Prayer and Leadership Week (Week 6)

Welcome back to the blog! This last week the students were in their prayer and leadership week here at camp. It ran from Tuesday until Friday morning and it was filled with longer chapels, leadership workshops, and non-stop prayer (literally)! 

The chapels were run by Korey (Kaleo Leader) and Tristan (Associate Qwanoes Director) and were mostly focused on hearing from God and biblical ways to enter into his presence. The students were challenged with different practices and given the opportunity to immediately put them into action. 

Alongside the chapels the students had three different workshops with Ben Laird, Krista Penner, and Korey. Ben's workshop focused on practical ways to lead like Jesus. He explored how Jesus' leadership was driven by humility, it was people centred, servant minded, kingdom oriented, and restorative in nature. He compared the leadership qualities of the world to the type of leaders that Jesus calls us to be and how different they are. 

On Wednesday, Korey led his worksop down at the dock. He had the students participate in an exercise that illustrated how life can be extremely draining and how essential it is to incorporate things that 'fill your bucket'. It was a hands on workshop that saw students competing in a relay race to fill a five gallon pail the fastest. Students were so dedicated to winning that they carried water in their mouths and in rain jackets and it was hilarious to watch! Korey challenged the students to commit themselves to certain things that are 'fills' in order to stay spiritually and emotionally healthy. 

Krista's workshop dove deep into personal insecurities with the students. She explored how pride is directly linked to insecurities and when we start thinking too much about ourselves we are discrediting the work that God has done in our lives. This workshop challenged the students a lot as Krista shared her own insecurities which exposed different things in the students lives. It was very real and relevant and the students had an opportunity to ask Krista more questions over lunch.

Throughout the entire week the students were also praying almost 24 hours of the day. We had a guys and girls prayer room set up that the students used and on Tuesday the students signed up for three or four one-hour prayer blocks throughout the week. These blocks were spaced out all hours of the day and the only times students weren't in the prayer rooms were during meals, chapels and workshops. It was really cool to see how the students dove into the presence of God and put into practice everything they had been learning. 

On Thursday evening we had small groups with the girls and guys together and had a fun evening of charades, Pictionary, and mini-sticks (hockey), while still learning together and praying as a group. 

The week was finished off on Sunday night with a student led dance. It was a great way for the community to bond and have fun together after an information heavy and mentally exhausting week. 

This week we are embarking on our surf trip to Tofino and next week we have our Love Crofton event. We could really use prayer for protection on this trip, health for our students, continued bonding and growth as a community, and that the students would dive into what they learned this last week and continue to grow closer to God and what He has for them this year. 

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for our next Kaleo adventure!