So much has happened in the time since I last posted! December finished out well for us here at SROM. Three of my co-workers led a fantastic winter course trip in Rocky Mountain National Park from the 15th - 22nd; they not only had a blast teaching the students about the unique challenges of winter camping and hiking, but they were also really encouraged by the students' reflections at the end of the course! Please join us in continuing to pray for these students as many of them return to classes this semester. Pray that they would not forget their identity first and foremost being in Christ!
While three of my office mates were out in RMNP, I was working on my Wilderness First Responder certification here in Laramie. We went through a LOT of information in a very short time! I really enjoyed the course and I was reminded how much I love getting to process new information. While I really hope I never have to use my new medical skills, am I really excited to have the knowledge and skills to respond to a situation should it arise!
While three of my office mates were out in RMNP, I was working on my Wilderness First Responder certification here in Laramie. We went through a LOT of information in a very short time! I really enjoyed the course and I was reminded how much I love getting to process new information. While I really hope I never have to use my new medical skills, am I really excited to have the knowledge and skills to respond to a situation should it arise!
As at Thanksgiving, time at home for the holidays was incredibly refreshing and sweet. I was able to be home for about 10 days, which was a huge blessing! It was great to feel like I had the luxury of getting to relax and really enjoy the time I had at home, rather than feeling like I needed to cram as much as I could into a short weekend with loved ones. One of the many highlights of being home was getting a lot of time in with my nieces and nephew! (Pictures are below because I can't stop myself from sharing how adorable they are.)
It's been good to get back into life here in Laramie. SROM has really hit the ground running after the time away for the holidays. As a staff we sat down to reflect on all the Lord has been doing in our organization over the past year. It was a really encouraging look at where we've been and where we're continuing to go! Below is a brief recap of our year-end review; it gives a few snapshots of the major changes that have been going on here at SROM.
This has been more of an update rather than a food-for-thought sort of post, but there has been a lot floating around in my mind that I'm eager to get out into words in future posts!
Blessings in this new year!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As we begin preparations for our
2014 summer season, we thought it was important to reflect on 2013 and
celebrate the major changes that SROM has made in the past year.
As an organization we were
intentional about refining our ministry focus and getting on the same page as a
staff regarding the overall vision for SROM.
We took huge steps to reorganize our entire staff into practical
departments, which enabled us to specifically updating and streamlining our
internal software, and moving toward a paperless environment. After contacting Google Apps and requesting
non-profit status, we were able to completely shift over to using Cloud-based
programs for managing and delegating tasks and projects. We revised our hiring documents and created
an electronic system for processing and following up with applications. Additionally, we automated our student
application and registration process, and developed a more efficient way to
follow-up with students. Developing new processing
systems also helped us to effectively track course payment and account for
every student being paid in full in our 2013 season. We were also able to significantly cut our
monthly and year-end expenses, allowing us to purchase necessary equipment for
winter courses. We recently launched The SROM Channel, a new YouTube channel
for our video content, and we are currently in the middle of redesigning our
entire webpage and anticipate launching our new site at the end of January
2014.
Changing
the internal software has made an unbelievable difference in our office
atmosphere! As a staff we have been able
to communicate more effectively and efficiently, which has greatly increased
our productivity, focus, unity, and morale.
We’ve been able to collaborate with one another and work on getting
necessary information available to the entire staff. Thanks to the amazing in-house summer
leadership of Diane Binder, we closed out our 2013 season smoothly and were
able to make notes for changes to implement in our 2014 season. November brought us another full-time staff
member, Olivia Zimmermann, who has been working in the Course Management
department. We have also started to
intentionally focus on staff health and fitness to stay strong in the
off-season.
This
summer marked the first in recent history that had no course cancellation and
had all scheduled Open Enrollment courses going out into the field! The average number of days our students spent
in the field grew from seven to fifteen, meaning that we have more and more
students signed up for our long courses.
This included three wilderness ministry professional courses
specifically focused on training future instructors as well as for professional
growth and development for the students.
Another point of celebration for this summer is now being able to offer
graduate level credit for our Open Enrollment courses! With all of the courses that we are running
we have maxed out our allocated permit days, and we are fervently praying for
the provision of more permits so we can serve more students. More and more we are seeing the Lord work in
incredible ways in the lives of our students.
Students are giving their lives to the Father and growing in their
understanding of their identity in Christ; we also have had several students
express interest in baptism while on course.
One of the things we stress while on course is how to keep living in the
truth of these lessons ‘off the mountain,’ and we’ve been really encouraged to
hear from students who have brought the lessons they learned on course out to
their community and church back home.
Praise God!
We
really have had an amazing past year at SROM, and we are eager to see where the
Father will lead us in this upcoming season.
Our Admissions department has been working hard to get registration
ready, and we are currently accepting student applications for 2014! Please join us as we pray for the students
and instructors that will be coming this summer, and for our alumni as they
continue to seek the Lord in day-to-day life off the mountain.
No comments:
Post a Comment