nyi president's report 2013-2014

7/28/2019 NYI President's Report 2013-2014

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NYI Presidents Report

If I were to summarize the ministry of NYI on Canada West District this year in one wordit would be, Teamwork and Momentum. Ok...thats two words (3 if teamwork isnt 1word!), but the second word, momentum, could not have been a word to describe the

ministry of our district without the first word, teamwork. This has been such a positiveyear of growth and momentum on our district. It has been exciting to take part in theevents and initiatives that have taken place on our district this year, and I have toattribute this to teamwork. Working with one another, and of course, the Holy Spiritworking with us! There has been a sense of unity and enthusiasm on Canada West NYIthat can only be attributed to the Spirit at work in the lives of our leaders, bringing ustogether to begin to accomplish and realize His plans for us. The words of the writer ofEcclesiastes have certainly been proved true in our ministry this year, A personstanding alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back andconquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.(Ecclesiastes 4:12)

I would like to highlight a few of the ways that the district NYI had a presence in the livesof youth on our district this past year as we worked together to achieve our goals foryouth and leaders on our district:

SNAZ

One long-standing tradition on Canada West District is our annual fall event held inEdmonton-SNAZ PARTY. This year the event was hosted by Layla Lalonde and hercrew from Edmonton Southside. As always, this event was a highlight for many leadersand teens as they kicked off the fall season with a weekend connecting with friendsthrough worshiping together and having fun. We were inspired by the ministry of ourspeaker Alison Springer and enjoyed the worship band from Ambrose throughout ourweekend. This event was well-attended this year and provided our district ministry witha strong start to our ministry year.

Thanks again to Layla Lalonde, Megan Polowski, Jenn Tattrie and Rebecca Richardsonfor their leadership and teamwork that helped this event continue to be a success and ahighlight of many of our local youth groups fall ministries.

SNOW REVIVAL

In February we hosted our first ever winter spiritual formation retreat at CampHarmattan. Trent McDowell was our speaker for the weekend and we enjoyed awonderful time of renewal and fellowship (and fun!) at the camp in their new facility onthe family side! About 40 teens attended the weekend.

LEGACY

Again this year, we encouraged our youth groups to attend Legacy Youth Conference atAmbrose in March. I have always believed that this weekend presents a wonderfulopportunity for our youth leaders to raise the profile of Ambrose amongst our Sr. Highstudents by having them experience the campus amidst the excitement of the weekend.


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This year we had a large increase in attendance of Nazarene high school students atLYC, for which I am very thankful. We are so privileged to have Ambrose in our ownbackyard. Ambrose is a great resource for our district, but more so, an important and lifeimpacting option for quality post-secondary education for our students, both preparingfor vocational ministry and preparing to be well equipped Christians as they enter the

market place.

LC

Ambrose also played host to District NYI Presidents and leaders from all over Canadaand the United States at the annual Leaders Conference. Our district helped to host aCanadian experience event for the leaders. We decided to take the group for a roundof curling for the first ever NAZ Bonspiel. With only one minor head injury, I consider theevent a huge success!

CONNECT

Our regional NYI hosted a Canada wide youth leaders training conference called

Connect in early April. Connect provides an opportunity for leaders to be resourcedand enabled to continue in their ministries in their local settings and on their districts. Iam thankful for the involvement of the Church of the Nazarene Canada in the form oftravel bursaries that enable Connect to be a truly national event. Our church continuesto be a church that is willing to invest in youth and their leaders, recognizing thetremendous worth of our young people and their role in moving our church forward,today and in the future.

THANKS

This year, I believe that the ministry of NYI on our district has begun to turn a corner in apositive direction. We have gauged the effectiveness of our events and ministry thisyear on the substance of what we are offering and on the participation of students andleaders from around our district.

Based upon increased participation and solid events of substance, that haveaccomplished the goals that we had established for each event, I can say that we havehad a successful year in NYI. A year of growth and building momentum. This success isdue to Gods presence and blessing upon our efforts. He has blessed us with arenewed spirit of teamwork on our district amongst our leadership. I am very pleasedwith our district NYI council. This year each member of our council took on variousleadership responsibilities at our events. Our council was committed to doing their partto see our events take shape for the good of the students who would attend. Our NYIcouncil consists of Rebecca Richardson (Vice President), Andrew Barker (Secretary),Megan Polowski (Young adult Rep.), Lesley MacCormack (Young Adult Rep.), HeatherLow (Treasurer), Grant Sawyer (Sr. High Rep.) and Brianna Shrout (Jr. High Rep.).Thank you, council, for your enthusiasm for our work and your willingness to take on therole for the students and leaders on our district.

I would like to especially mention Heather Low. Heather has handled the finances of ourdistrict ministry for 6 years now. Heather has done a wonderful job of keeping our


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finances on track and helping us to be on stable footing financially, even through timesof struggle, financially, within the church. Thank you, Heather, for your commitment toNYI on our district, your contribution will be missed.

This year we continued our NYI Liaison position for the 2nd year. Jenn Tattrie was once

again an invaluable leader and resource for our district in helping to coordinate ourevents and keeping in contact with our leaders from around our district. Jenn workedvery closely with our NYI council and was part of the attitude of teamwork that I havealready described. Thank you Jenn for your cheerful spirit and your passion for youthministry on our district. Your contribution has been key to seeing the momentum shift forCanada West NYI this year.

We are very privileged to have Helen Thiessen on our district. Helen serves as ourregional NYI President. I mention Helen because I have seen some wonderful stridesforward taking place under her leadership. Helen has helped to raise the profile of theministry of NYI taking place in Canada to her colleagues in the United States, giving our

region a place at the table in charting a course for the future direction of NYI in ourregion and globally. Helen has also shown a passion for youth leaders that hasresonated with me. Her work with Claire McMillan and the regional leadership hashelped to garner support for programs like the Connect conference that I believe areintegral to the success of youth ministry on our district and in our country. If we cannotsupport and enable our youth leaders (many of which are willing volunteers with little orno formal training) for healthy and vital local youth ministry, then youth ministry will beeventually be rendered a thing of the past in our local churches across the country.Thank you, Helen, for your work on behalf of youth leaders on our district and acrossthe country. We are blessed through your ministry.

I look forward to this year. I pray for the Holy Spirits guidance so that Canada West NYIcan continue to build momentum and be used by Him to play a role in thetransformation of young peoples lives.

Respectfully Submitted

Ryan WoodCanada West NYI President

nyi president's report 2013-2014

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