BBT’s values spell “SHIELD”:

Service
Humility
Integrity
Excellence
Love
Diversity

While we seek to live out all our values there are moments where one of them shines out brighter. Last month our team spent time with a consultant who put us through a set of assessments and helped us see the individual profiles of each team member, the cohesion and effectiveness of the team, and if our culture was driving us to reach the organization’s stated objectives.

To spare the facts and figures, the exercise brought out the value of EQ. The capacity for self-awareness and other awareness. BBT’s staff use the Enneagram personality test alongside the DISC assessment to paint a picture of each team member, and then take it one step further and created a profile for the team.

• Knowing myself better
• Knowing other better
• Knowing us better

Whether your company offers tools to help, what can you as an individual do to know and be known by your co-workers?

Every summer, BBT brings the team together for a pool party with our families. Sarah, BBT’s Curriculum Editor, resides in Florida but makes an extended visit to St. Louis to spend time with family and non-virtual time with the team. The kids are within the same age range and enjoy playing together.

The team has formed close professional relationships over the last two years, but now our families see and experience similar relationships. Our families practically knew each other before they met based on stories and conversations that are brought home after the most important meeting of the day—when we arrive at home after the workday and greet our family.

The team views each member as on loan from our family. The same principle that we are on loan from God in the world, our families share us with BBT and those we serve every day. The grace from God and our families give the opportunity for us to create community: at work, at church, and in social settings. As a team, we also have grace in the understanding of:

• Family first
• Being on loan from our family
• Culture forming a family

What grace do you give or receive that creates community in the workplace, church, or socially?

BBT is in the process of hiring a new Ministry Operations Coordinator. This position will help bring together all the various elements and people in BBT, ensuring timely execution and coordination of projects. BBT’s leadership has recognized a growing need for someone in this role as the ministry becomes more complex.

At the beginning of the Bible, God decides that Adam needs a helper. From the very beginning, humans have needed help. Often, however, it is hard to admit the need and ask for help.

God is the only one who can do everything. In contrast, every human being needs help a lot more frequently than they would like to admit. Sometimes that help comes in what we would call “acts of God”, and sometimes it comes through the people that God sends to help.

It is an act of grace to admit that we are not God, admit our need for help, and look for the helper that God has placed into our lives.

Some would see needing help as a sign of weakness, but the Gospel is about admitting that our own effort is never enough. We need the help of the One who can do everything.

When was the last time you asked for help?