Sunday Morning, Double Dose of G3S2

It was 6:00 am Sunday morning, Texas-time, and within a few moments, the new operations center for Greater Good Global Support Services was starting to feel a lot like the popular TV show, 24. To envision that morning, one must think in terms of multiple stories, conversations and activity happening simultaneously with varying degrees of interconnectedness with a dash of urgency. Occasionally, it even merited dramatic background music.

The initial call into G3S2 was from Madrid, Spain. G3S2 is the short-hand name of Greater Good Global Support Services. The call was from one of BGCT's GoNowMissions summer missionaries coming home early from Africa due to a serious family illness. During his layover in the Madrid Barajas International Airport, his travel pouch containing his passport and money disappeared. Exactly what happened will probably never be known. After a couple of hours of searching every place he had been in the airport, he decided to get some help. And as instructed, he pulled out his G3S2 Client account card and called G3S2 from a pay phone.

G3S2 personnel asked several important questions so that we had enough information to start helping him. Immediately, the rest of G3S2's summer personnel were brought in to help on researching flight information, contacting the US consulate in Madrid and contacting key people like his family. However, the very first call was to the director of GoNowMissions, Brenda Sanders. As designed, G3S2 went from one person to an entire team in a few moments, and the support desk was soon a flourish of activity.

When the director of GoNowMissions was contacted, we discovered that she was already quite awake and very engaged... but not in this Madrid case. Brenda was already working with students in West Africa who were dealing with malaria and unsuccessful attempts to contact their local supervisor. Immediately, G3S2 started working both problems alongside Brenda. The ops center activity approached a controlled frenzy as we coordinated our research, reacted to information, and made phone calls.

In the midst of it all, the group of G3S2 workers stopped everything for prayer. The intense activity subsided for a few moments as we prayed for the missionary who lost his passport, the missionary with malaria, all of those tied to these two, and our own team as we strived to help them. Beyond the two challenges unfolding in the field, another story was discovered; a good story. All of G3S2's early morning activity and troubleshooting was transpiring in the organization's brand new "ops center." It wasn't until 3 hours had passed before anyone even stopped to consider how well the ops center was facilitating the work. During G3S2's early-July open house, G3S2 had told the 70+ visitors that the ops center was built to promote "communications and collaboration." Even though the new facility had seen some action since it was opened, this Sunday morning was the first time two more critical situations were "in play" simultaneously. "The ops center worked like a charm," said G3S2 resident intern, Jerod Clopton of Plainview, Texas.

Much like something from the famous movie "It's a Wonderful Life," the group briefly stopped the fast paced action to ponder what the morning would have been like if G3S2 hadn' been part of the equation. Brenda Sanders of GoNowMissions has years of experience, and she is extremely capable and vigilant in taking care of their summer personnel. Even so, 2006 has been the second year she has also relied on G3S2 to help handle "issues" that come up during the summer. "I see them as a partner in ministry. Because of the support they provide, Go Now missionaries can better serve." Brenda continues, "Personally, they have made my life much easier because I have fewer phone calls in the middle of the night."

The 24/7 support services described in this article are available as financial and personnel resources are available. Existing clients are aware of G3S2's current availability. G3S2's vision is to have 20 to 30 people in training year-round and available for offering support around the clock. In addition to direct first-hand support offered to GoNowMissions summer personnel, G3S2 hopes to offer the same second-level "backup" kind of support to others as offered to Brenda. Ken Hall, President and CEO of Buckner, says "We've been looking carefully at G3S2 for a while now and we're taking steps to use them as a way to more effectively support our own workers, both volunteers and full-time staff, and possibly save the cost of hiring more full-time people when our needs are not necessarily year-round."

Similarly, Humanitarian International Services Group (HISG) personnel are cooperating with G3S2 to help coordinate and facilitate growing faith-based alliances of organizations wanting to engage in international aid efforts such as the recent catastrophes in Indonesia which include the 2004 tsunami. According to HISG's CEO/Executive Director, Kay Hiramine, "We're finding that a number of relief organizations, large and small, are looking to better coordinate their efforts in larger relief efforts. We worked closely with G3S2 during the Katrina and Rita efforts and believe that we should place G3S2 squarely in the mix for future efforts. This will require increasing their capacity, but it makes sense to put extra resources into G3S2 instead of everyone trying to do it themselves. They actually serve others. They serve the greater good."

G3S2 has already been providing ongoing assistance to well known Baptists, Bill and Dellanna O'Brien, as they serve the city of Banda Aceh through Compassion Frisco. After a recent email problem was resolved by G3S2 personnel, he said, "It is good to know that G3S2 stands available 24/7 to come alongside us with the skills and perseverance needed to resolve the issues that plague our service, frustrate our psyches, and nibble at the very purposes for which we serve."

According to Matt Wallace, G3S2 Founder, "One of the biggest challenges G3S2 has faced since it was launched in 2003 is helping people grasp the vision of how G3S2 can be both a training organization and a support organization simultaneously. People appreciate timely, good field support. People also understand the importance of training people before they go abroad. The one thing that people have to think twice about is how G3S2 intentionally integrates the two. It's in our organizational DNA." The G3S2 resident interns who worked with G3S2 staff to help a stranded young man in Madrid and a sick young lady in Senegal were also learning lessons they won't soon forget. The "real time" nature of G3S2 support work drives home both the academic and the "real world" training provided by G3S2.

"The ops center provided us the ability to work on these two high priority cases simultaneously. We were able to help two people at the same time because we had the right tools in our hands and worked together to use them efficiently," said Megan Miller, an intern from Hudson, NC. "We knew that these two college students were scared and not feeling well. It was easier to help them because we had a specific place and procedure in which to carry out our support work." Army Major, Jeff Madison, attended G3S2's summer open house and actually spent time the following days providing informal training to the interns. The Major recently returned from a year serving in Afghanistan (after an earlier stint in Iraq) where he had run an inter-agency, multinational troubleshooting organization for the military. "I am impressed with G3S2. They are clearly harnessing technology to process knowledge and make timely and accurate decisions. However, during a crisis you depend on quality people who possess a "can do, servant-like attitude"-- people are your most valuable resource in an ops center. G3S2 understands this and they appear to be on the right path."

Anyone who has spent any time with G3S2 knows that the organization stresses three key priorities or key concepts that tend to get lost all too often when assisting people internationally. "We strive to be the most RESPONSIVE, CREATIVE and EMPATHETIC organization that cross-cultural greater good workers have ever seen." To learn more about what G3S2 means by "greater good," visit http://www.g3s2.org.

"Lost luggage, delayed flights, illness, hurricanes, lost passports and the list goes on. Students know that the first call to make in an emergency is to G3S2. Because they are there 24/7, they can begin to work on the solution immediately. And they have the resources to find the answers to the problems. Personally, they have made my life much easier because I have fewer phone calls in the middle of the night."