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By Jeremy | January 10, 2005
So I make this
New Year's Resolution about finding allies in unexpected places. Sounds nice. Makes for a fun post to write. Little did I know that less than a week later I'd be forced to practice what I preach in a meaningful way at a critical time.
You may recall, our flagship Xcel After School is in transition. After four years, on December 17, we
promoted our site director Enid Almanzar to a national position with the American Bible Society as a project manager for their Urban Youth Initiative. Simultaneously, we welcomed back to the fold (after completing Nyack College) returning hero and Xcel cofounder
Luis Velez to replace her. Only Luis wasn't the right man for the position.
It turns out Luis made a decision to return to Xcel even though part of him believed the timing was off for him to return to the City, out of his loyalty to the organization and children we serve. This internal conflict meant that the first couple days last week were emotionally exhausting. Luis' dilemma: do what's right and pursue the call of God on his life or stay in a position that he prematurely accepted. How to proceed?
Thankfully, Luis pursued
authentic community. On Thursday last he shared his situation, but not before introducing me to a friend from school, Rafael Santiago. Turns out Rafael is a great candidate for the position, with relevant schooling and seven years experience, and an extraordinary testimony of an inner city kid who overcame incredible adversity to boot. We hired Rafael on Friday and launched the program yesterday.
We also hired Kristina Diaz as a program assistant. Kristina was in my youth group for several years before moving to Seattle for a ministry internship for a year and a haf. She came back to NYC last spring and began working at Xcel yesterday!
Pray for us, and more importantly the kids, as we continue the journey with an unexpected ally.
Topics: empowerment, faith, generation xcel, leadership, life, mentoring, resiliency, resolutions, youth | 1 Comment »
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January 11th, 2005 at 11:22 pm
It’s a God-thing, and it wouldn’t have happened apart from obedience. Funny how that obedience thing works, eh?