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 

Making Connections and Sailing

so today is october 7 2014

and the night of the blood moon.

 but I digress..

With the short time of which I have been at Kaleo, I have had the amazing opportunity to serve at a local church and in their youth group. We have been learning about making connection to the youth. A huge part about serving others, is not just serving them, but rather creating relationships with the youth.

Building these relationships require effort to make sure that the relationship is real and not just knowledge with the youth, but a true connection. I have been striving to take these relationships seriously by taking genuine interests in their lives and activities.

With making connections with the Pastor of the church, I have not had the chance to do so because the church has just hired a pastor and last sunday was his first service. But I plan to make connections with him through conversation after the service and asking questions.

Lyann you dont have to read this if you dont want to, this is my sailing adventures.

so with Kaleo I have hadthe chance to go on a 5 day sailing trip aboard a tall ship named the Pacific Grace. This was an amazing experience that I never thought would happen. it really sparked a love for sailing in my heart and I would go back in a heart beat. I would love to spend much more time aboard the Pacific Grace. some of our responsibilties were that we had to be on bow watch, stern watch, and steering and navigation. On bow watch, we were stationed at the front of the ship. while positioned here, our job was to call out any objects that could pose a potential threat to the integrity of the ship. while on stern watch, we were stationed at the back of the ship. our job was to be the last line of defence as it were. we were what stood between a person over board being noticed and being forgotten forever. thankfully that never happened and no body fell off of the ship. and steering and navigation was as simple and awesome as it sounds. we actually Got to steer the ship and navigate the waters!!! :) all in all it was an awesome experience that was a high light of my year.

Isaiah

some old post that i forget the question to but decided to put a title to anyway

Hello all,

Well i've been at Qwanoes, Going through the Kaleo program, for almost two weeks and it seems like months. Not because it is a terrible program or that I can't wait to be over, but that everyday has been jam packed with so many opportunities to serve God in a variety of ways. Some of those include: working with a church and helping with their youth ministry, being put in charge of specific activities when retreat groups come to the camp, or doing menial labour that isnt exactly fun.

In the church ministry, i've been placed in the Duncan St. Andrews Presbyterian Church. Not going to lie, I was a little afraid going into this church, because as far as I can remember, i've never been in a different denominational church. But once I was actually experiencing the church and seeing how things were done, I was more comfortable with the church. Also since we have started the program, we have had the opportunity to serve at the youth group. it was a great experience. Granted we did not get major leadership position right off but as of right now we are in charge of leading youth group this coming Friday! this extremely exciting! Our specific youth group has a lot of Special needs kids, and so I'm gonna find it hard to turn down my intensity for the activities. This is also means that we will most likely have to find activities that they can all play and that won't be too complicated. I'm looking forward to this endeavour.

with the Trinity Western University Retreat just leaving yesterday, it's crazy to think that I was in charge of a small section of that retreat. I was placed in Charge of watching over the paddle Boards and Frenzies (kayaks really). It was really cool because it really made me realized that not all people of authority have to be older, I was told this long ago but never really believed that, in the back of my mind you had to be older than me to have authority. But while I was in charge of this small section I realized that all these people that were listening to me and following my instructions were all older than me! even though it was a small part of leadership and was only for a few hours it was a humbling experience. This really helped with me getting a better grasp of  leadership and its many forms. Another part of helping with the retreat was that there was a lot of dishes to be done, I don't Like doing Dishes, but they had to be done. This was another part where leadership was shown. Not the kind where you will be standing out in front of everyone and yelling commands, but rather leadership in taking the initiative to get them done, even if it is some thing you hate. I'm really looking forward to all these opportunities to be put into leadership roles and taking on the challenge.

So both ministries that I was apart of in these last two weeks, both had positive first impressions, even if it was an activity that I was not exactly fond of. I can't wait to see what God has in store for me and these ministries that I'm apart of!

I'm out! *extends arm and drops mic*
Isaiah