Ministry Journal, The Church

22 November 4:00

           The past week I had the pleasure of having David Ernst as prof in the class Church Ministry. I was really exited for this class for David has preached at my home Church on occasion and I had always really enjoyed when he had. So after taking a class on the Church It would be nice to reflect on home church in Coronach. 

          Probably the thing I am most thankful for in my home church is the people. Looking back it really was a great church to grow up and be apart of, because I was surrounded by so many people who loved and cared for me. Learning in our Church Min. class you could really gain the understanding that it is the people who make all the difference. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that I grew up in Coronach Alliance Church and it might be kinda of selfish, but one thing I miss is being surrounded by so many people who know you and are good at showing they care about you. I am in no way saying that I don't feel Loved or accepted at my church on the Island cause I do and I am very grateful for that, however there is defiantly something to be said for being around the people who you grew up with. 

           Another thing I have really grown to love about my church at home was the music. It may seem counter cultural to a seventeen year old but I miss the semi older hymns and more original music we played. Now I do love upbeat christian music and I do listen to it regularly on my computer and laptop but there is certainly something great about the older worship music that gives me great joy. Also I miss my Mom's beautiful piano playing every Sunday. :) 

             My Church back home is not perfect but no church no church is but I am really thankful that this was a place I got to grow up. I think being away from your church makes you realize how much you appreciate it and I am thankful to have the ability to have gained an even better perspective of my church. as they say "absence makes the heart grow fonder." 

Characteristics of a Good Leader

Nov 10th, 12:46

      Through out the year being that I am in a Leadership program I have been continually being stretched and have been growing in my leadership qualities and ability to lead. We have had opportunities to learn from others and their experiences in Leadership, as well as we have had the ability to follow others and opportunities to step up and lead ourselves. Some of The charecterestics that have really stood out to me and have been learning more and more in my life are Integrity, Patience and Humility.
   
       Just being in a group of students who are working under authority and have rules I have really respected others and been able to follow others in the way they have been intentionally following. Being able to feed off of them and lead others in the right path has been really cool. Integrity can be contagious and its a lot easier to follow someone who has Integrity than to follow someone who isn't doing what they are preaching. A leader without Integrity reaks havok on those who are following him. For why would someone faithfully follow a leader without integrity, there would be no point for why would you follow the rules if your Leader does not. It has been great to see great integrity in the leadership we have here and a great example in that is having an intern who is really down to earth and relatable. For Integrity is doing the right thing, but also just as much or more importantly is admitting when you screw up and making an effort to fix it. That is true Leadership in a very vualnerable way which in many ways I think inspires a greater response in that it shows that you are human but you are really doing your best.

      So after consoling at the Jr.'s retreat one way I was pushed and something I needed a decent amount of was patience. Patience is something I think so often we lack, but the results that come from someone who is patient are super beneficial. Having Patience is in my opinion one of the best ways of showing you love someone who may not necessarily feel loved. Showing unconditional love to people again and again where others would have lost it shows that you really care about people, and people are way more inclined to follow someone who cares for them. This was so really cool to see as in the Jr's retreat I had some very crazy kids and even though I had to tell them things again and again and again,  and having patience with them was tough when your a tired consoler, but they respected me more and more as the week went on. I think my highlight of that week was one of the kids who was wearing my hat and pretending to be the new "consoler" said he wanted to be a consoler like me one day. It was like the coolest moment for me and seeing them listen to me little bit more and more without having to change the way I talked to them was really cool. I know that would not have been possible without patience and would have been received as well without the patience I had, I think that was only do to God putting it in my heart.

      I think something that I have been pushed with more and more in my spiritual life and in life in general is Humility and also seeing how powerful it can be in leadership. In my life one way I have been understanding leadership greater and greater is that it is only in christ that I can have the ability to do any good, and understanding that I am not a great person but that God can do great things through me. Understanding this creates a greater reliance on God and I belive this allows for you to do greater good. In a non spiritual way I have seen when I have been following people who lead with humility my willingness to follow them has sky rocketed. I can think back to times in love croften when I have had leaders who lead from a real point of humility my enjoyment in working for them skyrocketed cause I wanted to the best of them not because they demanded it but because that was the type of person you really wanted to work for. Some one who is humble in their Leadership is more approachable and  more willing to hear your opinion even when it sucks and so even when they denie it you still want to do it their way.  I know in two of my experiences of love croften I could have been a little more humble in my leading. Becuase I had pride I didn't address certain situations correctly and although they were small things in the way I demanded stuff they hit me right when it happened and it was humbling to see my pride come out. I think this is great thing to strive for becuase of all the gentleness and respect that is associated with hummility and one person I think of when I say that right away  was our prof Dustin Resch and how he lead his class it became so engaging and sparked lots of good conversation I believe because he lead from a gentle humble stance. These are all theings I can see happening here at camp and characteristics I am striving for.

Loving Croften

   October 25 at 4:15am 

     This week we as students had the opportunity to go out into the community and serve. we put together a volunteer group, to go out and just find ways to serve the people in the community of Croften. Our hope was that they would, through our servent hearts, see the love of God shown through us and ultimately our goal was to get people connected with the local church.
     Through the week we were all delegated leaders of projects and it was really cool to see the people in our group lead well and also too see everyone follow and listen so well, it was really encouraging to see. It was also really cool to lead groups and it was encouraging as a leader to see people listen and work hard, that made being the leader of a group very easy. My first day I washed windows, with Sam which didn't take long luckily, becuase then I got to help a group in which i got to see the fruits of my labour right away. We were helping an elderly lady named Rona who was the sweetest woman alive and it was just so rewarding to be helping someone like her.
     For the next three days I would be trimming blackberry bushes, two of which groups I would be leading. It didn't take long to relize how much trimming blackberries sucked, as they are thorny disgusting bushes. However it also didn't take long to see a big impact on the peoples lives we were doing it for. The first day we helped a couple who were just so sweet and just so appreciative that the lady was almost in tears, because of the work we did. The last day I got to leas the project for a lady from my church who is an elderly German, woman and it was so nice to lead team for a woman I knew and would see again, also she invited us for potato pancakes and sour crout so I am exited for that.
     It was so phenomenal to see how much impact we could have on peoples lives just by doing a little work for them. seeing how we were impacting these people made working for them all worth it. It was a blessing to serve as the hands and feet of Jesus and show our love to the community. I am exited for they ways in which God will have me serve in the future, such as concelling this weekend for the jounors retreat.

Salts

Sailing with Salts!!

Forging Friendships In Ministry

Oct 10, 2014

I am very pleased to say that tonight will be our opening night to Awana, and I am very exited to serve minister to kids through this program. One of the things I am exited for is to build connections and friendships with the kids. I have already built some friendships with some of the kids at church, the adults, and our pastor Jason. 

I have been able to form good friendship with our pastor, just through our church group spending a lot of  time with him through the church and planning. I have been able to have some good talks with Jason in his car and also have had a good chat with him seeing him on the street. I am exited to grow in our friendship and to see all I can learn from him.

Although I have not actually had much opportunity to connect with the kids other than helping take care of kids after church one day. However I am exited to help with the Awana program and form those friendships with the kids and pour into their lives. I am exited to model what means to be a follower of christ for these kids and just enjoy having fun with them. 

I am exited to see how God is going to be using me this year and to see his Love poured through me. 

Mt. Albert Edwards

      Hey so I know I'm backtracking but thought I would throw up some pictures from my hike up Mt. Albert Edwards.

A Servant's Heart

         So I have had the pleasure of being here at Qwanoes for two weeks now, and it has been really cool. Now since being here I have been able to connect with the local church I have been assigned to, and serve at Camp Qwanoes. The church I have been assigned to is Warmland Church, which is way off in Croften, all of about a three minute drive. I also have and will continue to have the ability to serve camp Qwanoes.
         Warmland Church is a small community church, in which about forty people attend regularly. I with three other students, Victoria, Tannis,  and Jeremy will all be serving at Warmland. Within the first week at Qwanoes we were able to connect with Jason, the pastor at Warmland and discuss our ministry roles within the church. We will be leading Awana which is a children's club where they come to sing songs, play games, do crafts, memorize bible verses, hear bible stories and learn about Jesus. We will also have the opportunity to help out and possibly lead sunday school. I have not yet had the chance to serve in the church other than stacking chairs, but I am so exited for the possibility of serving in the church and exited to see what God has in store for me and our group serving at Warmland.
       A big way I have been able to serve has been through the Trinity Western retreat that was hosted here at Qwanoes. We gave them a warm welcome by making tunnels by holding one another's hand's in a line above our heads for them to exit through as the came off the bus. Then on saturday I had the privilege of working at the climbing wall in the afternoon and belaying Trinity Western students during the retreat. This was really unique to have the ability to do this and to have people trust me in this task of being in control of the rope that was the only defence against them falling. Also it was cool to have the ability to talk to the students and be encouraging to them. Seeing people complete the climbing walls even when they didn't think it was possible is such an incredible feeling. I had the ability to serve at two other areas which were both basically massive swings. The first one was really sweet as I had the chance to do the first swing which is called the "Breathtaker." It is incredibly scary, swinging so high in the air with nothing but a few ropes to hold your life. But once my fear wore off I swung through the air and felt complete freedom. I also got the chance to harness people to go on the "Sky Scraper" which was at times awkward but still good to serve and glad I was able to help the others there as this was the busiest station.
       It has been a privilege to humbly serve others in these activities. The opportunity to serve has been surprisingly fun. I am exited as to what God has in store for me for the rest of this year; and knowing my God, I'm sure He has some pretty sweet plans.