This morning we were invited to a team meeting that included all of the full-time employees who were able to attend. Some attended by phone. Tim Altman, the CEO, started the meeting with a devotional from II Corinthians 4. He then challenged the group to thank God for their trials by recognizing that God uses difficult times in our lives to produce stronger character in us. Several in the group followed Tim’s lead in prayer. After this prayer time, each team member gave a brief description of what he or she has been working on. Any difficult issues were posted on a prayer board. After all had spoken, Tim acknowledged that this has been a challenging year for the ministry and, based upon all that was happening and the issues posted to the prayer board, he proposed a voluntary “prayer surge” for the next two weeks. The team agreed to a 9:30 AM prayer meeting each day for the next two weeks, including WebEx or teleconference for those unable to attend in person. This commitment to prayer is evidence of a ministry that relies on God. Tim allowed me the honor of closing the team meeting in prayer.
The whole office took Debbie and me out for lunch today. We enjoyed a warm time of fellowship and some good food at a Japanese restaurant before returning to work. Surrounding lunch, with help of soundman Jeremy Gover, Debbie and I recorded some sound bites to be used as bumps on the Sunday night show. These features are called All Access and portray hope coaches as real people to encourage listeners to call. For example, Debbie had lines like “One thing that most people don’t know about me is that I have been keeping a journal since 1986” and “My favorite part of being a hope coach is praying with teenagers and young adults at the end of the call.” I had lines like “Being a hope coach is rewarding for me personally because I have no children of my own and I get to help young people” and “If I could only take one thing with me on a desert island it would be a powerboat to get back to the mainland.”
For the remainder of the afternoon, we returned to the RSS software redesign project. This project will require much staff time. Each issue triggers unique prompts and resources in the software. For the listening stage of an interaction with a youth, there are unique open-ended questions for each issue. In the encouraging/coaching stage, there are unique coaching points. There are also unique Bible passages to share. Someone must distill and map out these unique values for the many issues that hope coaches can face. Thus far, we have only dealt with one issue. However, once the template for the software is defined, someone can complete the matrix and hand it off to a programmer.
If you have followed these blog entries from the start, perhaps you are now curious as to how this ministry is funded. After all, they staff a 1-800 call support number and online chats without soliciting from those they help. In addition, they produce a weekly call-in radio show that is syndicated across the U.S. Chuck Arnold, DMA’s Chief Financial Officer, explains how the ministry is funded.
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