Written by Paul Kienzle, Latino ESL Director
During the course of a trimester, the staff at Mission Adelante will receive a number of new volunteer interest forms via email. They come from people from around the Kansas City area, who visit our Mission Adelante website and fill out a form online expressing their interest to serve as a volunteer or to know more about one of our ministry outreaches. The opportunities and challenges that present themselves here in the life and mission of Mission Adelante are God-sized. These “budding” partnerships jumping off the pages of those volunteer interest forms are crucial for building a collaborative effort to transform this community in the name of Christ.
Our new volunteer training, which is held at the beginning of each trimester, is an intentional next step for deepening and broadening our volunteers’ understanding of what Mission Adelante feels called to do here in Kansas City, and introducing them to the volunteer opportunities available. This key event also serves as a perfect stepping stone for us as staff, to nurture relationship and build trust with our new volunteer partners. On an overcast and coolish Saturday in May, twenty-four new volunteers descended upon Mission Adelante to begin their journey of partnering with Mission Adelante. Out of this group, there were no less than six churches represented! This half-day of training was packed from start to finish! It was a coordinated mix of relationship building, great worship, vision casting, touring the neighborhood and Adelante Thrift. The training day ending with the volunteers in their respective ministry groups, enjoying great Mexican cuisine, fellowship, and information about their ministry choice!
The result of this half day training event is seeing new volunteers stepping out, excited, not just about serving in their respective ministry, but also excited about what God is doing in and through Mission Adelante, and wanting to be a part of it! We need these vital partnerships for the God sized challenges before us at Mission Adelante! It was only fitting, on that overcast Saturday morning, that together we sang as one, “You're the God of this City, You're the King of these people, You're the Lord of this nation, You are...For greater things have yet to come, And greater things are still to be done in this city.” ("God of this City", Chris Tomlin)