On P. 49 of Deep Mentoring: Guiding Others on Their Leadership Journey, Randy D. Reese (2012) writes:
"The cultural conditions have certainly changed since Jesus' first-century ministry, but the work of developing others still holds this inherent invitation, the invitation to be with others. There is no way of getting around this. It is a life-upon-life work."
We are just over 1 month into the school year and this year feels different. In previous years, during the first few months - we have focused primarily on selecting new students, studying scripture with them, raising up leaders, and inviting them to step into leadership roles by the end of the year.
This year, we are casting our nets wide as we walk with students more than we are aiming to begin immediate discipling relationships. This has caused our Richland pastoral team to pace ourselves and focus more on the experience of being with our students as they become more familiar with our ministry and - us.
This shift has invited me to reflect on the rhythm and pace that Jesus operated with. All of ministry is important - but how much of it is urgent? This question has startled me due to my compulsive reactivity to always needing to be "doing something". What if the being with is just as important as the doing? Could the "doing" naturally emerge from, as Reese (2012) writes, this "...life-upon-life work.."?
Our Richland pastoral team is in a unique place because we are all in our late 20s, early-mid 30s - so (according to our students), we are old! Hah! Please pray that we would honor the pace & rhythm we are in while still serving in faithful ministry-work!
Thank you for your support and being with me as we love the students we cross paths with.
Enjoy the pictures below! Let's gooooo
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| Our Wednesday night FOCUS group! We've had a consistent and engaged group of young people who are excited about meeting & connecting with one another. Each week we are working through a Biblical man/woman who awakened to God's love and how that experience changed / shaped their life forever! |
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| The club-fair was a huge success and we loved getting to meet new students and share about our ministry :) |
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| Becca (center) has been such a blessing to our group! We love having her on our team - her teamwork, pastoral mind, and presence have impacted our ministry! |
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| Our Wednesday lunch-bunch time(s) have been so fun! |
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| We dropped Anaya off for her first-day of pre school and it was a visceral experience - I may have written about this in a previous blog post; but - alas - here I am writing about it again. She is growing too fast! Wow :) |
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| Anaya wanted to try on my t-shirt. And, of course - it was the cutest thing I've ever seen. |
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| Please pray that students would continue to open their hearts to one another as the school year moves along. Around mid-October is when we have midterms and exams come up & several students drop out of our ministry to handle their schoolwork. Please pray that our students would be engaged, organized, and prepared for their classes & assignments! |
Thank you | Thank you | Thank you! -
Thank you for reading this and thank you for your ministry support :) I feel so blessed to have each of you on my team. Please keep me posted if you need prayer for anything - grateful for each of you!
Your brother & campus missionary,
Sirak
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