Week of Sept 19: Tuesday lunch meeting, WAGs, and Advocacy day

Dear PHCF,

Our hearts are heavy this weekend as we hear news of the bombing in NYC and other tragedies around the US and the world (Kashmir; Thailand). Please pray for God's peace and grace to cover over all those who are grieving. Lord, have mercy. Help us to see your love that never ends and to point others to you as well.

A couple items of note as we start off this week:

1. Weekly lunch meeting on Tuesday, room W3011, with Pastor Derek from Gallery Church Patterson Park
2. Sign up for Advocacy Day with CCIH by 9/28: goo.gl/EujfdC
3. Sign up for Writing Accountability Groups: whenisgood.net/ywi7kqa

1) Weekly meeting

Our weekly lunch meeting is this Tuesday 9/20, 12:15-1:15pm in Room W3011! Pastor Derek from Gallery Church in Patterson Park is coming to speak to us. We look forward to a sweet time of fellowship with you!

2) Advocacy Day

Please sign up for Advocacy Day by Wednesday, 9/28! This is a special opportunity for professional development, just for PHCF members on Friday, 11/4. It includes 1) a training on advocacy for international development and 2) opportunities to speak to congress members about the importance of support of foreign assistance through US funds (i.e. USAID, State Department) for HIV/AIDS, family planning, and maternal and child health. Email Amberle Brown (amberle.grace@gmail.com) or Mona Bormet at Christian Connections for International Health (mona.bormet@ccih.org) for more details. Sign up using this form: goo.gl/EujfdC

3) Writing Accountability Groups

For those of you writing journal articles, master's essays, dissertations, or anything else, there has been an interest in starting a Public Health Christian Fellowship Writing Accountability Group (WAG).

For those of you unfamiliar with Writing Accountability Groups, a brief description is below with link to more information. The PHCF WAG would be a bit different because we would begin with a time to pray. Students, researchers, faculty, and anyone affiliated with Hopkins are welcome!
If you are interested in participating, please use this whenisgood poll to let us know when are good times for you to meet!

Writing Accountability Groups: an overview (more info here)

1. What are they? WAGs are peer-facilitated, weekly writing groups designed to get you writing regularly.
2. What do you do in a WAG? ​​You meet with your fellow WAG members (4-8 members per group) for one hour a week over a 10-week period. During the weekly WAG session, you will be engaged in some form of a writing activity for 30 minutes and the remaining 30 minutes are spent goal-setting and reporting on progress. 
3. Why do WAGs exist? WAGs exist to help people establish good writing habits (and learn time management and organization skills). The focus is on the writing process, not writing outcomes; there is no content review of writing.WAGs are also good opportunities to build professional and personal relationships. 
4. Do WAGs work?​​ Yes, we have pre-post assessment data showing that WAGgers report increased writing frequency (writing daily or almost daily vs. monthly or rarely) and reduced writing session duration (participants report writing for shorter periods of time [desired outcome]). WAGgers also report better time management and organization skills.

In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. -- Romans 8:37-39