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to solve their crisis. We dont come to work at the mission to attend meetings. With that in mind we tore up our board room and created a room that is designed to identify problems to remind us of the needs in our community and to keep the reason this organization exists in front of us. We wanted it to be a place where passionate individuals who are feeling the urgency of others in crisis can work toward solutions to some of our commu- nitys messiest challenges. We needed a creative and dynamic place for thinking differently for ensuring lasting outcomes. And we changed the name. THE WAR ROOM S imply calling it the War Room was not enough but it was a start. Some staff members pushed back You cant call it the war room. Wars are violent and aggressive. The word war creates an unsettling feeling. Exactly we replied. We need to feel unset- tled about the problems facing our community Thats the thing about wordsthey mean something. For years we had a warehouse to store our gifts-in-kind. Calling it a warehouse meant we were supposed to store things. Then driven by the overwhelming needs in our com- munity one of our staff asked a new question. Dont we want the items donated for those in need to actually get to those in need It seems like a basic question but she went on. Shouldnt we be calling it the distribution center Shouldnt it be a place that doesnt store things but a place that will distribute things Its not as simple as renaming an existing room or buildingas if you could get your own children to behave better if you just changed their names But there is a theology of place the idea that where we do ministry is key to how we do ministry. This is true when the Spirit led Jesus to spend 40 days somewhere. The where mattered. It was true with why Moses was led up onto a mountain why God spent so much time describing how to build a temple and even where Adam and Eve began life and why they subsequently needed to leave that place. The theology of place should matter with the buildings where we shelter people. It should matter with where we sleep people. It should matter where we meet and plan as well. Our missions war room is a place designed specifically to identify problems and create an atmosphere that is conducive for coming up with dynamic solutions. We deal with some of soci- etys darkest and messiest issuesissues that have already proven to be difficult to solve. How can we a rescue mission with a limited budget hope to help We must be innovative. We must be scrappy If we dont really want to solve the problems then any old room will do. But if we want to declare war on the most significant problems WWW.AGRM.ORGMARCHAPRIL 2016 21 We deal with some of societys darkest and messiest issues issues that have already proven to be difficult to solve. We must be innovative. We must be scrappy Jeff is the president of Union Gospel Rescue Mission in Seattle. He previously served for 26 years at Hume Lake Christian Camps in California. You can reach him at jlilleyugm.org.