Jeremiah #3

For the third meeting between, Rick and I met over a cup of coffee. During the meeting, Rick, who has a passionate love for story telling told me another story. He told me the story about how he met his wife while he was in school. His story  of him meeting his wife led to him talking about relationships. During our talk, he gave a lot of advice in choosing the right person to be in a relationship with and a lot of insight. After, we talked about the current tennis season and was debating on whether or not we had a chance to make it to conference.

He also asked me how my decision to get a minor in computer science was going. I told him that I haven’t taken any classes for computer science but that I’m still looking forward to it. I think that he could tell that I still wasn’t completely sure so after I told him, we went over the pros, cons, and the requirements for a computer science minor. After discussing for a solid portion of our time, Rick and I concluded that I should try it first before deciding anything. I think it was a pretty obvious answer, but I am glad that we could come to it ourselves. He then asked me if I had any summer plans and I told him that I’d be planning on working as a coach in Michigan.

Blake Patty #4

     For this final post I'm just going to share a bit where I am at with thoughts I have regarding my career path that I have been discussing with family members including my dad.
     I grew up as a missionary kid with an organization that trains youth pastors through the local church in 13 countries in Eastern Europe. Growing up in this context has really given me heart for missions and I would be very happy to return to that work. However, I am aware that it would be very easy to just chose this career path just because it's what I'm familiar. When coming to Wheaton I really wanted to broaden my horixens and really get insight into what doing other things would look like. After coming to Wheaton I really experienced ways people serve God through whatever there career path may be. However, despite coming into contact with all of these options I found that I was still primarily interested in ministry. I became very interested in bussiness as ministry. I enjoyed the idea of using my analytical and strategic strengths to help people in a missional context. I shared my thoughts with my parents and they were very encouraging of the idea. As I continued to take more classes in bussiness econ I found that their were definately aspects that I really enjoy and others that I bare through. One thing that I really find interesting is something Dr. Howard really emphasized in his principles of micro class. Economics is the science of allocating resources in order to achieve human flourishing. I think this is something that can really be applied to ministry. How can we best allocate resources so that more people may come to a saving knowledge of God and become disciples who make disciples? The part I'm not  particularly interested in is the more financial and beurocratic aspects of the major. I brought these up to my dad and my uncle as I was looking for an internship this summer and they provided some helpful information. One thing was that they both confirmed they didn't really see me going into some financial advising or market analyzing. I'm too fascinated with people to just focus on numbers. One of the things my uncle brought up was the idea of trying get experience in project management. He thought that based on what he has observed in me up to this point, working on something that has an official beginnign point and final destination with a distinct purpose could really be something that I perform well in.
     I still find that I have a strong desire to return to ministry, but I continue to keep my eyes open to others making sure not to close any doors on what God may desire for me. I hope to sometime intern with the project manager of our missions organization in hopes to see what it means to combine a bussiness/strategic style of thinking to ministry.

Blake Patty #3

     In my last two posts I talked about the conversations with my dad regarding how to really utilize your strengths to be a good manager and leader of people. In this post, I’m going to talk about what my dad sees as an important distinction between management and leadership. In class, I believe we sort of referred to these two things as belonging to the same category, which they do but it’s helpful to compartmentalize them as it’s very important to remember that both of these are important as we lead people. This distinction has been very helpful to my dad as he finds that it is too easy for him to get focused on developing one of these areas while forgetting the other.

     According to one of my dad’s coworkers and advisors management associated with the following actions: planning, organizing, controlling, directing and staffing. Management has more to do with the more operational side of things. It’s important strategic work that provides the structure for the organization to function as it should. Leadership is associated with the following actions: modeling, inspiring, challenging, enabling, and encouraging. It’s easy to see that leadership has more to do with people side of things. Making sure people are where they need to be so they can do their job. Leadership has an extra element within organizations such as the missions organization due to the extreme importance of peoples well-being on all fronts even in areas regarding personal life such as marriage.

     My dad expressed that it can sometimes be very difficult two keep both of management and leadership in mind. It’s very tempting to think that the job consists of just one or the other yet both are vital. As he travels to various eastern European countries he tries to keep an eye out for necessary strategic decisions while also checking in and maintaining a personal relationship with coworkers, making sure they are healthy emotionally and spiritually.

      I think this kind of thinking is pretty important in pretty much anything you go into. You don’t even really need to be in a position of authority to practice management and leadership. As we manage our own life and seek to best live for Christ we can be invested in the lives of those around. We are all in need of this type of leadership and it is our responsibility to pass on the favor.

Champion #3

Today I talked with my mentor Reed over the phone again. He and his wife Jessica welcomed their fourth child to their family this past Tuesday! They had a boy and his name is Jack. I have known Reed for about six years now, and it has been amazing to see him and his wife go from a young married couple, to parents of four. It makes me feel really old! We talked about how amazing it is that your life can change so much within such a relatively short period of time. If I think back to when I met Reed, so much has happened in my own life. It is fun to think that so much will change in the next six years. Reed said that there will be ups and downs for sure, but to place my trust in God through all of it. Trying to control our own future is something both Reed and I know we struggle with, although he probably does a better job in trusting God that I do. He took the time to pray for me and my future to end our call. My mentorship with Reed will surely continue for many years, and I can’t wait to see where the Lord takes each of us.

Champion #2

Last weekend, I got the chance to talk to my mentor Reed on the phone. I recently was offered an internship position in Chicago this summer, so that was the topic of our conversation. I wanted to find out what Reed thought would be the most important things that I could do to take advantage of my opportunity this summer. He gave me some great advice. The first point he gave me was to be open and willing to learn. Since I am coming into this company knowing very little about how the business operates, he said I must be willing to learn on the fly and not get frustrated if things don’t make sense at first. Another piece of advice he gave me was to not be afraid to ask for help. My coworkers will realize that I am new and will be willing to help where they can. Finally, he told me to look for opportunities to get outside my comfort zone, because that is where I can grow as an intern and as a person. It was good once again to talk to Reed not only about my internship, but just life in general. He told me that he is praying for me this summer that I will be able to learn a lot, but also to enjoy the opportunity that I have and make the most of it.