There is a growing number of persons who serve as individuals or couples for longer periods of time. Our ability to place individuals successfully was enhanced when Southeast Jurisdiction VIM Coordinator, Walter Whitehurst, agreed to handle invididual placements for the entire church. The greatest positive change affecting the VIM movement, however, has been the emergence of VIM as a mission of the annual conferences. In an era whent he psychology is to reduce staff positions, more and more conferences are hiring part time or full time VIM staff. Five years ago, this jurisdiction had one such person.
Today there are five.
When the annual conference embraces VIM, participation can escalate dramatically. In 1998, for example, the Oklahoma Conference will send a total of seventy-seven teams to Alaska and to other nations. This does not count their teams serving within Oklahoma and at other sites in the U.S. Other conferences have seen similar growth. When an annual conference embraces VIM as a conference enterprise, it trains leaders. It chooses areas and projects to focus upon.