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My Friend Sue

Me and my friend Sue Ranger

Part of the joy for me in leading the Real Conference is that I was able to work alongside some wonderful people - I love the team element and the "we got to do this together" moments! Funnily enough one of my favourite moments from the 2007 Conference was when it was all over three of the team were working together, cleaning the decorations off the windows in the "V" at Kerith corridor - chatting, celebrating and hanging out together with the very same women who had worked tirelessly to prepare for the conference.
This time round my running partner was Sue Ranger. She hates (hated?) having her photo taken, but has recently given in to my pleas to "mark the moment". So this is the only photo that got taken on my camera at the conference! I'm so glad it's of us two.
Sue is the Church Events Manager. She's worked hard and brilliantly to organise Real - as a first Kerith Conference. She has a great ability to organise events whilst prioritising the people and their needs. She also has great skill in gathering and leading a team of truly gifted, serving people. She has a fab family who release her and so enable her to use her gifts (Matt you're great!). On a busy day like conference day, she spreads calm .
One of the many things I love about Sue is that she and I together get to celebrate all the little joys along the way. So when a woman registers and includes some extra money to sponsor another woman to attend, we celebrate. And when a woman finally registers (after we've been encouraging her to, and praying for her) we celebrate. And when we come in under budget in an area, we celebrate. We celebrated women responding to the social action initiative (more details here soon); or to the serving team; or the prayer team. We celebrated when a woman booked a place for a friend; or a woman from another Church booked in.
And when the Real bags came in...well I got sent texts and photos that were such fun to receive at work!
(by the way, what are you using your Real bag for now? Send in your suggestions and photos if possible for a future blog....I feel like offering a prize too!)
As another good friend of mine says "Only people are eternal". So in the midst of admin and organisation and decisions, it's great to be working alongside someone who cares so deeply about individuals. Thank you Sue - you'll hate it that this is all about you...and you'll be probably be cross about the photo, but just wanted to thank you publicly and say so glad you're my friend. x


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