10/07/2026
We know we can’t give out what we haven’t first received.
If we want to see health, reconciliation, dignity, and transformation take root in the South Side, we have to be willing to cultivate those things within ourselves and within our team.
That’s why our team recently spent time intentionally tending to the roots. Staff retreat and team/personal development days have been part of our recent rhythms.
On one team day, we worked with a leadership coach to step back from the demands of our work and invest in the health of the people doing it.
On another day, we used DISC assessments to better understand ourselves and each other. But this wasn’t simply about personality types. We explored how our personalities aren’t fixed, but can develop over time through the work of sanctification and character growth.
We also explored four foundations of emotional and relational health:
Self-awareness without self-obsession.
Self-regulation without self-suppression.
Empathy that costs you something.
Relational wisdom that honors boundaries.
This work may not always be visible from the outside. There isn't a ribbon-cutting or a new building to point to.
But it matters.
Healthy communities are built by healthy people. And healthy teams are made up of individuals who are willing to keep growing, keep surrendering, keep abiding, keep learning to love, and keep choosing unity.
We want to be more than people who do transformation work in the South Side.
We want to be people who are continually being transformed so that we can become a conduit of transformation for the neighbors we are called to serve.
We wrote more about this on our blog.
