Our Executive Director, Dan O’Deens, and I were talking last week with CPR-3 Haiti Team Directors, Jordan and Amanda Damon about what’s “next” for the movement. These dream and vision talks inspire and assure me that the movement is headed exactly where God wants it to be going. The conversation took a dramatic twist when Dan walked up to the whiteboard (we are huge whiteboard people since we believe ideas evaporate and must be captured) and said “we know that CPR-3 is all about breathing life and hope into the world through relief, rehabilitation, and development. We know that we work with those in crisis who have experienced catastrophe and/or live in extreme poverty, which is the absence of hope, but what is the undeniable and visible essence that define CPR-3?”
After the question was posed, there was an eerie silence that filled the room. Then in a matter of a few short minutes the list below was crafted. Every organization or movement needs to have a mission statement, a vision for what they aspire to be, and a set of values that will drive their decisions. However, after this exercise, led by our leader, I think every organization or movement needs to know the undeniable and visible essence of who and what they are. Here is where CPR-3 landed:
The undeniable and visible essence that defines CPR-3 is that we:
1) Are a movement and not a mission partnering with others to achieve the vision.
2) Are a vehicle that allows our partners to be the drive.
3) Maintain a coaching position with our partners and with CPR-3 Haiti.
4) Are committed to sustainable systems while understanding the philosophy of now, next, and sustainable.
5) Point people to Jesus while setting up the local church to thrive and win.
6) Are present yet invisible.
7) Remain teachable while leading the way in Haiti.