Dear friends,

I would like to thank each of you for your active participation at the Spring Conference. Personally, I left full of gratitude for the privilege of being on the same team with people like you. It's something that even in the "Christian world" I don't take for granted.

I loved discussing the topic of KAM culture and values with you. I am convinced that the culture of our team is something through which God can add to the Czech churches as well. So let's build a healthy and Christ-centered culture together: let's make KAM not "just" what we would like it to be, but what God wants it to be. Thanks for each one of you!

Following this team meeting, we would like to summarize some information.

KAM Culture

The main theme of the Spring Conference was the Culture of KAM.

To recap:

• 3 important attitudes we would like to incorporate into our team culture:
  
  • We ask Jesus what kind of culture He would like to have within KAM.
  • We are KAM.
  • We are not workers, but missionaries.
• KAM values:
  
  • Courageous Faith
  • Dynamic community
  • God-honoring quality (excellence)
  • Authentic integrity
  • Advancing the local church

Changes in the KAM team

During the conference we were introduced to the following changes to our team:

• The School for Life department at the end of the school year will move, along with most of the team, under Ethics and Character Education, a registered institute, with Vitek Pospisil as the new director as of this April. Deny Mouchová will move to the Via Comenia Foundation as of January 2025. In the coming months we will therefore say goodbye to Vitek, Miriam, and Deny. Honza Kuklínek and Samuel Húšť will remain a part of the KAM team.
• We welcomed our new missionaries: Zuzka Smyčková (EXIT), David Kubelka (Finance) and Sasha Kovalov (Special Projects for Ukrainian Communities).
• We said goodbye to Kara and Zach Zegan.

Feedback questionnaire - what's next?

During the Spring Conference we had the opportunity to reflect on the results of the KAM Feedback Questionnaire with the leaders and then with interested Kamáci. Together with the leaders, we created a list of priority topics (see below) that we would like to address based on your input. Some of these we will discuss in turn at the Leadership Team, for others we will set up preparatory discussion groups. We would also like to follow up the questionnaire with a personal conversation with some of you. It will not be possible to address everything at once. We ask for your patience.

• The strategic plan: how to work with it to make it clear and understandable for the Kamáci
• Legal relations in the KAM / Švarc system
• KAM Bohemia: inclusion of staff from Bohemia, development of the service in Bohemia
• Homeoffice: how to work in a healthy way
• Fundraising: KAM fundraiser, home assignment for 1st culture, needs-based budget, family budget also for 1st culture
• KAM staff workload
• 2nd culture: appreciation, care for partners and children, KAM culture without division into 1st and 2nd
• Culture of not gossiping
• Internal events: redefine purpose, form, number of events with overnight stays
• Internal training: revise, consider reducing number of Learning Communities
• New CRM: update team
• Communication channels: revise which channels are used for what
• PR services: through ambassadors, through exhibitions/fairs, through personal relationships
• Leader development: training new leaders, developing potential leaders
• Staff remuneration: e.g., extra rewards at the end of the year
• Discussion groups on important topics
• Reimbursement of psychotherapy: from the personal fund?
• Communicate to churches the real cost of programs?
• Further suggestions for the Leadership Team (LT) will be discussed at the LT working retreat

Minutes and results of the Annual Conference

We are sending you the recording for the KAM Annual Conference along with pictures.

Voting results are:

• The employee representative for the next year is Lucie Mészáros.
• Dave Patty and Petr Húšť have ended their participation in the KAM Board.The other members of a KAM Board were confirmed.

Thank you for the time spent together. And we look forward to seeing you at future events:

• Good Morning Info (via Zoom): April 23rd.
• JV Spring Conference (for 2nd culture): May 1st-5th in Malenovice,
• JV KAM Event for women: May 14th in Prague,
• Garden Party: June 18th in Malenovice.

On behalf of the Leadership Team,
Kuba Vejmělka