Life after Lifeteams

Watch a video of Carmen’s Story from Lifeteams to full time Youth Ministry.

Terrifying – but awesome!

SERGIO  2010/11 -

” 600+ hours of time spent actually working with kids! Sounds terrifying – but it was AWESOME.   Yet Lifeteams extends beyond just the 9 months of you living  with a group of people learning about youth outreach. Read the name again. The environment in my year, and my willingness to open up and press in to the experience opened a door for me to form relationships with my fellow students–and the staff–that are long lasting and deep.  That’s Lifeteams.”

I am a different person …

LIZ  Lifeteams 2011/10 -

“I can definitely say that going to Lifeteams was the best decision I have ever made. I loved living in close community and am still like family with all those I was with that year. I have grown in so many different ways in my own personal life, and in my walk with God. I am a different person then I was before Lifeteams, and I love it!”

Brotherhood

One of the many things the Lord has been teaching me this year is the significance of brotherhood in a guy’s life. Before Lifeteams, even before most of 2010, I never had a brother, whether younger or older, to discover this level of relationship with. The rough, risky, wrestle-you-to-the-ground-for-no-other-reason-than-I-feel-like-it-until-one-of-us-taps brother relationship is something I never experienced in my life even with my guy friends. I hardly knew it existed outside of movies scenes and therefore felt like I was missing nothing. However, the summer leading up to Lifeteams gave me plenty of evidence that I was missing something and left me wanting to get dirty. Hence sliding on our bellies down the wet grass hill, wrestling in the dirt in the dark until hardly being able to flex a muscle, and Light Saber missions in the dead of night… I think we have each learned a little more what it means to jump in with both feet into this idea of community.

But it’s not just about exploring the back mountain or Narnia together (anyone for a dive into the costume closet?), or cleaning the blood or hot chocolate off the carpet. It’s also about listening when someone shares the burden of their heart. It’s about growing in your interest in their lives. It’s about helping them push through struggles they can’t do on their own. It’s about learning what impassions them and knowing when to back off.

God has placed a wild heart in each of us and October reminds me of such. I look back on this month fondly: picking pumpkins and smashing them in the back yard later in November; dancing wildly in Rob’s cul-de-sac on Halloween night, personally dressed as either the coolest guy on the block or the biggest fool in abbotsford (if you see the photos, I’ll let you be the judge); building on fresh friendships that I’m convinced will last a life time; and spending more and more time with such a small but significant group of  youth at the Drop-In. I feel that in all these things and more I am learning what it looks like to be a man formed after the heart of Jesus Christ. As I’ve said often, it’s as if this life is a painting. I’m not sure what of, as right now I can only see little bits of the corners, but every day that I continue to walk in Jesus he removes a little more of the fog blurring my vision.

That’s good. May I be content to press in full and have it as He may.

Sergio

Remembering December

Our first four months together. Awe. Did we really know and love each other yet? I don’t know, but I do know this: that Liz hugged those of us leaving for Alberta for Christmas…about 20x. I guess she just couldn’t get enough of us.

That was the end of December. Throughout it though, it was filled with banquets, snowstorms, being trapped at the Lifehouse for the first time, singing carols, Othello Tunnels, China Town and yummy Asian pastries, random outings to Harrison filled with waffles the size of your face, laughter always and cozying up to warm fire with a hot beverage and a friend. All in all December was delightful.

But if I could highlight one experience we had together that month it would be our day on the streets. So here is a little story from December.

As the days got shorter and the month was near its end there was a sense of excitement, something was about to begin. The house was not quiet and there WERE mice all about, they ate our avocados and pooped them right back out!  As we contemplated and prepared we continued on in our usual way, apart from some of us fasting, or sleeping on the floor, we got ready for our day.

“Our day on the streets is coming!” Natalie shouted gleefully from the stairs. “Shall I wear one sweater or two?” Liz commented while matting her hair, “or should I forget one all together and wear no socks in my shoes?” We were all in such a flurry that there was no time to be spared, but we knew we needed to be ready to understand even a little bit of a street persons despair. With all the hustle bustle, anticipation was not scarce, but one thing was missing and in walked Rob Snair!

With a hat on his head and love in his heart he herded us into the van like Lifeteamers: scattered but and slow to start. As we drove down the driveway Rob turned and said, “Buckle up your bodies babays!” And we were off tires hitting the tread. We drove and drove and drove…we drove a very long time until we rounded the corner and then it was time.

We paired off in twos and one lonely group of three and headed down East Hastings to see what we could see. Jason and I found some coffee…that tasted a little like watery tea, while the others just sauntered or stood in line waiting. Some found places to eat but came only to closed doors, with signs that read, “Sorry we’re full”. Eight hours started passing quickly until all our tasks were done…suddenly six ours seemed like an eternity as we sat on cardboard huddled for warmth.

It started getting wet as the rain started to spit, Jason and I found a little doorway to shelter us till we were to quit. When it was over we sat together around a table to talk. It seemed as those our little trials changed us for the better and moved us into change. Our minds and hearts and heads changed in more than just one way, we conversed and prayed together in conclusion to our day. But if one thing could be learnt in this day we spent on the street, it would be that there should be no groups of people, but one…together free.

Jesus can be seen whereever you go, not just brought in from the other side of town, but right here, on skid row amidst a poor crowd. So if you liked this story and felt the impact in your soul, try stepping out from behind the table and outside of your home. Receive with those you saw as helpless, be hungry with those who are lost and have no home, weep with those who weep for we are not our own.

To all my Lifeteams roommates I truly love you and I am so happy for the time we have had together. I look forward to our continued friendships.

Love Laura

Lifeteams is not like any other Youth Worker program…..

DORIANA

Lifeteams Student – 09/10

” Lifeteams is not like any other Youth Worker program out there. I got to experience both God and Youth Ministry in a way that had much more impact than just reading text books. The staff are more than just teachers they became mentors and my housemates are now lifelong friends.”

Ryan’s Heart

A Yearning to care for souls. “Yearning” – what a strange word.  Dictionary.com says it’s “deep longing, especially when accompanied by tenderness or sadness”. I believe though my relationships with the youth I have built through Lifeteams, I have experienced this. Sometimes youth that I worked with seemed so far from hope, and that would be true of me apart from Christ. But though God’s grace I am able to speak into these youths lives. I care so much more about them then just another statistic. I care when they aren’t doing as well as they could be, it saddens my heart when I see them go into relationships full of abuse on the bases of a word that is so causally thrown around to them – Love. It saddens my heart when I know when a youth tells me, they don’t know what they will be doing for the weekend, and when I know this is a lie. They are and will be drinking and or getting high to fill a void, a emptiness, to fill something where brokenness is their aftermath. These are just a few examples of youth I work with – youth created in the image of God -who cling to the toilet of life the world so kindly provides. I want them to know Jesus, to know God and to be in a relationship with True love, to have that void finally filled by Jesus Christ! I pray for these youth all the time that they would know a relationship with the father! I so want to see them with God in the kingdom one day!

(for more of Ryan’s heart check out his blog at http://www.streetlighttrackscalgary.blogspot.com/)