Gail Benchener’s Blog

PBU has started offering free English classes on Saturday mornings for community members who do not speak English. What an answer to prayer! Our clients at the YWCA who speak limited English cannot receive help because all the classes in the county are full. Julie and Christine can share the news this Friday with the Indian families they worked with last week who asked for help, including Daria, a young educated Indian woman who speaks little English but has an education in computers in her native country. She must find a job and wants to work. Professor Barbara Underhill organized this effort to help her students learning how to teach second language students apply their skills and it launched last weekend. What an outreach to the community and a way to expand our impact of the university in the community!

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Am I affirming the work of the SIFE team and their individual efforts sufficiently? Am I recognizing those who quietly go about their tasks? Susan faithfully restocks our Grab n’ Go Snack Center and takes minutes of our meetings. Rachel tackled our new university-wide recycling effort, and is committed to having every member of her committee contribute. She has attended countless meetings to coordinate this effort. She is the perfect person for this job as she knows how the University works and demonstrates the ability to work with many personalities. Sarah worked tirelessly this afternoon on my computer to update our financial records as our Treasurer. Jessica volunteered to take on our metrics for the year, and is working hard on every project to support and measure all our work. Clark and Brad and I are having dinner Thursday as the activity level is so high on campus, we need focused time away from the team to reevaluate our plans after our Advisory Board meeting this week. How can we best use our talents and energy?
Who needs more support and mentoring? How are they doing spiritually as leaders?
How are they working together as an executive team?

Today’s meeting with new interns in Business Administration provided me the opportunity to share career opportunities and all the resources we have posted on the Intranet to help students apply their academic work to the working world in their required internship before they leave PBU. Former interns shared the challenges of working in a secular environment, or as Rachel explained, “leaving the bubble of PBU.� I marvel at their wisdom and maturity, tested in the workplace. Brad shared an innovation initiative he organized at Best Buy and the respect he was able to engender among his workers as he worked as a servant leader at the company. Sarah recalled how chairing the PBU Career Fair helped her plan a Fair in the Dominican Republic during her internship with Markarios, a missions organization.

I am reminded to hold on to the verse Phil 4:13 and to be daily reminded the source of our strength.

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Clark reminded us at our Executive Cabinet meeting for SIFE how important it is to pray over all our projects. We are all “doers� and sometimes we get caught up in the details – planning, implementing and executing every plan and project, covering dozens of details in preparation. Clark is exactly right. Our accomplishments mean nothing if they are not glorifying God and dedicated to Him.

Our chaplain, Elvis, met with me today to review how he can minister to the team. What a faithful servant leader! Quiet and steady. Organized and committed. What a gift to the team. He will help us keep our focus on the Lord in all that we do.

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My speech class finished giving their personal testimonies today. Some are brand new Christians and have a lot of expectations for their experience at the University. Some of their life stories were so moving we stopped and prayed when the speaker had difficulty sharing. Our class is bonded. I am glad we started with testimonies as a first speech. It was a challenge to most, not always comfortable for many… but inspiring for the listeners.

This afternoon SIFE was off to Camden and the Riversharks baseball stadium for the Work in Sports Career Fair. As student athletes arrived from colleges throughout our region and met with representatives from sports teams, I was surprised by some older job applicants who were looking to redefine their careers. I met with Mike, 44 and jobless, and helped him refine his resume. He asked what a biblical university was all about, so I shared our mission. He was discouraged about his life circumstances, but I had the opportunity to affirm his employment history and his desire to support his family. The SIFE students once again managed the Fair with expertise and professionalism. Dave and Clark stepped in and represented a sports team that canceled at the last minute, taking in resumes and distributing marketing materials. When the Fair began to slow down, Clark suggested we offered resume help and we did. This team of PBU students makes every minute count!

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It was our third Wednesday evening at the YWCA in Bensalem working with the unemployed on behalf of SIFE. The location is part of St. Mary’s Hospital Community Ministries expansion, and houses a medical clinic, tutoring services, and employment development. How blessed we are to have the director on our SIFE Advisory Board. She is overwhelmed with the number of clients needing assistance, so we are helping out at her location as part of our SIFE STEPS project (Success Training and Education in Philadelphia Shelters).

The speaker for the evening canceled, so the director called me at 3:00 to see if we could run the 7:00 meeting. We met at 6:00 to pull together our plans and, a bit frazzled, arrived on time with red PBU folders, pens and handouts. Julie and Christine worked masterfully with the diverse group, working in small teams building interviewing skills, providing resume help, affirming life stories and demonstrating to these clients that their perseverance through adversity could translate into success stories that may help them secure a job. Julie called on her experience developed at the American Red Cross Family Shelter last year and Christine, a freshman, learned quickly how to effectively work in this situation.

I worked with two of the more difficult clients who only discussed barriers as we evaluated their job search. At the end, I was able to affirm their efforts and challenge them to think about their futures for the sake of their children. They seemed tired and overwhelmed at first, but energized by the end of the evening. They each left with a resume in hand.

Julie and Christine have committed to work every Friday afternoon at the YWCA to build relationships and assist clients directly under the director’s supervision. Since Julie works for the University as a student worker, she has had to rearrange her schedule and work on Saturday mornings. One of my goals this year is to make a lasting impact on those we serve. So often we come in as SIFE volunteers, make a presentation, and then leave without an opportunity to continue our work. With this project, we are assisting regularly and dependably.

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SIFE launched our first project, “From Red to Black� this evening. Amanda bravely accepted leadership for the project as a sophomore, and with able assistance by dozens on the SIFE team and some incentives like free Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, 65 students learned about the dangers of credit and debt. Team members who volunteered on the project received their team shirts. Team-building is occurring, new friendships are forming, and a strong work ethic characterizes this year’s team. And when the technology didn’t work correctly tonight, our President created some last-minute visuals. Clark always amazes me with his ingenuity and flexibility.

Posted by Philadelphia Biblical University at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)