There has been much lament of late about time spent on Zoom. Yet I have found in this time of learning that online allows me to get to meetings I wouldn’t otherwise be able to. Wednesday May 20th was such a day.

Your NT-NL Synod, ELCA staff met for our weekly time together and were joined by our ELCA benefit services (Portico) CEO the Rev. Jeff Thiemann and our regional rep Deacon Terri Endres. They spent time listening to us about what we are hearing from our leaders and ways Portico can partner with us to better serve. For that I am very grateful.

At 1pm I joined a call in with Dallas Area Interfaith to speak with Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins. In Texas the County Judges play a huge role in public health and I appreciate the time Judge Jenkins gave our diverse group of clergy and lay folks. We spoke with him about a number of issues including financing and relief for smaller cities in large counties and id programs within parishes to enable access to COVID-19 testing.

That meeting done I played with my kids for an hour and then plugged in to a session on adaptive leadership in crisis led by Lt. Gen Rick Lynch (ret.) who is a member of Immanuel, Killeen and was our presenter at our 2018 Leadership Convo at Briarwood Leadership Center.

He invited me to sit in on a webinar he was giving to leaders in the Pharmaceutical industry. Inviting them into thinking about how their industry can respond to this crisis, learn, and ultimately respond in a way that is positive for all of society. Fascinating to hear these leaders in their field wrestle with similar questions we are wrestling with in ours. Leadership learning crosses boundaries of field and industry. Great learning and development that I can apply to my work now

Without technology I would never have been able to do these things and participate in my family life as well. So grateful for the pivot we have made to this work that enables new things to happen even in the midst of this challenging time. #NTNL #BWTX #InMissionTogether