Hello again! It has been such a long time since I have given an update, really sorry about that. The last few months have been full in the Multiply world, and if I am being completely honest, up until mid July I thought my time serving with Multiply was coming to an end.
One of the biggest reasons that I thought I was going to be leaving Multiply was because of an opportunity that came up at the church I am a part of in La Salle. Back in April I learned that our church’s long time youth pastor was going to be moving on, and that our church was going to be looking for an interim youth pastor. I have served as a youth leader in our church for the last 7 years, and I have developed a really close relationship with our youth and with our youth pastor, so the youth ministry in our church is something that is really close to my heart. So hearing that our youth pastor was going to be moving on was pretty tough for me, but at the same time the potential of stepping into a leadership role at my home church was something that I wanted to consider seriously. With my current contract with Multiply ending in the fall I was wondering if this was an opportunity that God was opening up for me.
However, as I prayed and thought about it over the next couple of months, I decided that I would not apply for the position. It was a really hard decision to make, but in the end I thought that serving with Multiply would be the best spot for me in this next year.
There were a few big factors that led me to this place. First, being a part of the Multiply team has been an amazing experience. I have been stretched here as a leader and as a disciple of Jesus in so many ways. Being able to learn and serve here has been life changing, and I am excited to continue to grow into a leadership role on the Multiply team this year. More importantly, I continue to believe in the vision and ministry of this office. I continue to see how the experiences we facilitate lead to people to Jesus, and that is something I want to be a part of.
Another factor is that our team is also in need of people. Recently a couple of our program coordinators have moved on, and there will be a few roles that will need to be filled. I’m not choosing to stay because I feel like our team needs me or anything like that, I am staying here because I believe this is the best spot for me right now, but I can also see that I can help out our team in this season.
So I am excited for this upcoming year, and I know there will be many opportunities for me to serve and be stretched as I work with Multiply. While my exact role is still being worked out, I believe I will be taking more of a specific role in helping Carol Letkeman run the TREK program. Whatever my role is, I am excited to help out, and I am excited to partner with Jesus in what He is doing. Staying on with Multiply also means that I will continue to fundraise. My current contract and funding goes to the end of October, so I am now beginning to fundraise for this upcoming year of ministry. It will be nice to get a bit of a head start on that this year.
Attempt at a Recap
So much has happened since I last updated you guys, and I think it would all be a bit too much to try and summarize it all. But I will try and catch you up on a few things. There are a couple links to some more full length stories, so check those out if you want a few more details.
After my last update I was about to head off to SOAR Heartland. Here are a few highlights:
-Once again I led an experience for all of the participants called the Learning Tour. This is an experience to give people an opportunity to see God’s heart for often forgotten and neglected people and areas of Winnipeg. As students met people, and heard from leaders who have served within the core area of Winnipeg for years, they were able to grow in compassion and love for people. Often in previous years students who have gone on the Learning Tour have returned to volunteer and serve at ministries they got to know during SOAR. We are praying this happens again this year!
-I also had an opportunity to teach during a full session at SOAR for the first time. Last year I taught during a morning with just the guys, but this year I was asked to teach in a session with the whole community. I taught from John 15 about how God wants to produce love through us, which often requires pruning in our lives. This was a pretty stretching experience, but it was great to be able to share some of my experiences with students who are beginning to understand what it looks like to follow Jesus.
-I was also able to be a leader on La Salle’s team. Our church was short on leaders, so I was able to both serve with Multiply and our youth group during SOAR. It was a lot to take on, but I was so glad I did as our students had life changing experiences with Jesus during the 10 days. One girl on our La Salle team accepted Jesus during the week, while two others students decided to get baptized after SOAR. Plus, another girl decided to step out of her comfort zone and serve a whole summer at a Bible camp after deepening her relationship with Jesus during SOAR. I love that so much. Here is a link to the story of how one of our teammates accepted Jesus, it's so cool!
https://multiplycentralcanada.blogspot.com/2019/04/stories-from-soar-you-are-here-for.html
TREK
-during TREK I was able to be one of the people on our staff team that was with the community during their whole experience of orientation. Every day I would join them in their classroom learning sessions, and occasionally join them in the evenings for some fun activities. My role was to be a pastor, intercessor, and a host during TREK. I was able to be a person that could welcome in our participants, help process what God is doing in their lives, lead worship, do some childcare, host our speakers, do dishes for the group, and organize a few fun evenings for the community.
-Here is a link to a reflection written by one of our TREK participants about what God was doing in her life during orientation. Such a beautiful and powerful story!
https://multiplycentralcanada.blogspot.com/2019/06/a-reflection-by-crystal-reimer.html
ACTION
-And finally our team ran a week of orientation for ACTION this summer. We had families from across Canada, a team from Lithuania, and a group of young adults all come together to spend a week in community focusing on Jesus’ mission. I was able to help lead worship two times a day, and spend hours everyday praying for our teams before they were sent out. Most days I was spending like 6 hours either praying for teams or helping lead our corporate worship times. It was a lot to stay engaged in, but it was amazing seeing people meet with God throughout the week. Thankfully we also did fun things like going to see fireworks, and doing some square dancing, and going to the beach, so those were great breaks to just have fun together and to enjoy being a community.
-One highlight for me was often during worship a bunch of kids would come to the stage to sing and join our little band. They would grab random objects as their microphones and they would sing with us. They especially loved to sing a song called “Raise a Hallelujah”. Hearing a group of like six kids all sing out, “I’m gonna sing in the middle of the storm. Louder and louder, you’re gonna hear my praises roar”, was so fun and powerful actually.
So that is a tiny update on the last couple of months. After ACTION I had some time off where I enjoyed some golfing, hiking, and time with Jesus. Honestly, it was a lot to process coming back to Multiply for another year. There are seasons here where ministry is pretty demanding, and knowing that we have a smaller team this year makes me think it might be even more so. But I am choosing to stay confident that God has brought me here for a reason. My prayer is that somehow through this year of ministry, people across Canada will encounter Jesus and His love, and choose to follow Him. My prayer is that youth would come to see the goodness and love of God, and turn to choose relationship with Him that will set them free. My prayer is that the Church will see God move in new ways through their communities and their congregations. My prayer is that I will be able to show others who Jesus is this year.
These are really huge prayers, and I know our team is such a tiny piece of seeing these things happen, but we are a piece, and so are you. Whatever happens, I am just so glad and thankful that I can be God’s kid and His loved son. Just knowing that gives me peace through everything.
So, I hope you have had a great summer so far. I look forward to staying connected and sharing all that God is doing though the Multiply team this year. God bless guys.
With love,
Levi
