January 17, 2023 • 28 mins
Part of our MPD Stories series, today’s episode tells a story of two interns who were a part of the 2021 Intern MPD season that saw 100% report rate for the first time ever. We explain what we mean about advocacy in MPD, and how this played a key role in the success of our interns ministry partner development this year. Special thanks to Ana Maria Alaniz Mendoza, Ariana Sibaja, and Corey Park for sharing their experiences and perspectives in this episode. Thanks also to Soundstripe for today’s featured music: "Recovery"
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Katie Johnson (00:06):
Welcome to the Cru MPD podcast with Katie
Johnson and Michele Davis. Welove that the Lord commanded
that those who proclaim thegospel should get their living
by the gospel. We are driven toequip and inspire Christian
workers to be Christ centered,fully funded, and financially
faithful, so that missionarystaff can come alongside all
people to help them to knowJesus. This process is more
(00:30):
widely known as ministry partnerdevelopment, or MPD. For short.
Michele Davis (00:36):
Ministry partner development is a big deal, for
any missionary. You are trustingGod with both your paycheck and
your social standing, as youtake steps of faith to ask
people in your life to partnerfinancially, and prayerfully
with your ministry, add in atime crunch. And you really got
(00:57):
a really big deal. Each year,Cru onboards between 400 and 600
interns to the ministry. Theseare usually recent graduates who
are making a one year commitmentto work full time in one of
Cru's many ministries. So likeour long term staff, they all
raise the support they need fortheir salary and ministry
(01:19):
expenses. And they do thatbetween the end of April to
early August, just three monthsto get fully funded. It's a race
to the finish line. But is it arace we have to run alone?
Corey Park (01:36):
I a couple things.
The first thing is I just knewthat I had a lot of family
members that I'm like, it wouldbe a huge faith cept to own up
to my faith and just be obedientand sharing that I am going to
like live my life on mission ina very committed way. And so
(01:56):
coming from like a family wheremy parents are divorced my dad,
and all of my dad's side,they're not believers. And so
that was that would just besomething that I knew would be
scary and possibly that I wouldnot be supported in. And you
just never know how thoseconversations will go.
Michele Davis (02:20):
Ana Maria Alaniz Mendoza has a common story. Her
life had been radically changedas a college student in
Washington State. And she wasexcited to then work with crew
as she sought to live her lifeon mission for the gospel. But
like a lot of us, sheanticipated a lot of ups and
downs, and MPD
Corey Park (02:40):
what I actually found happening was in my
namestorm, there was so manyrandom people, and so many
different parts of my life, notin the church, but like people
that babysat me like people thatwere like my mom's friends in
college like super super randomconnections, but I remembered it
(03:01):
I remembered that they werebelievers and I remembered shoot
that they actually spoke into mylife when I had not even
recognized it at the time. Andthis was actually like, kind of
mind blowing to me, because Iwas I was like praying about
this. And I was like God am Isuppose to like, reach out to
these people. And it was reallybeautiful. And so encouraging.
(03:24):
When I actually did connect withpeople just practical, day to
day, life, people like this,these were people that we were
just doing life together. TheLord works through them in my
life. And then, like a lot ofthem did join my team.
Michele Davis (03:41):
And then the downs.
Corey Park (03:45):
Doing, I was like 40% And I was like, over I
needed to be I was supposed tobe at 50% I was like very
discouraged. I was like, wow,this is really hard. Because I
kind of was recognizing that.
Yes, there was a lot of peoplethat were supporting me that
were random people in my lifebut I had a lot of family that I
reached out to you that were notunresponsive and or they were
(04:10):
responsive and just like therewas a lot of rejection there.
And that was okay. But I justthere was this reality that
because of my my ethnic minoritybackground, like a lot of my
Buddhist and family, like familymembers were like, what, like
they just were not reallywilling to have a conversation
(04:32):
or they were and it felt likekind of hopeless like nothing
was actually growing from thatat least when it came to like my
report date coming closer and mynumbers not moving.
Michele Davis (04:47):
This is not the unusual part of the story. Well,
having half your family beLatino Buddhist might be a
little unusual, but lots ofinterns struggle to make the
goals and as Ashley, so if theyhave a situation like Anna
Maria, she did not have accessto the same resources that
others of us take for granted.
Corey Park (05:10):
My name is Corey Park, I serve in Southern
California, and I am theequitable systems and bipoc MPD
coordinator. And I get to cometo work every day and trust the
Lord to see bipoc staffreported, and to see our systems
and processes change to makethem more equitable. For every
(05:31):
person who God calls them toministry. We all know that
resources are not distributedevenly. And we know that in
many, many cases because of thecultural realities of our BIPOC
staff that they tend to struggleand MPD more than our majority
culture staff. But that's nottrue across the board. We have
(05:55):
many, many majority culturestaff who are under resourced
for different reasons, whetherthat be they came to know the
Lord in college, or they comefrom a rural poverty background,
or a small town or their familyis supportive of what they're
doing. And they say, Hey,actually, no, you like you can't
(06:18):
talk to anybody that we know.
Michele Davis (06:21):
For many years, the EMF has been a significant
way Cru has sought to addressthe inequities in our MPD
processes.
Corey Park (06:31):
Yeah, so EMF stands for the ethnic ministry fund.
And it is one of the ways thatcrew advocates for our ethnic
minority or BIPOC staff. BIPOCstands for black indigenous
people of color. It was actuallystarted by impact. And so it
(06:54):
started as a way that impact wasraising money for and empowering
their, their BIPOC staff. And sothe campus ministry took it over
a number of years ago and andDave Dickens and Joe led that.
(07:14):
And then when oneness anddiversity was formed, it made
the most sense for oneness anddiversity, to take the lead on
EMF and be the stewards of it.
And so there's actually threeprimary ways EMF is funded. The
primary one for years and reallythe only one for years has been
staff that every other yearstaff are given an opportunity
(07:36):
to give to the EMF at at staffconference. Recently, EMF has.
Recently, we have a couple ofpeople who have started doing
fund development with majordonors for EMF. And so that is
the second source of funding.
(07:59):
And then the third is thegeneral fund crew has put their
money where their mouth is, andhas given a significant amount
of money to the EMF, tosupplement what staff are giving
and empower our bipoc staff toget to the field.
Michele Davis (08:16):
But even with the EMF, as a whole, we still only
saw about an 80% report rate forinterns from year to year, give
or take a few percent. And westill had a number of interns
from all cultural backgrounds,raise most but not all of their
support, and then switch to parttime field staff. But enter
(08:39):
advocacy.
Corey Park (08:42):
Advocacy has been something that has slowly been
introduced into our internsystems, we have had giants who
have come before us, who for thelast decade really has been
encouraging interns to raiseextra to give to one another. I
think it started mostly withstunt teams, because back in the
(09:04):
day, if not if your whole teamdidn't report, you didn't go.
And so there was a naturaladvocacy that happens dinners
were like well, yeah, I'm goingto keep raising so that my
friend can go because if theycan't go I can't go. And so
there was already thismutuality, this caring for one
another that they developedwhile they were raising support.
(09:26):
Um, and so as we saw that be soeffective, and for a year is our
stunt report rates have beensignificantly higher than our
interim report rates. And Ithink that's primarily because
of advocacy and the way thatthose teams came together. So in
2018, we launched the internadvocacy session as part of the
(09:50):
crew orientation weekend. And sobefore they got any other MPD
content, they learned how tomake phone calls, learn how to
share their conversation guides,they learned about advocacy. And
we challenged them, we said,what would it look like if you
came into this process, not justthe game about your own support,
but thinking about the supportof others? Could we get to a
(10:11):
point where we cross the finishline together,
Michele Davis (10:14):
the summer of 2020, with COVID, and the switch
to MPD, being almost entirelyvirtual, this person had both a
challenge and an opportunity toreally amp up the ambitions of
the advocacy program.
Corey Park (10:31):
And so last year with COVID, we were all a little
bit panicked. I mean, I think weall were in different ways. But
in MPD, we were like, wellshoot, we have 600 interns who
are set to raise support thissummer, they're stuck in their
homes, they can't go onappointments, people are losing
their jobs, are people evengoing to want to give in this
(10:52):
time. And so we said, you know,this is a perfect opportunity to
expand what we've been talkingabout in advocacy. And so we
created the role of the AdvocacyCoordinator. So every geography
in ministry has a person whosejob it is to get these interns
across their finish the finishline. And this person does
(11:13):
benchmark calls helps theinterns think through their MPD
alongside their coach, they havespecial training in how to
support and encourage bipocstaff. They and they spend their
summers, encouraging people whoare well resourced to continue
to raise support, pass 100% allthe way to their support
(11:35):
deadline, and match them withpeople who who are putting in
high high effort, but who arenot seeing the same results
because they're low resourced.
And so these advocacycoordinators, last summer, we
saw, we saw the biggest jumpwe've seen in in a couple of
decades with our reportingrates, we went from 86% to 93%.
And then, and then this year,sort of saw all of that come to
(11:59):
fruition, we actually knew whatwe were doing a little bit more,
we put some of these systems inplace. And we we have DeVos now
that we walk through with theinterns of advocacy, and yeah,
we got to see God do a miracle.
Michele Davis (12:17):
93% is the highest report rate that Cru has
ever seen for the internprogram.
Corey Park (12:23):
I found it so encouraging, just hearing about
advocacy stories in the past, soI had really no idea that that
was such a big part of what theNPD process would look like. And
so when the trainers weretelling us that in the previous
year, advocacy was a huge waythat a lot of people were able
(12:49):
to be sent to the mission thatthe Lord has called them to.
And, and just like the truththat we're not in control,
really of who is going to joinour team and who is not, it is
totally a God thing. And itreally helped me to see that
kingdom vision. Like this is notme, creating my, my resources
for myself, this is God and metaking a step where I can trust
(13:13):
him and see how he is at work inso many other people's lives, as
well as my own. And it wasamazing. To one like kind of see
that vision at the beginning.
But then towards the end. Seethat come full circle.
Michele Davis (13:31):
Did you catch that? Midsummer, Anna Maria
experienced a surprise that onlyGod could bring.
Corey Park (13:39):
And it was really just feeling the tension of
like, well, I don't have thatmuch control over this. Like, I
can only do what I can do. Butafter you get rejected from so
many people you realize like, Iknow initiating is necessary in
this season. Like you need to beinitiating with people and
opening the door for things tohappen. But when you open 100
(13:59):
doors and nothing happens,you're like, wait, like, I
actually can't do this on myown. It doesn't matter, open
1000 doors. Like it actually hasto be me trusting God, it's not
me who's gonna make it happen.
And so, um, I say that because Ithink that in that moment, it
really helped me to understandwhat other students were going
(14:19):
through. Um, and and so I'm gladthat that happened. Um, it was
kind of crazy because my supportactually did start to come in
like very rapidly and like threeweeks before, before my report
date, and I was like, what,like, how is all this happening?
(14:42):
And then I ended up over raisingsupport. And I was just like,
blown away because like, I justwas like, what, what changed
like? And I was like, how areall least funds coming to me.
And then I still had friendsthat were like in that position
(15:02):
that I was just, I'm not cool.
And I actually still don't havethe funding. And so I knew that
a big part of applying for theethnic minority fund was
advocacy. And I reallyappreciated that because I
(15:23):
thought like, that might be theonly way I can do this as
because people advocate for me.
But when I realized that I couldactually, I was fully funded
with the help of the AMA fund, Irealized I could continue going
until my report date, so that Icould give that to someone else.
And I just felt this whole newlike blessing, like it was such
(15:43):
an honor that the Lord put me inthis position that I could
actually continue to raisesupport. I had like two more
weeks that I could go strong,and I could actually give this
whole fund to someone else. LikeI was like, That could happen.
And I just felt like it wassomething that the Lord was
putting on my heart like, like,first, he needed me to recognize
(16:04):
that. That, like, it wasn't mydoing in the first place, and
that he was blessing me in thatway. And then to like that, I
could bless someone else,because you know what it feels
like to not be in control. Yeah,I felt like I was learning so
much through that. And it, itwas really, really sweet. And,
um, so yeah, I continue tosupport rays, to hopefully, over
(16:30):
raise enough support, that Icould give away my entire grant
to another person of color whowas support raising. And, um, it
was kind of crazy, becausespecifically, the day that my
advocacy coach reached out tome, um, to meet up with another
(16:55):
student of color, who could usemy funds, he was like, you know,
just hop on a call with her,learn her story, see how much
she needs. And we can go fromthere. So that day, I hopped on
the call. And it was reallysweet to connect with another
student, she happened to beanother like Chicano Latino
woman. So I was just like, oh,wait, that's actually kind of
(17:18):
cool, too. You never know. Butwe are common. And just to hear
how the Lord has been working inher life was really sweet. But
the crazy thing was, she toldme, like the exact amount she
needed to be fully funded wasthe exact amount that I had over
raised. So I could give herlike, like, to the tee. I was
(17:40):
like, Wait, like today? Ithought it was like, oh, to give
you the exact number, I'd haveto look but it I think it was
like 410. Monthly.
Michele Davis (17:55):
Arianna Sibaja is the intern that received Anna
Maria's advocacy dollars. Sheexplains what it was like to
meet Anna Maria,
Ariana Sibaja (18:03):
getting to the point where my report date was a
few days away. And and yeah, Iwasn't fully supported yet. So I
was able to meet with her. Andyeah, it was just like, super
sweet. Just to meet her becauseshe was she's just a sweet
human. And yeah, just hearing alot about her story and then
being able to share a little bitabout about mine and, and stuff.
(18:26):
And she was a she, it's her. Itwas her first year this year. So
I kind of was like, so I havesome advice. But take it as you
will. Because it my experiencewas very different than what she
was walking into. Because myfirst year was basically all
virtual. But yeah, it was justlike really cool to like, just
(18:51):
basically talk about a lot ofdifferent things of like, who we
are as people and like, relateon different, like cultural
things. Yeah, I literally justwas so relieved. And also just
like, just thankful to just howone just our conversation
together was just so sweet andlife giving MPD appointments are
(19:16):
not always life giving whenyou're asking people for money.
So so just like that, like justcoming in from that part of us
like, yeah, like, I really likeyou as a person. And this is fun
for me, but also, the Lord isliterally going to provide for
my exact need at this moment.
And that was just like, really,like, amazing. I was just
(19:38):
rejoicing in that so yeah.
Michele Davis (19:48):
A couple of things strike me about this
story. When Ana Mariaexperienced a reality midsummer,
that she might be the recipientof advocacy Maybe even with the
EMF, she might not be able toreport without other interns
standing with her in mutualityand solidarity. But then she
(20:11):
experienced God bring in aboveand beyond her needs, to the
point that she has the exactamount to the dollar that
Arianna needed so that she toocould cross the finish line
fully funded. Also, you may becaught this in 2021. This marked
a new thing in intern funding,where EMF recipients could also
(20:35):
advocate for fellow bipocinterns with part of their EMF
grant. Corey tells us more.
Corey Park (20:41):
I mean, it's just incredible to see how when we
empower people to give with allof their resources, that they
respond and that the Lordresponds. And I just I love the
decision that EMF made this yearto empower our BIPOC staff to
(21:03):
give to one another, our internsto give to one another. Because
it meant that they got to be apart of the process that if they
raised $20, more than theyneeded, with their EMF that they
could give $20 to somebody elsethat that they didn't have to
get to 100% before they wereable to advocate for somebody,
(21:25):
but that they could say I'mgoing to give this piece of my
EMF, which I didn't need tosomebody else to get them across
the finish line. And we sawdozens of of BIPOC interns do
this give generously out oftheir excess EMF. And I really
believe that they raised morethan they would have otherwise
(21:46):
across the board because theyknew that they could participate
in getting all of their brothersand sisters across the finish
line. And on the field asmissionaries sharing the gospel
with with lost people.
Michele Davis (22:01):
Longtime BIPOC MPD coach, Jo Restuccia played a
major role in seeing thishappen.
Unknown (22:07):
It was actually we have an incredible MPD coach Jo who
has served on the EMF committeefor years, and it was actually
her and her heart that just saidthis is so honoring to our bipoc
staff to empower them to give toone another. And the EMF
committee said yes, they saw inher heart, her desire to really
(22:32):
empower these young staff andsaid yes, and so I'm so thankful
her for her voice and for justEMFs willingness to take a
chance and and to see what Godwould do as we give away power.
Michele Davis (22:48):
In 2021, every single intern and part time
field staff that continued MPDthrough the summer reported no
one underfunded 244 domesticinterns, 94 International
interns, and about 150 Part timefield staff. Over half a million
advocacy dollars raised andshared. And these interns, we're
(23:12):
going to share Christ in Hislove with an exponential number
of people. As you hear Ariannadescribe her ministry in Chico
Patchin. What if, what if shehad not been able to report?
What if she had not been therefor Joanne?
Ariana Sibaja (23:28):
leading, I lead the community life team and also
help out with our weekly meetingteam for for crew. So just
seeing our students just grow intheir faith alongside their
leadership skills has beenreally sweet. And there's also
this this, one of our studentsnamed Joanne she is my favorite.
(23:52):
So Joanne came into she's fromfrom Inglewood, so Southern
California. And our first one ofour first events during during
our fall launch was a bike rideand barbecue. So I had been
texting her I'm not sure how Igot her phone number. But I've
(24:14):
been texting her and she wasn'ttexting me back. But Kelly Otto
actually ran into her and wasfelt the Lord telling her to
talk to Joanne and she was likeinviting her to the event and
she's like, Oh, this girl namedArianna has actually been
texting me. Now I was like,okay, so Kelly called me right
(24:39):
after and was like, Hey, can youtext her and invite her to
tonight so I texted her and Iwas like hey, do you if you want
I'll meet up with you a fewminutes earlier. So that way you
have a friend so I was bikingbut was able to get get her ride
to the park. We're going to butmeeting Joanne At first day, she
(25:00):
was literally shaking of justnervousness and not really
knowing how to be in socialsettings because COVID has taken
away so much from from a lot ofthese students. So yeah, that's
just how I got to know her tookher out to coffee. And she kind
(25:23):
of explained to me how hard it'sbeen and how much she's changed
because of COVID and and yeah,so she I invited her to destino,
she started to come into ourcrew weekly meetings as well.
And I've just been able to justsee her flourish into like, more
(25:43):
of a social butterfly and justher humor and just like how much
how similar we are and just likeyeah, being able to to lead her
through crew and destino, whichJustina has just been like a
really important part of, of myministry the past couple years.
And her just, yeah, kind ofwelcoming. So we were still
(26:07):
getting little waves of newpeople coming in and out and
just seeing how Joanne goes outand talks to those new people.
And like taking on thatleadership role as a freshman,
so it's just been really sweet.
Corey Park (26:23):
I would love to encourage you to ask yourself
the question, how might Godcalled me to be involved in
somebody else's NPD journey. Andagain, advocacy can be
financial, it can be givingreferrals, and it can be 100
other things. And so how mightGod call you to come alongside
somebody who, who isn't as wellresourced as you. And if you
(26:48):
don't have a naturalrelationship with somebody who
who has a need of advocacy,please let us know. We would
love to help connect you with astaff person, and even somebody
who is passionate about the samethings as you, you know, if you
would like to support aninternational student who joined
staff with bridges and has nocontacts in the US, we would
(27:11):
love to connect you. Or if youwould like to support one of our
staff from Puerto Rico, wherethe island has continued to be
hit financially over and overand over by it by these storms
and these other tragedies, wecan connect you. And so if you
have a passion for a particularcountry or or a particular area
of the world, like we would loveto connect you with somebody who
(27:35):
you would love to build arelationship with and advocate
for.
Michele Davis (27:40):
Thanks so much to Anna, Maria, Ariana and Corey,
for sharing this beautiful storyof advocacy in MPD. We hope that
you are encouraged by them, andby all that God is doing through
advocacy. Please share thisepisode with others on your
teams, and help our podcast growby subscribing in your favorite
podcast app and following us onInstagram, Facebook, and
(28:02):
Twitter. Till next time
Welcome to the Cru MPD podcast with Katie
Johnson and Michele Davis. Welove that the Lord commanded
that those who proclaim thegospel should get their living
by the gospel. We are driven toequip and inspire Christian
workers to be Christ centered,fully funded, and financially
faithful, so that missionarystaff can come alongside all
people to help them to knowJesus. This process is more
(00:30):
widely known as ministry partnerdevelopment, or MPD. For short.
Michele Davis (00:36):
Ministry partner development is a big deal, for
any missionary. You are trustingGod with both your paycheck and
your social standing, as youtake steps of faith to ask
people in your life to partnerfinancially, and prayerfully
with your ministry, add in atime crunch. And you really got
(00:57):
a really big deal. Each year,Cru onboards between 400 and 600
interns to the ministry. Theseare usually recent graduates who
are making a one year commitmentto work full time in one of
Cru's many ministries. So likeour long term staff, they all
raise the support they need fortheir salary and ministry
(01:19):
expenses. And they do thatbetween the end of April to
early August, just three monthsto get fully funded. It's a race
to the finish line. But is it arace we have to run alone?
Corey Park (01:36):
I a couple things.
The first thing is I just knewthat I had a lot of family
members that I'm like, it wouldbe a huge faith cept to own up
to my faith and just be obedientand sharing that I am going to
like live my life on mission ina very committed way. And so
(01:56):
coming from like a family wheremy parents are divorced my dad,
and all of my dad's side,they're not believers. And so
that was that would just besomething that I knew would be
scary and possibly that I wouldnot be supported in. And you
just never know how thoseconversations will go.
Michele Davis (02:20):
Ana Maria Alaniz Mendoza has a common story. Her
life had been radically changedas a college student in
Washington State. And she wasexcited to then work with crew
as she sought to live her lifeon mission for the gospel. But
like a lot of us, sheanticipated a lot of ups and
downs, and MPD
Corey Park (02:40):
what I actually found happening was in my
namestorm, there was so manyrandom people, and so many
different parts of my life, notin the church, but like people
that babysat me like people thatwere like my mom's friends in
college like super super randomconnections, but I remembered it
(03:01):
I remembered that they werebelievers and I remembered shoot
that they actually spoke into mylife when I had not even
recognized it at the time. Andthis was actually like, kind of
mind blowing to me, because Iwas I was like praying about
this. And I was like God am Isuppose to like, reach out to
these people. And it was reallybeautiful. And so encouraging.
(03:24):
When I actually did connect withpeople just practical, day to
day, life, people like this,these were people that we were
just doing life together. TheLord works through them in my
life. And then, like a lot ofthem did join my team.
Michele Davis (03:41):
And then the downs.
Corey Park (03:45):
Doing, I was like 40% And I was like, over I
needed to be I was supposed tobe at 50% I was like very
discouraged. I was like, wow,this is really hard. Because I
kind of was recognizing that.
Yes, there was a lot of peoplethat were supporting me that
were random people in my lifebut I had a lot of family that I
reached out to you that were notunresponsive and or they were
(04:10):
responsive and just like therewas a lot of rejection there.
And that was okay. But I justthere was this reality that
because of my my ethnic minoritybackground, like a lot of my
Buddhist and family, like familymembers were like, what, like
they just were not reallywilling to have a conversation
(04:32):
or they were and it felt likekind of hopeless like nothing
was actually growing from thatat least when it came to like my
report date coming closer and mynumbers not moving.
Michele Davis (04:47):
This is not the unusual part of the story. Well,
having half your family beLatino Buddhist might be a
little unusual, but lots ofinterns struggle to make the
goals and as Ashley, so if theyhave a situation like Anna
Maria, she did not have accessto the same resources that
others of us take for granted.
Corey Park (05:10):
My name is Corey Park, I serve in Southern
California, and I am theequitable systems and bipoc MPD
coordinator. And I get to cometo work every day and trust the
Lord to see bipoc staffreported, and to see our systems
and processes change to makethem more equitable. For every
(05:31):
person who God calls them toministry. We all know that
resources are not distributedevenly. And we know that in
many, many cases because of thecultural realities of our BIPOC
staff that they tend to struggleand MPD more than our majority
culture staff. But that's nottrue across the board. We have
(05:55):
many, many majority culturestaff who are under resourced
for different reasons, whetherthat be they came to know the
Lord in college, or they comefrom a rural poverty background,
or a small town or their familyis supportive of what they're
doing. And they say, Hey,actually, no, you like you can't
(06:18):
talk to anybody that we know.
Michele Davis (06:21):
For many years, the EMF has been a significant
way Cru has sought to addressthe inequities in our MPD
processes.
Corey Park (06:31):
Yeah, so EMF stands for the ethnic ministry fund.
And it is one of the ways thatcrew advocates for our ethnic
minority or BIPOC staff. BIPOCstands for black indigenous
people of color. It was actuallystarted by impact. And so it
(06:54):
started as a way that impact wasraising money for and empowering
their, their BIPOC staff. And sothe campus ministry took it over
a number of years ago and andDave Dickens and Joe led that.
(07:14):
And then when oneness anddiversity was formed, it made
the most sense for oneness anddiversity, to take the lead on
EMF and be the stewards of it.
And so there's actually threeprimary ways EMF is funded. The
primary one for years and reallythe only one for years has been
staff that every other yearstaff are given an opportunity
(07:36):
to give to the EMF at at staffconference. Recently, EMF has.
Recently, we have a couple ofpeople who have started doing
fund development with majordonors for EMF. And so that is
the second source of funding.
(07:59):
And then the third is thegeneral fund crew has put their
money where their mouth is, andhas given a significant amount
of money to the EMF, tosupplement what staff are giving
and empower our bipoc staff toget to the field.
Michele Davis (08:16):
But even with the EMF, as a whole, we still only
saw about an 80% report rate forinterns from year to year, give
or take a few percent. And westill had a number of interns
from all cultural backgrounds,raise most but not all of their
support, and then switch to parttime field staff. But enter
(08:39):
advocacy.
Corey Park (08:42):
Advocacy has been something that has slowly been
introduced into our internsystems, we have had giants who
have come before us, who for thelast decade really has been
encouraging interns to raiseextra to give to one another. I
think it started mostly withstunt teams, because back in the
(09:04):
day, if not if your whole teamdidn't report, you didn't go.
And so there was a naturaladvocacy that happens dinners
were like well, yeah, I'm goingto keep raising so that my
friend can go because if theycan't go I can't go. And so
there was already thismutuality, this caring for one
another that they developedwhile they were raising support.
(09:26):
Um, and so as we saw that be soeffective, and for a year is our
stunt report rates have beensignificantly higher than our
interim report rates. And Ithink that's primarily because
of advocacy and the way thatthose teams came together. So in
2018, we launched the internadvocacy session as part of the
(09:50):
crew orientation weekend. And sobefore they got any other MPD
content, they learned how tomake phone calls, learn how to
share their conversation guides,they learned about advocacy. And
we challenged them, we said,what would it look like if you
came into this process, not justthe game about your own support,
but thinking about the supportof others? Could we get to a
(10:11):
point where we cross the finishline together,
Michele Davis (10:14):
the summer of 2020, with COVID, and the switch
to MPD, being almost entirelyvirtual, this person had both a
challenge and an opportunity toreally amp up the ambitions of
the advocacy program.
Corey Park (10:31):
And so last year with COVID, we were all a little
bit panicked. I mean, I think weall were in different ways. But
in MPD, we were like, wellshoot, we have 600 interns who
are set to raise support thissummer, they're stuck in their
homes, they can't go onappointments, people are losing
their jobs, are people evengoing to want to give in this
(10:52):
time. And so we said, you know,this is a perfect opportunity to
expand what we've been talkingabout in advocacy. And so we
created the role of the AdvocacyCoordinator. So every geography
in ministry has a person whosejob it is to get these interns
across their finish the finishline. And this person does
(11:13):
benchmark calls helps theinterns think through their MPD
alongside their coach, they havespecial training in how to
support and encourage bipocstaff. They and they spend their
summers, encouraging people whoare well resourced to continue
to raise support, pass 100% allthe way to their support
(11:35):
deadline, and match them withpeople who who are putting in
high high effort, but who arenot seeing the same results
because they're low resourced.
And so these advocacycoordinators, last summer, we
saw, we saw the biggest jumpwe've seen in in a couple of
decades with our reportingrates, we went from 86% to 93%.
And then, and then this year,sort of saw all of that come to
(11:59):
fruition, we actually knew whatwe were doing a little bit more,
we put some of these systems inplace. And we we have DeVos now
that we walk through with theinterns of advocacy, and yeah,
we got to see God do a miracle.
Michele Davis (12:17):
93% is the highest report rate that Cru has
ever seen for the internprogram.
Corey Park (12:23):
I found it so encouraging, just hearing about
advocacy stories in the past, soI had really no idea that that
was such a big part of what theNPD process would look like. And
so when the trainers weretelling us that in the previous
year, advocacy was a huge waythat a lot of people were able
(12:49):
to be sent to the mission thatthe Lord has called them to.
And, and just like the truththat we're not in control,
really of who is going to joinour team and who is not, it is
totally a God thing. And itreally helped me to see that
kingdom vision. Like this is notme, creating my, my resources
for myself, this is God and metaking a step where I can trust
(13:13):
him and see how he is at work inso many other people's lives, as
well as my own. And it wasamazing. To one like kind of see
that vision at the beginning.
But then towards the end. Seethat come full circle.
Michele Davis (13:31):
Did you catch that? Midsummer, Anna Maria
experienced a surprise that onlyGod could bring.
Corey Park (13:39):
And it was really just feeling the tension of
like, well, I don't have thatmuch control over this. Like, I
can only do what I can do. Butafter you get rejected from so
many people you realize like, Iknow initiating is necessary in
this season. Like you need to beinitiating with people and
opening the door for things tohappen. But when you open 100
(13:59):
doors and nothing happens,you're like, wait, like, I
actually can't do this on myown. It doesn't matter, open
1000 doors. Like it actually hasto be me trusting God, it's not
me who's gonna make it happen.
And so, um, I say that because Ithink that in that moment, it
really helped me to understandwhat other students were going
(14:19):
through. Um, and and so I'm gladthat that happened. Um, it was
kind of crazy because my supportactually did start to come in
like very rapidly and like threeweeks before, before my report
date, and I was like, what,like, how is all this happening?
(14:42):
And then I ended up over raisingsupport. And I was just like,
blown away because like, I justwas like, what, what changed
like? And I was like, how areall least funds coming to me.
And then I still had friendsthat were like in that position
(15:02):
that I was just, I'm not cool.
And I actually still don't havethe funding. And so I knew that
a big part of applying for theethnic minority fund was
advocacy. And I reallyappreciated that because I
(15:23):
thought like, that might be theonly way I can do this as
because people advocate for me.
But when I realized that I couldactually, I was fully funded
with the help of the AMA fund, Irealized I could continue going
until my report date, so that Icould give that to someone else.
And I just felt this whole newlike blessing, like it was such
(15:43):
an honor that the Lord put me inthis position that I could
actually continue to raisesupport. I had like two more
weeks that I could go strong,and I could actually give this
whole fund to someone else. LikeI was like, That could happen.
And I just felt like it wassomething that the Lord was
putting on my heart like, like,first, he needed me to recognize
(16:04):
that. That, like, it wasn't mydoing in the first place, and
that he was blessing me in thatway. And then to like that, I
could bless someone else,because you know what it feels
like to not be in control. Yeah,I felt like I was learning so
much through that. And it, itwas really, really sweet. And,
um, so yeah, I continue tosupport rays, to hopefully, over
(16:30):
raise enough support, that Icould give away my entire grant
to another person of color whowas support raising. And, um, it
was kind of crazy, becausespecifically, the day that my
advocacy coach reached out tome, um, to meet up with another
(16:55):
student of color, who could usemy funds, he was like, you know,
just hop on a call with her,learn her story, see how much
she needs. And we can go fromthere. So that day, I hopped on
the call. And it was reallysweet to connect with another
student, she happened to beanother like Chicano Latino
woman. So I was just like, oh,wait, that's actually kind of
(17:18):
cool, too. You never know. Butwe are common. And just to hear
how the Lord has been working inher life was really sweet. But
the crazy thing was, she toldme, like the exact amount she
needed to be fully funded wasthe exact amount that I had over
raised. So I could give herlike, like, to the tee. I was
(17:40):
like, Wait, like today? Ithought it was like, oh, to give
you the exact number, I'd haveto look but it I think it was
like 410. Monthly.
Michele Davis (17:55):
Arianna Sibaja is the intern that received Anna
Maria's advocacy dollars. Sheexplains what it was like to
meet Anna Maria,
Ariana Sibaja (18:03):
getting to the point where my report date was a
few days away. And and yeah, Iwasn't fully supported yet. So I
was able to meet with her. Andyeah, it was just like, super
sweet. Just to meet her becauseshe was she's just a sweet
human. And yeah, just hearing alot about her story and then
being able to share a little bitabout about mine and, and stuff.
(18:26):
And she was a she, it's her. Itwas her first year this year. So
I kind of was like, so I havesome advice. But take it as you
will. Because it my experiencewas very different than what she
was walking into. Because myfirst year was basically all
virtual. But yeah, it was justlike really cool to like, just
(18:51):
basically talk about a lot ofdifferent things of like, who we
are as people and like, relateon different, like cultural
things. Yeah, I literally justwas so relieved. And also just
like, just thankful to just howone just our conversation
together was just so sweet andlife giving MPD appointments are
(19:16):
not always life giving whenyou're asking people for money.
So so just like that, like justcoming in from that part of us
like, yeah, like, I really likeyou as a person. And this is fun
for me, but also, the Lord isliterally going to provide for
my exact need at this moment.
And that was just like, really,like, amazing. I was just
(19:38):
rejoicing in that so yeah.
Michele Davis (19:48):
A couple of things strike me about this
story. When Ana Mariaexperienced a reality midsummer,
that she might be the recipientof advocacy Maybe even with the
EMF, she might not be able toreport without other interns
standing with her in mutualityand solidarity. But then she
(20:11):
experienced God bring in aboveand beyond her needs, to the
point that she has the exactamount to the dollar that
Arianna needed so that she toocould cross the finish line
fully funded. Also, you may becaught this in 2021. This marked
a new thing in intern funding,where EMF recipients could also
(20:35):
advocate for fellow bipocinterns with part of their EMF
grant. Corey tells us more.
Corey Park (20:41):
I mean, it's just incredible to see how when we
empower people to give with allof their resources, that they
respond and that the Lordresponds. And I just I love the
decision that EMF made this yearto empower our BIPOC staff to
(21:03):
give to one another, our internsto give to one another. Because
it meant that they got to be apart of the process that if they
raised $20, more than theyneeded, with their EMF that they
could give $20 to somebody elsethat that they didn't have to
get to 100% before they wereable to advocate for somebody,
(21:25):
but that they could say I'mgoing to give this piece of my
EMF, which I didn't need tosomebody else to get them across
the finish line. And we sawdozens of of BIPOC interns do
this give generously out oftheir excess EMF. And I really
believe that they raised morethan they would have otherwise
(21:46):
across the board because theyknew that they could participate
in getting all of their brothersand sisters across the finish
line. And on the field asmissionaries sharing the gospel
with with lost people.
Michele Davis (22:01):
Longtime BIPOC MPD coach, Jo Restuccia played a
major role in seeing thishappen.
Unknown (22:07):
It was actually we have an incredible MPD coach Jo who
has served on the EMF committeefor years, and it was actually
her and her heart that just saidthis is so honoring to our bipoc
staff to empower them to give toone another. And the EMF
committee said yes, they saw inher heart, her desire to really
(22:32):
empower these young staff andsaid yes, and so I'm so thankful
her for her voice and for justEMFs willingness to take a
chance and and to see what Godwould do as we give away power.
Michele Davis (22:48):
In 2021, every single intern and part time
field staff that continued MPDthrough the summer reported no
one underfunded 244 domesticinterns, 94 International
interns, and about 150 Part timefield staff. Over half a million
advocacy dollars raised andshared. And these interns, we're
(23:12):
going to share Christ in Hislove with an exponential number
of people. As you hear Ariannadescribe her ministry in Chico
Patchin. What if, what if shehad not been able to report?
What if she had not been therefor Joanne?
Ariana Sibaja (23:28):
leading, I lead the community life team and also
help out with our weekly meetingteam for for crew. So just
seeing our students just grow intheir faith alongside their
leadership skills has beenreally sweet. And there's also
this this, one of our studentsnamed Joanne she is my favorite.
(23:52):
So Joanne came into she's fromfrom Inglewood, so Southern
California. And our first one ofour first events during during
our fall launch was a bike rideand barbecue. So I had been
texting her I'm not sure how Igot her phone number. But I've
(24:14):
been texting her and she wasn'ttexting me back. But Kelly Otto
actually ran into her and wasfelt the Lord telling her to
talk to Joanne and she was likeinviting her to the event and
she's like, Oh, this girl namedArianna has actually been
texting me. Now I was like,okay, so Kelly called me right
(24:39):
after and was like, Hey, can youtext her and invite her to
tonight so I texted her and Iwas like hey, do you if you want
I'll meet up with you a fewminutes earlier. So that way you
have a friend so I was bikingbut was able to get get her ride
to the park. We're going to butmeeting Joanne At first day, she
(25:00):
was literally shaking of justnervousness and not really
knowing how to be in socialsettings because COVID has taken
away so much from from a lot ofthese students. So yeah, that's
just how I got to know her tookher out to coffee. And she kind
(25:23):
of explained to me how hard it'sbeen and how much she's changed
because of COVID and and yeah,so she I invited her to destino,
she started to come into ourcrew weekly meetings as well.
And I've just been able to justsee her flourish into like, more
(25:43):
of a social butterfly and justher humor and just like how much
how similar we are and just likeyeah, being able to to lead her
through crew and destino, whichJustina has just been like a
really important part of, of myministry the past couple years.
And her just, yeah, kind ofwelcoming. So we were still
(26:07):
getting little waves of newpeople coming in and out and
just seeing how Joanne goes outand talks to those new people.
And like taking on thatleadership role as a freshman,
so it's just been really sweet.
Corey Park (26:23):
I would love to encourage you to ask yourself
the question, how might Godcalled me to be involved in
somebody else's NPD journey. Andagain, advocacy can be
financial, it can be givingreferrals, and it can be 100
other things. And so how mightGod call you to come alongside
somebody who, who isn't as wellresourced as you. And if you
(26:48):
don't have a naturalrelationship with somebody who
who has a need of advocacy,please let us know. We would
love to help connect you with astaff person, and even somebody
who is passionate about the samethings as you, you know, if you
would like to support aninternational student who joined
staff with bridges and has nocontacts in the US, we would
(27:11):
love to connect you. Or if youwould like to support one of our
staff from Puerto Rico, wherethe island has continued to be
hit financially over and overand over by it by these storms
and these other tragedies, wecan connect you. And so if you
have a passion for a particularcountry or or a particular area
of the world, like we would loveto connect you with somebody who
(27:35):
you would love to build arelationship with and advocate
for.
Michele Davis (27:40):
Thanks so much to Anna, Maria, Ariana and Corey,
for sharing this beautiful storyof advocacy in MPD. We hope that
you are encouraged by them, andby all that God is doing through
advocacy. Please share thisepisode with others on your
teams, and help our podcast growby subscribing in your favorite
podcast app and following us onInstagram, Facebook, and
(28:02):
Twitter. Till next time
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