Student Teaching Experience

Well it's done. 

I just concluded my student teaching experience as well as my college years. My where has time gone?!?! 

If there was anything I learned through my student teaching it's that... TEACHING AINT NO JOKE. Foreal. If the government sat in a classroom with half the junk that goes on they would be embarrassed at how low of pay they are giving teachers. Doctors are doctors of the body, teachers are doctors of the mind. Teaching is a calling and you sure find out quick enough if it's yours or not. 

I cannot wait. Having someone's academic success sitting in your hands scares the bejesus out of me but, it's what my little heart beats to do. Teachers are not teachers alone. They are mothers, fathers, caretakers, advocates, safety nets, boo boo cleaners and counsellors. Some even save lives in the severest cases. Once again, I cannot wait. PHES taught me so much. I will always love and cherish the time I had there and the students I had the privilege to work with. 

I truly believe a school whether it be elementary, middle, or high could and can change a community. Better yet a town. That may sound crazy but, that's my dream. To teach my students they can change their situations. They can be leaders wherever they are. They can make a difference at 8 or 18. And I believe I'm going to see it happen. Principals could change the whole community. They hold a powerful tool that mayors don't have. Relationships. Everything about education is exciting to me. (Nerd rant) I Cannot Wait. I'm hoping I can keep this passion inside me going and no one burns it out . That's what I'm most afraid of. Becoming a stale inconsiderate no pizazz teacher. Teaching won't be a job for me. And I plan on keeping it that way. Teaching will be my joy. 

What I've Learned From College Ministry

As of April 2014, I told myself and my husband that I was really going to get involved in our college ministry at our church. I had been the worship leader for two years but, I really wanted to dedicate myself as a leader off the stage. We were going through a rough season being lucky to have five people show up and it really started burning in me that if I wanted to see change, I needed to make change happen. I along with six other leaders had a meeting and we decided we all were going to really put our heart and time into our college group for the next few months and if nothing changes we'd quit. I'm proud to say as of December 2014, we are running a solid 20 to 25 people every week and we're all still here making change! And not only that, my husband has become a leader as well :). These are the things I've learned in the past nine months. 

1. College students are the friendliest people. We will talk to anyone!!!! Ministering to them isn't hard once you've brought up the gospel. What's difficult is showing a college student an authentic Christian. They can smell fake a mile away because in America, that's what they have been presented with the most. 

2. College ministry is seen as unnecessary. I've learned through speaking with other churches that most around our city do not have a college ministry. Churches don't consider them important. Childrens ministry is a must (parent drop off), youth ministry is a must (Wednesday night drop off) but, college for some reason gets looked over. And if there is a college ministry present, the pastor isn't getting paid, its just a volunteer position he's or she's taken on. One of my favorite quotes is "if the church your attending doesn't have a college ministry, help your youth find a better church." Which leads me to my next point. 

3. The Hinge. A college group may be the most important thing in a college students life. It could absolutely save their walk with Christ. The college age is the biggest time of transition, identity, responsibility and decisions. You face the biggest decisions in this time frame of life.(college, profession, degree, spouse, house, apt) That's why I consider it the hinge. Your hit with so many things in a short time span. The biggest being loneliness. The amount of students who go into depression is unreal. Your spiritual walk is sitting on this hinge and with just a few decisions you could swing yourself right out of a life of faith or into a deeper life of faith. It's the time where you as an individual find out if you're spiritually strong or spiritually weak. The biggest statistic of churchgoers dropping out of church is in this timeframe. It truly boggles my mind that the church as a whole overlooks college ministry. Practically, we send high school graduates off with the note "see you when you're married with a kid". But, what about the time in between? Could you imagine the spiritual growth that has wilted because these kids have been out of church for nearly ten years? It's like started all over again. When you look at it as the hinge of life, its importance becomes more apparent. 

4. Fellowship is key. College kids just wanna hang. They just want to eat and hang out. (Free food especially) They just want relationships and friendships to make it through the day. We're surrounded with so many worldly things (media, secular professors, parties) and the easy option would be to go to a bar, but after a few trips, you just long for a conversation without profanity and a sober person to talk to. When relationships are being created and the group enjoys being together, God's ability to move within the group becomes more welcome. 

Within these past nine months, I've fallen in love with my age group. Truly, I could see myself ministering in college ministry for a long while. When I see people now my age I just think to myself, I wish they had what I had. A community. A community of friends who are serving the Lord always wanting to know Him more. I think when we get out of that circle of believers we are leaving ourselves open to whatever the devil and the world wants to throw at us. We're defenseless to our on demise. We're subject to anything. I'm so so blessed to have Anchor to go to on Thursday nights to get a few laughs, stop daily routine and praise my Lord with friends and hear an encouraging word from my pastor. 20 to 25 people may seem so small to some but, for a college group that was running five people just nine months ago, God is really moving. I can't wait to see where 2015 takes us. 

The Mission of Missions

"I'm so afraid of airplanes, I don't think I'll ever be able to go on a mission trip."

I hear it all the time. And you know? That's absolutely fine. I never get upset that they'll never experience the humbling feeling of realizing that your specific little busy life in America is so small and unimportant in this big, complicated world that God sent His only Son to die for. That they'll never experience the struggles of realizing nope, not everyone speaks English like we all imagined in our small, American-standard minds. That they'll never experience the pure joy in a child's eyes as they receive new clothes.

That's fine. That is an experience that we, that have experienced, should call a blessing. A once in a lifetime opportunity.

What does get me upset is Christians have located missions far.. far.. away. Mission's trips in our minds only exist in South America, Africa, Asia and Europe. You know, in the back streets in El Salvador, in a hut in Africa, on a boat in Asia or in downtown Europe. And all those things ARE happening and that is stinking awesome!!!! The Bible reads, go into all the world and share the gospel. And it's happening praise God. But mission's in our minds has become so distant. Missions has been placed on a map. A destination that you'll only grace with your presence for 7 to 10 days and then be gone. Nothing but a memory and a photo on instagram to those people that you invested your time and boo coodles of money in.

What Christians have absent-mindedly determined is that mission's is somewhere else that isn't where our everyday lives are. We disregard that the moment we step out our front door we ARE on the mission field. We aren't in a third world country where we send clothes, food, shoes and rebuild buildings but, we are surrounded by hurting, lost people with needs who all are searching for real love. Surrounded by people who all want to know that they belong to someone and somewhere. They want to know that someone cares and there is a reason to wake up every morning to enjoy life. There isn't a language barrier but, isn't it funny that though we can speak to people about Jesus in America every stinking day, we'll just assume someone else will do it. Leave it to the pastors to save America. Then, we will get all prayed up, fast for months, save all kinds of money, do tons of fundraisers, and fly to another country and talk 24/7 about Jesus with the aid of an interpreter. An interpreter, of course if you're lucky. Most of the time you're just left to you're own resources through broken Spanish to express "Jesus Christ loves you"!

I think I have had a self-examination at the fact that though I can't afford a mission's trip at the moment, there are so so so so many options for me to reach out here in my hometown. I can love and give here just as much as I can in South America. That I can share Christ here with no language barrier just the same as I can in Africa with the presence of a language barrier. This is me stretching me to see more that I have been seeing. To notice things that I haven't noticed. There are children here that are orphans. There are people here who are homeless. There are shacks here to be mended. I think the difference with American missions is that Americans are tired of Christ being SHARED with them but, not being SHOWN to them. When we're on the mission field, we are the best representations of Christ that we can possibly be because we are trying to bring souls to the kingdom. But, the moment we come back home it's like we decide to take off our "Jesus" shoes and put back on our "Christian" shoes. We forget....there are still souls here! You know how you'll know?? TRAFFIC. That first experience of jam packed traffic after a mission's trip and all your patience is gone, assess the thoughts and the words that you say. All of a sudden the people who are around you are nothing but, in the way. They aren't souls in your eyes like the sweet little spanish women in Costa Rica. They are just, in the way.

All I am trying to express is what if we treated everyday like the mission field? What if the moment you stepped out your front door for work you saw your city as your mission field? I think it would change everything. There would be a sense of urgency and compassion that you would experience every day. Not irritation and impatience. You could quite possibly walk in Christ's love every day. Instead of seeing people as a constant conflict you would see them as a soul that Jesus longs for. There wouldn't be a need for "Christian" shoes. You could just show Jesus. #irony

I encourage you, next time you're at the grocery store and you want to let the lady in front you have it, imagine her as a soul that's eternity is at stake. I'm 100% certain your aggravation will disappear in minutes and all you will want to know is, does she know my Jesus? Missions isn't distance. Missions is your neighbor. That's the mission of Missions.

Benson Hines is blowing my mind.

Being so immersed in college ministry, I've really been reaching out to find new resources and learn more to better the ministry I'm involved in. I've learned through google, there aren't many solid artifacts or resources to glean from. That's because there is an absence of college ministry across the country. However, I did find Benson Hines ebook on Exploring Campus Tribes and so far I'm hooked. What I wanted to share, is his statement on the state of college ministry across America. In paraphrasing: "For many Christian young people, there is no continuity in their church experience between high school and adulthood. That's because most youth see their church's ministry basically stop after high school. With the main emphasis being on children and youth ministry, most churches are making no attempts to retain college ministry and/or other churches have failed. So we shouldn't be surprised when 70% or more of our "good youth kids" are no longer connected to a church after a few years. Churches are basically sending off students with this blessing, We'll see you when you're married and have a kid. Until then, God bless you." 

Good stuff! Learning so much right now. More posts to come.