The foundation

Over the past several months I was blessed with the opportunity to journey alongside a church that is getting ready to launch in Shaumburg, IL. I believe that there was a sense of oasis that took place in the journey with that team that I really appreciated. God is going to use Waterfront church in some incredible ways, and there is something that I believe that they taught me that I need to get good at in order for God to really use me the way He intends. If I am honest, I believe that it holds the foundation to what is crucial to making a great team. Waterfront was incredible at taking intentional time to care for and love one another. In planning gatherings, pre-launch church services, and every e-mail contact, it was evident that the most important agenda at task was to care for others. Because of that, the pull to be a part of the mission of the church was so strong. It is so easy in life to get wrapped up in the surplus of tasks at hand and run out of time to intentionally love people well. I want to be the type of leader where my leaders feel like I care more about them as individuals then what holes they fill in my ministry. As a teacher, I want my students to know that I care more about them as an individual then the way they behave in class or the grade they earn. I know what it feels like to just be a hole filler or one that just takes up a seat and I don't want anyone around me to feel that way. I am not sure how to get great at this piece, especially when life is filled with tasks, deadlines, quotas, and numerous other things to accomplish. When I walk through the halls of my school, I tend to error on the side of being on a mission. When I sit down and talk with a leader, I have a list of important upcoming information that the leader needs to know. If time is pushed, the personal gets set aside and the informational gets tackled. I need to reverse the strategy or find a balance between the two. I was blessed to feel a part of community of people that got it but now I need to take "it" and either reproduce it or plug it into another structure.

I threw a paper airplane in church

I have been attending/working at Community Christian Church
for awhile now and there are still days where I walk away amazed at what takes place. We are in this great new series called the leader within and this week we were talking about the vision of a leader and taking things that are a holy discontent for us and living them out to make a difference. In the beginning, there was a video clip that they showed with a story of the Wright Brothers. As the pastor got started, he made a reference to the sheet on our chair that had an outline that we could take notes on. On the back of that sheet, in order to keep with the Wright Brothers theme, there was a step by step detailed description on how to turn you notes into a paper airplane. As if that wasn't funny enough, right at the end of the message (right before communion) the pastor asked us to create our paper airplane and then had us all fly them at the same time. It was the funniest thing I have ever see to have 300+ paper airplanes (not all loosened up enough to actually fly them) flying in the middle of a church service. The only bad part is after service I went to go find my airplane to keep my notes that I wrote on the other side and I couldn't find it anywhere. Oh CCC, it is so far out of the normal church box but it is exactly what it needs to be in order to help people find their way back to God.

Jumping in with two feet

I became a student again today. Last spring, I began throwing around the idea of what it would look like to go back to school to work towards my National Board Certification. For the longest time I sat on the fence with the decision. I feel like if I finish this process, it solidifies that teaching is the avenue God is going to use me (or that I am telling God he will use me). I LOVE teaching with all my heart. I love connecting with students, I love seeing them grow, learn, and mature. I love the challenges, I love the light bulb moments, and I love the collaboration with other teachers but something still doesn't sit easy in my heart. I know ministry takes place in the classroom on a daily basis but there is still something that pulls me to the wonder of doing ministry within the church. What holds me back? I am not sure, maybe it is a lack of confidence, maybe it is not being called to switch, or maybe it is lack of faith that God will give me the skill set to be successful in ministry. Even though I feel like I don't have a clue what I am going to do the next 20 years, I felt like I needed to do everything I can to continue pushing me to be a better teacher until I figure life out.

So I am jumping in with both feet. I printed out the 300 page explanation of the portfolio assessment today and about had a panic attack. As the professor explained today, "This will be the most challenging and rigorous process you have ever been through." He compared it do the level of getting a doctoral degree but condensing it into 9 months as apposed to several years. Anyone can do anything for nine months right......

Jr High Camp

I just returned from a week of Jr High camp in Lake City, Michigan. It was a pretty incredible week. The camp was amazing. It was more like a resort than a camp. The students had access to tubing, a zip line, the blob, rock climbing, high ropes, basketball, frisbee golf, the lake front. You name it this camp had it! This was my first event with Jr High students and I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into. To be totally honest, I wasn't all that excited and was pretty terrified to hang out with them for an entire week. As I had watched other Jr high events unfold, my only take was that they are super loud and really crazy. Although they can be very high energy, they are incredible. There are quite of few of them that really get this idea of living for Christ. It is fun to hear them communicate that and see the light bulb go off in their heads as the week went on. I think my favorite part about them is their love for anyone. With high school ministry you have to prove yourself a bit. There is this window of time that it takes to prove yourself cool enough to hang out with the high school student. Jr High kids love anyone who is willing to hang out with them- no proving necessary just be goofy and spend time with them and they think your great! Here is a clip of the week to get an idea of what it was all about!