Sitting in the sessions at the Governmental Affairs Conference or during impromptu networking sessions in the halls of the Washington Convention Center, attendees are all mulling over the great successes and challenges that credit unions are experiencing every day. One thing is clear: Now more than ever is a time to celebrate being a part of the credit union community.

Even when many in the industry can't agree on the issues, we can all agree that some agreement needs to be reached in the broadest sense. Take for example the idea of existing to serve the members.

"We may have a different approach on how we do things but not why we do them," Kyle Markland says in our page 20 feature story. He is all about serving the members of Affinity Plus FCU. He insists the credit union look at the members as people, not just credit scores, when lending out money. He ensures the employees there take this approach by treating them as people and not just cogs in the lending machine. The employees are empowered to take initiative, and this culture of valuing human beings has taken the credit union a long way.