Dear Friends and Supporters of Resource Global, I am officially writing on behalf of my brother, Tommy Lee. As you know he is undergoing cancer treatment right now. The Board of Directors placed him on a leave of absence during this time period to help him recover. I have stepped in during the interim to run the day-to-day operations of the organization.
I wanted to send you an update on how Tommy is doing and of our Global Cohort Gathering here in San Francisco.
Update from the Global Cohort Gathering:
Over 50 people were with us for our Global Cohort Gathering in San Francisco. We had participants from our Chicago cohort and our Indonesian cohort.
The purpose of our time together was threefold:
We provided a space for each member to personally grow in their understanding of how faith affects their work.
We provided a space for individuals from two different countries (one Asian and one North American) to come together to learn from each other and grow in community.
We provided a space for individuals to discover their passion and gifts and understand their calling on how God may be using them to make a difference in the community or country they live in.
This is the first time we have done this event and it was quite successful. Attached you will find a few pictures from our time together. The week was pivotal for many of our cohort members as they sought the Lord in how he would have them integrate their faith and work.
Here are a few quotes from some of our guests:
Katherine Leary Alsdorf, Author, Every Good Endeavor: Appreciated the uniqueness of the work we are doing at Resource Global and how we are able to merge international leaders together with local leaders.
Randy Kennedy, Maclellan Foundation: The work you are doing at Resource Global is unique and can potentially be a model for many other organizations.
Nancy Ortberg, TBC (Transforming the Bay for Christ): I really love the work you guys are doing with future leaders here at Resource Global and would love to find a way for us to do a cohort here in San Francisco.
Testimonials from cohort members:
It was a restorative weekend. I attended a conference on work and faith, which provided an opportunity to reconsider how to integrate my faith into my everyday work-life. It doesn't only mean inviting people to church, but it really challenged me to think how I show my values to my coworkers and clients through how I talk and treat others.
Just wanted to share that it was a huge blessing to have us think through it because I had a meeting with my boss to talk about my annual performance today. When I shared this, I found out he was a Christian and we ended up discussing how my past behaviors / projects portrayed my faith. He even joked that I should come over and share it with his kids because it was refreshing perspective.
-Jennifer Chae, cohort member
Being a part of Resource hasn't just been a great experience for me, but it also gave me a chance to be a part of this one big family that fights to live out their Godly calling in the marketplace. Resource has given me a community of support.
Hearing everyone's stories has influenced me so much that I've decided to move closer to home in order to pursue what God is urging me to do (at least for now) and that is to introduce my family and peers to Christ. As you may remember, I grew up in a Muslim family and chose Jesus on my own after coming to the United States - I don't think God pulled me out of Indonesia and be made in His image just to hang around, I think I need to share my story back home too.
-Alika Savira, cohort member
The total cost of the Global Cohort Gathering in San Francisco was $30,000. If you are interested in helping us defray the expenses of this worthwhile event with a personal donation, please let me know. You can reach me at jimmydlee@gmail.com. Thank you to each of you for your prayers, words of encouragement, and financial support. We are tremendously grateful.
I will continue to lead the day to day operations of Resource Global until Tommy comes back.
As of this email he is entering the third week from his last chemotherapy and radiation session. He still struggles with physical exhaustion and pain in his throat and neck. The recovery period has been a harder time physically than when he going through treatment but that is to be expected. Tommy continues to still work on Resource Global but for now I will take leadership temporarily of what needs to be done.
Sincerely,
Jimmy Lee