How can it be that equipping is already over? Can someone pinch me to assure me this is real? Senior staff training starts early tomorrow...and I cannot fathom that this is my last week before my babies...err...campers arrive. :) I need to get in the habit of calling my campers, campers, and not babies.
Anyway, leadership team equipping was so good. It was a great time to bond and connect as a team, understand what is expected of us, and understand what it means to be a leader. Our first day of equipping was spent on the trail and outdoors. I learned that I can be a very driven leader. While leading for part of the hike, I had a few comments made like "We're hiking Faith, not sprinting!". This was great for me to see, because it is a trait that I will have to work on this summer-becoming driven and forgetting about those behind me struggling to keep up. I also learned that I will definitely need help and support from my team throughout the summer. The extent of my camping experience was in campers, cabins, and a tent in my best friends back yard. I knew nothing about roughing it, making food over a fire, not being able to take showers, and sleeping with only a little bit of canvas to separate me from the bugs! I needed the support and wisdom of my team members to help me make it. I love my team so much, and I am so thankful that I have them to lead with this summer. They already mean the world to me, and I know that before the summer is over they will mean even more.
Once we got back to Joy El, and we was able to clean up and start on our sessions. Throughout the sessions we learned about discipleship, evangelism, mentoring, leadership, facilitation, and spiritual multiplication. It has made me really evaluate myself and my previous knowledge. I am so excited to lead activities, connect with kids, lead my staff, and mentor my staff. I am so blessed to be able to serve in this capacity. Most "Christians" will never experience what people who serve at camps experience. It's a whole new world that has captured my heart and sucked me in.
Leading up to the start of equipping, I was so focused on fixing my leadership flaws that I began to forget about my strengths. Something God really revealed to me over the course of last week was that I need to lead from my strengths and be the leader He created me to be. Yes, I need to try to improve my weak areas, but why should I become consumed with my weaknesses when God has blessed me with strengths? Yeah, I might not be the most authoritive leader, but I am very enthusiastic. I may not be the oldest, but I am a deep thinker. I may not be the smartest, wisest, greatest leader, but I have the best example to follow- Jesus. He lead with compassion, love, gentleness, friendship, authority, vision, enthusiasm, firmness, and purpose. He was and is the greatest leader that I could ever learn from.
This summer I will have many opportunities to have a bad attitude and run from things within my role that I don't want to do, but God has called me to strive to be a leader as Christ was a leader. Like Jonah, I could easially run away and totally disobey God's call, but I realize that His plan will be fulfilled whether I obey or not. I'd much rather obey and save myself a few nights in the dark belly of a fish though. He is sovereign and in control, and I am but a tool in His hand. It's more than just being able to say it though, I need to believe it. I have been challenged most this week by making sure my heart is in line with God's. I am excited to see what God is going to do this next week through senior staff training. I know that I will be tested, but though I pass through the fires I will not be burned, though the waters rise I will not drown. God will lift my head and support me when I cannot go on. I praise Jesus, that I don't have to go this summer alone.
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