8. Second Interview with Tim and Kathy (Part 1)

11/18

This was our second scheduled time to meet with Tim and Kathy. Our meeting took place at 12:25pm in the library meeting room. Amy led the discussion and Hal took notes.

Our meeting began with some informal conversation initiated by Tim and Kathy making connections with Amy to people in ministry in Watertown. There was also some brief future sharing between the four of us about our individual plans for ministry.

* Observation * Making people feel comfortable is a clear goal of Tim and Kathy's ministry and they wanted to make connections to each of us and make sure that they had an opportunity to listen to our story as well as be on the other side of the interview.

++Amy began with stating her appreciation for the opportunity for her to hear the rich story of the ministry of the people of Christus Rex.

Amy: (After a few questions of clarification.) We have asked those we have interviewed some similar questions and would like to give each of you a chance to respond. We have asked everyone this question, "What is the genius of Christus Rex?"

Tim: There is something about this tradition. It was clear from the first, as people of new leadership at Christus Rex, we were joining a long list of beloved believers. I quickly realized that there is a far amount of pressure and as well as a gift in joining something way bigger than just one leader or skills. This ministry is not a one person show. Although at times it's an awesome responsibility, this place tends to uplift one and make people better leaders for being here.

Secondly, part of the genius is that we both (referring to Kathy) like people and we find good people to surround us. We have a way of picking them out of the crowd and together we get them to do amazing things.

Kathy: We are not afraid to ask them (students) to do things. The "gift base" of how we do things here is the way we work together. To incorporate people in places where they can share their gifts is our goal. We want students to exercise their gifts and grow from doing so. It's not that unusual, if you show up where there are a lot of Lutherans, it happens.

T: Our philosophy is "It is way more important to get out of the way than it is to lead." To just step back and let the community go. The challenge is to stay linked to the community and the story and give them the freedom to shape where we are going.

Amy: Why?

T Our responsibility to interpret, support and nurture. Quality control. Working on an endowment of $125,000 in the fund, and looking at 2.5 million. Few campus ministries have this kind of history. We could do this. There were huge issues of money and a lot of staff time was dealing with money.

K It was a crazy system of money management. An insight for us was that the money would not let the resource availability drive the vision. The vision will drive the money. "Tell us what you will fund and we will fund the rest."

T: The only thing that would change the vision is if it was a poor vision. But if the vision was good, then the funding or resources could be found. They could say no to the money, but not to good vision. And good vision can be fun. With this approach, our meetings then became fun. At the same time more funding was available

K; Big turn for our growth and well-being was the focus on vision.

A The people who have gifts who come in the door shape the focus. It this what you are saying? Outside forces are not going to shape what happens here. Say more about "the questioning" and how it plays out for the two of you and your responsibilities.

T "Last night was a good example. Campus faculty, a campus group performing, a partnership and we had no control of the quality. We did what we do best is to put out an open hand of welcome.

You can redeem just about anything when there is hospitality. We try and give them a chance to feel good about where they are. Once we allow people to feel good about where they are now, then there is some opportunity for growth.

We want each person to have a chance to celebrate what they had to offer us. Christus Rex offers an intersection in students' lives and a way to honor a new structure. We try and take really good care of people and honor their gifts. This is central to us. That's why the reception was important to us because Christopher is important.

There are times when we are in charge, and there are other times when others are leading. We bring some gifts and are not afraid to model using our gifts. We have some expertise and will intervene before they would fall off a cliff. Their tenure is short.

We fuss a little bit about perception. We don't want this place to look like a slick bank. Given that, we are getting new art, letterhead, etc. One might argue that the money should have been placed in direct ministry. However, a solid, long term and positive perception is key.

When we came here there was duct tape on the carpet when they walked in. We changed this because the visual message was "Nobody cares about this place. And they won't care about me". By paying attention to the physical place, we tell people about how we will care for them."