Skip to main content

...Just an Excuse


Email:
"Hi Kate, hope you are doing well! We are starting up our second season of Upward Soccer and we have lots of children already registered. We are looking for more coaches and one of the teens said she would be an assistant coach if she could coach with you. What do you say? Will you be a soccer coach this year?"

A soccer coach, are you kidding me? I only played soccer one day in my life during a pick up game at a summer camp. My soccer career promptly ended 15 minutes after it began when a ball got kicked into my stomach, knocking the wind out of me as I fell to the ground. How am I supposed to coach a game I’ve never played? Also, I’m just starting to get used to working with children with the new position of Pastor of Children and Youth, my niche is working with teenagers!

It was the beginning of 2016 and I was given the opportunity to get out of my comfort zone in serving. Believing the best leaders are servant leaders that led by example and understanding that engaging my faith in a meaningful way and growing in Love of God and others happens through action, I signed up to coach 1-2ndgraders in soccer. It was a 12-week commitment with a one-hour practice weekly and a game on Saturday morning. I signed up to be with 1-2ndgraders because I figured I couldn’t damage their soccer career too badly as the 3-5thgraders really seemed to know what they were doing. 

So every Tuesday afternoon, you would find me watching Youtube videos of the skills and drills we were supposed to teach that evening. “Seriously,” I thought, “I’m the LAST person who should be coaching soccer!” But I showed up. I showed up every Tuesday evening and Saturday morning with a smile on my face (which is really a miracle for a Saturday morning) ready to greet the children and families. A few weeks in, it finally clicked with me. “Work is just an excuse to go. The real reason is to build relationships,” is what I always told people in the pre-immersion for trips and projects. This wasn’t any different. Soccer was just the excuse to get kids together. The real reason is to build relationships. The Youtube videos didn’t seem as important anymore. Instead, the priority was getting to know the children and for them to build relationships with each other. Soccer practice happened, but I cared more about learning about the child’s week than if they mastered the soccer skills and drills. 

The team transformed. Not in the way that made 1-2ndgraders professional soccer players, but in how we all interacted with each other. The children listened to each other’s stories and cheered on each person on the team – on and off the field. This happened for two seasons before being reappointed to Hyde Park Community UMC in Cincinnati. 

When the opportunity came up to tutor a 4thgrade student in math, I definitely didn’t jump at the chance, but I wasn’t waiting for another email request. After asking some questions, I learned that Hyde Park Community UMC was in its 8thyear of working with Rothenberg Preparatory School in Over-the-Rhine. The church “adopts” a class in 2ndgrade and works with them through their 6thgrade year. There were over 20 people serving each week by mentoring a child and helping with schoolwork. 

While my math skills were far better than my soccer skills, I was still nervous. I don’t want to mess this kid up and common core is just so different than how I learned math. Then it made me remember the “core” of why we were in schools. Tutoring is just the excuse to build relationships. Each week, we have the opportunity to pour into one child, to listen to their stories, encourage them, and give them confidence and support! 

So that’s exactly what I and 20+ other people did last year. The year went by so fast it was hard to believe that the first year was over. We both survived 4thgrade math! 

Today kicked off my 2ndyear with my student – who is now in 5thgrade. I couldn’t believe how tall and grown up all the students got over the summer! What I’m most thankful for is how easy it was to pick back up with my student and how laughter filled the library with all the tutors and students together again. This year 4 new people said “yes” to tutoring being the excuse to build a relationship with a student, allowing us to tutor 25 students in 5thgrade this year! 

Where do you need to get out of your comfort zone in serving? Remember, the work is just the excuse to build relationship with the people around you! 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Building with adobe mud bricks in Ohio is not "a thing"

I’m soaking wet, standing in the middle of a field in Dayton, Ohio as rain is pouring down…and all I see around me is mud . It is in this moment that it finally hits me…“I’ve made a horrible mistake...” I am many things, but one descriptor phrase is: "I’m a pusher". Read on to learn how I came about this self-realization in ministry and how I found myself standing in a field of mud. Let’s rewind to the Spring of 2007, a man who can only be described as the jolliest person’ besides good ole St. Nick was digging a post hole in order to build a tree house. This isn’t your typical, back yard tree house, this was a tree house built for a community. The man’s name was David Helmers and he was the architect and designed this tree house. David Helmers is working hard digging his hole for this massive 20’ pole that would be one of 8 to hold up the tree house. This tree house is right in the heart of this community known as el dumpe in Tijuana, Mexico – the city dump. So...
Post a Comment
Read more

Come and See

To describe myself as "inquisitive" is an understatement. I vividly remember sitting on my mother's bed as a small child, while she was getting ready for work, and would ask question after question. However, this interrogation did not only happen in the morning; it also happened while we were driving or (coincidentally) when it was time for bed. And my mother wasn't the only victim to my questions; as I grew older, my friends, teachers, mentors, other family members, even strangers were put through the ringer of my endless inquires about any and all subjects. I believe this natural tendency to ask a lot of questions is because I have always been eager to learn new things and about other people (but more on that in another post). However, I find that by asking one question, it usually leads to more follow up questions.  One of my favorite "Jesus stories" is the calling of the first disciples. It is so simple! The first chapter of John...
7 comments
Read more

Lost in the Crowd

Have you ever felt lost in the crowd? For someone who loves concerts, there is always this heightened sense of anxiety for me being in a large group. I constantly catch myself looking around to make sure the people I came with are by my side, I avoid bumping into strangers, and I leave early so I'm not in this rush of people. I've found that being in large churches can feel the same way. Most of my experiences of church is from the lens of the large church context. Before I got connected with any ministry areas when I first started going to church, I found myself lost in this sea of people coming and going. I could easily slip in and out of service without people noticing and I could even miss worship and no one would think twice about it. Reflecting back, I realize that I treated church like a crowded concert that I loved going to, but rarely interacted with others and take advantage of any chance to leave early. It wasn't until I got connected to a small group ...
Post a Comment
Read more