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October 17, 2006
Fall Retreat Weekend & Finding Out What Really Excites Me
I haven't been blogging because I'm still recovering from our college Fall Retreat weekend in Big Bear, CA. It was a great weekend and we took up about 77 students which is pretty great two weeks into the UCLA school year. Retreats are sometimes a major pain planning, but there is nothing I love more than spending some good relational time with students during the weekend. This year I brought in a guest speaker, Drew Sams. Drew is the high school pastor at Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village, CA. Drew did a phenomenal job this weekend.
I have known Drew since 2001 when he was a senior at USC and I was the new college intern. Drew later sat on the hiring committee that hired me to become the college director. He then was employed by Bel Air in several other positions before leaving for his current job at Calvary. Oh, and he's my brother-in-law since June. One of the reasons I brought him to speak is his ability to really speak the gospel in the life and language of the college culture. And that was true this weekend.
The focus of the weekend was the idea of belonging. Drew focused on "Belonging: To God, To Others/Community and To God's Mission." His three part series really impacted the lives of my students and I'm excited to see how it translates into our college ministry.
One of the things I really realized this weekend was a sharpening of what I believe my gifts are and what I really enjoy in ministry. I think what I really enjoy in ministry is the encouraging of students and the empowering of them to serve in ministry and in their community. What do I mean? Nothing excites me more than coming alongside a student, encouraging them, helping them discern their gifts, and then helping empower them to serve in an area of ministry that they are particularly gifted in. I love that. As a pastor one needs to be able to do a lot of things such as preaching, teaching, administrating, finances, organizational issues, leadership, etc., etc. I can do those things, but I don't do all of them well, and I don't particularly love all of them. But what I really love is the encouraging and empowering of students. That is a much, much bigger thrill than preaching, administrating, etc, etc.
I hope that one day many of my students will be able to look back on their college years in our ministry and to be able to say that we impacted them because they were encouraged and given the opportunity to serve.
Posted by rhett at October 17, 2006 11:35 PM
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