The Cru MPD Podcast

Ep. 32 : Advocacy with Megan Berkey

April 12, 2022 Katie Johnson & Michele Davis Season 3 Episode 32
The Cru MPD Podcast
Ep. 32 : Advocacy with Megan Berkey
Show Notes Transcript

Today's episode features the most fun interview with a most insightful and compassionate guest, Megan Berkey. Megan shares more of her heart for advocacy and some ways you can play a part and become an advocate for other staff.

Link to Megan's bog post "5 Ways to Advocate": https://sites.cru.org/mpdresources/2022/04/12/5-ways-to-advocate/

Links to other advocacy episodes:
- "From the Archive #5: Advocacy with Corey Park"
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1069450/episodes/10382846

- "MPD Stories: Intern Advocacy"
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1069450/episodes/9759029

Megan's Email: megan.berkey@cru.org

Katie Johnson:

Welcome to the Cru MPD podcast with Katie Johnson and Michele Davis. We love that the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. We are driven to equip and inspire Christian workers to be Christ centered, fully funded and by the faithful. So that missionary staff can come alongside all people to help them to know Jesus. This process is more widely known as ministry partner development, or MPD for short.

Michele Davis:

Hey, Megan Berkey Welcome to the Cru MPD podcast. Thank you. I'm excited. Yeah, we're really excited to have you here. You are kind of like one of my favorite staff people to see you know, I just think you're really enjoyable and I just like whenever I think about you and your husband Nate, I do think about like, years and years ago, we were on a summer project together, whatever it was called, and just how it was just a really delightful summer.

Megan Berkey:

You still had a you had a baby a baby.

Michele Davis:

I had a tiny baby and you had no babies.Yeah. And it was Yeah. Definitely. Our lives are different than backlit. But um, Okay, why don't you like, let's like stop having like the inside joke here that I'm running with but like, tell us more about who you are. Where you are geographically and in your staff life.

Megan Berkey:

Okay. My name is Megan Berkey. And I live in Cleveland, Ohio. Beautiful Cleveland, Ohio. where it is today. Yeah. Why did you laugh? Oh my gosh. And we love the city I live with my husband and three kids. We've been on staff 12 years. And I recently started a new role for as the MPD advocacy Advocacy Coordinator for staff. And so I'm really excited to be entering into the MPD community and working with a lot of senior staff doing advocacy.

Michele Davis:

Yeah, I am really excited to have you here to what originally connected you to this work other than I'm pretty sure at one point I was like, Please, please. At least to the Lord. I don't know if I ever actually said it to you.

Megan Berkey:

Yeah, actually, it was the summer. The first COVID summer we had a summer mission that I was leading with Nate get canceled. And so one of my friends and MPD coach and said, hey, they're having this new role. And when I heard the description, I thought of you would you want to do it. I didn't have another summer assignment. So I said yes. And I loved it. I absolutely loved it and that kind of got me started going into this advocacy world and working with a whole group of people that in campus I hadn't gotten to work with so it was really it was really an eye opening and enlightening and heartbreaking and just all kinds of emotions that summer. But one that I left where I was like I want I want to stay here. I want to do like invest time here work here. So yeah.

Katie Johnson:

Megan, what was your role? Before MPD? Were you on campus?

Megan Berkey:

I was I've been campus staff for my whole staff career up until switching to MPD. So, yeah, discipling women, working with students doing all the freshman follow up that we all love. Yeah. Doing that for 11 years.

Michele Davis:

And you worked at your alma mater, right because you went to school in Cleveland?

Megan Berkey:

I did. Yeah. My husband and I met through Cru in a tiny division three school in Northeast Ohio. And when I graduated, I knew I wanted to join staff. Mostly because I knew I wanted to do ministry. This Cru was the first avenue that I was really empowered to do ministry. And so I was like, Okay, God, I want to join staff, and I'll do it anywhere but Cleveland. That did not serve me well. I have lost a lot of bargains with God and that was one of the major ones for sure. And we've been here our whole time on staff

Michele Davis:

i mean that's a really like endearing way to put it like that you've lost a lot of bargains with God, that's really relatable but like just really practically like were you basically just like asked to stay or you know, like Were there other like what were the factors that ended up keeping you in Cleveland, despite your first desires?

Megan Berkey:

Yeah. We the team, my four years in college, the team in Cleveland kind of disintegrated and staff either got different roles or just left staff. And so there was one that couple left Ben and Sandy Dyke and they started working with me. And they asked us to join them in Cleveland. I said no immediately and then they had the gall to say, Well, why don't we pray about it? I just shook my head and it was just really clear. There was such a need here. There are over 180,000 students in our scope here in Northeast Ohio. And there was just yeah, a huge nead that we've stayed to fill. And that kind of actually, like moving toward great needs, has really defined not just our life on staff, but really our walks with God and how we've made decisions for our family.

Katie Johnson:

And is your husband still on campus staff?

Megan Berkey:

Yes, he's the team leader here in Cleveland. So also a perk of moving into the MPD community is that my husband is no longer my boss. That just feels that feels great.

Katie Johnson:

Yeah, I was gonna ask him what it's like if you guys worked together on campus for so long. And now, for the first time of your staff career. You're not in the same team. Yeah, it sounds like it's good,

Megan Berkey:

actually.

Katie Johnson:

But

Megan Berkey:

I just... annoyingly he's my best friend. And so we love spending time together, which is just like

Michele Davis:

goals, whatever.

Megan Berkey:

Just roll my eyes at my own story. So I really miss it. I think one of the things that has kept us on staff is that we're not just separately called to ministry, we really thrive and love doing ministry together. And so having switched into this new role it has we've had to look for other opportunities to really do ministry together but I miss it a lot.

Michele Davis:

You know, backtracking just a smidge, you are talking about the first COVID Summer 2020 and about the redirect URI and of your summer assignment. Well, it's like clarify again like what was that role that you had, because it was a new role. And it's a continuing role. And there might even be some people listening right now who are doing this role for this summer. And we're the ones that tell them a little bit with so tell us more about what that specific role was. That summer?

Megan Berkey:

Yes. So I started it in a role that was an Advocacy Coordinator for interns raising support. And it is, I would recommend it to just about anyone, I mean, it was just it opened my eyes to a lot of realities on staff. You know, there's an author, Terence Lester, who says, Everyone is welcome is drastically different from we built this with you in mind. And that summer really highlighted how our MPD systems are built at the very... and owned... by their founders. They were built with us very small group of people in mind. People with a church background, people in contexts that are familiar with missions giving people in majority culture. And I started working with interns from indirect cultures, interns that did not have church backgrounds, interns from Appalachia, very, very poor communities. I started realizing that these MPD systems were not created with them in mind. They are absolutely welcome. And I believe now so many greater resources are being directed to them. But fundamentally, the system in a lot of ways does not work for them. And so what I loved was getting to help change the system for them. I loved getting to cast vision for their need to interns, in which the MPD system was working so well for...interns from...I was working with interns from Tennessee, who just grew up in such rich missions given culture that they were seeing abundant returns in their MPD and can casting vision for them to enter into relationship and to leverage their God given resources on behalf of someone that doesn't have the same resources. And so making those connections you get to connect abundant resource rich interns. With interns lacking resources, you get to see these relationships form and you get to help interns finish that would not have the resources to finish on their own. And so it is so rewarding. This past summer, we saw 100% of interns that stayed the course through the whole summer reached the field that gave all their effort to the MPD process. 100% of them reached the field. And it's incredibly rewarding. One of my favorite stories from that summer is I had an intern from Tennessee, and I connected her to an intern from southern Ohio, which if you're not familiar with that part of the country, it's incredibly... it is in the Appalachian Mountains and it is just a very low income community and this intern from Tennessee, developed a relationship with my Appalachian intern and left that meeting, joined her team left that meeting and went back to all the other interns raising in Tennessee and said you need to join the team of this intern. And it was just so like this is what it's meant to be. She was captured by the vision of this woman wanting to go back to her low income community, wanting to raise up laborers for Christ, wanted to be involved in the community. They're not escape it, but go pack and develop it and shoot went and said, everyone needs to be a part of this. And it was just...it was incredible.

Michele Davis:

Oh my gosh, that is really embracing the that we are a community that we're a team that we you know that we're not just these individuals on staff and like in a competition but that are for all of our ministries to flourish with all of our ministries need to flourish.

Megan Berkey:

Yes.

Michele Davis:

I love that so much. And we actually interviewed a couple of the interns from last summer on an earlier episode. We'll link it in the show notes. I still I just can't get over how much. Just how significant is that? For the very first time we had this happen? That you know, the intern program has been around for over 20 years. I mean, 20 years ago, I was on an intern train like this month. And myself and but for the first time in all those 20 years to be able to say that 100% of the interns who who raise support all summer were able to report and this being the thing that is different I think that is just is really significant. And you know I know that our MPD leadership, we're really noticing that and that's part of why we're talking about this so much on the podcast because we really think that this is, you know, part of the future of what our MPD ethos in our organization should become.(Yes.) Yeah. So you have taken a new role, where you are focusing on advocacy with senior staff. Right. And it's a new role kind of like what you did two summers ago... So um, tell me more about like, what like why you checked that role and your hopes and vision for what you hope to see happening in in this work?

Megan Berkey:

Yeah, I think the taste of advocacy I got working with interns mainly really look at the MPD that I was a part of as a senior staff and my team was a part of because you don't have a summer to summer deadline. This is ongoing. And so I saw people come into my team, specifically people of color that did not have the resources that I had. And so I started ...Nate and I just started naturally doing advocacy with these people and helping them report to our team and I became really passionate about advocacy as senior staff. And so what I'm hoping and working with senior staff is not just to see funds directed, but to see our mindset with MPD shift. I want to see us treat advocacy as an essential part of our MPD. So often we can look at MPD as just a raising of our personal finances. But I really believe that God has more for us in the MPD process than what comes into my staff account. In the 1970s there were Aboriginal activists in Australia. And there's a quote that came out of this group that has really stuck with me as I think about advocacy with senior staff and he says, if you've come to help me, you're wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together. And that is so rich. I mean I could talk about just that. Quote for this entire podcast. But what I think how I think that translates into the MPD process is this is more than giving leftover funds to someone who needs funds. What advocacy means is I have a greater vision for God's work in my ministry, including in my ministry of ministry partner development that I don't raise to fill up my staff account I don't raise to hoard my funds I don't raise out of fear of lack of personal lack. I raised out of this kingdom vision that not just giving but receiving advocacy... I raise to fund the kingdom. I raise so that the Kingdom goes forward into spaces that it is not. And when I see myself bound up in that kingdom work with people who have abundant resources and people who have low resources with people from direct cultures and indirect cultures, with people from church backgrounds and people who have zero contacts, when I see myself bound up with them that it is as essential for me as it is for a senior staff going into the negative that it's as essential for me in my faith formation as it is for a staff member who has more money in their staff account than I do when we are bound up together. I really and truly believe that we experience God's Kingdom work in a fuller, more vibrant, more flourishing way that I have the opportunity to in this individualized personalized way of raising support.

Michele Davis:

if my mic wasn't so expensive and honest and I would want to drop every that was such a drop the mic moment. I'm really struck by your vision that you're raising funds for the kingdom, not just for yourself that God has more for us than maybe what we've trusted him with before. And the idea of being like bound up with one another. Doing that quote you share that is that is that is what that is you know like if like in asking for like as your liberation connect with my liberation. It's similar to like the Fannie Lou Hamer hammer quote that like no one is free until everyone's free. Absolutely and and freedom. Yeah, I mean, there is an element of both our cultural experience and the gospel that highlights like, like we are, we are enslaved to something sin, right. And the truth sets us free and ever more. So I think the ripple effects of that in how we interact. I think it's the vision of the kingdom left out, right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah, we could. We could talk about that. And we are and we should have some significant. I'm wondering to hear more from you about. Even like defining some of the terms when we talk about advocacy, I think that's important. Because we have started to like use certain words over and over again and advocacy. And this is, I think, a good time to kind of pause and like when we talk about like neutrality. What do we mean we talk about flourishing? What do we mean, you know? There's several things that we talk about, and I just wanted to hear more from you about some of those key words. That we're, we're using to describe MPD advocacy and the significance of those for you.

Megan Berkey:

Yes, you know, we define advocacy about building strong mutual relationships. So we can leverage our God given resources that empowers everyone to flourish. And I know we have just listened to Cory and her vision around the development of that is it makes me feel like I can run a marathon just incredibly motivating. But what I think behind those words, especially solidarity, there's this shoulder to shoulder Enos about it. There is this I realized that I exist in a system that was built for me and benefits me. And so in the ways that I'm able, I will exit that privilege and I will stand shoulder to shoulder with those that are not benefiting from the system, that the system was not built for. And I leverage my resources on behalf of this person, so that we can both flourish. I think you see this all over scripture, but one of my favorite stories of advocacy and scripture where we see this mutuality and solidarity isn't the story of Ruth. You see, Ruth and Naomi, both affected by tragedy, both experiencing grief and loss but you see Ruth leave her own culture, step into a culture where she is a hair that to many she will be seen as an enemy. And she stands with Naomi, your people will be my people, your God will be my God. She believes, any privilege that she might have had in her own culture. And she joins and they don't need to take care of her. And God blesses her. And she's named in the lineage of Jesus. God bless her because she stepped out of her own even cultural environment and into a hostile one. For the benefit of Naomi. And I just I just love the risk that she took on behalf of love. She risked herself to love we see this with David and Jonathan with see the love between these two deep soul level friends, and the risks that Jonathan takes to advocate for David's safety. To stand in solidarity with David. There is this there is no hierarchy and advocacy. There's no hierarchy mutuality, there can only be equity, which requires a given up but it requires a lay down of privilege of power. So that we can shoulder to shoulder equal footing. Stand with our brothers and sisters who experience marginalization who are vulnerable. who are oppressed, even within our own crew world. There are people here who are not benefited from even our own systems. There are people who need solidarity from those who have privilege and power. And again, we get a fuller, more beautiful picture of the kingdom of God. When we lay down privilege, even within a system that benefits us, when we lay down that privilege and we stand in solidarity with a waterfall. I mean, there is there are very few things that are more Jesus like than standing with the vulnerable. And advocacy is one of the ways that I believe as crew staff, we can stand with the vulnerable within our own family within our own house. Yes.

Katie Johnson:

This is maybe jumping forward to another question and a way but I'm just wondering, I mean, I totally agree with what you're saying like laying down our privilege for the for others is a part of axiom and it's what it's about, right. But I'm wondering for the staff out there who, honestly, maybe they just don't even know who to advocate for. They don't know. Even maybe people on their staff team that are struggling in MPD. They don't even know there's opportunities right in front of them to advocate. What would you tell them? And kind of to piggyback off that question for staff like even senior staff that are have a significant need. How can they advocate for staff in the midst of them? Also having a significant need, like what could that look like?

Megan Berkey:

That's a great question. I think one of the things that advocacy requires is a greater level of transparency. Within the MPD process than I've seen in most cultures I've been around. There is this play down at the secrecy of our staff accounts, the secrecy of our needs. We tend to only communicate our needs to our partners, or our abundance. And so there's this greater level of transparency that's required within these mutual relationships that we have on staff, the team that you're on can enter into a greater level of transparency, with our empathy, a greater level of mutuality, even what would it look like for your team to possibly share in one time goals that you have? What could it look like to share your special needs, with your team to raise on behalf of one another to communicate to your partners, a giving to the Ministry of your team and not just a giving to you personally and I would back up even further and say if you're in a position on staff, and you don't know anyone from marginalized community, if you don't have any relationships with people that come from different cultural backgrounds than you do that come from different spiritual backgrounds, and we do that differ from you in life experience. I think that would be an incredible place to start with your advocacy is to, by faith, move into some of those relationships. Not for any other purpose, other than loving that person, then seeing a fuller picture of God. Because if I only know other people that have grown up like me, that have the same cultural experiences as I do, if I only know other moms with kids, I missing the heart of God. I am missing knowledge about God that I do not have access to because I'm only learning from one small pool of experience of lived experience. And so if you need recommendations on people of color to learn from to begin reading, to apprentice underneath, right, to say, teach me about how people that don't look like me or live like me believe about God. I would love to give you some of those resources. But I think that can be a good first step is to lay down our privilege like you were saying Katie, and by faith step into relationships with people that are different from us.

Katie Johnson:

Yeah. You said vision casting to your partners for your team. Not for you individually because it's so true. Like, I think about my team, and if anyone on my team, let like everyone is so important to what we're doing. And so if you think about it, like if someone on your team leaves staff or is underfunded and has to leave their position, the whole team is affected. Yeah. And so why wouldn't you be for your whole team, being healthy and thriving as people right but also as staff? So I'm just sitting here thinking like, How can I vision cast for my team more with my partners? I just love that idea. So much. So I mean, among lots of other things you just said I loved but that was one thing that stood out to me as something I've never really thought about.

Megan Berkey:

And we often think in order to do advocacy, I have to have extra money. I have to have the dollars in my staff account. But that completely negates the relational aspect of advocacy. Like you could enter into advocacy with someone through prayer. You can have you can offer someone emotional support. As they are raising their funds. You can help someone skills practice. If you are an incredible vision caster. Then you can help someone gain some of those skills that you have if you are incredible at getting referrals. First of all, my email is Megan dot Berkey at cru dot org... to talk to you seriously. You have skills that you can leverage on behalf of someone else. You can invite someone on your team on an appointment with you, you can again this requires a freedom that we are not ruled by fear of lack in MPD. But you can connect someone with your current partners, take someone on an appointment with you and share how they are working for the Kingdom and your context. And allow your partner to join their team to even great gain a greater vision of your ministry context by partnering not just with you but with someone else. So it doesn't

Katie Johnson:

can we That's amazing. Can we pause for one second and just repeat that for everyone? You can share your ministry partners with other people on your team. Yeah, I love this. And I think like not being ruled by fear. I just wanted to be here and be like I feel like I'm listening to someone preach to me and I'm just like amen, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Because I think a lot of times we are ruled by fear of Oh, my ministry partner like gets to know this other person on staff or they're gonna pull my support. And it just isn't true because we serve a God who holds all resources as never ending resources. So even if that person pulled my support and gave it to someone else, God has someone else for my team. And that's okay. Right. Yeah. So,

Megan Berkey:

and you know, we can go ahead. I love that I feel like you were preaching to say, we cast a vision for supporters that I am. One of my lines of vision casting in an initial appointment is you know, you're going to get to heaven. And they're going to be people there that were impacted by the resources that you gave, and came into a relationship with Jesus entered eternity. In part, because you chose to give your resources but I often don't apply that to myself. That's just really for my partners. That's not for how I operate with the funds in my staff account. But absolutely, you can connect your partners to other staff, people, you can be one that then gives us their resources. Our partners are one of our greatest resources. You can be one that lives open handedly so that people enter the kingdom. More people enter the kingdom because of your Adam handedness.

Michele Davis:

Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, and even in like the most practical like, basic way like most people who support who support a missionary support multiple missionaries. why don't why not be the person who introduces them to some of the people that they could support. You know, there's like, obviously, like a heart and desire to do that. And my husband, when we think about our giving, we really like to think through what are what are some communities are some causes that we care about, but are not our primary calling right now. And then who can we invest in to make that happen? So like we support people who do high school ministry, we support people who you know, like, Who do IgM type growth we all kinds of different things because like all those things are so important. You know, Mike, and I want to go back to something that like you were talking about before, about like how like this high desire to see more mutuality and transparency and and faith for our staff and MPD and one of the things that came to mind as you were sharing was something Jesus said about the first shall be last and the last shall be first, and that those who who want to leave really need to serve you know, that's obviously a paraphrase, but how, and you would set it to like that this is like the way of Jesus right. And this is even I think, part of the kind of the upside down Kingdom some scholars like to talk about that, that God is in the habit of turning things on its head, right. And so yeah, on the surface, it looks like if I want to be successful in ministry, I'm kind of out there competing for dollars. But actually, the upside down Kingdom says no, that's not how it that's not actually what our posture should be. And that's not what being a part of you know, our religious missionary orders should look like you know, we are actually like, called to a sense of like a community and interdependent on one another. So this is another way we live that out, you know? And so I think that that's something that's like really worth like, really challenging for all of us to like, dig into like when we hear these new ideas of efficacy and things like that like to prayerfully ask God, like, show me where this connects in Scripture. Guess what, there's abundant places where it connects in Scripture, and I think that that's like really valuable for all of us to to prayerfully consider, you know, and that's what most helps us replace that fear in that. Oh, you know what the fear of like, I'm not going to have enough. I feel like there's a better way for this. Yeah for the frenzy. A competitive

Megan Berkey:

Yeah, Jesus never seems frenzied. No, never worries about the power other people have the attention other people have the resources other people have. Yeah, has such rest. Believe in his father that he gives up. He continually gives up deflects gives away resources. Power Privilege, so that others can flourish.

Michele Davis:

You are called to be like, Him. Megan. This has been so encouraging to talk to you. I am so thankful for you. I know you're on Instagram. I like following you on Instagram a lot. Where can people find you if they want to like you did. You did drop your email as a joke. But if people do want to like find you and ask questions or connect with you, what's the best way to do that?

Megan Berkey:

Yes, I love Instagram probably too much. So my handle there is just at Megan M E G A N Berkey B E R K E Y and my email if you do if you hear this, and this is stirring in your heart. If you feel God calling you to greater levels of advocacy I would love to talk to so my email is Megan dot Berkey at Cru dot org. I would love to see how God wants to move you forward in advocacy.

Michele Davis:

detail. I love it. Thanks Megan. So much.

Megan Berkey:

of course Thanks for having me

Michele Davis:

thanks for listening to the Cru MPD podcast. Please help others find our show by liking, sharing and readiness on Apple iTunes and wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find us on social media by searching for the Cru MPD podcast. Check out the show notes for more information including the various resources we mentioned in this episode. Until next time, we encourage you to be faithful and full of faith in all things. Especially in MPD.