Executing Ideas

I got to speak on campus last week, telling the story of my faith journey around the world. If you’ve ever wondered what makes Adam tick, you need to listen to this. You also have the rare opportunity to hear me swear.  Adam Jeske Speaking at the UW-Whitewater InterVarsity Chapter on April 14, 2011

I got up at 3:45 AM on Monday,

flew to Orlando,

got a rental car,

drove to two meetings in one office,

headed to another meeting,

went to find some food,

missed my next meeting,

started in at the opening plenary,

slept eight hours,

had a breakfast meeting,

had 13 hours of programming,

opened my big mouth and volunteered to start a Facebook group for young leaders,

fulfilled the obligation my big mouth got me into,

slept six hours,

processed some notes from previous day’s 13 hours of programming,

had another breakfast meeting,

started in on another long day,

got seven hours into it,

and then I wrote this post.

This is hard work. But I am happy. There is no other place I’d like to be than trying…

…to figure out how to push the Church in the US to live up to the fine model we have in Jesus,

…to listen to brothers and sisters around the globe, and

to deeply engage in mutually respectful conversations about life’s most important questions.

Nice.

Our friend Gary S. Chapman did a great photo experiment. And we got to be part of it!

(Hat tip to my superrad wife: http://www.intothemud.com/?p=916)

It’s recently come to my attention that I’m a networker.

A natural networker.

I’ve had the same wiggly feeling in my guts when people talk about networking. It’s like making friends so they buy you drinks. Or meeting people in hopes of a quick persona gain–a turn and burn.

No thanks.

But as I head into a very full week of meetings down in Orlando, I’m really excited to network.

I’m just starting to serve on InterVarsity‘s Urbana Leadership Team, a group that plans the triennial Urbana student missions conference. We’re meeting in Florida because Lausanne also has some meetings there this week. On top of that, I’ve arranged to connect for conversations, mostly over meals, with counterparts from Cru, Wycliffe, and Relevant. I’ll be working like 14 hour days…by choice.

Why? I learn from other people. I like to ask questions. I have ideas and people see to enjoy talking. I usually can think of someone that they would really benefit from meeting. I get my creative juice brimming again from another’s thoughts. And I think it’s an act of love to reach out to others to understand and grow through the discussion.

How? Just by asking, but far in advance and with an explanation of the Why for both them and me.

It’s complicated the week quite a bit, but I’m chompin’ at the bit to explore these conversations.

Do you network? Is it icky? If not, why and how do you do it?