I’m back from the IV Asian American Staff Conference! As I’m copying down notes from the conference, my brain (aided by my 2 cups of coffee) has switched onto hyper-active mode as I think excitedly about all that I have learned over this past week. Oh, the possibilities!
I could spit out a lot of new knowledge from the conference, but the first thing I wanted to note about the conference was the tone of the weekend. One thing that I really connected with was how the leaders of the Asian American movement wanted to honor our past (part 1 of the weekend.) There was a sense that they really wanted to honor our elders – to honor those who have taken on great sacrifices to be trailblazers early in the movement. For someone who is Asian American, I find that to be so beautiful.
At this, I’m surprised at myself. I’ve always been one to be somewhat anti-authoritarian. Very rah-rah, fight the system, fight the older generation’s rigid structures, etc etc. But as I find confidence in who I am — being centered on my identity as an Asian American woman, created and redeemed by Christ — I find myself to be more willing to embrace those fallen-yet-renewed things about my culture that God has blessed us with. And I realize that ha, I do have that respectful posture towards those who are older than me — more than I ever thought I did. (I was very uncomfortable with joking around with my supervisors when I came on staff. So much culture shock…)
So as I take down notes about Gwen Wong, Ada Lum, Jeannette Yep, Donna Dong, Paul Tokunaga, Brenda Wong… I am blown away by their tenacity, their love for God, and their fearlessness as they planted movements all over the U.S., and even the world. Did you know that the first Asian American staff worker came on in 1948? That was even before she could drink out of the same public drinking fountain as white Americans. That was even before the first rumblings of the Civil Rights movement. That was when the state in which she had served (Hawai’i) didn’t even have official US status yet. That was in the early stages of InterVarsity when no one even knew what this ministry even was!
And yet, she did it. We honored her and we gave her an award; we prayed over her. Thank you Lord, thank you Lord, for sending a woman as beautiful as Gwen to pave the path for fruitful ministry to your beloved Asian Americans. You desire to see them enter the Kingdom, and they have because of people like your servant.
Here are other ways that we honored those who have gone before us:
1) We heard from Jeannette Yep and Donna Dong in an interview during our first session together. Greg Jao asked all those who had been personally impacted by them to stand up — the “1st generation” — and then he had those who had been impacted by the first generation to stand up, and so on. Seeing so many staff pop up out of their seats was such a moving moment. Maybe this is how the Jews felt when they recount their genealogy of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc.
2) We honored Paul Tokunaga for his work. And the best part is… we did it on a boat. I appreciated how he has personally met with and cared for so many prospective staff – including me, when I was in college!
3) During our closing session, we prayed for our senior leaders. We didn’t have them stand with their arms outreached. Instead, they knelt with a posture of humility. They are first our servants, and they lead out of that servanthood. To see senior leaders humbly kneeling… oh man, I could barely contain myself.
They did have us stand though. Us go-get-em campus staff members who heard the word to be “strong and courageous…”
More on AA Staff Conf to come!
All photos are by Daniel Hoffman – flickr and site
