Reports from Faith and Work 2.0

 We had a great time of learning and fellowship last weekend with some fantastic participants. Throughout the internets, reports are coming in about the weekend. Here is a review from PNC Park architect, David Griesel, in Fieldnotes Magazine and another from artist Scott Erickson. 

Gideon Strauss, executive director of the Depree Leadership Center, also has a couple articles in Fieldnotes Magazine in Part One: http://www.fieldnotesmagazine.com/admin/the-faith-and-work-movement-we-need-now-part-1

 and Part Two:

 http://www.fieldnotesmagazine.com/admin/the-faith-and-work-movement-we-need-now-part-2

Lisa Slayton, President of Serving Leaders, the host of the Faith and Work 2.0, reflects on the conference:

http://servingleaders.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/faith-work-2-0-an-experiment

Faith and Work 2.0

Last winter when I (Francois) led Crossings, the CCO XD trip for college seniors, I invited Katie Tarara from Serving Leaders to join the instructor team. During our time with the students, Katie, a CCO alumni, shared with the group some of the great tools Serving Leaders uses in its work with professionals seeking to be faithful in their vocation. What a unique and rich opportunity it was for the students!

During the trip Katie and I had several conversations about the role of experiential learning in leadership development and how XD and Serving Leaders might collaborate in the future. Little did we know that an opportunity was right around the corner!

While Katie has moved on from Serving Leaders (and my brother-in-law has taken her place!), XD was asked a few months ago if we would help them design an experiential conference around the theme of integrating work and faith. Sean Purcell and I took on the project and we have really enjoyed working with Serving Leaders' Lisa Slayton and Rick Wellock to create Faith and Work 2.0: Moving From Theory to Practice, a unique working conference that opens tomorrow in Pittsburgh.

Attending the conference will be some great thought leaders and practitioners from around the country representing various industries: finance, design, manufacturing, and entrepreneurship. The conference is designed to offer deeper conversations between lead practitioners and conference participants looking to wrestle with what the Gospel might mean for their work.  You can check out the schedule and if you are around the area, please come join us. Registration is online or in person.

Traveling Family

We are back in Pittsburgh after many miles of travel this summer. And, we are excited to fill you in on all the great stories we have of the good work of which we are so privileged to be a part. The summer started as Joy and two other XD staff led an overnight retreat for 20 CCO staff who were finishing their 1st year in ministry. They created some exercises to help the staff put some words to the successes and challenges they experienced during the year on campus as well as to articulate some goals as they look ahead to next school year. Here are two goals captured on the post-its around the room. The participants describe one take-away from the retreat as: "There is nothing back on the boat".  Just as Peter stepped out onto the water to walk towards Jesus, we also have the promise that Jesus is there to sustain us as we step out in faith. This kind of bold faith is evident in our campus staff. They are constantly challenged to be grounded in their relationship with Jesus as they serve their campuses. There is a beautiful dynamic at work as our staff submit their lives to be transformed by Christ's love that their ministries exude that love more vividly. There is more to come! Stay tuned for more stories. Thanks for your love and prayers. Francois and Joy p.s. Lots of folks ask how Annelise does on our trips. She is a natural-born traveler. She has her 2 year old moments which are to be expected, but she also carries on conversations with anyone and everyone. Her favorite memories are the merry-go-rounds and swimming in the pool. She discovered her love for olives on this trip! Funny kid.

Milestones in Ministry

SUMMER 2013 | Newsletter Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. CCO Ministry of Francois and Joy Guilleux with Experiential Designs Summer 2013 | Milestones in Ministry We continue our summer stories with the first installment of stories from Summer Institute, the CCO's yearly training week at Robert Morris University. Francois and Sean Purcell taught a day long class on Situational Leadership for CCO staff completing their first year. This is the same group whom Joy facilitated in June for their end of the year retreat. We were excited for our department to contribute more formally to the CCO's training curriculum.    A much more important event at Summer Institute was the yearly Honoring Banquet where milestones in service are recognized. This year Joy was honored for her 15 years of ministry with the CCO. Like Ebenezer stones for the Israelites, such moments of recognition help us remember God's faithfulness in our lives. We were especially moved by the way God offered for those 15 years to be celebrated.  Many of you know that Joy's back problems have made it difficult for her to do much adventure activities during these past five years. The result of years of carrying too heavy a backpack while leading students on mountains around the US has taken a severe toll on her body. Yet this spring as a result of the restorative yoga practice of our neighbor and former CCO staff, Katrina Woodworth, Joy began seeing some incredible improvements. Not wanting to get her hopes dashed, she faithfully pursued her exercise regimen as well as continued chiropractic therapy with another strong supporter of our ministry. By mid-spring we were talking as if she could actually be an instructor on the mountaineering staff training we were planning for summer. As the trip approached two other issues needed to be resolved for her to be able to go into the field. One, after six years in the closet, her outdoor gear needed some serious updating; and two, we needed someone to watch Annelise for nine days. The first problem was resolved through the kinds of surprising coincidences that we can only attribute to God's faithfulness. For pennies on the dollar we were able to outfit Joy with the kind of  professional grade gear she needed. The second was overcome when our friends, the Bilchers who now live in Idaho just a couple hours from where our training was going to be held, agreed to watch Annelise while we were both in the field. So Joy found herself laughing and crying at God's numerous gifts (generosity and faithfulness) as she stood at the Trail Lake trail head ready to shoulder her pack and lead the CCO's XD staff into the Wind River Mountains. It had been nine years since she had been to this place as instructor and 17 since she as a student had first encountered this area which would become a place where God would reveal himself powerfully and shape her to minister to college students.  Stay tuned for stories from our time with 11 CCO staff in Wyoming. Today we ask that you would join us in praising God for his faithfulness over the 15 years of ministry and particularly evident in Joy's life this spring and summer. Whether you recognize it or not, you have also been part of God's faithfulness to our family and ministry. Your prayers and contributions are constant reminders of God's love and faithfulness. Thank you for your commitments over the years. Francois The CCO partners with churches, colleges, and organizations to develop men and women who live out their Christian faith in every area of life. www.ccojubilee.org To contact us: mail: 317 N. Euclid Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15206  |  phone: 412-480-5370 email: francois@ccojubilee.org or joy@ccojubilee.org blog: le-blog-des-guilleux.blogspot.com follow CCO on Twitter | like CCO on Facebook | forward to friend | unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

New students are back!

What do we do to make a college orientation hit a home run? It's not the number of free hot dogs or sundae bars... although that helps. It begins by training student leaders. They are key to helping freshmen transition into their new school.

Once trained, these student leaders guide the freshmen through orientation activities and discussions that get them thinking about big questions regarding  success in college:

• Who am I?
• Where am I going?
• What company will I keep?
• How do I get there?

This is what Francois did when he spent three days training the RA's of Lancaster Bible College to facilitate the freshmen during their orientation weekend. It was a fantastic time where students wrestled with stepping up to the challenge of being the leaders God asked them to be. Josh Beers, the VP of Student Enrollment at the college, had this to say about the training:

"I have not seen such transformation among the students in the first three days of this retreat in the last seven years as I did this year."

To read a student's perspective and a college president's reflection, visit our blog.