves as I am? Over the past few weeks our staff team has been learning about the need to be open and vulnerable. We discussed an article in staff training, which argued the essence of maturity in believers is defined by love and character. Love and character are grown from vulnerability. We looked at a continuum where love was opposed by defensiveness. The nature of defensiveness is to keep people away from being involved deeply in one’s life and this does not foster a relationship of love. Defensiveness deters maturity where as love promotes it. To apply this to our lives, our staff team implemented this idea of the “hot seat.” We met last week in small groups of staff men and women to try it out. The person in the hot seat is asked any question by the other members of the group and has to answer honestly. It is very challenging to answer hard questions and be totally honest with others, but it felt freeing.
Out of this hot seat and along with evaluating my life I have seen sin revealed to me. Mostly it has been unhealthily comparing myself to my other staff team because I want to be the best. The result of this comparison has either been pride or insecurity. Since, I became aware of this in my life I have sought to lead our students not just out of my strengths but also my weaknesses. Leading out of my weaknesses has meant letting the students I am discipling see my insecurities. This in turn has led to much openness from them and more spiritual growth. We have become more honest with one another, which has allowed me to speak more boldly into their lives. Needless to say this has been exciting.
I am also growing more aware of my “giftings” or strengths. This past week our staff took a test to determine our strengths and weaknesses. After taking the test, it was determined that I was a “Networker.” It was amazing how accurate a 20 minute test can be to determine what work environment I thrive in. It truly seemed a perfect description of my strengths and weaknesses. It said the following: “Naturally cooperates with others to get the job done. Prefers to lead by working with others, rather than by "taking charge." A naturally outgoing person who enjoys meeting strangers; enthusiastic and good at networking. Objective and not afraid to make difficult decisions; likes to move ahead at a fast pace. Spontaneous; prefers to operate flexibly and without a lot of details or restrictions. Adventurous, ambitious, and competitive; attracted by a challenge. Will use a mixture of abstract and concrete ideas to solve problems and initiate change. Well this is an update from me personally, hope this encourages you.