A New Chapter

I'll start by filling you in on my life recently. I'm very excited about what the future holds, as I was recently offered and accepted a position at Southeast Christian Church's Indiana Campus working in Adult Ministries. I'll be assisting Jerry Naville, the Adult Minister, with connecting people to the church and different groups that are offered, recruiting and managing volunteers, as well as taking advantage of the opportunity to grow in ministry.

This is definitely a step in the right direction for me, as I've felt for a long time that I was being called to ministry, but not sure exactly what that looked like. After a lot of prayer and a lot of patience, I feel as through I'm finally starting to see just the beginning of what God has in store for me in ministry.

So to that end, I would like to share the last article I wrote for Y-CAP Monthly, our newsletter we do for the program I run at the Y. 

In this month’s Community Corner, I would like to open up by sharing with you that I have recently been offered and have accepted a full-time position at Southeast Christian Church’s Indiana Campus working in Adult Ministries. My last day as the Y-CAP Coordinator is April 12, 2011. 

This was a difficult decision for me, and was only made after much prayer, conversation and thought. So, as I write this, I have a bittersweet feeling regarding the community that I have experienced in my time at the YMCA of Southern Indiana. The community that has been built is amazing! However, I will miss experiencing it on a daily basis.

During my time here, I have experienced some of the most genuine relationships with some of the most caring people that I have ever encountered. I have also seen high school guys put aside their own needs in order to rise to the occasion and make a difference in the lives of others when they needed it the most. I have seen those guys develop spiritually, physically and mentally. I have watched them mature and grow from boys into young men. I have seen them say that they are not satisfied with the idea of a father not being involved in the lives of his kids – and then I’ve watched them make decisions today to ensure that they are fully present in the lives their own families in the future. 

Personally, I have been challenged to grow as well. As I heard the young men in Y-CAP share their stories and where they have come from, I have been challenged to have the same determination that they have had to show over the years. I was also challenged to share my story as well, with the hope that it could be as inspiring as their stories were to me. On another occasion, one Y-CAP member shared with the group that he is giving up TV and video games on Saturdays to read and study his Bible. Through this I was challenged to do better in the area of Bible study as well. 

More than once, Y-CAP guys have shared with me that they hope to do what I do when they “grow up.” They share that they hope to be the type of influence to someone else that they believe I have been to them. When I first heard someone say this to me, I was floored – absolutely blown away! The only thing running through my head as I heard this was “Are you sure you really want to be like me? I still have a lot to figure out! My life is far from perfect in a lot of ways!!”

However, I was challenged in this to strive to be more Christ-like, with the hope that those following me will in turn develop an undying hunger and desire to follow Christ. It became my prayer that my heart to follow the only example worth following would also become the desire of those who felt they should follow me. I hope my life has been such an outpouring of Christ’s love that it has been obvious that it is His example, not mine, that is worth following.

The examples and stories of how I have been encouraged, grown physically, mentally and spiritually, as well as experienced true community could go on and on and on…

However, I would like to leave you with three qualities or characteristics of true community that have really become evident to me in my time here at the Y and with the Y-CAP program.

1.    1. GOD FIRST – Community is truly built when God is first in our lives. In Luke 9:23, Jesus shares that “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.”

When we die to ourselves and come alive in Christ, our passions become His passions, and our desires become His desires. Only through dying to our own desires and acknowledging that God is first can we ever come to experience true life in community with one another.

2.    2. DON’T RUN! – People who are devoted and committed to experiencing community with one another cannot run when times get hard. I can’t even begin to express how much this idea has changed my view of how to react to adversity. There have been so many times I’ve wanted to run or, at the very least, crawl under my desk and stay there!

However, by staying present in trials, I have gained a better understanding of what Paul meant when he wrote this in Romans 5:3-5 – “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”

3.    3. THE DIFFERENCE TODAY – The first Y-CAP t-shirts we ever designed had a very simple, yet powerful statement on the back. It read “I am the difference today.” Through this statement, we hoped to empower the young men in Y-CAP to take action now. To understand that no matter their circumstances or stage of life, they are incredibly capable of making an unbelievable difference in the lives of those around them. They have the ability to experience, build and shape community.

This idea is evident throughout Romans 12 (which I highly suggest checking out), as we are challenged to honor God in all we do, actively serve Him with the abilities we have been given, love others with genuine affection, and respond to those who would do us harm in a loving manner. This entire chapter sums up what it means to be the difference today through living out community the way it was intended.

Throughout all of my experiences here, I have grown and matured in what it means to truly serve others. I have been changed for the better through sharing life with you! I am thankful for the community experiences I have had with you thus far. Although I am leaving the Y, I am not leaving the Clark/Floyd County community. To that end, rather than saying goodbye and coming to the ending of our story together, I would like to think that through this change, we are simply beginning a new chapter. In this chapter, it is my hope and prayer that we will come to an even deeper understanding of what it is to experience community together.