Sydney Here We Come!

Almost two weeks ago teams for 2014 were announced.  I am excited to share that I’ll be returning to Sydney as part of the Sydney CYS NET Team this year. I was surprised that I would be going back to a location that I had previously served in, but am very aware that God does the most random things in my life and they have the tendency to turn out pretty amazing! I am excited that I get to journey through this year with five other incredible young people. Paul is from Edmonton, Canada and is my co-team leader. Josh is from Texas, USA. Sarah is from Brisbane. Steph is from the Gold Coast and Nick is from Bendigo in my home diocese of Sandhurst. We’re a very random bunch, but have spent the last two weeks getting to know each other.

#sydneycysnetteam2014
From left to right: Me, Steph, Sarah, Paul, Nick and Josh

The day after teams were announced we spent an afternoon in Noosa together. We ended up going to the beach, climbing on some rocks and just sitting and talking. We’ve been having a lot of fun, but have also started all our ministry training. We’ve learnt how to give talks and share testimonies, lead games, and lead other activities. There were a few days where we learnt a whole bunch of dramas and skits. We also spent a few days learning about local ministry (as opposed to the National Team’s ministry) and community living. We were very blessed to have Bernard, the Director of Catholic Youth Services (CYS) in Sydney, visit us for a couple of days and share with us some of the ministry we will be doing this year. It has changed A LOT since I was on team in Sydney in 2012, so I am very excited for a new and exciting year.

The last three weeks have absolutely flown by and I have experienced many things - too many to write about! The first week was spent as a retreat. This has been my favourite part of training thus far. Each year I have been blessed with life changing experiences during the first week of training. And this year did not disappoint. I can’t put my finger on one particular moment, but continually over the whole retreat my heart was changed. It was a time of surrender for me. In fact the majority of training has been a time of surrender for me. I have been able to let go a lot of things and have realised I have so much to give, but in different ways than I ever thought I would. It has also been a time of healing and God is drawing me ever closer to Himself - again, in ways I never thought possible.

It has been a time of learning. I have learnt new dramas and ministry tools, but have learnt many new things about who I am. I have changed so much in the last couple of years, and I have been learning to take myself out of the box I have put myself in for so long. Just because I use to do something or react in a particular way doesn’t mean that’s how I am now. I have been reflecting a lot on St Paul’s Letter to the Romans where he says “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind...” (Rom 12:4) I have allowed God to change my heart and now in order to love Him with all my heart, all my mind and all my soul, my mind needs to be transformed and renewed; just as He has transformed and renewed my heart so much in the last two years. I know that God has started to work in this area and I believe that He is going to change me, and the way I think about things so much this year.

We’ve also had a lot of fun on training. Each year there is a NET Training ‘Crazy Olympics’. Some may argue that my only reason for coming back to do a third year was claim victory in this glorious event. I would disagree, however, after losing for two years in a row I was probably more hungry for victory than most. It wasn’t enough winning the Spirit Award in 2012. I needed to go one better, and in 2014 the dream team was assembled. We called ourselves the UrbanRoos! We had a cheer that would even rival the Manchester United Football Club. Competition was close. We won some events, but not others. We couldn’t even crawl to the finish line of the ‘Caterpillar Race’, but had a major comeback in the ‘Banana Relay’, and eventually won, claiming our prize of victory! Really, there’s never a dull day on training!

We’re coming into the tail end of training. We leave the Sunshine Coast this week and we’ll head back to Brisbane for our first Encounter Days and then we’ll be commissioned by Archbishop Mark Coleridge on Friday 21^st February. (If you’re in Brisbane and would like to attend, please check out the details here.) I cannot believe how fast training is going by this year. In just a couple of weeks we’ll be in Sydney. I’m excited for the next couple of weeks and what they’ll bring. It’s an adventure and I’m looking forward to what it will bring. I’m trusting in God and His ways as I know His plan is far greater than I can ever imagine. I'm sure Mary had no idea what God had in store for her, but she said "yes" and God did great things through her. So here's hoping God can do great things through me and my "yes".

Look out Sydney, we'll be there before you know it! And I can't wait!

We Have Ignition... Baby!

After only a couple of weeks of preparing for another year of NET, I arrived in Brisbane for the Ignite School of Music run by Ignite Youth, AKA music training. A little known fact about me is that I actually grew up playing lots of instruments - the air guitar, the air drums, the air keyboard, I even played the air trumpet at one stage, but gave it up pretty quickly. Seriously though, growing up I wanted to play so many different instruments, but for varying reasons was never allowed. On my first year of NET there were some very talented guitarists who taught me a few of the basics. It was enough for me to attend music training in 2013. And then God blessed even more by placing me on a team with more talented musicians in my second year. I picked up some basics on the keyboard and learnt a whole lot more about playing guitar and singing. So these are the God-given gifts that brought me to Ignite School of Music this year.

So what is Ignite School of Music? It’s a five day program of hands on training and formation in contemporary Catholic worship. Worship. The five days were all about worship. I came to Ignite School of Music so excited to learn new skills that would help me lead worship, I forgot the most important thing about leading other people in worship was that I must first have a relationship with Jesus and worship Him in order for others to be lead in prayer.

About twenty or so of this year’s netters joined a whole bunch of other young people at this year’s School of Music, where team from emmanuelworship lead us in different sessions. We started each day with a Heart session. This was literally all about our heart. Well, not the organ that pumps blood through our bodies, but our heart for worship! One of my favourite talks was entitled ‘What’s in your hands...baby?’ Now in this talk I learnt that everything is apparently much cooler when you add ‘baby’ to the end of it! This is debatable, however, the good thing is I managed to take other things from this talk. Music is in us. It’s in us. And it expresses the inexpressible. I was blown away by listening to a heartbeat and knowing that it’s music; and it’s the first music we hear. Way to drop a sick beat there, Jesus! But what hit me the hardest is how much I had forgotten about the heart of worship. Maybe I hadn’t forgotten. Maybe I’ve just become complacent in my worship. Worship isn’t about us. It’s not about the feelings we receive or the lights or the band. It’s about God. True worship is a song of the heart and not of the lips. And it’s why we were created! Jesus draws us deeper into relationship with Him through worship. And that’s what happened for me over those five days.

After a conversation with a friend I had the realisation that I am doing a third year of NET. It kind of hit me like when you’re pushing a kid on a swing and you look away for just a second and they kick you right in the face! You know it’s there. You know it’s coming. And then out of nowhere - BAM! It hits you and you really feel it! But it was through this realisation that I was able to acknowledge that I’m not perfect and I don’t have everything right, but God is and does. And He is going to do great things in and through me because of this very simple little fact.

A little bit of praise and worship kicking off a Heart session

On a more practical note I learnt a whole bunch of new skills on the good old acoustic guitar. I’m taking away a few new chords and new ways to play old chords. We were split into bands and each band got to practice and lead everyone in a time of worship. During our band practice times each person in my band got to lead the rest of the band in one or two songs. This was a personal highlight for me. I didn’t actually want to do it, but I did it anyway! And I messed up the chords. I messed up the singing. But I was worshipping so it didn’t even matter! This is a massive achievement in my life, as a year ago I didn’t ever want to sing in front of others, let alone lead them in worship!

After a day off and a change in host homes, us netters came together at the NET office for an extra day of music training. We spent a lot of time practicing the Rivers Youth Mass Setting and learning how to play a whole bunch of songs we’ll need to know for the year. I found it really helpful and could tell my skills had improved a whole lot since many a failed attempt at playing an E minor chord just two years ago! I’ve come a long way!

Music Training continued at the NET office
#thirdyearnetlife

We’ve been sent out with new hearts and new skills to share who Jesus is through the language of music. It’s exciting. It’s a little bit scary. But mostly it’s exciting. Tomorrow training begins. All the netters of 2014 will come together for the first time. It’s also mostly exciting, but a little bit scary! But I’m looking forward to the adventure that will be this year.

The engine has started... Baby!

Netters of 2014 at Ignite School of Music

A Third Year??? Whaaaaaaaat?!

I’ve never been all that good at making decisions. I have made some pretty poor decisions in my life and I’ve also made some good ones too; maybe even some great ones along the way. But when it comes to making decisions about what movie to watch, which version of Hillsong’s song Hosanna to download or which burger to pick at Grill’d, I struggle. If there are two or more good things to pick from, I would prefer someone else made the decision for me! And that’s how I felt with the last big decision I made.

In 2011 I made the life altering decision of saying ‘yes’ to God’s call to serve with NET Ministries. The whole process was long and drawn out. I spent 2010 looking into NET and by the end of the year it was a serious option for me. For the next six months I was on a seesaw. One week I was certain God was calling me to NET in 2012, the next I was sure He wasn’t. But after months of discernment, saying ‘yes’ came quite easy. It was exciting. Until this point in my life I had never made a decision with such conviction and peace in my heart. So 2012 started and it soon became the craziest, toughest, most fun, life changing, rewarding and life-giving year of my life. And I knew I was called to a second year of NET. 2013 rolled around and I headed back to Brisbane and my year on NET did not disappoint - in fact it far exceeded my expectations. But doing a third year was never part of my plan.

Sydney CYS Team 2012

St Fidelis 2013 Team

Let’s go back to NET Initial Training at the start of 2013. I was having a conversation with two other second years. One of them said ‘do you think there’ll be third years next year?’ and I responded with ‘yes’. My logic was that there were so many second years that at least one of us had to be crazy enough to come back again, but I honestly thought it would be one of them! I didn’t think I’d be back for a third year. And I didn’t want to go back either. Not because I my years were horrible. I loved my two years on NET. But because I thought I would be too tired to do another year.

As the end of my second year got closer, there were two questions that people would ask, not in any particular order:

• Are you doing another year?
• What are you doing after NET? 

To the second I would answer something to the effect of ‘I don’t know. I’ll just take some time and see what God is calling me to’. And to the first I would give a standard response that sounded something like ‘no. This is my second year of NET, and you don’t normally do more than two.’  Then there were a few people who would ask if I would ever do a third year and I would say ‘no’ straight up. I didn’t want anyone to know that if I was called I might say ‘yes’. But I didn’t want to acknowledge that God might even be calling me to a third year.

I had long term plans and doing a third year didn’t fit with any of them. I decided that I wanted to work for a couple of years, get a little money in my piggy bank and then go on an adventure around the world - maybe walk the Camino and have the white Christmas I’ve always wanted.  It was going to be great! I wanted to move to Brisbane, but if a great opportunity came my way and God was calling me to it, I wasn’t going to say ‘no’. So I started applying for jobs. I didn’t get the first job I applied for and was quite relieved when I didn’t get it. Why? Even though it was a great job, I knew I didn’t actually want it; I wanted to want it. A few other jobs that interested me came up. I liked them all, but didn’t feel particularly called or drawn to any of them. I knew I wanted to be, but I just couldn’t see myself in any of the roles. I spent time thinking about what my career goals were and I realised more than anything I desire to live my life as a Christian and to help others grow in their relationship with God. It is that simple. All of these jobs would do that, but I knew that wasn’t where God was calling me. I was still avoiding His call. And I can say it had been there for a while.

I eventually acknowledged that maybe God was calling me to a third year of NET. I didn’t want Him to be. But I prayed about it, finally spoke to someone and prayed about it some more. I didn’t want to say ‘yes’, but I stumbled upon this quote from Pope Francis: ‘I say to myself, and I say to you: do we let God write our lives? Or do we want to do the writing ourselves?’ I realised that I needed to let God do His thing and it became very clear to me that a third year of NET was in fact what God is calling me to, even though it wasn’t what I wanted God to be calling me to. So I said ‘yes’.

I know that this next year is going to be full of challenges, and therefore full of victories. It’s going to be full of business, and therefore full of prayer. It’s going to be tough, therefore fruitful and rewarding. It’s going to be a whole lot of work, and therefore absolutely full of joy. The decision to do a third year wasn’t an easy one to make. It was harder than saying ‘yes’ to God the first time, but it has brought me peace. I know that if I give everything in my third year, and in the wise words of a good friend, ‘God will give me the grace’, and maybe it will turn out to be one of the greatest decisions I’ll ever make... That and having the ‘Baa Baa’ Burger at Grill’d!