An Intriguing Journey

I am intrigued with this year of Kaléo! Already, before you have arrived, it has been an interesting journey, and I look forward to what God has in mind for us. A number of people here have said to me that this will be a “year of grace.” That sounds good to me, and I am excited to what how this year will play out and what God will do in it.

I have a couple of news items for you, in which God’s grace will continue to show itself. First, this is the statement that was made to the Qwanoes staff team on Monday morning:

A decision was made by Qwanoes, and accepted by Jim Badke, Kaléo Leader, that Jim will continue to serve as the Kaleo Leader until the end of May, and he has agreed to train a new person during the year who will become the Kaleo Leader after that point.

Jim and Qwanoes hope to maintain a close relationship in the future, which could include working in cooperation for possible new opportunities.

This current Kaleo year will look similar and be run similar to past Kaleo years. One difference will be that Qwanoes will be seeking to hire a potential new Kaleo leader as soon as possible. The plan would be for that person to observe and learn, and gradually become more involved as the year progresses.

Both Jim and all the Qwanoes leadership look forward to this new Kaleo year and are excited about how God will work in the lives of these new students. Jim and the Qwanoes leadership see this year as an opportunity to model a good transition for all involved.

Just to clarify, it means that I will walk through this year with you as your Kaléo Leader, beginning to end. Someone, yet to be identified, will join us at some point and learn the role over the year, taking it up fully in the Summer of 2011. I will conclude my time at Qwanoes at the end of May, and move into whatever it is that God has next for me after a break this summer.

On to the second news item. A little while ago I told you that Amanda Rubert will be our Student Life Leader this year. Yesterday Amanda told us that, as much as she wants to help with Kaleo, she had made this decision on her own without clearly hearing what God was saying, and now feels that she needs to move back to the US this year. So sadly she will not be with us this year. She is hoping to visit early in the semester and meet all of you, and assures us of her prayers throughout the year.

We are in the process of finding someone to take up this role and will appreciate your prayers. In the meantime, we are as ready as ever to welcome you here, and we know that (in this year of grace), God will provide! To assist us, our Assistant Director, Jay Kennedy, will come alongside Tyler, Janet and myself in the role of Assistant Kaléo Leader. Jay is a Columbia Bible College graduate with a Bachelor of Outdoor Recreation Leadership, has ten years experience in senior leadership and adventure programming, and will be a great help to the team. Plus, we have the fulltime Qwanoes staff team. Please free to contact me if you have questions.

See you Wednesday! So far, we know we are picking up Mike, Jordana, Heidi, Sarah, Erik, Nathan, Josh, Brent and Anna M. If you are expecting a ride from us and are not in that list, please call me ASAP (250-210-0364). Can’t wait for you to arrive!