Trinity in 2024! | Trinity Talks Podcast

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity Talks. My name is Kyla and I'm the

online engagement director here at Trinity. And my name is Rob and I am the pastor here at

Trinity Streetsville. So good morning everyone. Yeah and so as we're now nearing the end of 2024,

I thought it would be fun to sit down with Rob and just look through the year that was and all

of the many things that have happened at Trinity this year. Yeah it's like you know Spotify tells

you this time of year. This is all the things you listen to in the year that was Spotify wrapped.

So this is kind of Trinity Streetsville wrapped. Yes there we go. So we'll go all the way back to

the very beginning of this year starting in January. And in January we hosted the annual week of prayer

event. And so if you're watching this on YouTube you can see now a picture on the screen there of

some folks who are writing on a prayer wall. And the theme this year was Dream Big which was based

on Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech. I have a dream. Yeah. Yeah so what do you recall from that week?

Well this is the second or third time that we've had this week of prayer that we have set aside

now at the very beginning of a year which is a fantastic idea. And I commend the prayer,

a planning team for all the creative thought they put into it because I think they realize not

everybody prays the same way either right. So some of us like to you know fold our hands and pray

silently. Others like to pray out loud but they go a step further and they provide ways for people

to pray visually and you know aesthetically. And I really really appreciate the thought they're

putting into it. But yeah the whole idea of Dream Big or I have a dream. Yeah it's actually so you

remember just before that happened we did a whole teaching series on you know dreaming big because

we were starting a lot of new things as a church namely we were starting the second service which

was a big undertaking and you know there was a lot of volunteers and a lot of people that were

involved in that. And we I think that we decided we better start the year with that same kind of

theme of big dreams, big plans but also you know big prayers because for all of our efforts and all

of our planning and our ideas if we're not praying about this and not inviting God into these plans

it's not going to go anywhere. Yeah. In fact there I was just thinking there's one one scripture in

Mark 9 where Jesus comes down a hill and his disciples are there they're trying to cast out

a demon out of this child this kid and they can't do it and they're like we've tried everything it

won't it won't work and Jesus says to them he says this kind only comes out by prayer. And I'd love

that statement because what Jesus is kind of saying is there are some things that can only be done

through the power of prayer right. I suppose there's some things we can do if we have our own you know

ability and our own ingenuity that God has given us those gifts we can accomplish some things but

then there are some other big challenges other big opportunities and big problems that can only be

addressed and solved through prayer. And I don't know about you but I feel like in a church there's

so many things that we are tackling day by day that if we're not praying we're going to be in

deep, deep trouble. Yeah, yeah for sure and I feel like sort of similarly I feel like that week of

prayer grounded us in a way to then go forth and try new things this year and feel like yeah even

in praying through those things you know we set aside this one particular week in which we focus

on praying for these big dreams but then obviously that sort of sets a precedent right for how we

continue throughout the rest of the year. Yeah and I would say that and for example the staff now

or we've begun a weekly you know half hour of prayer so that pattern of prayer starts with an

intense week at the beginning of the year but then it's become a weekly pattern for us as a staff

throughout the year and hopefully for everyone prayer is a daily pattern as well just happening

in these different kind of cycles throughout our life. Yeah, yeah for sure. So if we move into

February, in February we had a visit from Bishop Kevin and he did some confirmation

and receiving folks into the Anglican Communion so again if you're watching us on YouTube you can see

on the screen there Rob and Bishop Kevin along with some of those who were confirmed and received

into the Anglican Communion so there were 10 folks confirmed and two folks received into the

Anglican Communion. Absolutely, yeah. And so for you as an Anglican priest how does that sort of

yeah how does that moment fit into sort of your own life and faith and leadership here?

Yeah we don't have the Bishop visit very often here at Trinity. I love Bishop Kevin. Bishop Kevin's

the best. I was so glad he was able to visit with us but yes, you know confirmation for those who

you don't know, confirmation is that moment in our lives where people who were baptized as infants

kind of say you know what I want to claim these promises for my own I want to kind of stand up

and declare my faith and confirm the promises that my parents made on my behalf when I was younger

so that's like a powerful moment in and of itself but it can confirmation is something one of the

few things that's only done by bishops right? I can't do it, you can't do it, we have to have the

bishop come in to do it and so it's beautiful because it is an opportunity to remind us that

we're part of something bigger as a church right? Like so many times week in and week out we can

kind of get sometimes just looking within our four walls and get a sense of like this is the

church but when something like confirmation comes around and a bishop comes in, a bishop who represents

not just a church but the wider church and bishops have this other thing that they do to us is that

remind us that we're part of a church that traces itself back through thousands of years back to

Jesus Christ himself right through the whole apostolic succession and the laying on of hands

of bishops and all that stuff so yeah it's a powerful moment when the bishop comes to visit

it, it's this reminder we're part of something bigger. I don't know if you feel that. Yeah,

yeah for sure. I mean that Sunday in particular was really meaningful for me on a number of

different levels but one of the things that I do really appreciate about the Anglican church is that

it is part of this larger network right? That as a church we're given opportunities to you know set

some ministries and discern our vision a little bit but we don't do that in a bubble. Yes, we do that

under your leadership but your leadership under the leadership of the bishop, under the leadership of

the sort of global Anglican church right? Yes, yes. And we get to learn from each other and we get to

discern together and we get to you know provide resources and knowledge sharing and all of these

things together and I think that makes churches stronger when they can cooperate like that.

Do you think people are actually looking for churches that have that kind of deeper connection

to history? Like I have a hunch that maybe if people are looking for a church that they don't

want a church that feels like it was just created yesterday. Sure. They want to feel like I am part

of something that goes way back. Yeah, I think so and I think people, I mean they want a church

that is I think both part of history and like speaking something relevant to the current moment.

Yes. Right, but I think you need both of those things. Yeah. Right, like you don't want a church

that's stuck in a certain historical time period but you also don't want a church that

yeah is just sort of going with the flow right and and if we're only speaking what's relevant

and out there in culture then like what's the difference between a church and anything you're

watching on TV? Right. Yeah and so those when the bishop comes and we do things like confirmation

and it's a reminder that we're part of something that stretches deep through history but also part

of something that stretches wide around a world right where there are something like 80 million

Anglicans in countries all over the world and and because of the massive growth of the Anglican

church especially in the southern hemisphere they're predicting that that number is going to like

double by the year 2050 or something like that. So it's just I don't know it's just something

about it reminds us oh yeah this is a big family diverse family as well you know. Yeah and I think

the diversity of it is at least for me something that's also especially important right that

that so often Christians will sort of get in there their church and do things their way and

then say well I don't like these other Christians or I can't get along with these other Christians

because of XYZ thing. Yeah. But in the Anglican communion I mean there are there are central

things that we all have to believe and hold in common but there is room for that diversity.

Yes and that is what the Anglican communion or Anglican sometimes called the via media right

which is this belief that yes we we we prioritize the holy scriptures we believe in the gospel of

Jesus Christ we you know we there are the creeds for example hold us together and yet there's also

this sense that we try to occupy this kind of middle space that somehow on the one hand does

prevent us from slipping off to fundamentalism on this side but on the other hand prevents us from

slipping off into complete liberalism on the other side but there is like this middle way

that the Anglican church tries to chart through this diverse family that spans centuries. It's a

beautiful thing and yeah confirmation it doesn't you know most people don't think of it but it is

a little reminder that we're part of all that. Yeah yeah that's super cool. Another thing another

moment that often brings folks together is Easter and obviously Easter is sort of the pinnacle Sunday

the pinnacle moment in the church year and so it's true for us as well Easter Sunday is our

biggest service of the year so this year we had over 500 folks who joined us for Easter Sunday

morning service and we did this community outreach Easter event. Yes. The Easter egg hunt and inviting

folks in to do some crafts and painting and there was over 800 folks who attended that event and so

again if you're watching us on YouTube you can see on the screen there are some folks who are

painting Easter eggs here at the church. Yeah so for you Rob Easter's a very busy time but what

sort of stands out to you from Easter this year? Well we're doing this interview right now just

having gone through Christmas right and it's very interesting to me because I think Christmas is a

holiday that many many people celebrate even if they're not Christians if they're not they're not

churchgoers right and so maybe in some ways it's you know churches are maybe packed out on Christmas

and Christmas Eve and it's a little easier because I think yeah everyone kind of likes to get in that

Christmas spirit. I think Easter is is different. I know it's different in our culture because I don't

think people celebrate the the the season or the holiday of Easter in the same way that maybe

all the commercialism and stuff pushes us toward the celebration of Christmas. I don't know I'm just

kind of comparing the two in my head I guess right now is what I'm doing. That being said though

yeah Easter was was very busy here and I was actually the I mean the one thing that struck

me was actually Good Friday. I don't know if you remember but Good Friday was full like I mean full

full here to the point where afterwards we were like next year do we do we have to have two Good

Friday services which we've you know I don't think we've ever done that but there was literally we

were pulling chairs out and standing room for Good Friday. I don't know what to make of that.

Is there something about the the maybe the the solemnity or the darkness or the mystery of

Good Friday that draws people. I was just yeah I don't know. Yeah I wonder yeah that that is

interesting. I wonder that too and I think there's something about Good Friday like Easter Sunday is

full of all of this hype right and rightfully so and rightfully so right like it's a moment of

celebration. Yeah but I would say this about Advent too the moments of celebration Easter

Christmas are great but actually we don't live most of our lives in celebration mode. Most of our

lives is lived in waiting mode or in struggle mode. Yes. Right and so something like Good Friday sort

of I don't know it speaks to us in a different way. Yeah I think we yeah we noticed that in

his last series we did about lament people actually connect with these these themes and again it's

interesting. It's interesting because Christmas was not celebrated by the church for like the first

three or four hundred years of the church's life. It just was not a thing. It was not a

noteworthy celebration. Easter though of course that was the very reason why the church ever came

into existence in the first place right. Had there been no resurrection there would be no hope. People

would not have you know yeah it's so yeah so just yeah comparing those two holidays is kind of an

interesting exercise in your mind. Yeah for sure and I think there's a lot of rich theological

meaning in in the days leading up to Easter and the weeks leading up to Easter too that sort of

yeah gives it a more a more rounded sort of time and way to approach this celebration this

commemoration. Yeah I mean and the Easter egg hunt that we do is I guess it's in some ways

it's it's a it's an opportunity to get out to the community and to bring them in yes for

painting Easter eggs and yes for decorating Easter cookies or whatever yeah sure or going on

Easter egg hunt but really I guess what it does is it also brings people into our building and

it brings people into this sacred space where they they maybe start to ask what is Easter all about

and we get to rub shoulders with them and perhaps develop some relationships with them and and so

that I think is why we do the kind of outreach side to try to pull people into the to the rich

and life-changing story of Easter. Yeah yeah for sure. So moving along through the spring

you focused on a sermon series that you called the Bible for Grown-ups. Yes and at the same time

we did a course on Lectio Divina and there was around 80 people who participated in that course

and at the same time we were doing the Alpha course which had about 49 participants in it. So

again if you're watching us on YouTube here you can see on the screen some of those Alpha participants

and so all of these things for me are sort of summarized in this the theme of of reading

scripture right that your sermon series on reading the Bible how to do Lectio Divina and

introducing people to the Bible to Christ for the first time. Yeah yeah and so for you yeah what

why do you think that sort of became a central theme or or moment for us to gather around in the

spring? Yeah I think that the I mean I think people pick up a Bible I don't I don't know do they

know what it is they're they're really reading you know like so I I mean I think to try to take a

step back from the the weekly readings that we read in church and to say what is this what is this

book right and we we if you remember we had this definition of the Bible which we took from the

Bible project that said that the Bible is a library of writings that are both divine and human

and that together tell this unified story that points to Jesus and I I just remember even myself

personally thinking this is a this is a really helpful way to think about the Bible first of

all it's a library it's it's not a book it's 66 different books kind of put together it's a it's

both divine in its origin but it was also written by you know human beings like like you and me and

and that's not something to be ashamed of or be afraid of right that their fingerprints are all

over this that's actually much like Jesus himself was both divine and human right there's something

wonderful about that and yet somehow this is telling one story it's it's it's amazing but it's

telling one story throughout and that story is pointing constantly pointing to and culminating

in the the life and person of Jesus like yeah that was I guess my hope is that people would grasp

just a bigger understanding of what this book is all about yeah yeah I think that's super helpful

because I think you're right that when some people pick up the Bible they assume that yeah that it is

just like any other book and it's funny like sometimes I have conversations with people who

aren't as familiar with Scripture and in in Christianese we would talk about books of the

Bible or chapters and verses and but if you've never picked up a Bible like why would you know

that a chapter is it actually the same thing as like a chapter in a novel right like that's right

yeah yeah and that and then when the Bible was being written nobody knew that they were writing

a Bible right because I think some people think is like oh when was the Bible written and what

well nobody thought like oh I'm gonna write part of the Bible here I'm writing Bible no they were

people were just writing letters they were they were writing poems they were writing stories

and these things got collected and put into this one volume yeah which again tells us amazing

amazing story um and then you mentioned we did the Lectio Divina course which is I think was like

the perfect pairing for this because on the one hand we're intellectually wrestling with what

this book is but on the other hand we want to spiritually be able to consume it in a way that's

going to be life-changing for us and I know like the Bible is often referred to in the Bible as a

book that we should consume these pages are to be kind of like gobbled up and eaten by us but how

do we how do we do that in the Lectio you took the like you went through the lecture of course like

how that that spiritual practice do you think that's a helpful way yeah I think so and it's something um

that because it's fairly straightforward right like there's these four steps that you go through

it's something that is easily applied in in everyday life in in in any kind of scripture

reading right it's not like okay this is how you read this particular kind of text or this is how

you read you know this this book of the Bible no this is a practice that can be adapted for

whether you're reading Psalms or a letter or a gospel or history like any of it yeah

sort of yeah be read in this way yeah and I think Sun has if you want to do Bible study we think oh

I'm gonna need a resource or I'm gonna need a commentary I'm gonna need some Bible teacher

or DVD or something like that but this way of reading the scriptures devotionally based it's

based on the idea simply of reading listening re rereading contemplating you know being silent

before the text listening for what God is just you don't need any other resources at least with

Lectio because the belief is God speaks from these words speaks from these pages to us and we just

have to somehow slow ourselves down and put ourselves in a space where we can actually hear

what God is saying to us yeah it's right there for us yeah yeah for sure um and how do you think

that so we did we did this sort of a couple months time focusing on scripture so how do you think

trinities like other ministries are helping to be helping people to keep doing that sort of throughout

the year well I I know that we um have I mean I guess I'm thinking of life groups yeah life groups

are where these little groups of people that meet all over the city here where they gather around the

Bible they gather around food and they they try to read and understand and discuss and apply the

scripture to their lives so I don't know if if they're if Lectio becomes like a tool that life

groups are using oh probably not I think it's probably something people are using in their

own devotional lives um but yeah I don't I don't know what else to really say about that yeah yeah

yeah I know I think you're right that that life groups are sort of one area where we do that I

think um so we did another alpha course this this fall that sort of continued that and I think even

like so I really appreciated our deep dive into the book of Habakkuk right because even that was

enough of a focus on one particular text yes one particular book to sort of give us a sense of like

how do we even read a book of the Bible right and and what does it mean to sort of go through it

yeah in that way that's right it's you're right like we just finished a series looking at you know

the the Christmas story through the lens of Charles Dickens that's that's I'm not I think

there's lots to be learned there but yes it is very important to also be doing focus time just

looking at a book of the Bible or a chapter of a book of the Bible and really unpacking because

it's it's a it's a gold mine like you you can never really exhaust uh the pages of scriptures

always more to learn just yeah yeah yeah so from there we moved into a sermon series on the fruit

of the spirit yes um and to go along with this fruit of the spirit theme we also did these fun

Trinity Bakes videos yeah and so you can see if you're watching on YouTube on the screen there you

can see Travis and Eric and their hard work that they really put into those videos and making it a

kind of fun way for folks to engage with us yeah um now if you look at those videos they're not

particularly faith-based no they're fun uh and they related a bit to the sermon and what you

were talking about yeah um so for you what do you see as sort of the role of that that kind of a

a video that kind of content yeah I think that two things were going on with those videos and one

was definitely uh I'll say there's there's a art it's artistic on the one side I think that

we have to acknowledge that the church has always been a place where the arts whatever those arts

might be have been celebrated whether it's dramatic arts or whether it's you know musical arts or

visual arts or things like that so I think that drama is is just one more way where we're able to

express the gifts the talents there the creativity that God has built in Jesus and if you know like

Eric and Travis you know they're just bubbling with this dramatic creativity yeah so so I think on

the one I think that's the one side of it is this is an art form and they're actually very very good

at that art form and so um it's inspiring to watch them work and write scripts and do stuff like that

so and we've actually we we've been doing drama in different ways here in in Lent we had these

dramatic readings that reflected how people might have felt at the foot of the cross listening to

Jesus's final words uh and even this advent we've been doing something kind of serious but kind of

fun kind of reflecting on what what a Christmas Carol might look like if it was done in in a

modern time so so it's not like the only time we've ventured but I will say I agree with you

it was certainly the silliest the silliest thing we ever have done on um on but you know even that

I think there's something well I mean before I say you know like how does it strike you as a person

who maybe just sat down on a Sunday morning you saw these videos and you're like what are what

like what is it how did it strike you yeah I mean so at first I feel like the first one was a little

bit like what is happening but I also know that over the weeks people came to like be excited to

like see the next one right and like see okay what's gonna happen this week and and yeah how how is

this gonna move forward and so I think if nothing else it provided people with like an excitement

and an anticipation for like coming to church and like seeing what Trinity is putting out there

um but also um so like you said I think it's yeah really valuable just as as an art form as a way

of expressing our talents and our creativity it also provided moments of like levity and laughter

yes which like it's not all that often in a church that people just sit there and laugh out loud

yes but there's something really special about that and yeah almost wholly about it I think right

like God appreciates laughter I'm sure I yeah I totally agree I think it is actually an effect

of teaching tool in a way um I mean how many pastors start their sermons with some kind of a joke

or whatever right like I remember uh Joel Osteen Joel Osteen he always starts his serb is with

you know I always like to start with telling you a little something funny and then he goes on he

tells a joke the joke has nothing to do with the sermon nothing at all okay he's just telling a joke

and he's telling you before he tells the joke I'm gonna tell you a joke now right why I think it just

something about it people laugh they sit up a little straighter you know they they're relaxed

they're they're ready to listen now and maybe a way that they weren't before I don't know there but

there's something about about starting on a humorous note that and we did use these sermons

as kind of like a lead into the talk on the fruit of the spirit so I think so I think on the one

hand it's just it's a really interesting teaching strategy yeah but to your point as well I think

yes it's wonderful to hear people laugh and and I mean here at Christmas we just celebrated

that you know there is good news of great joy for you and all the people right that the gospel

is joyful good news and so we should be people of joy people of laughter in that way yeah yeah

and it provides like sometimes Christians get this reputation of being like super serious and

stoic and like always worried about doing the wrong things or whatever but like obviously that's not

us yes you know it allows people to sort of see that there is a light side to this we are people

who can have fun and people who need to have fun and need a laugh like especially you know you and

and myself we're in leadership here we're on staff here at Trinity streetsville and we're always

facing challenges and problems and it would be you know really easy just to kind of always be

getting hung up on the negative or the problems or the the things we're trying to overcome and so

you I actually think that having a sense of humor is like an indispensable quality of good of good

leadership being able to laugh about things and being able to laugh at yourself right to say like oh

my gosh that was like the worst sermon I've ever preached in my life I can't believe that you know

the guitar fell over or what you know what I mean like we could either go home with our heads hung

low thinking oh how horrible or we could learn to laugh and say oh well you know what an idiot I am

so then this summer we moved into Camp Trinity which has sort of become this this I don't even

know do you know how long camp Trinity's been running 14 years okay yeah so quite a while

yeah and this year there was nine over 900 camp registrations which was about 455 individual kids

but then of course all of our camp staff there was around 40 of them and you know 20 or 30 more

leaders in training and program volunteers and mentors yeah so you're looking at the screen now

you can see one of our camp Sunday our camp times there's some leaders leading some music and

400 or so kids hanging out in the sanctuary there I love how they stand on the pews and jump up and

down on the pews I don't think the people who come in on Sunday realize that you know a couple

days ago that was like a little trampoline but yeah um so yeah as you just said camp's been going on

here 14 years it's sort of become this really integral part of of Trinity's life and so you know

what what do you see as the role of camp in our sort of wider church life yeah I think camp has

injected a lot of life and energy into Trinity and it has evolved over the years I Julie Wormald

who's a previous children's director here she was the one who kind of came up with the idea of camp

it began really small and it kind of grew and grew and grew over the years now Grace Gwynvon was our

camp director this past year so she took on that mantle so camp is always an evolving thing the way

it is now might not be the way it is five years from now we'll have to just kind of see how God

leads it but I you started by saying two things about all these campers that come and all these

leaders yeah and those I think are the two sides of the coin that makes camp so valuable on the one

side we are reaching out to families and to kids in our in our neighborhood and there is no doubt

that we are building really important connections with them that we are really and truly sharing

the gospel with them in word and deed and there is really and truly follow up and fruit that gets

born from that work some that we don't see but others that we do see where kids start coming

to youth group after going to camp or they come to kids church after camp or they come to camp

Sunday and then they just start coming to church Sunday by Sunday so it really is an effective way

for us to spread the gospel and expand the reach of of Trinity in our community and to you know

for lack you know of a better word just it's it's been instrumental in growing the church yeah

but on the other side a huge piece of camp is the leadership development of the youth and young

adults we hire I don't know 15 20 25 young people to help run camp every year and those leaders they

go through camp training oh and on top of that there's another 20 leaders in training LITs who

so you've got like 40 like young people who are working for several weeks for you and we invest

in them through a training week we try to support them through out camp grace had a great idea this

year we started a mentorship program with the staff so they had a mentor they could talk to

throughout camp so as they were learning and growing as leaders they had someone to talk to

and and and to kind of help them unpack their leadership lessons so it's a really hard thing

for me when I look at these two things I say where is the real value what's the most valuable

thing about camp is it the the outreach and the impact we're making in the lives of young

of children and their families in our community or is it the investment that we're making in the

lives of you know youth and young adults in their own leadership and their ability to kind of teach

the gospel to other people like I honestly don't know which is sometimes I actually think it's this

one that the real value is in the development of young people as leaders right but I don't know

what where how you see it yeah I mean I think I think you're right that that's that's it's sort of

this double double-sided coin sort of thing um and I think as someone who has worked at churches

and church camps and stuff like that like I can point to moments and leaders and people that

were integral in my development in faith and my development as just a person and as a leader

um and so yeah definitely see the value in that um and at the same time I think like one of the

things that makes church day camps I think particularly valuable compared to maybe some other

summer day camps is that often I and I don't know if this is the case with Trinity or not but often

church day camps are more affordable and and I know we offer scholarship options and things like

that yeah so that I think provides much needed space for kids and families who other options are just

out of reach for them right and so for me that's also a really valuable yeah it's a bridge to the

community that that we're a space that anybody can come in and access yeah and the congregation

gets behind that by funding these bursaries we're able to offer people uh in order to make sure that

even kids who can't afford it can can come and be part of camp yeah you're right yeah that's great

so then we move into September and there was a lot of new things happening in Trinity throughout

the year but particularly in September so September was when I started in this role so we had some

staff transition we also launched the discipleship year program in September and we launched the

community meals program yeah for the first time in September and so again if you're

watching us on YouTube there you can see a picture from one of our first community meals and in

September we had around 60 people come in for dinner uh in October and November it was around 80

people that we had come in um yeah so lots of new things lots of growth happening so what was

your September like yeah so when I knew you're gonna ask me this question and I started to reflect

on yeah September was in my mind a a challenge and a real moment of learning for me personally

and I'll explain why because um there was so much change we had staff coming and we had staff that

were leaving and staff that announcing they were leaving and we knew we were gonna have to hire to

hire new staff so we had changes happening in our staff we had new programs that were starting we had

some other programs that were stopping you know we they're um you know and I used to work at a church

and the senior pastor uh told me many times he would say you know Rob in in you know biggest

churches the only constant is change the only constant is change and I think it finally kind of

hit home to me this September that yes change change is change is something we have to get

our heads around because a the world is constantly changing right culture is constantly changing so

therefore the church needs to be changing itself in a way that it kind of is able to continue to

communicate the gospel in effective ways to a a changing changing world right so that's changing

on top of that your congregation is changing right this this fall we said goodbye to like three or four

or key families in our church who have been here for years and years and years and they moved out of

town right so your your your population is changing but others of course then are are coming in so you

have to be willing to kind of work with that kind of change when the membership changes I already

mentioned staff leadership changing that can be you know really disruptive I didn't realize kind of

actually how much time I would be spending you know puzzling through and thinking through and

planning and advertising and interviewing and kind of trying to make sure that we have great

staff here at Trinity God is is good God brought you along right when we needed you God has brought

a new children's ministry director along right when we need but it's it's more and more change

that's happening and then and then there's programs that change right you mentioned brand new programs

starting you know meal programs that's a big program other programs are stopping you know we

we also have let other programs kind of go along the way side because we kind of discerned you know

what that's not maybe as effective as it used to be maybe this is another way we should try something

so you're always experimenting and you never guaranteed that it's going to work out but

that's just more and more change and I guess on the one hand we should expect there to be change

because the Holy Spirit is the kind of being that is always bringing about transformation always

bringing about change in the life of a congregation the life of individuals but on the other hand

change can be very disruptive and can be very taxing on you kind of emotionally and physically

it can be very draining to kind of deal with change and you know and and people can get uneasy

about change when they see change they can get worried about it so so anyways this whole anyways

I know I just talked for a very long time but my point is simply this that I think my big learning

this fall is the constancy of change and yet at the same time there are some things that just do

not change right the gospel does not change God's character does not change our our mission as a

church does not change our methods might sure right but our mission that we are people who love

Jesus who want to learn from Jesus who want to live like Jesus and lead other people to Jesus

that remains the same but I think that as leaders you I other leaders managing change is one of the

the key aspects of leadership these days that's my thought anyway yeah for sure and I think yeah

like you said some people can get really uneasy about change and then are some people are just

really change avoidant yeah right but I think yeah all all of these new things that have started

happening in Trinity over this you know over this fall but even you know as far back as last year

when we started doing two services like I think we have seen growth through those things even if

it's not you know some things have led to a numerical growth but other things have just been

like a deepening of faith or expanding a skill set or just learning okay we don't want to do that

again or yes whatever it is right yeah that's right it's through these changes you definitely

learn oh that didn't work or this this did work yeah and it is oh it's a discerning thing too like

is God is God leading us in this direction I think sometimes you can only try yeah and you see and

yeah yeah so that that to me I feel like there was I felt like at Trinity actually I had had a long

honeymoon period okay you know I actually felt like I've been here for like four almost four years

and but something I felt just changed a little bit for me this fall not that I people I don't

love people people don't love me but but it's something just like okay it got real it got real

in a way and it's like yeah this is I gotta be able to figure this out yeah some of that hard work

kicks in yeah yeah so one of the things that didn't change this fall was our trunker treat event well

and I guess it changed a little bit but it continues yeah so you can see on the screen there's some

folks who are carving pumpkins in the church here so we had pumpkin carving we had Halloween crafts

we had a trunker treat so the trick or treating out in the parking lot yeah and there was around

400 families that showed up to this event yeah and so just wondering yeah your your thoughts your

perspective on this and sort of community events in at Trinity yeah I won't say too much more about

this because I feel like I talked about the the Easter egg hunt a bit and and I actually put

this in the very much in the same category as the Easter egg hunt it's an opportunity for us

simply to create an event yeah that invites families into the orbit of this church that kind

of pulls them out of the the crowd a step closer into the community maybe a step closer to curiosity

whatever it is and and then we get to rub shoulders with them build relationships with them make contact

with them and then we can you know always invite them to future events invite them to to

camp invite their kids to camp invite them to Christmas it's all just yeah these events on

on first glance you might say this this isn't really accomplishing much you're not you're not

preaching the gospel it's Halloween you know you're dressing up as ghosts and goblins and like

giving out candy from car trunks like that's where is Jesus in this but um there are some things that

we do that are simply to engage our community in relationship and I think that's what this is

yeah I think the other thing that this does from my perspective is like I think about community

spaces in general and one of the things that I've heard people talk about is that there's not a lot

of spaces in a community right now where you can just like go and be without an expectation of

spending money or like being a certain kind of person or engaging in a particular activity

but so like libraries are one of those spaces right where you can just go and and be and hang out

and you don't have to spend money yeah I think churches can be another one of those spaces yes

right and so places like trunk or treat in the Easter I can't like invite our community very

intentionally to just come and be a community together yeah there was a group of people in

the church here today for an ESL class and I'd invited just invited them to come upstairs and

just look at the sanctuary and they're they were just like wow I've never been into a church before

I've never seen this you know before and so yeah you're right sometimes it's just bringing them into

the building yeah is is it ministers to people in ways that we don't realize yeah yeah um and then

moving into November we did this Gathering Grow campaign um and the amazing thing one of the

amazing things about this campaign um was that we reached our goal um and on the screen now you're

seeing uh the launch of that capital campaign so we gave out some packages and information to folks

there was some balloons and lots of conversation happening um but yeah we reached our goal within

the month which I don't know what was that what you were expecting did you have an expectation

you know I guess I we wouldn't have undertaken it if we didn't think that it was within reach

sure um so just in case people don't know Trinity's a new building but it's 20 uh 25 years old now

itself and it's uh it's just needs some upkeep and some improvements and yeah and especially in

in the areas of like hospitality where we want to make people feel welcome and access accessibility

and visibility there was just some work to be done we just finished a whole series on hospitality

and we thought you know what we've been talking about this for a year now's the right time we need

to raise about a quarter of a million dollars let's just take the month of November and see if

we can just raise it in that time through gifts and pledges and yeah it was really exciting to

announce to the congregation a few Sundays ago that we in fact had raised 275 thousand dollars

and there was a moment at our board meeting where we were like hmm there's only two weeks to go and

we're not really near our goal yet and uh and so we were like should we start like putting a

thermometer up and showing the congregation where we're at and to kind of like maybe get some panic

going and people like oh my gosh we're way we're not nowhere near our goal yet and or and and the

the the advisory board you know I think prayerfully made the right decision to say no let's just leave

this up to god let's leave it up to the spirit let's leave it up to spirit to move people's

hearts to give and whatever comes of it it comes of it let's not make anyone feel pressured or

coerced into giving and it was definitely a word from god because we we ended up just inviting

people to give uh not not trying to pressure people or using a tactics like that and and in

the end we exceeded our goal and it was a great great blessing I'm just so grateful for the generosity

of these people yeah sure so obviously that means there's going to be a lot of work happening here

in 2025 yeah and 2026 and 2026 yeah so got got some time but yeah lots lots to look forward to yeah

lots in some ways lots but a lot of it is you know just the things like yeah I gotta fix up these

floors gotta fix up these doors gotta fix up these lights and stuff like that so some of it's not like

wow stuff uh it's just like it's time stuff right it's time to do this work take care of this building

um yeah yeah um and so as we look ahead into 2025 is there anything you're looking forward to

well we are going to be in january we're starting a new teaching series I am looking forward to that

yeah uh we're going to be looking at uh that a little bit of the book of Hebrews chapter 11

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

of the book of Hebrews uh which um we're going to call this series uh heroes and the subtitle is

stories of faith stories of faith and we're going to look at some of the the book of Hebrews 11 you

should go and read it uh the author highlights these key people uh who who in his or her thinking

where essential or like hallmarks of faith and heroes of faith that we can learn a lot from so

we're going to be going through the that little hall of fame uh hall of faith as it's called sometimes

and looking at these people lives and see what we can learn from this so that's going to be starting

on january the i think fifth whatever the first sunday is in j and then i want to let people

know that in lent we're also going to do something different we're going to be uh spending lent looking

at the seven deadly sins we're going to do the series called seven and uh that'll be i think a

great way for us to to look inside ourselves during lent and prepare for Easter so stay tuned for that

yeah for sure yeah so it feels like it's been a bit of a whirlwind we just went through this this

whole year um any final thoughts or reflections yes i do have one final thought and i was after

this whole year is done we come to the end of the year and we get received this wonderful little text

message from our family that visited a few weeks ago and i thought i would just read it to you

because this is what it's all about this is why we go through all the ups and downs and the hard work

of the year and so i just wanted uh i just wrote it down here uh hello rob i wanted to say how much

i want to say thank you so much for reaching out we truly appreciate it apologize wanted to message

back blah blah blah we've been going to another church we never felt really connected we'd actually

lost touch and have been missing that sense of church and community when we came to trinity

we didn't know what to expect and we felt so welcomed it was unbelievable we were given a tour

and and just have to say the community and the sermon really touched us both so thank you we're

so excited and have signed up for the caroling night we were shocked to see our kids feel so welcomed

and went right into the room on sunday and stayed the whole time and that's a true testament to them

feeling safe them enjoying their time and wanting to attend next sunday makes us feel like we've

finally found exactly what we've been missing and when i read that i'm like yes that's what it's all

about that's why we do this yeah yeah yeah for sure yeah so um as we've gone through this year we've

reflected on how god has been faithful god has brought us through i mean all of the ups and downs

all of the changes all of these things god has brought us families like this who we have the

opportunity to bless and they bless us by their presence amen and yeah i trust that god will continue

to lead us through the year ahead yes lord more yeah okay well thank you for tuning in to this week's

episode of trinity talks um maybe you can share what have been some of your own favorite memories

from 2024 and we look forward to continuing to connect with you in 2025 happy new year