A Day of Serving: Palm Sunday

McIvor Team doing foot washing

There is something personal about MB Mission that is distinct from other missions organizations. The leaders take time to connect with the participants, and participants feel comfortable with the leaders very quickly. Because of the care and attention that the leaders take, SOAR becomes a peaceful place to grow, discover yourself, and discover God. Before the teams arrive at North Kildonan Mennonite Church to eat at 7:45, lots of preparation has taken place. Volunteers set up tables, chairs, and prepare food that is then cleaned up by more volunteers. Service is a huge part of SOAR Heartland, and is evident every time you interact with a person. 

Teams rotate through cleaning up dishes and helping keep the church clean. A lot of what was done today was done separately, we all went to different churches for service this morning. We had team time, then came back to the church to eat supper. After supper the session was about the foot washing that happened tonight. After a very uplifting worship experience, Lloyd gave a talk about intercessory prayer. He explained that there were many different dimensions to praying in a specific way for someone. You should never try to correct a person when you are washing your feet. Usually one of the team members that you are with does not have a long history of relationship with you. You should only correct a person that you would feel comfortable in correcting. Foot washing is also not a time to predict a person's future, you should not be telling a person what they should do with their life.

Foot washing is a time to encourage and strengthen the members of the team. When a word of encouragement is given by a team member, your team is encouraged to test that word through the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit. The point of foot washing is to serve each other, just like the Lord Jesus did with his disciples. During the session we had a time to think of a particular person and receive a word of encouragement for them. We got a chance to share some words with the group with words of encouragement. Sometimes the Lord would give them with verses, single words like love or hope, and also pictures. The Lord used all of these to prepare the group for when the teams would go out and wash each other's feet. 

SOAR is full of new experiences for students, some of them have never practiced intercessory prayer. The worship may be a different pace then they are used to, especially for those students and leaders that are used to singing hymns instead of contemporary worship songs. The program for SOAR was carefully constructed to encourage people to us their gifts in service of the Lord. Today we learned how to make ourselves into servants, exemplifying what Christ did. 

"When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. 'Do you understand what I have done for you?' he asked them. 'You call me "Teacher" and "Lord", and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very turly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."  (John 13:12-17)

Teams washing each other's feet