After completing my first full year of KIC, EPIC, and Sonshine Day Camp, I look back with overflowing gratitude. Before onboarding the TCM team, I wasn’t sure how everything would pan out. Jesse Ketchum was a new site, I was a new staff member, I would be working with an entirely new team, and doing my first ministry job. However, in all of this, I have seen how God works in the journey.
When we first started programs in 2022, we ranged from two to eight kids. On top of that, not many of our kids came from Christian homes. Therefore, when teaching the Bible, it was a struggle to keep their attention. I would often sit in our weekly staff gatherings and hear about how many more kids other sites had and hear about all the incredible God-centred conversations they would have and wonder if we would ever get there. Summer Camp then came around and our numbers began to go up. We were averaging 12-17 kids a week and teaching Bible became easier. We also found out that our kids love worship. It got to a point where they would ask to play worship songs during their free time so that they could dance. On top of that, I also was growing. I better understood the role of an outreach worker and what it meant to build relationships with families and the community. In those moments, I was already so thankful for the work God was doing.
Then Sonshine Day Camp came back around in 2023. This time, we had a full staffing team of six people and averaged 25-34 kids a week with a running waitlist. To say that I was surprised was an understatement. We went from having an attendance of eight kids wondering if we would ever have more, to having a list so long that we had to make a wait list. Beyond the numbers, we were standing by TCM’s mission statement by targeting families who were either new to Canada or expressed a need for free programming.
In all of this, I learned that God works in the journey. Oftentimes, I want things immediately and become disheartened when it doesn’t happen. An example of this was when we opened programs and we didn’t have upwards of 15 kids right away. When the kids were not that interested in our Bible lessons, I felt hopeless. When it felt like we were working overtime to promote our programs to the community and not get a response, it was discouraging. But what I didn’t realize at the time was that God doesn't always answer prayers with immediate results. Sometimes, we have to run the course to see the fruit of our labour; and sometimes, running the course is hard. There will be days when we don’t feel like running, or days when all the work we do seems pointless. I’ve realized that this testimony isn’t about the number of attendees but about God’s faithfulness. Specifically, it’s in these “journeys” that He teaches and refines us. As we wait on Him and wonder what He’s doing, He continues to show us where we need to grow. I’ve learned to enjoy these “journey” seasons because I now know that He is preparing something for us that is much greater than we can ever think, ask, or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Therefore, I believe that we are called to fix our eyes on the One who has called us to serve His people and allow Him to strengthen us in our “down and out” moments, so we can see the promise that is to come.
“Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise.”