Report 10

Record of Ministry Activities:
30 minutes: Coffee Ministry
1 hour: Sunday School
1.5 hours: Sunday morning service
1 hour: Evening service

Personal Reflection:
This week went by very quickly. There is a lot going on right now in the life of our church, which is very exciting, but also stressful.
Our coffee ministry went really well this week. People are beginning to expect that it is going to be there when they show up in the morning before Sunday school, which is both a good and bad thing. I am overall very pleased with the way it has been going and I hope to be able to keep it going for a very long time. It is important to me to build relationships with the people in my church in order to grow closer to God as a group.
Sunday school was not as great. It was only me and 2 other girls. It is really hard to come out of a week like Thanksgiving where so many are home for break to go right back to where we were before. I love both of these girls very much, so we were able to have good conversation and discuss the lesson for the day. With it being a smaller class, I feel as though people are more able to open up about what is going on in their lives because it is less intimidating.
Church also went really well. The pastor talked about how Jesus came, is come, and will come again. It was a very well thought out 3-point message. I really enjoyed the fellowship and the worship with my church family.
Like I said, there is much going on right now in the life of the church. I will be in the Christmas play that is next weekend, and we are no where near being ready to perform. We had practice on Sunday and did not even get through the whole thing. This only adds to my stress for the next week and a half.
After play practice, we had our annual sociaty meeting in place of our Sunday evening service. This is always a nice time to look back on the year in order to re-elect positions of office for next year. When we began to elect our CE (Christian Education) committee, the CE director stood up and said that many people were unhappy with the way the youth ministry was run this past year (this came as no surprise to me. We have dealt with the drama all year). He went on to say that if people did not like the way it was being run in the past, then to not vote for him to be re-elected because he was not going to change the way he ran the program. I thought this was very bold, and it also gives people an excuse to not complain in the future. They knew what they would be getting themselves into by re-electing this man to this position and now they must live with their choices.
The other thing that struck me as odd was when we were electing our Pastor's Cabinet. I am not sure how the pastor's cabinet is run in any other denomination or church, but ours is really the central part of the church. They make a lot of very important decisions; for instance, they were the ones who decided to let our more recent youth pastor go. As we were sitting there nominationg people, my fellow youth worker turned to me and asked if that was something I would be interested in. I shrugged it off, knowing that if he nominated me, people would only talk, saying things like, "Well of course he would nominate her. He only wants his eyes and ears on that committee." I knew this would only end in disaster. Shortly after this conversation, though, our pastor's wife nominated me. It took me so aback that it was hard to say anything. I realize that certain people in the church recognize that I am growing up, while others are still having a hard time dealing with the fact. But it was really interesting to see my pastor's wife nominate me for such an important role. Needless to say, I was elected, which also greatly surprised me. Hopefully I will be able to fulfill my duty in the next year.

Spiritual Reflection
I have been really stressed out lately, which I am sure most of us have. If it is not one thing, it is another, and I am really not sure how much more I can handle. I praise God daily for the opportunity to experience a Christmas break, because I need it so bad right now. I can finish everything that needs to be done, it is just prioritizing and finding the time to do so. I am really ready for break and the rest and renewal that it will bring.

This is my last post. Thanks to everyone who went through this semester with me. Blessings to you all and Merry Christmas!!!