Blog #10

This week was one of the best weeks of my children's ministry so far. I really feel like the prayers of everyone is affecting my Sunday School group positively. Previously there has always been some disciplinary issues in my classes. It is knows that I have one of the most rambunctious groups in the church. I had to lay down some disciplinary rules at the beginning of the class so that the kids would not interrupt during the large group leaders sermon.  Amazingly, the kids all respected the ground rules and rarely spoke during the sermon. 

What I am learning about children is that they actually like discipline. They do not mind being told what to do. After church this weekend, me and Phil went to our children's pastors house for the grey cup game. That was a great time, we really got to know Jason on a deeper level. Meeting his family was cool, and it turns out I teach a few of his kids. I did not even know that they were his kids! I will just ask for prayers for my ministry and for my Grandma, who broke her leg this week, and just had surgery..

God Bless, Brandon.

Senior High Retreat

My main ministry this week was counseling the senior high retreat. Going into it I was unsure how it was going to go. I had never counseled before.. So I was definitely doing some prayer before things got started. My campers got to Qwanoes on Friday night.. I had four guys ranging from fourteen to sixteen.. Basically, a lot of them came to camp with questions about God, and just wanting someone to talk to. We did a lot of activities throughout the days, from games to music concerts etc.. My favorite times were just having conversations with them. At the end of the retreat they said I was a great counselor to them. Honestly though, I felt blessed by their personalities and was just learning from them.. I am trying to see if God wants me to pursue this further, right now I am wondering if I should work at camp this Summer, but am really unsure..

 I guess the best thing I offered to the boys throughout the week, from what they told me, was love. One of the guys, Daniel, kept on encouraging me. He was saying that I had the ability to love people even when Im not trying to.. That was pretty awesome. I am praying and working on my confidence in this area. I always feel like I need to work harder at loving people. But people tell me consistently that I have a very warm and loving presence..  

Blog #8

This past week was my last week of my Tuesday Night Connect Groups, until mid January. I was a bit sad about that, although I see most of the kids at church on Sunday. The group will begin in January as well. I really like having dinner, and eating with new people all the time. It makes the big community church easier to get to know, because Sunday morning conversations are usually so short and they are in a full, loud room. 

My Sunday School teaching was actually a real blessing this week. We taught them on making the right decisions for God. It was the same deal as usual, but I am feeling like I am becoming increasingly effective in my ministry with them. The real blessing at the end was when I had a conversation with the other leaders there. They encouraged me so much, telling me I had gotten a lot better at teaching the kids. This Sunday School experience has been my first time working with kids on such a constant basis. So, please pray for me that I will continue to increase in those abilities. Other than that, we had dinner with the African Pastors that are visiting my church. That was a really fun time..

Please pray for me that I will get my work done early for school. It is one thing that I feel if I can get that done, I will be more effective in my ministries.

Blog #7

So this week, I did my weekly ministry on Tuesday night with the connect groups. It was a fun time, and I am really starting to feel close with the children there. It has been a cool thing to see them on a weekly basis. There is a little girl there who I feel like needs to be prayed for. I think she has some sort of a learning disability, she is incredibly sweet and fun.  

I feel like I am developing a desire to serve, hoping for less reward for myself when I serve, and praying more that I am making an impact when I have these chances to serve. I enjoy getting to know theses kids on a weekly basis and being someone who is there, just to love them. So, this weekend I was studying the whole time, then on Sunday morning I was so tired when I had to serve. But somehow I felt energetic and pumped up to be doing Sunday school, I guess I was just feel triumphant. I have been working dilligently on overcoming some sin I need to get out of my life (And, I appreciate prayer for my heart staying clear of immorality and lust.) So our childrens pastor was gone, leaving me to manage my whole big group on my own. This was a bit of a problem at first, as the children were getting rowdy. But I managed to get them all focused with some cool activities. For my Sunday School Ministry, if my prayer team wouldn't mind praying for a few of the kids there that make problems sometimes. I am making progress with them, but I feel that prayer would make the situation even more inspirational!