We are coming up on the end of the semester, which of course means I've been phenomenally busy, but I do feel that I've accomplished a great deal. Last night, I was endorsed by the session at Westminster for Candidacy. In a few weeks I will meet with the Committee on Preparation for Ministry, if they also endorse me, then I will go before the next Presbytery meeting in June. For those of you who aren't Presbyterian, or don't pay attention to polity, essentially what this means is that, if all goes well, I will be a step closer to being able to start looking for a call when I graduate in 2014.
Saturday was the 8th Annual Ultimate Frisbee Tournament at UPSem, and was a great time. Both Union teams went 3-0 in the initial, Round-Robin phase, which included, for my team, a very exciting sudden-death win over one of Princeton's teams. Unfortunately we then lost to Princeton's other team in the show-case round, but the other Union team pulled out a win over Southern Lutheran in the other showcase game. It was a great weekend of frisbee and fellowship, and is something I will be sad to miss next year.
Earlier in the week, the Urban Ministry Committee hosted their 3rd Forum/Fair. We brought in several wonderful ministries from around Richmond, including Boaz and Ruth, the Micah Initiative, and a great ministry in Washington D.C., called Christ House. All are exciting ministries here in the U.S., and the event served as a valuable reminder for me that while it can be much easier to see need elsewhere, there is a great deal here in the U.S. as well, and as excellent as these ministries are, there are a great many people who are not being served. I hope to be able to volunteer with one of these groups when I return from Africa next year.
On the note of serving God and people's needs in the U.S., the YAV program has several sites within the U.S. which are engaged in a wide variety of ministries, and the application deadline has been extended until May 25th. If any of you are seeking direction for the next year, or know of someone who is, I urge you (or them) to look into national service through YAV. The application and more information can be found here.
Saturday was the 8th Annual Ultimate Frisbee Tournament at UPSem, and was a great time. Both Union teams went 3-0 in the initial, Round-Robin phase, which included, for my team, a very exciting sudden-death win over one of Princeton's teams. Unfortunately we then lost to Princeton's other team in the show-case round, but the other Union team pulled out a win over Southern Lutheran in the other showcase game. It was a great weekend of frisbee and fellowship, and is something I will be sad to miss next year.
Earlier in the week, the Urban Ministry Committee hosted their 3rd Forum/Fair. We brought in several wonderful ministries from around Richmond, including Boaz and Ruth, the Micah Initiative, and a great ministry in Washington D.C., called Christ House. All are exciting ministries here in the U.S., and the event served as a valuable reminder for me that while it can be much easier to see need elsewhere, there is a great deal here in the U.S. as well, and as excellent as these ministries are, there are a great many people who are not being served. I hope to be able to volunteer with one of these groups when I return from Africa next year.
On the note of serving God and people's needs in the U.S., the YAV program has several sites within the U.S. which are engaged in a wide variety of ministries, and the application deadline has been extended until May 25th. If any of you are seeking direction for the next year, or know of someone who is, I urge you (or them) to look into national service through YAV. The application and more information can be found here.
