Victory!!!

This past Saturday, I had the unique privilege of watching twenty-two amazing young leaders finish the year together. While it is sad to see them go, I am so excited to see them released into the world I know God is going to do some amazing things through them!

It's been a phenomenal year together, and on behalf of the Qwanoes and Briercrest staff teams, we'd like to thank you all for taking such an interest in this year's program!

We gave out some awards at the ceremony to those who really excelled in key components of the program. The Winners were:

Adventure Award Winner - Brookelynn Allan
Community Award Winner - Lokadia Leeson
Academics Award Winner - Janelle Wills 
Ministry Award Winner - Rachael Allen
Leadership Award Winner - Jim Bodden

While those were specially singled out and honoured, I know that we could give awards to all the students for what they've accomplished this year.

Again, my sincerest thanks for all of you who supported us through the year. We didn't measure this year's success by grade point average or accomplishments. We chose instead to focus on finishing the year strong together and it happened!

We're still a little hurting from the goodbyes, but all we can do now is sit back and thank God for what He's done all year! What an awesome year!

Thanks everyone!

Derek

A Week Full of Adventure!

Hello everyone! 

We did it! We have made it through our year and are now in our final week! 

While we're hurting a little bit that things are ending soon, we are so excited to see the students head back home and take the changes that we've seen home with them.

We have definitely been savouring our last few days with the students. We've been going on adventure after adventure to enjoy each other's company. I'm excited to get to tell you about three big adventures that we went on this week.

On Tuesday we had the pleasure of heading down to Victoria for a little indoor rock climbing. I know we were expecting to have a good time, but I think we surpassed all of our expectations when we saw how amazing the facilities were. There was a nice bouldering wall, some nice sized rock walls and then we saw their amazing HUGE rock wall room. It had to look like about a 3-4 story building in there and students were able to climb a good chunk of it. My neck almost hurt from looking up so much!

On Wednesday, we were supposed to head up to some outdoor rock climbing, but the weather didn't work out so we moved it to Thursday. I think this was God's little gift to us in that we had perfect weather on Thursday! We headed up to near the Nanaimo River and met our guides there. There was a number of different rock faces we could climb. With the river behind us and the blue sky above we spent nearly the entire day climbing and it was such a great day! Even those of us who weren't overly gifted at climbing still had a good day getting a sun tan! 

Friday met us with a different challenge though! We spent the morning trying to figure out how safe the waters were before we went out on our kayaking adventure! With two foot waves and a good attitude we decided to try kayaking around the ladysmith harbour. When we got out there, we discovered how much fun it was to kayak with a little resistance! We even spent time singing together and had a seal audience pop up to see us! I'm happy to report that no one fell out of their boats (except for myself clumsily trying to exit the kayak about three feet from shore).

With that, our major adventures end for the year. It's a bit bittersweet in that we've made it! We've all done this together! But I know there have already been tears shed thinking about the end and we are all going to miss each one so much.

For those of you coming to grad on Saturday, we are SO excited to have you come! 

We finally get to show you everything we've been writing about this year! 

We are praying for your safe travels and can't wait to meet some of you! 

Thanks for all your support of the students this year!

Derek

This Year in Academics

Hello everyone! 

When students finished their camp and youth ministry class this tuesday they broke into applause. The ending of that class signified the ending of class time this year in the Kaleo Program. While they still have homework, it's a bit weird that class time is now officially done. Academics is one of the most important aspects of the year and it's one that has had a significant effect on all our students. We have been so grateful to have professor after professor fly out from Briercrest  to Qwanoes and spend time with us. While this blog may show a lot of adventures, we decided this week to have it focus solely on the academic side of things to honour what God has done through the classes this year.

I asked a number of students what class they appreciated most this year. I was relieved to get a variety of answers as to why they appreciated them and I thought I would share that with all of you!

Kendra Balch - "My favourite course this year was Gospels (with Dr. Wes Olmstead). It challenged my thinking about God's Word in a completely new way. My entire perspective on the gospels, particularly Matthew, was shifted dramatically as I was able to gain insight on the complete themes and motifs throughout the book of Matthew. I have a refreshingly new appreciation for Scripture because of this class."

Michael Siggelkow - "I would have to say that my favourite course this year was Foundations of Church Ministry (with Dr. David Ernst). Since I am looking at vocational ministry, this class really helped me affirm my decision and started preparing me for what lies ahead. On top of that I learned some very practical ways that I can currently serve the church."

Jim Bodden - "Introduction to Christian Worldview (with Dr. Cal MacFarlane) was my favourite course becaus it gave me a clear understanding of why society acts the way it does and how Christians should act in this society."

Linnae Mielke - "I have to admit that my favourite class was Introduction to World Missions (with Dr. Tim Stabell). Others might disagree with me, but missions is where I feel called and it is what gets my heart pumping. I was almost on the edge of my seat the entire class wanting to yell out, 'Can I go out into the World yet?!'"

Nick Portengen - "My favourite course this year was Introduction to Church Ministry. It helped me learn about a Biblical view of how the church works and exposed me to other views and traditions I had yet to consider. The course forced me to discover the Biblical reasons for why I believe and hold the views that I have."

Lokadia Leeson - "My favourite class this year was Introduction to Christian Worldview because throughout this class I found myself able to reflect on this past year, who Christ is, and who I am in Christ. I found myself wrestling in a deeper level with questions about God and as a result, I found myself growing closer in relationship with Him. Overall, this class challenged my thinking and was very mind opening."

Matt Wiebe - "One of my favourite courses this year was Introduction to Old Testament literature (with Dr. Don Taylor). The main reason is because of the video we did I loved making the video. Another reason is because it helped me read and understand the context of the Old Testament. This class has given me a deeper love for the Old Testament and I hope that the new understanding of i will help me read it more critically. I saw the gems of the Old Testament!"

We are so thrilled that God has worked in an amazing way through all of the classes! I'm sure if I would have asked everyone, every single class would have been someone's favourite. It really is incredible how much went on this year and how much has been passed on to our students.

We are also incredibly proud of our students for their academic rigor this year! It has been amazing how much work has been put in to excelling in their academics! It was hard work, but it's the home stretch now and we can't wait to see how these classes will effect everything they do through the discipline and desire it took to put as much effort as they did into them.

Thanks again for Reading!

Derek
Qwanoes intern / Focus area: Kaléo program