Now, flash forward to today, August 1st, 2014. And guess where I am now, sitting back in the office I was in one year ago. Except this time, my job with the BUMS isn't temporary. Its not just for the summer, its my full time job. And I couldn't be more excited. I have already received such a warm welcome from everyone here at Bethel. It feels so good to be home.
It is amazing how God works, isn't it? If someone would have walked up to me on August 1st, 2013 and said "Todd, there is no reason to be sad, in exactly one year, you will be working here full time. There is nothing to worry about." I would have laughed in their face. I never thought God would bring me back to Bethel. When I left last summer, I would have loved to stay here full time. But, it wasn't in God's plan, at that time at least. I definitely think I benefited a lot from being away from Bethel for a year. I missed it every single day. But I really did learn a lot in Charleston that I think will help me be a more effective youth minister here at Bethel. One thing I definitely learned, is organizational skills. Being a special education teacher, you have to be on top everything. I think that will help me out a lot in youth ministry, as I keep papers and such organized.
But probably the biggest thing I learned from, was learning how to be a disciple of Christ. It is what we are called to do as Christians, but honestly, I am not very good at it. My favorite bible verse is the Great Commission,
Matthew 28:16-20 "Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Although this is my favorite bible verse, to be honest, I am really bad at living it out. But the good thing is, there is a lot of encouragement in this verses. First in verse 16, it says "they worshiped him, but some doubted." I have surely doubted God in the past. I have not always trusted him to lead me where I am supposed to go. I know that I need to improve on that. But then comes in the 2nd encouraging part of the verse, the last one, where it says "and surely I will be with you to the very end of the age." God is going to be with me through everything that I go through. Through every move, every joy and every sorrow. That is an incredible reassuring thought as I embark on this new job. But back to how Charleston helped shape me....
The church I went to in Charleston was called Awaken Church (and it is awesome by the way. So if you are ever in Charleston, go check it out.) Anyways, Awaken was fantastic at making disciples of Christ. I was so inspired by the members of this church, who were always willing to go up and talk to complete strangers, and get people to come to church. They did community outreach events all the time, and would reach out to the people there. It was truly an awesome thing to see. I want to be more like that. And I am going to do my best to be like that. I have always been more "mission minded" when I go on mission trips. But something that has really been burdened on my heart lately has been doing mission work locally.
This morning, on my first day of work, I was looking through the desk in my office. I stumbled upon a devotional book titled "A Light for your Path." It was written by the BUMS back in 2002. I knew my brother Kevin was in the youth group then, so I flipped through the book to find his devotion. Sure enough, I open it, read it, and what does it talk about? DOING LOCAL MISSIONS! Wow. If that isn't God speaking to me, then I don't know what is. So thanks Kevin for your inspiration in a devotion you wrote 12 years ago (Bet that makes you feel old, doesn't it.)
So today, as I start this new journey and adventure in my life, I reflect on the past year, and also look to the future. August 1st, 2014 Todd Handell, Director of Student Ministry at Bethel United Methodist Church. It has a nice ring to it doesn't it? I have no idea where I will be on August 1st, 2015. Hopefully I will still be here at Bethel doing youth ministry, but who knows what God has in plan for me. All I know, is that he is leading me exactly where I am supposed to be. That is all for now! Look at me, its my 2nd blog post in the past month. That's more than I had in the past 6 months! Thanks for reading. Until next time!
In Christ,
Todd Handell
P.S. Check this out. A little over a year ago, I was writing a blog post titled One Week . In it, I referenced the same verse (Matthew. 28:18-20)/ Now, I am writing a blog post titled One Year. Kind of cool.
The church I went to in Charleston was called Awaken Church (and it is awesome by the way. So if you are ever in Charleston, go check it out.) Anyways, Awaken was fantastic at making disciples of Christ. I was so inspired by the members of this church, who were always willing to go up and talk to complete strangers, and get people to come to church. They did community outreach events all the time, and would reach out to the people there. It was truly an awesome thing to see. I want to be more like that. And I am going to do my best to be like that. I have always been more "mission minded" when I go on mission trips. But something that has really been burdened on my heart lately has been doing mission work locally.
This morning, on my first day of work, I was looking through the desk in my office. I stumbled upon a devotional book titled "A Light for your Path." It was written by the BUMS back in 2002. I knew my brother Kevin was in the youth group then, so I flipped through the book to find his devotion. Sure enough, I open it, read it, and what does it talk about? DOING LOCAL MISSIONS! Wow. If that isn't God speaking to me, then I don't know what is. So thanks Kevin for your inspiration in a devotion you wrote 12 years ago (Bet that makes you feel old, doesn't it.)
So today, as I start this new journey and adventure in my life, I reflect on the past year, and also look to the future. August 1st, 2014 Todd Handell, Director of Student Ministry at Bethel United Methodist Church. It has a nice ring to it doesn't it? I have no idea where I will be on August 1st, 2015. Hopefully I will still be here at Bethel doing youth ministry, but who knows what God has in plan for me. All I know, is that he is leading me exactly where I am supposed to be. That is all for now! Look at me, its my 2nd blog post in the past month. That's more than I had in the past 6 months! Thanks for reading. Until next time!
In Christ,
Todd Handell
P.S. Check this out. A little over a year ago, I was writing a blog post titled One Week . In it, I referenced the same verse (Matthew. 28:18-20)/ Now, I am writing a blog post titled One Year. Kind of cool.
