Week 8: A Week To REcharge and Clean Up

IN THIS WEEK’S POST: More words, less pictures. This time, though, I just forgot to take photos.

So this week, everything has taken place against the backdrop of “the boss is away, so set your own agenda”. Which has meant that much like last week, this post will be fairly short. Not because I haven’t been doing anything, oh no, but because a lot of what I’ve done this week has been internal preparations for things I’m just not quite ready to share on the blog yet. When will I be able to share these things? Well, they will all take place before I leave my internship, which, sadly to say, will be ending in a little over a month from today. Rest assured, they are big things. But for now, I just get to share the other, smaller events from the week.

For starters, I ended up being the unofficial tech support guy for the Cabinet meeting this week. The Cabinet, in the Arkansas Conference, is a bit like what you’d expect when you hear the word “cabinet”: it’s a group of individuals, including the Bishop, that help to lead the work of the Arkansas Conference. And for their most recent meeting, I got to support their technological stuff, which meant that I popped my head in every so often when I was called. And I will say this: for as long as those meetings go (they usually last a day, and they meet regularly), they were all very nice and maintained their spirits throughout the day, even when the technology in the conference room they were in didn’t want to cooperate with them (or me, for that matter).

I also spent the week working on REcharge Initiative computers. Which, I’m very happy to say that I have worked all of that down to a process that only takes a day at most to do, which means we can really start cranking out nice, gently-used Windows 7 desktops and laptops to Arkansas United Methodist groups who need them. And that’s one of the most exciting things I’ve gotten to work on, especially since it is something that not only has the potential to last after I leave, but it’s something that other conferences throughout the world can implement in their own areas. And it really does end up being a win-win for everyone: those that donate equipment recycle in a more meaningful way (and keep it out of landfills and other places where electronics shouldn’t end up!), we as a conference are carrying out our plan to “resource the local church”, and churches who receive equipment gain new opportunities for ministry. So I’m very excited to see where that will go in the coming weeks.

So that has been my week (or at least as much of my week as I can share!) In the coming weeks, I’ll definitely be sharing more about the future plans for the Conference, as well as more on the other projects I’ve been working on but haven’t quite shared yet.

Until next time,
Jacob