contributed by Jim Naugle / edited by Paula Hemphill I'm not exactly a Child Ambassador superstar. I haven't presented an event where dozens of children were sponsored. I haven't earned enough sponsorships to go on a Vision Trip. During my six years of being a Child Ambassador, I generally got a few kids sponsored each year and talked at a church or two. I’d send out several emails to friends and local churches which usually went unanswered. I took solace in the fact that I was changing lives one at a time, but I kept having the feeling that I could be doing more. This year has been a little different. I have scheduled significantly more meetings with pastors and church committees. I’ve had more one-on-one conversations with friends and acquaintances about sponsorship. I'm on pace to have more sponsorships and refugee responders than previous years. As I reflect on trying to figure out what is different this year, I see that the answer lies in my relationships with other Child Ambassadors.
I think of the time I heard Child Ambassador Javy Diaz talk about how if we each just got 1 sponsorship a month, that would be 12 in a year, and we would crush our goals as a team. I remember Megan Caddell telling us how successful Child Ambassadors don’t have a special formula, they just arrange child sponsorships by reaching out-- one person at a time. Then there’s Dee Billing who suggested that I rely less on emails and focus more on personal, direct phone calls. At last year’s Child Ambassador Conference Merrill Swenke sat on stage, play acting her role as a Child Ambassador as she made the point that she makes time during her workday to call churches and that she is persistent. I recall fellow CA, Sue Kurnett, posting on Facebook that during the year of her 50th birthday she set a goal to get 50 children connected to 50 sponsors. I remember Rich Stearns’ talk last year when he demonstrated the seriousness of the Syrian refugee crisis by comparing the numbers of refugees with the populations of 19 U.S. cities: Seattle, San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, Denver, Albuquerque, Fort Worth, Dallas, Austin, Indianapolis, Columbus, Nashville, Charlotte, Jacksonville, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Boston, and Detroit. Stu and Celeste Sherman shared an audio version of their Syrian refugee talk which allowed me to get started on my own presentation by liberally borrowing-- or perhaps stealing-- from their talk. I retain the image of ten Child Ambassadors standing at last year’s Child Ambassador dinner, each one invited to see World Vision’s work in Rwanda and the inspiration that provides for the rest of us to strive for the same goal. And I consider Paula Hemphill and how she reaches out to her child ambassador team with regular contact and prayer. There's a common thread here. I met all of these people at conference over the past six years. Each one has provided a piece of the puzzle, a building block to becoming an effective Child Ambassador. Each one of them has been inspiring, encouraging, setting the bar a little higher each year as I meet them at conference. God leads the right people to conference year after year and as Javy Diaz wrote in his blog, God combines them as parts of an orchestra into one beautiful song. The symphony continues in October and if you haven't been to Child Ambassador conference, I fully recommend it. It will change how you approach being a Child Ambassador. You will meet people who will carry you along on the journey. You will be inspired. I know because it happened to me. Hope to see you in October. Sign up here! Comments are closed.
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