Driving and Leading in faith (in scary and often unknown places)

We are moving forward! :-) Mark and Tyler arrived last night. . . our first two interns. Our team was so busy at that time, so Sonia handed me her keys and told me to fetch them from the airport. That would be no problem for me anywhere else, but in Toronto? Driving here is crazy!! I'm a fairly aggressive driver in Vancouver, but that means nothing here. The "average" speed is like 120 km/hr-- I love driving fast, but wow that rule they taught us about leaving a couple car lengths in between you does not apply here. People have to bully themselves in and out of lanes. We are constantly merging here and there not waiting to see if they'll let you in, cuz they won't unless you just go for it, all at ridiculously fast paces. I was driving a van that couldn't adjust the mirrors and we had luggage piled up so I couldn't see out of the windows and thus... it was truly driving and merging in faith the whole trip! Lol, AND my GPS still thought I was in Vancouver so it thought we were heading to Richmond! My navigator (the only one free!) was an 11 year old who really didn't know where anything was (but I'm so glad she was with me). Haha, so we did eventually get there and back, but my stomach was in serious knots and my heart pounding slightly more than is healthy.

That morning I had traveled by Subway to Markham to visit Pastor Gina. Inside the terminal, I must have looked so lost and confused that random people stopped to help me (which was really nice!) Coming home was rushour... I felt like a sardine packed in there. You are ridiculously close to everyone around you, but nobody talks! We all stare ahead as if no one is there, even though you feel the sweat of the person next to you on your arm (ya... gross). However, being new and lost I had to ask some people for help. Some were not so friendly, others were. I talked to one sweet lady and she was open to chatting most of the trip home. I found out she lives really close to the Hope4Tomorrow church and that she has two little kids. So she might come to our community festival this Sunday afternoon. I then found out she is from Jamaica and a Pentecostal Christian-- so we were able to encourage each other the rest of the journey (that was nice!)

Meeting with Pastor Gina was nice. She is an incredible woman! She pastors a large Filipino church here. They are continually growing and their building is so small. She works everyday (except Mon) from 7:30am-7pm (sometimes later) at the church. The intern that stays with her will have an INTENSE summer! However, they will also have one of the best experiences of what ministry actually looks like.
I would be nice to see this Pastor (and most of the Pastors here) focus on raising up young leaders to share the workload. Having an intern is a huge change. I admire these local pastors so much; they really are heroes of the faith. All of them are bio-vocational (do not take a salary) and also work more than full time at the church. I admire them; their conviction, dedication, sacrifice, work ethic, love for the Lord and for people is incredible. Yet. . . their method of ministry is not sitting right. It's hard because I do not want to come in here as a young Bible College graduate know-it-all or be critical. Or even simply as someone from the West imposing "our way of doing things" upon them. They are working so hard and I pray that God would bless them and their work and multiply it. But, it doesn't make sense to me that the Sr. Pastor needs to be out at 10pm putting up a banner at the church or waking up early to set up chairs or be the one to pick up all the members at 5am for a 6am prayer meeting! Obviously the pastor does need to have a servant heart and be willing to do anything, but s/he does not need to do EVERYTHING! They actually laugh at me when I bring up the concept of Sabbath and a balance of life, family and ministry. I see them during the week, and I can pick up that many of their healths are not good; they do not take care of themselves and are suffering for it. They are burning out... all of them have admitted that to me. That is not good! They are fighting the good fight which is tremendous, but we need to be wise and strategic about it. Who is behind them to carry on the work of the ministry? Would they trust someone to take on some of their responsibilities? Would they allow them to do it, even if they fail or don't do it to the caliber that the pastor would do it at? I'm really speaking freely here (so you may want to disregard what I'm saying). I wonder if the issue is less about needing more servants (volunteers) and more to do with 'control' and a type of 'co-dependency.' I struggled with that overseeing certain programs and ministries, because of my tendency to be a perfectionist. It's hard to trust others to do things that you know you are good at, you just need to sacrifice a bit more time to get it all done on your own. I imagine it would be very difficult for a pastor... especially in ministry areas and a church that s/he cares so much about and wants the best for. A simple answer will not solve this; it's really a paradigm shift that needs to occur.

Our elders need to be honoured. We must learn from them and appreciate them. However, the next generation needs to be equipped and released to continue the work of the ministry or it will stop. This has to happen in harmony. Inter-generational ministry is so effective and powerful when done right. I am so excited for the steps forward that we ARE taking. This is the first 'official' Canadian foursquare internship program. We have 26 interns working under the supervision and mentorship of a pastor this summer. It is very exciting to see in Toronto. No doubt this will be challenging, but immensely strategic on a number of levels. I (hopefully 'we') are praying for the cities of Toronto to be transformed in Jesus name, the 4square GTA unit to be working in unity for their cities and growing healthily, experience and growth for the interns, a blessing and health for the pastors as their ministry shifts to allow for the raising up and release of leaders.

Wow. . . I didn't mean to write all that. I guess I've bottled it up a bit lately cuz I can't express that freely here, but am praying for it to happen. Jesus take control! May your Church be effective in what You call us to.