my ministry on the island

Over the last eight months I have had the opportunity to serve in a wonderful ministry experience. This includes church ministry and camp ministry. These all had wonderful parts that both stretched and challenged me a lot. These ministries helped me grow in many ways. They also guided me and shaped me and informed me on how in the future I would serve in these ministries in the future.

To quickly summarize my experience in the church ministry it went like this. On Fridays, I would help the youth group in a variety of ways. It would range from just being an extra pair of hands that would just help the leaders, to planning and leading youth group for the leaders or planning the devotions that would happen at the end of the night. This experience was wonderful because it really enlightened me to the desire placed in my heart for youth ministries.  It was really great to see how the youth would really connect with us when there was a well planned night for them. on Sundays I would help during the church service by helping lead Sunday school for the 2-5 year olds, this was a great experience because it showed me how I was supposed to sacrifice my time and not expect to only be fed by the pastor. 

To quickly summarize the camp ministry would look like this, during the year I would help during retreats hosted by camp qwanoes. Those duties include: being an all-star for the wide games at camp, to being dish team leader for a weekend and be placed in the dish room the entire retreat, or to be on maintenance to clean up after the retreaters. This was an awesome experience because it showed me how people can and choose to lead for the back ground. There is no attached glory to dish room or maintenance but it is nice to know that if your position was not filled that the whole retreat would fall apart. 

During the church ministry there were times that were stretching and challenging for me. One in particular time that I felt really stretched was when I was planned to share my testimony with the youth group. This would be the first time that I was going to be open and vulnerable to a group of strangers because I barely knew any of the youth at this point.  But by God giving me the strength and the wisdom to know what to say, he provided me with the right words to say about my testimony and I really saw a change in the youth's reaction to me. They listened to me and trusted me. Through that I was able to speak life into their lives. 

For challenges during the camp ministry I would have to say that it was a challenge to work in the dish room. On my sheet that asked me what events and positions that I would like to be a part of during the retreats, I definitely put that dishes was last on that list. But I was placed as dish team lead. That was a struggle to deal with at first. And to make matters worse, it snowed during that retreat, and I love snow. So it was really hard to find joy in working in the dish room while I knew my friends were out and enjoying the snow while I was slaving away in a hot and sweaty dish room. But this also helped me grow in the way that I had to find a way to find joy in my work, no matter how miserable it may have seemed.  And by the end of the weekend, I enjoyed the work I was doing and I really got to know some really cool people while doing it.

Through all of this I really learned what it meant to be a leader that was intentional. I had to be intentional with the youth kids, I had to be intentional with the people in my team and I had to be intentional with myself. The youth kids really need someone to pour into their lives; they really need someone to listen to them. And if all you can offer up to them is a listening ear and offer Godly advice when they need it.  With my teams that I was a part of and leading I needed to be intentional to give clear expectations and to have humble spirit. If someone on my team had an idea that they thought could benefit us all, I would listen and weigh the options that were placed before us. This really helped the team dynamic and the morale of the team. And to be intentional to myself mean that I had to make the conscious effort to grow in all aspects and to find the joy in my work no matter what I was doing or what I was leading. If I did not have my heart behind it, my team would feel that and not want to do the work, but if I was enthusiastic and ready to serve, then my team would work so much better. 

The part of this ministry that I am going to miss the most is definitely going to be my youth kids. Yes, sometimes they were a handful and sometimes they did not listen so well. But they had loving hearts and were so willing to listen to the leaders and they were not afraid to question what you believe, which really kept me on my toes. It was an awesome year and I would not trade it for anything. 

Isaiah 

Missions trip in vancouver

hello all,

we have been back from our missions trip for sometime now, and I am gonna give you some details about what went down in the streets of vancouver. we started off by going to a church called new beginnings for 5 days at the beginning and 5 days at the end of the trip. while we were there we had the opportunity to do many things. these included helping in the tutoring program that happens there. we also got to help with all age groups for sunday school. other ministries that happened there included helping people move out, or clean their house, providing furniture for the people that need it, and helping fun a food bank. we also had the opportunity to guide the youth on friday night youth group. in between our two stints at new beginnings, we went to the Potters Place mission right on East Hastings street, the heart of poverty in downtown vancouver.  while we were at this mission we helped run the morning and evening services. this included running a half hour of worship and a half hour of a sermon. i got to do my sermon at the evening service. in between the two services we had the opportunity to go on prayer walks and hand out food to the homeless people. that is a quick run down of what we did while on the missions trip

a funny memory that i had while on this trip was at one point on a prayer walk i stopped to talk to a homeless man. and i asked him if he needed anything prayed for. he asked me to pray for his harvest. so i began to pray, and about half way through my prayer i came to the realization that this guy was not a farmer, and the only other people i know that need a harvest, are people in grow ops. so that is the time that i prayed for a mans weed harvest.

i found it very difficult to approach people and trust that God would soften both of our hearts and that I would be able to help them through prayer and witness to them. this was difficult because i have always been someone who does not approach people and talk to them about God. this was a struggle but i soon got over it when God was able to give me the strength that was needed.

i really saw God use my team mates to reach out to those who i could not approach. he really used people that i would never expect to talk to homeless people to help lead people to Christ. it was a really cool experience. and God has used so many of us that it really helped with understanding not only the culture that we were immersed in, but also in understanding God and understanding ourselves more.

i really saw God soften my heart on this trip. before coming here,  I always assumed that homeless were there because they chose to get addicted to drugs and wasted all their money on drugs. but that is not the case. most of the people that i talked to had actually had a bad run of luck in their lives and just ended up their. so now i have a deep compassion for those who are on the street. granted some of those homeless people were actually their because of the drugs, but that is not the point.

Missions Fest and Missions Trip

Hello everyone,

So now is a time of reflection. As I reflect on Missions Fest 2015 that was in Vancouver there are some things that I would like to talk about. Missions Fest was an amazing experience and I recommend it to any one that has not had the chance to go there. Anywhere from the booths, to the seminars, to the worship and general sessions, you learned something whether it is actually something not entirely meant to be learned. Specifically with the seminars I learned a lot about how to love the homeless in the Vancouver area in our upcoming missions trip. It is going to be inconvenient for us to love the homeless and that is alright. Another thing I learned from the seminars was not actually supposed to be learned but it is something that will help anyone trying to present information. Know your stuff. I attended a seminar where the speaker was reading their info right off of the slides that they were showing us. Not only was it distracting and hard to pay attention but it also, in my mind undermined his credibility as a speaker, because anyone can read off of a slide. But that is just a little tangent I wanted to go onto. 

With our upcoming missions trip, specifically to Vancouver, I’m excited to start it! I really look forward to the culture shock I’m going to feel. Downtown Vancouver is a lot different than small town Saskatchewan, I also am looking forward to the people I am going to meet. At our last meeting, Levi really brought the fact that we will be meeting people and getting to know them as humans into perspective. but as much as I am excited to meet people, I think this will be my biggest challenge as well, conversing with people is not a skill that I possess and it will be a struggle to keep a conversation going with people, but with the help of God and some prayer, I believe that I will be able to overcome this challenge. 

Isaiah 

semester numero deuco

As i reflect on the past semester at this great place, there are some things i would like to try and change as this new sememster begins. if i commit to these changes I believe that i will grow expontentially with the Lord and view feel better about myself.

 first off i would like to begin an aspect of ministry. as i go through this next season, I would love to begin getting more involved with youth group, namely leading the talks at the end of the night. in the ways of academics, I want to begin praying before i endevor on any assignment, so that my work will honour God. with Adventure, I would love to be more involved with the adventures, namely taking roles of leadership when asking for volunteers. through leadership I would love to step up much more than I am and doing so with a loving and genuine heart. In community I would love to be more invloved with other people's lives and get to know everyone more.

I hope that through these changes, I will be able to grow closer not only to God, but also to my classmates, and my youth group. I hope that I will also be able to stick with my goals of working out and reading my bible everyday. through this I will be healthy both soul and body.

Isaiah Moffatt is the best of all, and lyann will give me good marks over this very quick blog! :)

Why Wood Mountain Alliance is Close to my Heart.

Hello everyone, 

So we have just finished our last class in foundations of church ministry, and it was a blast of a class. David Ernst was an awesome professor and really made sure that your beliefs were actually rooted in the scriptures. After thinking about my class, I have come to appreciate some areas in my home church. 

One thing that I appreciate about Wood Mountain alliance is the sense of community that is accompanied with my church. Every Sunday, there is a potluck meal so we as a church can gather and become a close knit community of believers. I think with where our location, if our church did not have potluck every day, we would not be a close community but almost like any other church. My church is also quite small averaging 30-40 people a Sunday. With a small congregation, everybody is able to know everyone fairly well. This makes for an awesome atmosphere and a rooted community.

Another thing I appreciate about my home church is where we do our services. In our church, we do not have a church building, so depending on the month and what time of year, we move around to different locations. For some people this may be a hassle and a major inconvenience, but personally for me it really helps my views on church. With the moving around, I get the visual representation that church is not a building, it’s a gather of believers. The church is not a building; it is within all of us. 

Those are just a few things that my church back home hold special in my heart. I hope that everyone has something like this that they can hold special in their heart. 

Isaiah, the only one who writes on this blog... 

leadership traits

Hello my faithful few readers,

Over the course of the few months I’ve been here at Kaleo, I have seen some good examples of being a good leader. I've seen them in the classic sense of leadership, where the leader is up front and directing the whole scenario and working alongside the minions. I've also seen leadership in the background sense, where you would not consider them a leader, but without them taking charge on their portion of the work, the whole system would be shot. 

A few area's that I have seen some awesome up front leadership is through the Love Crofton initiative, and the creative assignment for Old Testament Literature. a few things I've noticed from the people running these projects is this, to be a good leader, you must have clear and concise communication with the people you are working with and for, you must also be willing to take ideas and suggestions from the people you are working with. 

I have found it to be a challenge to sometimes provide clear communication. Speaking isn't exactly one of my strong points as a leader and so providing clear direction was very difficult. I believe that I will be able to grow tremendously in this ability as I head up more leadership opportunities. One point that really is a prime example of this is when I was the leader on the Love Crofton Initiative. One of my workers asked me a question, and in my head I had a clear and concise explanation, but when it exited my mouth it was very confusing, and it took me a while to figure out what I said that didn't make sense. One time that the trait of taking suggestions from others was used effectively was on another job for Love Crofton. I was a part of a three man team that had a Job to clean out the gutters of an old couple’s house. The man suggested that we use an extended power washer to clear out the gutters. I suggested that two of us go up and take a shorter power washer so we could see the progress and so we could do a better job. The man agreed that that was the better course of action. 

This is another week or two in the life of a prairie boy on the coast, (I forget when’s the last time I blogged.)

Isaiah 

Love Crofton

Hello,

Reflecting on the past week we have had some amazing times serving Crofton. We had the "Love Crofton Initiative." over the course of the last week, we have had the opportunity to serve and establish a relationship with the community near camp by serving them. 

It all started two weeks ago when we blitzed the town by hanging flyers on door handles informing the residence that we were willing to do any work that they couldn't do either because of their physical state or because they didn't have time. Either way, we had an amazing turn out that resulted in 30+ homes contacting the church about jobs. 

I had the opportunity to lead two teams, both of which had their challenge and victories, the first job took place on Monday and I lead a team of four. Ashlee was very thankful for our help and told us that the job should not take more than an hour, but that was a slight miscalculation. The job actually took three and a half hours, but that was not a problem at all. In the end I had the pleasure of leading a team of six. (Two joined later upon realizing the size of the task before us) I really enjoyed having a team that was willing to take direction but at the same time offer up their own idea's and that took initiative when they found themselves without a job. It was awesome to see how our little act of kindness and servitude changed Ashlee's day, 

On Tuesday I was placed on a team of three that worked for a sweet old lady who needed her gutters cleaned. She was so happy for our service and she tried to pay us. The sparkle in her eye when we told her that we wouldn't take payment was amazing; I don't think she has ever had anyone do something like this for her. I really found this job interesting because I wasn't in the leadership spot but rather another Kaleo Student was in that position. The interesting part was seeing others leadership styles and how they do in decision making. 

On Wednesday I was again placed on a team of three for a job that did not need three people to complete the task. The other two members jumped at the opportunity to do work, and so I was left without anything to do. But another aspect of our job was to build relationships, so I had the opportunity to get to know Ron better. It was awesome to see how much he appreciated our hard work, despite us not actually having a lot of work to be done. We were done in half an hour and the rest of our time was spent talking and getting to know Ron. It was cool to see how relationships are built in such a short time and how God impacts both members so quickly. Ron was thankful and I was excited to see God's love being spread.

On Thursday I was again a leader of a team of two and our "employer" as it were, was not home. She had to work. The difficult part of this job was that we did not have proper equipment to complete the job at first. We were tasked with mowing a lawn that had not seen a mower in a few weeks at least. The mower would not turn over either. And so I was getting annoyed and upset and the fact that I couldn't complete the Job. My other member was doing a task that we had to do and I was left standing without anything to do. I called another Kaleo student that was in charge of the whole Love Crofton, and told them what was up and after a few minutes I got a better lawn mower than the one I was left with. The cool thing about the lawn mower not starting was that I saw God work through this problem. If I did not get the other mower that was better, I would not have been able to complete the job to a standard that would be honouring to God, if I completed the job at all. 

All in all the week was amazing and really I grew closer to God.  I loved it so much I would do it in a heartbeat. 

ISAIAH MOFFATT