If you're around Mission: St. Louis at all, you may notice that the word "relationship" pops up frequently in conversation. We build our programs by building relationships. We believe that real, exciting life-change happens through relationships. Relationships are what make us different.

How do we "do relationship" well with our volunteers? With our staff? With our donors? These are things we're trying to figure out. When I was leaving a lunch meeting today, some of it started to make sense. Today at lunch, we started planning our golf scramble to benefit our programs. Around the table was Courtney, a volunteer who is dedicating a year of full-time work to Mission: St. Louis, and Tiffany, an all-star volunteer who has read with children, helped teachers, thrown Frisbees with kids, revised resumes, fixed houses, develop queries, and planned events. So, we had lunch. On Thursday, I'm running with Tiffany. And in a couple of weeks at our next committee meeting, I'll probably see her and a host of other friends to talk about golf and life.

On Sunday, I grabbed a drink with Amy, who is a full-time volunteer for Mission: St. Louis. She's the reason why we have this really nice website and why you'll receive a glimpse of what we do through our blogs. We didn't talk about work. In fact, work was off the table.

Tomorrow night, I'm getting together with my community group, who has been actively praying for one another through a host of ups and downs. My leaders there also happen to head up Mission: St. Louis West County.

That's just a glimpse into this week. The thing is that "work" is not my life, and "Mission: St. Louis" is not the only common thread. I'm not necessarily hanging out with people just like me or ones I have only met through Mission: St. Louis. I believe it's more that the care and love that Mission: St. Louis volunteers and donors have bleed out into the community. I think it has to do with an authentic desire to see hurting people—all of us—join together and strive for something more beautiful. And there are a lot of entry points. A month or two ago, I was buying bread. The man stocking the bread and I started talking and it turns out that he used to teach kids at Peabody Elementary School in the 1970s. His face broke into a huge smile and he said he'd love to join us in working there. Two years ago, a friend of mine moved to St. Louis. We were catching up and I suggested she help plan one of our events. Her face broke into a smile and she said she loved doing that in Indiana and would be thrilled to help here.

It's contagious. New friends join us. Old friends do, too. New friends are made . . . and we just end up living life together and figuring out how to do relationship well. You, reader, should join us.