Sunday, May 18, 2008

Confirmation Sunday

This morning nine 7th and 8th graders were confirmed at my church. I'm not their parents, and I didn't even help out with the confirmation class. But I felt such a swelling of parental pride in those kids as they stood up there and recited the Apostle's Creed and gave their testimonies. How amazing that in the early formative years of their development, nine teenagers would be confident and secure enough in the saving grace of Jesus Christ that they would stand up in front of a gathering and declare their faith in him! Awesome.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Spring Institute

Tomorrow begins the CCO's Spring Institute. I'll be gone for a week with all the other campus ministry staff, for training and organizational life stuff and fellowship. I'm looking forward to some parts of the week, and not looking forward to other parts.
I LOVE the CCO as an organization. I think that they have great training, great support for their employees, great driving principles, great leadership. I love the concept of contextual ministry, and the passion that we all have for transforming college students. I love hanging out with CCO folks! They are some of the funniest, most creative people I know. (I guess that comes with the territory -- people who do relational ministry know how to relate to each other!) I think that there is just the right balance of teaching/training and fellowship time in all of our training events.
I do feel like a bit of an outcast within the social system of the CCO, though. It is a funny coincidence that my two best friends from the organization left staff after the first year. Four of my five roommates at our staff training events (including the two mentioned above) have left staff. I'm starting to think that I'm bad luck! All joking aside, though, the CCO is an organization filled with outgoing, extroverted people, and as a strong introvert, sometimes I wonder where my place is. My goal for next week, though, is to be purposeful about including myself in the fun and getting to know these great people I work with.
Another reason I'm really looking forward to Spring Institute is because I'll be taking a class called Pastoral Theology, offered through Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. I'd like to eventually get my masters' degree, but at this point I'm unsure about the concentration, so I'm taking things slow. But I've gotten to read some great books, and I'm sure I will be receiving some great teaching and have some great conversations over the course of the next week. I'll let you know what I'm up to with my continuing education.

Oh! And I meant to tell you... This girl's birthday was on Monday. Happy Birthday my friend!