Encounter Retreat!

I spent this past weekend leading the Encounter With Christ retreat, which takes place once every semester. The retreat is pretty much an intense, action-packed spiritual journey and it was amazing. The setup of the retreat involves multiples talks, lots of small group reflection time, prayer services, and a few other major elements like reconciliation and Mass.

My specific position on the retreat was Assistant Student coordinator, which means that I was in charge of the support team that handles the logistical aspects of the retreat. I also presented a talk titled “In Service of God’s Friendship” that discussed the importance of pouring out our lives for the people around us and working to see Christ in every person, as difficult as that may sometimes be. All in all, I devoted a TON of hours toward this retreat in the weeks and months leading up to it. In the end, it was totally worth it.

I’m bringing this up largely because it brought me back to my calling in amazing and refreshing ways. My mind was focused on God and I got to talk to so many people about my faith and the impact that the Lord has had on my life. I even spoke with my small group about my new vocation and the way that God’s timing is so mysterious and so beautiful. It was absolutely fantastic to be immersed in that mindset again, in a place where I felt so close to God.

As much as this weekend reminded me of the summer, there were a ton of differences as well, which have brought up some interesting questions. Obviously the maturity level difference from high schoolers to college students was super evident. The conversations I had felt more genuine and the people were much more open and willing to share without putting on that mask so many youth struggle with. Also, in giving my talk, I noticed such a difference in posture, eye contact, and understanding than I did giving reflections all summer. It was refreshing to see the way that the participants on Encounter were enthusiastic and thoughtful in so much of what they said.

I truly appreciated the summer and I find so much joy in thinking about being a youth minister, yet at the same time, this weekend was incredibly fulfilling, and the thought of working with young adults or even on a college campus is now something that is turning over in my mind.

I’m not saying, of course, that I have made a decision either way, but I definitely think that this weekend opened the door to a wider variety of possibilities. This is good in that I feel less limited, but it also makes an eventual decision more difficult with more options on the table.

The high school dynamic is so energetic, and youth are at such an important phase of faith development. I feel that God could do great things through me in this setting, and that I would find so much variety in the type of people I would meet.

College students who are looking for a minister or mentor have usually undergone significant changes through faith, and are often looking for something deeper and more real. They can be insightful and sincere in a way that many high school students cannot. I would have the challenging opportunity to go much deeper on a regular basis.

Whatever happens, I am grateful for what took place this weekend and the work that God did in me and so many people. Live the Fourth!



Today I turn around
Stop running away from Him.

Today I listen
And run toward.

Degrees: A Few Words Regarding My Major

I have loved reading and writing for many years, so majoring in English was a fairly obvious choice as I began my college career. After a semester at Saint Louis University as an English major, I decided it would be more practical to add secondary education to this so that I would be able to teach English in public high schools once I graduated.

During my first three years, I wasn’t particularly satisfied with the education program. Classes were often repetitive, with serious overlaps in subject matter and continuous rehashing of certain methods and strategies. Yet despite the heavy education course load and all of the information we were given, I still spent a good amount of time feeling like I was not really ready to teach at all in a practical sense.

Also, whereas many colleges assign education students to their observation and practicum locations, SLU requires that we find our own. This means at the beginning of nearly every semester, I would be calling around to dozens of local schools trying to find one that would let me into a classroom to watch on a weekly basis or that would even allow me to help teach on occasion. Ninety percent of the time, this was an extremely frustrating and time-consuming process that rarely bore much fruit. Though the observations gave me a better idea of what I wanted my classroom to look like, the frustration was not worth what I got out of my required practicum experiences.

There were also many teachers who did a poor job of transmitting information, and I would frequently spend class periods doodling in my notebooks because I had either heard it before or I knew I wasn’t going to use that particular approach or idea in my class. For example, spending a week learning about how to administer a one-on-one psychological examination seemed fairly useless for me, a future high school English teacher with at least one hundred students. To summarize, I found many aspects of the education department frustrating, yet I always said, “But this is what I want to do,” so I continue to trudge through it, class by class and semester by semester.

When I heard God’s calling, it was apparent that my plans for my life were vastly altered, and this naturally meant that my plans for my final year of college could change as well. With so many courses under my belt, it made no sense to drop out of SLU or even to change degrees. I knew that I needed to have a backup and that having a degree, any degree, made me somewhat qualified to be a youth minister. Based on various conversations, I have come to understand that a career in youth ministry does not require a degree from a seminary. In fact, one person told me that some of the best youth ministers he knows are ones who didn’t go to seminary.

After some serious consideration, I decided to get the English education degree but to go the non-certification route. This means that I would take a few less classes (some of those I have already taken, though now I didn’t really need them), I would not student teach, and once I graduated I would not be technically certified to teach in Missouri. If youth ministry for some reason didn’t work out, it would still not be too difficult to obtain certification using my degree and experience.

I came back to SLU a few days before this semester’s classes began and met with my advisor to talk about my future. I basically told her that I no longer wanted to be a teacher and wanted to switch to non-certification. She seemed to accept this at first, handing me a list of what classes were required and such, but after a bit she decided to play devil’s advocate. She told me that I was so close to certification, and that student teaching and portfolio were the only things standing in my way. “Wouldn’t your student teaching experience be applicable to working with youth?”

Well, Ms. Swatek, they might in some ways be helpful, but I do not believe they would be worth the headache and frustration of giving up my last semester to be a secondary individual in a classroom that wouldn’t really need me. And my hope is that instead of dedicating my time to student teaching, I can transmit it into something more youth ministry-oriented.

So I begin this semester as an English/Education major, non-cert. What a beautiful day!

Today I turn around
Stop running away from Him.

Today I listen
And run toward.