My summer at North Loop

I’m so thankful for last summer at North Loop. Every day that I’m at North Loop (Gracepoint Fellowship Church‘s building in Alameda) I thank God for the community we have here and the abundance of work that we have to do. I started last summer wanting to take seriously Pastor Ed and Kelly’s encouragement to all of us at our team meeting to make this a summer of service. They gave words of wisdom that were precious to me because of my insecurity, that the way out of insecurity is to become practiced in serving, because everyone can serve and learn to be good at serving. So I made a commitment to go wherever I was needed and to do whatever needed to be done, starting with that summer. Because I’m naturally a selfish person, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to pull through or give myself fully.

Far from my expectations and worries, I’ve experienced that there is simply joy and freedom in serving God. I experienced that when I’m fully available, then I have no time slots to protect or worry about keeping for myself. I got to spend time with the director sisters at Northloop. Seeing a little bit of what they do at Northloop, I can more deeply appreciate the huge responsibilities each one of them has, against the limited time of each 24-hour day, and I’m amazed that they always have time for people! It also brings me so much joy to see waves of people working at Northloop for different reasons, preparing for Worldview Camp, discipleship retreat, mission trips, Austin farewell, NSWN, and then hearing about how God worked through those events. And I see how we are a church community that carries each other, especially with the encouragement and accountability of northloop.edu for those who are job-searching, and the Northloop lunches that allow everybody to take a break from their work and eat together.

Personally, I’m thankful for the way I’ve been changed in little ways. I can see that over the course of time I’ve changed in the way I respond to opportunities for work. Now I’m not so afraid of work, which I used to be very reluctant to volunteer for. My reaction time is speeding up as opportunities arise, because I’m simply willing to put one step forward and give it a try, and my ownership over the tasks I’m given has grown. As I take part in various needs throughout the church, I feel more connected to the church as a whole and have a growing sense that this is my church, I’m not just in this one small group or department. I’ve also realized that I’ve learned most of the useful skills I have through this church—Photoshop from Carmen and Joyce, mail merging from Sunny, plotting from Richard, etc. I’m blessed to be part of a church that equips me to serve and a church that has the meaningful work of God where I can give my blessings back to. I’ve realized that I don’t deserve to be entrusted with the work of God and it’s a great privilege to serve Him. It’s exciting to see how God actually uses the meager efforts of finite people to make an eternal impact on people’s lives, and I’m thankful that I can be a part of it.