From the President

At our annual meeting in March, we launched Walking the Talk—a new leadership and organizational development initiative grounded in our common understanding of service to others as a response to God's call. Walking the Talk, led by Director of Consulting Services Daniel Pryfogle, provides CHHSM ministries with the opportunity to benefit from a custom consulting engagement that can help to:

• Build strong organizational cultures rooted in a sense of vocation
• Effectively integrate faith values and business strategy
• Establish practices that reinforce core identity and mission
• Communicate the ministry's distinctive quality and character.

What's new about Walking the Talk? The program, based on Appreciative Inquiry and other positive change techniques, presumes that CHHSM ministries already possess practices and inherent strengths that can help them meet their goals. As Daniel puts it, "Rather than perceive our organizations as problems to be solved, we assume that something good is at work and, moreover, the resources to help us be better are already here."

How has Walking the Talk begun? You can read an article about Daniel's work at Pilgrim Place here; that initiative is especially exciting, as it is based values that Pilgrim Place identified in response to the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging's Quality First initiative, a national program to gain public trust.

We've also used the Walking the Talk approach with Back Bay Mission in Biloxi, Mississippi, as that ministry seeks to rebuild both its campus and its staff team after Hurricane Katrina. You can read about Back Bay Mission's progress in a letter from the Rev. Shari Prestemon here; we are grateful to have had the opportunity to help Back Bay identify its strengths in deploying volunteers from across the country and serving the homeless and others in need on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Would you like CHHSM to accompany your ministry in an exploration of your strengths and existing gifts? We'd like to talk about walking with you. Please call Daniel Pryfogle at 919-460-7069 or email him at pryfogled@chhsm.org.

Bryan W. Sickbert
President/CEO

Earlier Columns

• May 2007
• April 2007
• March 2007
• January 2007
• November 2006
• September 2006
• August 2006
• June 2006 - 2007 Annual Meeting Keynote Speaker Announcement
• May 2006
• April 2006
• February 2006
• January 2006
• December 2005 - Silver Jubilee of Kirchengemeinschaft