March, Easter and the end of Classes. Volunteering and Charity

Good Morning Friends, Family, and Internet Wanderers

Christ is Risen! I hope everyone has had a meaningful Easter and has been able to celebrate the Risen Christ with friends and family. When I was a child days like Easter were exciting only because of the various chocolates I was sure to receive. As an adult I find myself much more excited for this season that I ever was as a child, Easter was and continues to be a chance to remember and invite others into a transformative relationship with the risen Christ. On Good Friday we mourn because all seems lost, on Holy Saturday we wait in the silence of the grave, and on Easter Sunday we proclaim that Christ is Risen to be followed up by the congregation declaring "He is risen indeed!" On Easter we celebrate the triumph of Christ over the powers of this world and the grave itself.

Thankfulness

This month I have had much to be thankful for. As exciting as the Easter season is there is a lot of work that goes into planning and coordinating the different services and their various aspects. Being an apprentice I had less responsibilities than many other pastors I know, but it was still busy. For Good Friday our church meets with a few others to remember together the sacrifice of Christ. This is an exciting time of interacting with other denominations. This year the pastor was helping with the worship team prepare for the singing and thus I was put in the role of point person. I think I handled it well, but what I am most thankful for are the continued opportunities to try new things and tasks. In my apprenticeship I am blessed to regularly be exploring new areas of ministry. So with Easter done I am both thankful for the opportunity to serve in a more direct way, and the rest that comes from a completed task.

Similarly March saw the end of my classes for this semester. For most students and classes there would still be another week and exams after, but due to the way my class was scheduled I finished the last week of the month, and finished my final assignments a few weeks before. I must admit that after my final paper was submitted I realized a different direction that I could have and perhaps should have taken the paper. That being said I am still expecting a B in that class and an A in the other class this semester. With these classes done I have about a month or so before my summer class starts up.

Finally I have noticed this month several different little encouragements that others in my community have been offering to me. People in the congregation have come up to me and told me about how my weekly devotional messages have been helpful. I have been approached by many others to tell me about the growth they have seen in the maturity of the youth in our church, not that I think that has nearly as much to do with me as it does with the Lord. This month a student approached me and said they wanted to meet to process things with me as they feel themselves growing in faith. I was even caught of guard when the pastor and my supervisor off hand told me how impressed he was with something small I did. Each one of these interactions is small on its own, but together they have been a solid encouragement to me that I am making a difference in the lives of those I am seeking to minster to.

Prayer

As encouraging as this month was there is still a lot I would ask you to join me in bringing before the Lord. First and foremost is the ending of the ministry year which is only 2 and a half months away.
As of writing this I have finished the outline for what the rest of the year will look like for youth, yet I want to make sure we make the most of the opportunities we have to teach and lead the students. Please pray for our youth group, that the year will end well, that students will be impacted by the teaching and that Jesus would be glorified by our time together.

On that note I am still looking for  a female leader for youth next year. looking for volunteers seems like a non-stop challenge not just for the youth ministry, but for all the ministries of the church. Among some people there appears to be a feeling of burn out, others speak of having 'paid their dues.' This may just be my perception but the hesitancy to serve in certain areas or beyond a certain point seems odd to me. Certainly some people have to many other things to occupy their time, yet many seem to have other things which are standing in the way. I may be odd but in my own past experiences I loved being asked to serve in different areas even when the expectations were high. Please pray for the service culture at my church. Pray that leadership will be illuminated to the struggles of the volunteers  and how to help them. Pray that we will see people lifted up for important service roles, like a female youth leader for next fall. 

Changing gears a little, near the beginning of this month I received a random phone call from a stranger. This is not particularly new since I get a wrong number call at least once a week. Yet this was not a wrong number, but someone who got my number from the churches website and was looking for help. I have encountered people on the street like this but never before someone seeking me because I was a representative of a church. This person told me their story about travelling from the east coast and was new to town with no money and wondered if I could help them, the story the gave involved many locations and some inconsistencies (or at least the person was not very clear). They wanted money to stay in a hotel for the night and hoped I would pay for it. As a rule I do not give out money to people I do not know, and so I turned this person away. Yet as I did this I felt overcome by grief and anger towards myself. I know that this person likely could have or would have used my generosity in a poor way yet that night as I slept in a warm bed I could not help shake the feeling that I had erred. I wondered if I was a stranger in a new country or province, if  I did not have family to depend on where would I go, could I go to a church and receive their charity? What does our charity look like when there are all these provisions attached? Please pray for this person, they may have been looking to scam me, or they may have been in genuine need, pray that they find any help they need. Please pray for me as well, to not become complacent and to offer charity to those who ask, not because they deserve it, but because that is what Jesus would do.

Finally and on a more personal note, I was stood up on a date this month. I have been trying to date a fair amount, to make a concentrated effort on finding whoever God may have for me. That being said it has not been going well. Many of the women I have met are really nice but their is no spark, but others like the person from this experience are really frustrating and discouraging. Please join with me in praying that God will bring me and my future wife into each others path soon.