mosaic

After another season of long Saturday trainings, rushed work sessions and early morning debriefs, we once again have arrived at a very familiar finish line. The ride has been extra long this time— a seven-month journey with my mentor coaches and captains, and a whirlwind three months with Team Kaleo. In this marathon-yet-sprint-like journey, I believe the image of a mosaic comes to mind when I am asked to describe my journey this year as a first-time mentor coach and four-time coach. Why mosaic?

1) Mosaic art is created when smaller glass shards are carefully placed together to create one art piece. 

         Starting off with the mentor coach team-no one can deny that I got to work with the most experienced team amongst all the mentor coaching teams in this conference. I believe that our collective youth ministry experience is equivalent to the age of a very old senior! This team had a strong grasp of each other's giftings, strengths and weaknesses. Within each small group pairing, there was one admin-strong mentor coach. Each captain small group had a different target and purpose which aligned with each mentor coach's strength. Collectively, the team knew how to correct the captains with gentleness, discern when things needed to be escalated and knew how to push captains to see their capacity as a Christian leader. I was able to witness the Spirit working through each member as they challenge different captains to see beyond their own needs, adopt new approaches and collaborate as a team.
          However, beyond logistics, I saw their heart for these youths. Overhearing their conversations, I can clearly see the extra time and effort that they gave to KNOW these captains, review logistics, check-in, and re-explain bible study concepts. It was beautiful to see how each of us mentor coaches come from such different backgrounds, yet we were able to create a cohesive training program that equipped over 40 youths to be ready for such a large-scale and demanding conference.

2) Mosaic art is comprised of pieces that don’t look beautiful independently, but appear better together. 

          I saw that working on team Kaleo, realizing that we truly shone brighter together. While I completed the admin duties (material lists, schedule, to-do lists) that none of my team members wanted to complete, my co-coach did a fantastic job saying and emphasizing things that I would have never brought up. His reminders to pray before the end of each work session, to think beyond our prepared bible study notes and be bold in our prayer took me by surprise, but it stretched me and my captains to involve throughout the preparation process and probe a little deeper. Without M's deep desire to see growth and E’s desire to hear the attendee’s feedback on the conference, we also would not have been able to create such meaningful friendships with the youths that came through the doors of B28/29. In this team, it has truly been a beautiful and joy-filled experience, seeing captains with such pure servant hearts and hearing so many honest conversations during bible study and sharing. It has been a really long time since I have had an attendee share a bible study answer that matched my printed notes.

3) When looking at my personal spiritual journey amidst preparing for this conference, I also saw it as a mosaic art piece- something that was broken and placed together again. 

          Several weeks before the conference, after a seemingly light hearted conversation with one of the youths, I decided to start watching a new sermon series on the book of Genesis. During one of the sermons on the tower of Babel, I realized that I needed a heart check- a thorough one. Whilst riding on what I could a “serving high,” I asked myself: “how do I approach trainings on Saturday?” “why am I doing this ministry?” “what attitude do I carry when I am chatting with these captains?” I was hit with the realization that the desire for approval, power and control had taken over. Just like a mosaic art piece, I had to be broken and honest with God, coming to Him and confessing my misguided and selfish intentions. Picking up the pieces, I reminded myself that it was not too late to realign myself and re-establish my desire to serve God wholeheartedly. With a much healthier attitude, I was able to shamelessly serve and be attentive to His work throughout the conference.

Serving at TC this year has been such a joyful experience. I was able to observe immense growth of the 43 captains who learned to live out the Gospel message of love and witness to their attendees. I watched them become good role models, as they exemplified care and prioritized those they were serving. I witnessed them adopt a heart for the people on their team, crying as they watched people accept Jesus into their lives and commit to living a deeper life. Yes, they realized that the life transformative work is so special. This serving opportunity marks the beginning of a serving journey as they continue to live bold lives locally (and maybe even globally).

~cho

p.s. I am extra grateful that I got to serve with H/L this year. During my car rides from work, I was trying to pinpoint why I was so happy getting to serve with them. I think it is because for a majority of my church life, I have always been the caregiver and older sister. I was expected to come to the table with a vision, sound solutions and fresh comments. It is awesome getting to be the youngest one, soaking in new perspectives and getting to see what ministry can look like. Through them, I learned to ask better follow-up questions when checking in with my youths and seeing the strengths in someone even when it might not be obviously apparent. Not only should I give grace to people, but be more open-minded to try things, even if it might fail (reference to bible study methods).