#MCOPC2016
One of the hopes in having two MARKcentrals was that there would be smaller class sizes and a more intimate feel of a conference. The estimated number of people at each week being approx 100. All of our plans for a more intimate conference were shifted when 180 people registered for the OPC week! On the one hand, we were grieved at the loss of some of our programming hopes that couldn’t really be accommodated with the number of people we had. But on the other hand, we were deeply encouraged that there were so many people eager to gather around scripture together! Within that 180, there were approx 10 not-yet believing students!
After coming out of a full week at #MCArden2016, David and I were tired, but eager to see what God would do with this group of people. There were many things about this week that were similar to last year: a staggered 2 meal schedule (as we couldn’t all sit together for meals), a mid-week worship night, and similar teaching and lodging locations. But, we had some new elements like staff stepping into new roles, and some group application for all the Mark 1 studies.
Before heading into the OPC MARKcentral week, I found myself stressed and frustrated at the seemingly endless logistical issues to work out. But, upon arrival, I felt a peace come over me, and actually felt at home. Which surprised me, because as recent as 2 years ago I remember feeling completely lost and out of place at OPC.
Day 2, with the Question of the Day
During this week, I was the primary point person. David took care of registration, budget and lodging details but I was the one that was up front as emcee, and led staff meetings. When I wasn’t taking care of any issues that arose, I joined the prayer team to intercede for the conference and offer prayer ministry for those in need. Being with the prayer team was a huge highlight for me. I’d never served on an intercession team before this week, and I loved the experience! Often I would hear stories of my friends who have interceded for conferences, and I was skeptical about some of the things they would do and how they would pray, but God in his grace and mercy showed me how some of the more unconventional ways we were praying actually were connecting with what was happening for those teaching and participating in studies. In subtle ways, that only I would notice the Spirit moved and revealed how It was drawing all the pieces together, and addressing some of the places of doubt in my heart. I was so grateful to work with Ruth, Ryan, Ruth and PY on the prayer team and see them lead the conference to connect with God in new and familiar ways.
The #MCOPC2016 Prayer Team!
I also loved working with the staff team, which was a mix of brand new staff and staff I’d known for years. It was great seeing staff step up and for many to lead studies on their own. It was exciting to hear about the not-yet believers in the studies and how they were fairing. We rejoiced as some of these students made first-time commitments to follow Jesus and as others heard from God for the first time in prayer and worship! We celebrated as some students decided to join the Toronto Urban Plunge team! I had so much delight seeing Ashley Chan lead an all KCF worship team and lead us in multi-lingual worship. The culmination of my joy with the staff team happened as we ended our last staff meeting with a 2.5 song dance party, with Ashley Chan and Preston leading the charge and setting the pace. In more recent years, I’ve experienced anxiety when spending time with my colleagues so feeling joy while being them had been rare, but this week I was so full of joy and so grateful for each of my colleagues.
There were a few OCF students who attended this week: one of my knights and Jimmy were in the Genesis study led by Jamie, my staff partner; and PY served on the prayer team with me. For Jamie and I, we had a few points during the week to connect with the OCF crew and it was a blessing to be with them as they processed their experiences and as they asked for prayers for what’s next. All of these students are graduating, and even though I had only been working with them for a year, each of them are dear me. My knights, Jimmy and PY were the first students to welcome me with open arms to OCF. They honestly shared their lives with me, and were open and eager to have me speak into their lives. They allowed me to be me, prayed and cared for me and have been a huge part in my heart for campus ministry being reignited. It was a great gift to spend parts of this week with them.
Even now as I reflect on this week, I can’t quite explain what was happening for me. In this season of many losses and hardships, I felt peace and settled in a way that shouldn’t have been true. I received vibrant images and words in prayer, I saw prayers answered, lives healed and new people join the family. It was thrilling! I felt bold in ways I don’t often feel in my life. I felt free in ways I haven’t felt in months. My friend and our camp host Andrew said this of me, “Every time she’s been up here [to say something] she’s had this huge smile”, and as I looked back at the photos of this week and heard from my staff friends, I see that this was true. I even see a huge difference between how I was at Arden and at this week. So I’m still unpacking what that means, but am grateful for this gift.
The #MCOPC2016 group! So many great memories with this group!
#MCArden2016
As the days got closer, I was really excited for the MARKcentral CSR Arden (#MCArden2016) week. This would be a week at new location (one David and I had never been to), with a new staff team configuration and new programming, and even though that could mean lots of unforeseen issues arising, the notion of newness was really exciting for me. David and I drove up before the staff and bus arrived, got a tour of the camp and the rooms we’d be using and started helping get the spaces set up. The first day went by super quick, as the bus arrived on time, filled with loud and excited students.
“How can you say you love Jesus and not have a heart for justice?” – “the Preacher”
This MARKcentral week was significant for OCF, as it had almost all first-time participants in MARKcentral and most of the new student leaders for the upcoming year. I was especially excited as they all took the bus together and had some time to start bonding with each other and other students from across Ontario. It wasn’t long until my fun-loving OCF students were known as the “cool kids” at camp and also the “ruckus-causing” ones. But, to their credit, they were super welcoming to anyone who wanted to join them. One of my students, whom I’ll call “the Preacher”, was deeply impacted by the second half of Mark. She spent some time in lament about how her church and the global church have not done all they could to be about justice for the most vulnerable. Her heart was grieved as she read the passage of the widow in the Temple and saw how this woman trusted a system that was not out for her good, and it resonated with the Preacher as she saw aspects of her own story reflected. This is the same student who at last year’s conference never made a heart connection with the passages. She studied the texts academically and never let the meaning root deep in her heart. But this year, the passages resonated and this same girl who never saw justice as deeply connected with Jesus, now calls all who will listen to be about justice for the most vulnerable amongst us.
Most afternoons this week were free, but mine quickly filled with long one-on-one walks with my OCF students. I got to hear more stories of their year, the joys and hardships and the things they were hopeful for in the upcoming summer and year ahead. Throughout the week, I felt blessed to be able to be with these students, and to see how much had happened for each of them in a year.
Our attempt at making the OCF logo. I love these people so much!
I also felt blessed to co-direct this week, and come alongside the staff as many served in certain roles for the first time, or were new to some of the changes we were implementing. I was so happy to work with Leah and Allyson, who were interceding for the conference and had set up a prayer room with themed activities for each day. I had the Operations Manager at CSR Arden make me some whiteboard sandwich boards and each day I would ask a Question of the Day that would relate to themes in the scripture studies and with the prayer room activites. I was greatly blessed by Dave and Jared and their leading the worship team with 2 UTSC students and the Preacher. God used the 5 of them to lead us in a diversity of worship experiences that helped many people connect with God deeply. I sat in Allison and Melissa’s Mark 1 study, and was encouraged by the diverse group of students as they wrestled with the text and their wonder as they made connections.
By the end of the week, we grew deeply as a community together and were sad to part ways. For me, this was one of the best experiences at MARKcentral that I’ve ever had. I left the week, tired, but eager to see what God would do at OPC.
The #MCArden2016 group. Such a great week with these lovely people!
Hospitality through Food, Discipleship Baking, and Waffles Around the World
One of the easiest ways to build relationships with people is through food. So, as I spent a good deal of this year observing the existing ministry at OCAD and trying to build relationships with students, I spent a lot of time making and eating food.
Hospitality through Food
My Knights live in a house on Jarvis, which we often used as a place to gather for meals and parties. In the fall, I began a semi-regular (twice a month) practice of invading their home and teaching them how to make different types of cuisine on Sunday evenings. My fondest memories are of our sushi-making gathering and our samosa party. These gatherings served as a conduit for deeper relationships in our community, places where people felt welcome to brings friends, and to hang out and spontaneously end up in worship and prayer. One of my student leaders, whom I’ll refer to as the Witty Chef, is also a gifted baker and cook, often making all the household meals for his siblings, even though he is the youngest! He works part-time at a grocery store, and often the beginning of every meeting I had with him would entail him telling me of specials for that week. One week, turkeys were on sale, and he decided to get one and learn how to cook it, even though he’d never done so before. He decided to brine the turkey, which is something even I haven’t done, and cook it one day, just for fun. He invited me and the rest of the leadership team to come eat it. and I can assure you. it was the best turkey I’ve ever had!
Discipleship Baking
Often when I’m getting to know someone I try to build relationship by doing something that they enjoy doing. This often works well when I also enjoy the activity too. Two first year students I met this year are avid bakers, and a few times during the winter semester I got to know them deeper as we baked together. I enjoy what I call discipleship baking, as it gives people something to do with their hands, and frees them up to be more candid than they might be if we were just sitting across a table having coffee together. Discipleship baking with art and design students is a lot of fun because there’s a willingness to be adventurous and ambitious in flavours and recipes, like during reading week, a student and I made all four of the cookies in this video!
Waffles Around the World
We again decided to love and serve the campus by giving away free waffles during the last three Wednesdays of the semester (the busiest time for students). For the winter semester, we were able to get an OCAD student union grant, and we wanted to switch up how we did our waffle nights. So we decided on the theme “Waffles Around the World”, as a way to showcase waffle flavours and practices from around the world and use these events as an opportunity to celebrate and engage the ethnic and cultural diversity of the campus. Each week we offered different flavours: Spanish Churro, Cambodian Coconut, and Savoury English Potato waffles. In our interactive art pieces, we asked people questions to engage their own and others ethnic and cultural identity, because we believe that people’s ethnic and cultural identity say something about our God. As we prepared for these events, we spent some more time planning and talking through the whys of event, and spent time in scripture helping us see how God values and loves diversity. As I worked with a team on the interactive art elements, the Witty Chef led the team in the kitchen. In both the fall and winter terms, the Witty Chef took care of getting all the waffle making materials and managing all the kitchen logistics for our waffle events. I found out later how much he’d absorbed the teachings from the scripture and was able to call his team to the vision. I also found out that my first encounter with the OCF community (where I made potato waffles and brownie waffles), made a huge impact on his life, and influenced his decision to choose to make potato waffles for one of the weeks.
Surprise Party
As I reflect on this year, one of the highlights was my birthday. Often birthdays are not always filled with happy memories. This year, given that I was coming from Urbana and vacation, I didn’t have lots of time to plan for my birthday. So, when the day came I didn’t have lots of plans, but then was showered with love from my community.
I had breakfast with my staff partner Jamie, and got to have a great talk. I had a late afternoon meeting with my supervisor, which also was a great time. The biggest surprise of the night came when “my knights” invited me to dinner, they were pretty vague on the details (I taught them well), and I wasn’t sure what to expect when I met with them. They managed to convince me we were just going to have a quiet dinner, just the three of us. When we got to the restaurant, I saw there was a large table filled with OCFers (and a few wannabe OCFers)! I was surprised and moved! I wasn’t expecting gifts, but the ones I received were significant and sentimental. I was blown away that in the 4 months I had been at OCAD, that these students cared enough to do this. I later found out the main planners for this party were my students who had attended Urbana, and they started these plans while they were in St. Louis!
And as I recount this story, I’m reminded that the last time students threw me a “surprise party”, was actually my first official year on staff at Ryerson. And as I make this connection, I’m grateful for God’s timing, provision and movement. I’m eager to see what will come in my next few years with the OCF community, and I hope it is as fruitful and memorable as my time at Ryerson.
Knights, Pumpkin Soup and so much Bubble Tea
As I come to the end of this year, I am grateful and full. This year has been tough personally and organizationally, but whenever I think of my time on campus with the OCF community I am filled with joy. After a somewhat anti-climactic end at Ryerson, I was not expecting to be showered with welcome at OCAD, and yet I was. Here are some of my highlights from the year:
“Are you going to knight us?”
Early in September, after spending a good deal of time in the summer developing relationships with two students in particular, I asked them to join me for dinner. I was intentionally vague in the purpose of our meeting, as I was trying to hold things loosely. But I did ask that we go out, and not meet in their home and be in a place with an atmosphere where we could actually have a conversation, as opposed to some of the loud, lively restaurants closer to campus. While we were walking, one of the students asked if I was going to knight them, as that’s the first thing she came up with after putting the pieces she had together. I laughed and apologized for the vagueness, and once we were seated I filled them in. I wanted to tell them I noticed the good missional work they were doing in their friend’s lives, even choosing to live downtown in an apartment with two not-yet believing friends! I offered to pray with them, offer resources as they needed and to help them as they grew in their witness and hospitality this year. They gratefully accepted and their home became a hub of activity this year, with epic parties, delicious dinners and lots of late-night prayer and worship. The times when I would meet individually or with both of them, were some of the best moments of the year for me. They graciously invited me into their home and their lives, and relationship with them has reignited my love for student ministry. And since that day in September, I have called them, my knights.
Pumpkin Soup
One of the student leaders I worked with this year is an international student from Singapore. One morning as we were staffing a table for a community fair, I discovered he loved all thing pumpkin, especially soup. Now this student who would describe himself as “headstrong” was sometimes challenging to connect with, he was often a confusing mix of stubborn and teachable, which I realized was exactly how I was when I was a student. The way my staff won me over was her demonstration of unconditional love. So, when this student was extremely stressed with school and still trying to serve in his various leadership roles with OCF, I knew I could release some of his leadership responsibilities (which I did) but beyond that there was little I could do to help with the stress, so I did what my mother would do, I made him some soup. He was surprised, grateful and I think this moment marked a point where he felt he could trust me more. Right after our event that night I got this message and photo from him, “Already had my first bowl, thanks again Archi!!!!! It was so good! I missed this so much lol”
So Much Bubble Tea
During my last year at Ryerson (and my last year living downtown), there were a number of bubble tea places that opened. And I was so excited to have another option for meeting locations with students. Then, I found out that NONE of my student leaders liked bubble tea, and only ONE of my friends would go with me. I was devastated. But then this year at OCAD, 90% of my one-on-one mentoring meetings happen over bubble tea. I’ve had multiple conversations about the best locations and combinations, when to go, who the best servers are, and so much more. I even got to take a few OCF students to my favourite place near Ryerson.
I’m grateful that in this season, God has been faithful. My vision and passion for working with students has been renewed. I’ve been able to deeply connect and love these students. And even small things like a lack of bubble tea has turned into abundance, which shows me that even in the simplest longings God meets me, which gives me hope for the bigger things.
2015 Annual Report
Be on the lookout for more stories of this semester, but in the meantime here’s the 2015 Annual Report!
Sisterhood/Brotherhood of the Travelling Book
Launching 20,000 Extraordinary Kingdom Leaders by 2020 has been our vision at IVCF Canada for the past few years. One of the factors we use to measure Extraordinary Kingdom Leaders (EKL)s is Influence, specifically
Influence: An Extraordinary Kingdom Leader is regularly instrumental in leading others, individually and in groups, to spiritual growth and richer Christian community. Witness and Service are hallmarks of others lives because of this person’s influence.
“It’s really exciting that you’re sharing something you received while you were in Toronto to bless your church community” – Me
“I know! I’d never done manuscript study until I came to Ryerson!” -Student
These past few weeks have had me meeting brand new students on campus, but also reconnecting with former students, while I share about my transition to OCAD and seek new prayer and financial partners. In the process I was amazed as I heard stories of manuscript bible studies starting up in churches in Etobicoke, Innisfil, and Trinidad by former students! I listened as I heard their stories of feeling called to share what they had received on campus with their church communities and asked for advice as they stepped out in faith leading these studies!
I also heard about the Sisterhood/Brotherhood of the Travelling book. The book being Henri Nouwen’s Wounded Healer which I gave to my former student RA who’s home in Trindad for the year. After finishing the book herself, she’s taken to passing this book around in her community. She told me her mom is currently reading it, then it will get passed on to her youth pastor, then it will get passed on to the senior pastor’s son!
After doing campus ministry for so many years it’s still exciting for me to hear these stories of students going to or returning to faith communities and extending their influence in these places.
Summer Fellowship
This is the first summer in 3 years that I haven’t been on a Global Partnership. It has been an interesting experience being able to experience the fullness of being in Canada for the months of May and June! I’ve been blessed with times with friends, celebrations of anniversaries and time to rest and reflect on the past year.
I also have had the opportunity to be more involved in the GTA summer fellowship. In the past few years, the summer fellowship has been inter-campus and dominantly student run. But this year, myself, and a few of my colleagues are around for the summer, so we wanted to be more invested and involved in the GTA summer fellowship.
Christa, staff at U of T St George and I gather students from all the downtown campuses on Thursday nights at Ryerson for a summer topical study called “Loving Your…”. Each week we have a new topic like loving your neighbour, loving your enemy, loving yourself, and so on. We’ve alternated between leading studies ourselves and training students to lead studies; and we’ve been using scriptures from both the Old and New Testaments. And one Friday a month, we invite students from all across the GTA to join us for a social event, like Shakespeare in the Park. This has been a great way for us to partner with Christa’s husband and his students at U of T Mississauga.
I have never had so much fun during a summer fellowship! I love leading with Christa, and I’m constantly encouraged and amazed at the work God is doing in the lives of the students we have been gathering!
After the first week of study, one Ryerson student who’s been on the fringe of our community, came up to me and asked if I had extra copies of the scripture so she could lead this study with her parents! The next week I asked her to lead the study with another Ryerson student, it was the first time for the both of them and they did a fantastic job! Also after the first few weeks of study, the students would stay after the study chatting with each other for another hour and then would go out for late night food afterward. I was hoping these things would happen by the end of the summer and I am still pleasantly surprised at how soon these things are happening!
GTA summer fellowship 2015
MarkCentral 2015
Ever feel pulled apart in 4 different directions? At our annual week-long Mark manuscript scripture conference, I was wearing 4 hats.
Hat 1
I taught the second half of Mark (Chapters 8-16) with colleagues and friends of mine, teaching some heavy-hitting passages including the transfiguration and crucifixion; and it was also my first time being a teacher at MarkCentral. I enjoyed the group of students we had in our section from York, Ryerson, McMaster, U of T, OCAD, Queen’s and Carleton. After a hard year on campus, being in so many passages related to suffering was challenging but needed. Our section struggled grappling with the depth of these teachings, but by the end of our time together, things really landed for the students as they looked through passages that were at varying degrees of familiarity with new understanding. One of my highlights was finding new ways to make the text more interactive. For the rich ruler passage, I asked the students to write down on a rock things that they prioritize over their relationship with God, they kept those rocks on their tables all week, and then after we finished studying the crucifixion, I led the students to a nearby stream and asked them to reflect on what they wrote in light of the crucifixion and to choose to release the rocks physically and metaphorically into the stream. Words don’t fully give justice to the feelings that arose as I heard the silence pierced by the individual thunks of rocks hitting the water. Afterward at dinner, a student from our study came up to me and told me, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been as happy as he was when he let go of his rock and what it represented.
Hat 2 and 3
I also was going back and forth between serving and caring for the team of students from Ryerson and the students at OCAD, and feeling like I wasn’t really caring well for either, as I technically hadn’t transitioned to OCAD yet, but my staff partner wasn’t around so I was trying to care for the students there in her absence. After each worship night, we were invited to gather with our campus groups and check in and pray with one another. I asked for Ryerson and OCAD to be together so it would be one less thing I was split between. Our first gathering was awkward. But the next gathering which was 3 days later, revealed that in the time that had passed, the students had sought each other out and were becoming friends. I planned to divide the group into the different campuses to pray, but felt actually the Spirit had been doing some good work binding this group together and it made sense to pray together. I was especially encouraged as the students who were studying Mark 2 with me revealed how over the course of the week the Spirit revealed things in their lives they needed to cut out and choose differently. This felt especially redemptive as I heard from some of my Ryerson leaders who named the things that had been holding them back all year and express remorse for not choosing to do something about it sooner.
Hat 4
I also was a major part of the team responsible for hosting our friends from Bangladesh. All year I had been talking back and forth with our hosts and friends from Bangladesh about getting students to come to MarkCentral. After lots of factors, it wasn’t possible for students to get the visas needed to come to Canada, but Brother Peter, the general secretary of the movement and his associate Brother Bony were able to come. It was challenging trying to host them well in the midst of all the other things I was doing that week, but I had a team of Canadian staff and friends to help with hosting. After the week at MarkCentral, Ashley, one of the staff on my GUP team last year and I hosted Peter and Bony around the city and even took them to Niagara Falls!
In the midst of all these hats I was wearing, I was grateful for those of you who had been praying for this conference; and was aware of all the different ways God was calling me to trust and rely on Him to make all things happen. At the end of the week I was exhausted, but grateful.
The End of an Era
The Seuss themed end of year party had some great moments; my favorite being a game poking fun at Patchy, called Pin the Beard on the [Patchy]. I also had a lot of fun blind-folding (and terrifying) the winner of the Richard Baker Award, an Award that’s been a tradition at Ryerson given to graduating students who go above and beyond choosing to extend hospitality and invest in younger students especially in their last years of their degree which are usually the busiest. I had her blind-folded and brought to the front of the room, then proceeded to talk about all the wonderful ways she’s blessed our community, and relished as she squirmed thinking she was in for something awful, then I had the blind-fold taken off and gave her the award. I think she was more upset at the anticipation of something terrible happening than if I had actually done something terrible! But she was grateful for being honoured with the award.
At this point in the festivities, I made the announcement to the larger community (and now to you) that I would be leaving Ryerson and becoming a campus minister at OCAD University.
After this, the same student who won the Richard Baker Award, called me forward, and asked me to sit in one of two chairs at the front of the room. She took the other seat, and then proceeded to conduct an “exit interview”. I think it was meant to be more lighthearted and funny, but some of the questions (which I had no prior knowledge of) were a little awkward to answer without preparation.
After a few more games and tons of desserts, the party was over. I had a lot of fun, but as my last RIVCF party on campus, it felt like a bit of an anti-climactic ending. My last official Ryerson-specific event after this party was a final leader’s meeting to debrief the year.
At our last exec meeting, which was 2 days later, we spent the time eating pie and sharing with each other what we appreciated about one another and about all the things we were glad to receive this year in leadership. I was encouraged as I saw this group of strangers had become deep spiritual friends and deeply loved one another.
As you likely know, I’m an avid reader, and as a parting gift I gave away some books for the students to further their development moving forward giving each a specific book to meet them where they are at, many of these titles may seem familiar as they are ones I’ve mentioned on this blog:
- Patchy: Real Life by James Choung
- AP: Small Things Done with Great Love by Margot Starbuck
- Beaker: Pursuit of God in the Company of Friends by Richard Lamb
- Swift: Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
- Pink: Everyday Justice by Julie Clawson
- Dumplings: Baking Bread: Recipes and Stories from Immigrant Kitchens by Lynne Christy Anderson and Corby Kummer
- RA: Wounded Healer by Henri Nouwen
It felt good to give the students my personal copies of these books and share the insights I’d received these books and bless them into the next things in their lives be it more school or entering the workforce.
The Arch 