4 Days of Fellowship

Friday's Drop-in consisted of 4 youth, and one crazy storm at the centre (though I understand it was pretty much everywhere.) From getting our eyeballs sandblasted by the wind, to Ron, Zander and I bolting into the centre when the rain started, it was an interesting start to the evening.

Even though our numbers were small, we had a pretty good time playing pool and talking among ourselves, Ashley, a very charismatic former youth turned volunteer, was kind enough to stop by and hang out, and even said she'd consider coming out regularly as a volunteer again once her schedule settles down.  To round out the evening, I had an albeit brief, but meaningful conversation with Ron.

Saturday, after spending a supremely relaxing day with my 3 youngest, I had the honour of joining the folks at the Orangeville Door for their drop-in.  I met some very cool youth, and had a very in depth conversation on the nature of God's provision, especially how it has applied to my life.  Everyone I came into contact with down there was fantastic, and I learned quite a bit from Anna, as to how she runs drop-ins.  This has led me to look forward to stopping in at Huntsville's Door next weekend.

On Sunday, I had the amazing privilege of sharing the ministry and my vision for it's direction in front of Living Faith Community Presbyterian church.  They were a spectacular audience and wonderfully welcoming.

God was evident in the fact that not only was Pastor Heather Malnick's message fantastic, it linked up perfectly with mine.

I must admit, I did have a bit of an issue speaking in front of their congregation as, by nature, I walk when I talk, especially when it's something exciting to me. The source of my frustration was that their mic was the type that you couldn't exactly take off the stand.  This was by no means their fault in any way, I failed to mention my need to move, and was informed by Heather afterwards that it could have been accommodated. In spite of this, I made my it through my presentation with very few hitches, and the only complaint (courtesy of my lovely wife) was with the quality of the pictures in my slide show.

After the service they have a wonderful time of fellowship, including Tea and Coffee and some very good conversations.  I had folks coming up to me and just talking with me naturally, sharing their excitement for what I was doing, and in general treating me as if they had known me for years, and that is truly a great feeling.

My family and I then spent the remainder of the day relaxing and just enjoying each other's company as we drifted around the 400 flea market, and then back home to watch movies.

That wonderful Sunday was followed up by an equally amazing Monday.  I spent a relaxing morning with my wife at home, just puttering around with some e-mails and educational reading.

Around 11 I made my way out to the drop-in centre and had just settled in, when a few of the youth from the high school dropped in for a brief visit.  We had a pretty good talk, and I look forward to seeing them come out for Friday's drop-in.

I then received a call back from a church I have been trying to get in touch with for several weeks (unsuccessfully because they are a young and growing church without a whole lot of staff to keep up with things)

The conversation I had with Charlene of Living Hope in Angus was both uplifting and exciting, hopefully for both of us.  I look forward to seeing what comes of it in the next few days.

I had a special guest join me for lunch, Pastor Stephen Weenink from Elmvale Community Church took me out for lunch, and we had a wonderful time of fellowship and discussion of both of our ministries and how they can come together to build the Lord's Kingdom.What a couple of days it's been.

I had a special guest join me for lunch, Pastor Stephen Weenink from Elmvale Community Church took me out for lunch, and we had a wonderful time of fellowship and discussion of both of our ministries and how they can come together to build the Lord's Kingdom.

Stephen has played a pivotal role in my ministry in the fact that he's the one who first got me into youth ministry with a simple question, "Hey, can you drive some youth down to the Jay's game?"

I'm pretty sure I spent the majority of our time together gushing about how amazingly blessed I feel, and how much God has done to confirm that The Door in Angus is where he wants me to be.  I look forward to future get together's with Steve and hopefully our respective families (miss you Charlotte and Ellie, and have yet to meet Callum outside of Facebook)

The natural flow of thoughts and ideas back and forth between us was invigorating and reminded me of why Steve was so much fun to work with.

I just want to thank everyone I've come into contact with over the past several days for the uplifting thoughts and prayers.  I feel so blessed and content yet excited right now.  I can't wait to see what the future holds.

New beginnings.

Why call my blog "An Insanity of Faith" you may be asking?

In a nutshell, over the past 8-9 months, my faith has led me to make decisions most people, including myself at the time, would have considered borderline insane.

Since January, I have had my faith tested repeatedly, and it has also been grown exponentially.

Through a highly improbable series of events, (read: God moments) I was given an opportunity that scared the daylights out of me, and I chose to do something my rational mind told me was totally insane: I finally submitted to where I felt God wanted me to be, that deep heartfelt desire, that driving need, to engage in full time youth ministry.

In order to seize this opportunity I had to step way out of my oh so cozy comfort zone. I had a steady, well paying job, that met my financial needs rather nicely but, I felt was spiritually killing me.  I was missing out on all kinds of time with my family, I had zero social life, and as a result, it was bringing out a side of me I didn't care to see again.

I applied for, and was accepted to my current job, as Director of the Highlands Youth for Christ - Angus satellite, running their drop-in centre called The Door.  It was a dream come true, with a catch...

As Highlands YFC is a non-profit charity, and a para-church organization, they aren't exactly rolling in money, as a matter of fact, every single staff person in the organization, is a missionary.  Our salaries consist entirely of funds raised through financially partnering with individuals and organizations.  That's right, I had to fund raise for my own paycheque, and I had never so much as sold a magazine or chocolate bar with any real success before.

I spoke to my then employer, giving them a heads up that I was being offered the job, and that it wasn't a surefire thing at the time, but that I would be attempting to raise a portion (25%) of the funds needed in order to take the position.  We talked back and forth for a bit, and it was decided that I was officially giving the company 3 months notice.  My final day, whether I succeeded in raising the funds or not, would be July 31st (no pressure...).

At this point, I started fund raising in earnest, I sent out mass letters, and social media posts, I made phone calls to people I hadn't spoken to in over a decade, I even called people with whom I had parted on less than friendly terms.  Things seemed to be going well, I reached 10% very quickly, then it crept up to 15% in what seemed like no time at all.  At the end of the second month, I was at 18%, and all seemed to be going smoothly, then a week later, I was still at 18%, "OK" I said, "just a lull, it'll pick up again." Then half way through July, I was still at 18% and started praying in earnest.

Needless to say, at this point things were getting stressful, I had 2 weeks left to raise at least 7%, just to keep the job, never mind actually getting to do the job.

When I was down to the last week of my regular job, I felt sick to my stomach all the time, my deputation had stalled at 20%, and I had run out of people I could think of to call. I couldn't get time off from my old job to get in front of businesses, and I was pretty sure I was about to be without a job of any kind at the end of the week.

Tuesday evening, the 29th of July, I got a phone call at 10pm, I'm not going to say here who it was from, but they wanted to partner with me for a full 40% of my salary over the next year.  In a single meeting and phone call, I had gone from 20% to 60%! I was overjoyed, I felt (and still feel) so amazingly blessed that people believed in me, and my heart for youth ministry, that they wanted to make sure I could actually keep the job, and engage in the actual ministry portion of it.

I have since spent the month of August working through an allotted fund for raising the rest of my deputation.  It hasn't been all roses, but every time we were going to be short of funds to keep my families head above water, God has come through, often at the last minute, and everything works out.

I have met with some amazing people, from amazing churches and organizations, just building a network of supporters and partners in both ministry and financial support. I'm proud to say, I have started being a salaried employee as of the 1st of September.  And though I'm not drawing my full pay as yet, there are several people and organizations out there who have said they will help.  And if each one of them follows through (I truly believe they will) then my salary worries will be addressed in full.

In the meantime, I have had several opportunities to engage in the ministry portion of my job, and it has been a fantastic experience thus far.  I'm seeing my wife and children an awful lot more, a fact we are all enjoying immensely, and I'm getting the chance to be the husband and father they need.

Well, this turned into quite the long winded post, and I have a slide show to prep for a church I'm speaking in front of this Sunday.  This is me, signing off, until next time.

Good luck, and God speed.

Chad