Un vistazo de esperanza

Today was a really good day! The morning started out frustrating with a visioning meeting for the Hispanic ministry that was less successful and less inventive than I would have hoped. Actually, it was more than frustrating, it made me want to throw up my hands and walk away. Anyway, after that we had a Christmas party for our office volunteers, and then I did a visit, and then picked up a book a friend recommended.

But the vistazo of esperanza came when I got to meet with our new bell director. He's been here about 3 months now and I've had limited interaction with him. The most time we spent together was rehearsing for and doing our youth service back in October. I had wanted to talk to him because we are really trying to work on our youth program, and as a part of that I'd like to have a regular worship experience for the youth that is aimed at them and uses the types and styles of music they enjoy most, and he would be the one I'd want to do music.

Yesterday the wheels in my head started turning and I thought, well we don't have to have a sermon, we could do more camp style and have people share their testimonies, and that would be a good way to connect the older members with the younger members by having them share together through their faith walks. Then I thought, well, if we're doing fun and energetic worship, then the young adults would probably want to come too, and well, there's not a good reason for the older folks not to come if they want to be there, AND, what would be really awesome is if we could use this as an outreach tool to the community whereby we could get new folks to the church. (**right now we don't have any type of worship offering that really addresses young people. Everything is traditional high church, unless they give me too much control, and even our special events are aimed at older generations--they have ragtime music, or all older movie/music/culture references...). I got really excited with the prospect and thought, if we did this service independently, we could do what we want, and I could start living my dream of doing a multi-cultural, multi-traditional, and even multi-generational worship service. Sooooo, I met with A and after he shared a bunch of enthusiasm and stories from what is going on with him, I shared my ideas about the service and he was game. He was eager to get started and start recruiting a drummer and bass player and get practicing. Sweet!!!

A has a ton of energy and goes a mile a minute, kinda like I do when I'm at my best, and it was nice to have someone else talk excitedly and quickly and go from one thing to the next, rather than feeling like we are moving at a snail's pace.

I am excited for this opportunity and pray that God would guide us and bless us. I am SUPER thankful for A and all that he brings to the table. And I am thankful for today's vistazo of esperanza.