In staying as long as possible in one place, I have seen how that place has shaped me as much as I have shaped it. I have been employed on staff at Creekside for over 8 years. That is the longest I have ever held one job in my entire working life so far. I was 4 years at Bramalea Alliance, and before that 7 years at Penner International.
The milestone of the sabbatical has me thinking about how I have had the grace and the strength to hang in for 8 years. Those years have come with lots of challenges, but also lots of blessings. There were a few times when I honestly almost packed it in. Creekside has also been very good to me in all those years. I am well-paid and I know that I am cared for by the leadership.
I can see how I have adapted myself over the years to Creekside, and also how I have shaped Creekside to the degree that I have. As the primary worship leader and director, I exercise a certain amount of influence on the whole tone of worship, music and arts. In these things, Creekside is going to be to some degree a reflection of who I am and what I value. I'm not tooting my own horn here right now, because in all honesty I question myself and my effectiveness a lot, and always have. In working together with my Senior Pastor Ken and my other colleagues, we have grown over the years in our capacity to live in and manage the tensions of our various values and expectations, while all the while affirming our core values, the things we are committed to and will go to the wall for as a team.
I have had my thinking and my values shaped by Creekside as much as I have been a part of shaping Creekside's identity as an expression of the Body of Christ. Perhaps I am the one who has been shaped more. I am thankful for God's enabling me to hang in there these 8+ years and am eager to continue to shape and BE SHAPED by this place!
Carmen Bajo landscape
The view from Carmen Bajo, Quito, Ecuador
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
3 Weeks and Counting !!!
With each week the sabbatical draweth nigh. The list of things to do lengtheneth. The last minute details multiplieth. I get thillier. And thillier.
Very soon we will be setting up a webpage at www.iteams.ca to raise funds for our family mission to Quito Ecuador. We are very excited to be able to go as short-term missionaries with International Teams under the banner of Impact Ecuador, and are praying that we will be able to raise both prayer support and funds for the flights, the biggest chunk of the costs.
As a family we will be engaging in life alongside our friends the Erazo's, who pastor the church in Carmen Bajo as well as running a school and Compassion center as well. We hope to meet and get to know people, young and old, and that all of us, including the girls, will connect with people there and be a blessing. I am sure I'll have opportunity again to lead worship and am already dusting off my spanish worship songs.
The Quito trip is the high point of the sabbatical time, and of course I'll be up to other stuff in May and June in other areas of life.
Your prayers for us are highly valued! Stay tuned for more.
Very soon we will be setting up a webpage at www.iteams.ca to raise funds for our family mission to Quito Ecuador. We are very excited to be able to go as short-term missionaries with International Teams under the banner of Impact Ecuador, and are praying that we will be able to raise both prayer support and funds for the flights, the biggest chunk of the costs.
As a family we will be engaging in life alongside our friends the Erazo's, who pastor the church in Carmen Bajo as well as running a school and Compassion center as well. We hope to meet and get to know people, young and old, and that all of us, including the girls, will connect with people there and be a blessing. I am sure I'll have opportunity again to lead worship and am already dusting off my spanish worship songs.
The Quito trip is the high point of the sabbatical time, and of course I'll be up to other stuff in May and June in other areas of life.
Your prayers for us are highly valued! Stay tuned for more.
Monday, April 9, 2012
27 Days and Counting . . .
After a great Easter weekend of celebrations (I am SO proud of the Worship and Arts people at Creekside!) I now turn my thoughts and energies toward wrapping up on Sunday May 6th after which the sabbatical begins.
27 Days to do as much advance planning as possible, to make sure those leading in my place know what is needed from them during my absence, as well as helping plan a visit to Canada by Pastors Fabian and Grace Erazo and their family from Quito, and being a part of The ReConnect, a technical ministries conference being held here in Cambridge on April 28-29.
We are also in the midst of plans for our own family trip to Quito during my sabbatical, and also finalizing some other places we want to go and things we want to do.
I have a feeling it will be a mad dash to the finish line ! It will be interesting to suddenly be on a totally different schedule with different demands and presssures (hopefully less than I normally manage!). In the end I do hope to make and take time to do things I never seem to get around to doing in the regular course of life.
27 Days to do as much advance planning as possible, to make sure those leading in my place know what is needed from them during my absence, as well as helping plan a visit to Canada by Pastors Fabian and Grace Erazo and their family from Quito, and being a part of The ReConnect, a technical ministries conference being held here in Cambridge on April 28-29.
We are also in the midst of plans for our own family trip to Quito during my sabbatical, and also finalizing some other places we want to go and things we want to do.
I have a feeling it will be a mad dash to the finish line ! It will be interesting to suddenly be on a totally different schedule with different demands and presssures (hopefully less than I normally manage!). In the end I do hope to make and take time to do things I never seem to get around to doing in the regular course of life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)