Helen’s Update
The month of May ushered in a slower pace of ministry. Between the cooler weather and sickness in the air, the temptation was to go into hibernation mode. But we keep preaching the word “in season and out of season” and while seasons change God is unchanged!
I did my first talk since High School!
As part of the Cornhill Preaching Course, I (Helen) got the opportunity to prepare a 5 minute talk on Ephesians. At Cornhill, we are taught that writing a talk involves going up the mountain and then coming down the mountain.
To go up the mountain is to carefully and diligently exegete the passage so that you ‘get it right.’ Coming down the mountain is to carefully and diligently explain it so that you ‘get it across’ to your listener. At the top of the mountain is the Big Idea of the passage!
Well, my talk was on Ephesians 3:14-21. It took me hours and hours of preparation to ‘go up the mountain’. What a blessing to dive deep into God’s word at the end of three chapters of rich theology! The hike up the mountain was well worth it as the talk then tumbled out of me, onto the page in about one hour. I got some encouraging feedback as well as constructive feedback. Click on this link to listen to the talk
“And I pray that you…may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.” Eph 3:17-19
If you would like to give my talk a listen, you can find it here.
Reading Ezra one-to-one
I (Helen) have really enjoyed how my learning at Cornhill has flowed into ministry. In Old Testament Overview, we learned about how the book of Ezra fits into the story of the Old Testament and how it links to prophets like Jeremiah, Haggai and Zechariah. I’m currently reading Ezra one-to-one with one of our female youth leaders. God is using this to enrich her understanding of his faithfulness as shown in the Old Testament.
Nate’s Update
A quieter month in May has allowed for more opportunities to write and reflect. MTS asked me to do a bit of a writeup on my MTS experience, and it was a great pleasure to think back to how well I’ve been equipped over the past two years. You can read it here.
I also got to write about Engage for our church newsletter. It was a privilege to share more about the impact of our youth ministry, and I hope it will also be an encouragement to you as well 🙂 You can find that here.
Sadly, the month of May has also brought about a string of personal and relational setbacks that have left me a bit discouraged and disheartened. Growing in character is still frustratingly slow, and there have been some interactions where afterwards I find myself to be a bit of a nuisance, and I’m doubting myself more and more.
But as I’ve been reminded in the past – this is just part and parcel of the spiritual warfare of ministry. I am pushing myself to find my enduring identity, validation, and justification in the gracious gospel and finished work of Christ.
It has also been helpful reading through 2 Corinthians with my trainer:
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16–18
Dear partners, I would love your prayers for a humble and hopeful heart. Please ask me how I’m going in fixing my eyes on Jesus and not myself.
The Marsden Fund 