Skip to main content

A Big Decision

If you know me, or have followed my blog, or been a member of the youth group or even attended at WEFC, you will have known that God has been changing my outlook on life for at least the last four years. It has been an incredible journey where my eyes have been opened to a lot of suffering and pain in this world.
Not only have my eyes been opened to this, but my heart has been as well and then along with that, my hands and feet feel the need to get involved. It has taken me a long time to really figure out what it is that my hands and feet should do, and there were many times that I was incredibly frustrated with that, and even wondered if I really believed all the things that I said I did. I wondered if I truly did care for people in need, or if I just liked the idea of being the person who cared about "social justice," but didn't really do anything about it.
Just over two years ago I took a group of youth and leaders to Hermosillo, Mexico. It was an incredible time. We saw horrible poverty, we saw great hope, and we interacted with amazing people. Sitting on the bus on the way back I asked everyone to talk about how this experience would impact their lives going forward. When my turn came, this is what I said (or something like it), "I really believe that God wants me to start something, something church-y, but it really has to have something to do with helping people in need. But I also have this really strong sense that I should not leave WEFC (the church I was working at)."
This conviction left me very confused. What was I supposed to do with this? How could I start something church-y and not leave this church. I tried a couple things, and really struggled with them. Nothing really took off, leaving me feeling like...I was a failure...or really didn't care like I said I did.
A year and a half later WEFC was asked if they would like to be given a church building in Point Douglas, one of poorest (financially) neighborhoods in Winnipeg. A church was shutting down, but wanted someone to continue working in the community. My heart nearly skipped a beat. But over the next few months I became convinced that maybe this was not the right thing to do (I am skipping a bunch here that I may let you in on some other day). This was an incredibly difficult time for me, and for our family as we dealt with our house having burnt down, and all the fallout from that. This decision, or lack thereof weighed heavy on my heart through all this.
In February, we were offered the job of taking on the lead of this church plant and we made the hard decision that this was the right thing for us to do. I remember thinking about what I would say to the youth I had spent 7 years with, and really did not want to leave. I stressed over it for a while and then I knew what I needed to say. I said, "remember when we were on that bus on the way home from Mexico..."
I had already told them!
Of course none of them remembered
This decision was a hard one, and for good reason...this is hard! So far (I have been in Point Douglas full time since June) I have not had major questions as to whether it was the right decision, but major questions as to how to do this, how to do this with a family, and sometimes major questions about my own worthiness for such a job.

Comments

Unknown said…
welcome back to blogging trevor...i hope that you continue to post on the path that you're following. i think it's very exciting and though you may have more questions than answers right now - continue placing your trust and faith in God.

praying for you,
cort

Popular posts from this blog

Should I Bring Jesus to the Poor?

I met this young lady who works for an inner city organization that works with children. She has been working there for 10 years. She said one thing in particular that really struck me. She said, "I used to think that when I came to the inner city to work with these kids that I would bring Jesus to them, but when I got here and started working with them, I started to realize that Jesus was already here." It struck me because I think that we middle class people (not just Christians) think that we should go into the inner-city and "rescue" people from their situation. We often feel as though we have all the answers and they have everything wrong. Is it possible that it is the other way around? Is it possible that people who live on the streets...those who don't worry about tomorrow, those who are not obsessed with money or material possessions actually have something to teach us? I think so. So in response to the question, "Should I bring Jesus to the po...

"Christian" Music

The whole idea of "Christian" music has bothered me lately. There is this whole industry that exists to produce and sell "Christian" music. It's as if the music itself could be Christian...I am pretty sure that music itself does not have a soul (well OK there is Soul music, but c'mon!). I prefer to think that music is just music, sometimes Christians play it, sing it or write it. What if Christians did not have the advantage of having Christian labels producing their music, or Christian radio stations playing their music and Christian book stores selling their music? I think it would be wonderful...I think there would be more "Christian" music on secular radio stations and in regular music stores. There would be Christian artists who are more prepared to be honest about their faith. There would be people outside the Christian circles who might be exposed to some good Christian artists (I think there are a couple of those!?). I think this would make...

Broken Hand - And I didn't even hit anyone!

I have been absent from posting for a few weeks mostly for one reason. I broke my hand. I know, I know it is possible to type with one hand...but I found it incredibly frustrating to do so, I can't stand hunting and pecking! Especially with my left hand. How did I injure my hand? I am glad you asked, since I have only told the story about 1000 times in the last two weeks, so you are lucky number 1001. I was in Pinawa at some natural waterslides close to the old Pinawa Dam(n!). I was there with a bunch of youth leaders as part of a leadership retreat that we were doing. We were having a great time going down the rapids on the (relatively?!) smooth rocks for about 45 minutes. My friend Jason and I decided that it would be a great idea to go down on a tube, together. My friend Matt held the tube for us as we got on and released us down the rapids (I mention names here because there is a pending lawsuit, and I am still not sure who is at fault...Jason for rolling off the tube ...