Rebekah Maldonado-Nofziger's reflections

One Sunday morning Pastor Gary gave me an opportunity to team preach with him. It was amazing and I got a lot of positive feed back. God is good. After both services, people came to greet me and were just so amazed. I think peoples’ lives were touched, God worked with it. Many older folks told me they were impressed, and wanted me to tell them more about !Explore. They wanted to know how I found this program, and they went on and on. I am usually quiet, but after all the practicing I did at the pulpit, I think I did a good job “public speaking.” Pastor Gary said I did not look nervous at all. Overall, I really liked preaching. It might have been because I was really passionate about what I said. My growth in my relationship with Christ has changed much. By listening to Rick Warren’s teaching on preaching, my main goal in life is giving God all the glory and bringing people to Christ . Having a relationship with Christ is what we should live for. Without Christ, I find no purpose in life. God is my purpose. I want to share Christ with others, and preaching has really stretched me to do so.

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Another practical skill I chose was worship leading. I chose it because I enjoy playing the guitar and piano. Also, worshiping God with music is one of my favorite things to do. I was interested in learning how to get a worship team together, and help choose songs to play. I addressed this goal by getting together with Pastor Gary Blosser and practicing the music together. Since I would be helping him with the music for Bible School, we went through the songs that last year’s worship team did for Bible school to give me an idea of what they did. We listened to tapes and cd’s to know how the songs went. After each music session with the kids during bible school, we would get together and decide what songs to play for the next day. My evaluation of growth would be that I really got out of my comfort zone. This was one practical skill that honestly I dreaded doing. But once it was over, I knew God used me in great ways. I improved my guitar skills, and improved my phobia of being in front of large crowds. I have not completely overcome this phobia but I am getting better and am not quite as scared as before. The kids loved singing, and by the last day they did not want to stop singing. It was awesome and fun to see even young kids worshiping God. Cheryl, the Bible School song leader, always told me get close to the mike when I speak and encouraged me to not be scared. She always gave me tips on how to be a better worship leader, but she was always positive about it. Pastor Gary also gave me tips on guitar chords, and to just remember to smile even if I was scared. He said the kids will most likely do what I do, and I found this to be true. By getting out of my comfort zone my faith in Christ was strengthened. I believe that God wants me to get out of my comfort zone more often because I see God much more clearly when I am learning something new or when I am uncomfortable. When we think God is not with us, we are wrong, he always is.

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I am continuing to read the book, Rich Christians in a World of Hunger. I think the other !Explore participants made the discussion part of our issues great also. I had my thoughts on the various issues, but then they would say what they thought, and it stretched me too. It made my “vision” much bigger then it was and it challenged what I thought about the issue. As a whole, researching my theological issue has definitely changed my perspective and lifestyle. The theological group has shaped me to become more active in my faith and more knowledgeable about what I believe. Also, this group can hold me accountable to my change of lifestyle. I was inspired to learn more about what I could do in my normal life to help God’s world become a much better place. There is poverty across the world, but I can help alleviate that starting with my own life with simple changes such as, biking to locations, buying foods locally and much more.