A student from last year came into my office recently to share how God has transformed their life: “In the past, I had multiple priorities, with God to the side as one of them. Now, it’s just like… God. God is my life. All my decisions, choices, and reasons revolve around God.”
They went on to describe how, after spending years attending church and hearing about God, they finally got it. They have heard the call of Jesus and are leaving their net behind to follow Him, so to speak. I’ve heard this referred to as “crashing into Jesus”. A genuine encounter with Christ’s grace changes everything for a person. Crashing compels each of us to die to ourselves. It transforms how we think, how we act, and what we prioritize. As Paul describes it:
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20
Conversations like these remind me why Mount Carmel exists—we trust that through the classes, assignments, service, and community, students will encounter the Living God. And we trust that once they do, everything will change.
As we enter into our last few months of school and prepare for our final ministry exposure trip (where students will spend a week serving at at schools in northern Alberta communities) we ask that you pray for students to continue to be convicted and overwhelmed by what God has done for them. Pray that their lives will continue to be transformed and that their priorities are reset. In short, pray that they would crash into Jesus.
- Nils Reuter
We are excited by the large number of applicants we have received for next year, as we are already nearing our program capacity. If you are interested in joining us for this fall, we urge you to finish your application as soon as possible.
Due to the larger class size we are anticipating for next year, and our desire to maintain the relational aspect of our program, we are currently looking to hire an additional staff member for the fall. A detailed job description can be found on our website.
March 5: Thunder Pong & Perogy Fest (everyone welcome!)
March 14-21: Northern Alberta Ministry Exposure Trip
March 15: Early Application Deadline (see below!)
March 30: Open House
April 25: Grad
As we reach the end of another fiscal year, we are once again astounded by the generosity and faithfulness of our community. Thanks to your support, we are able to maintain our low staff to student ratio allowing us to deeply invest in each of our students. Thank you!
For those who may be unfamiliar with Mount Carmel and our ministry model, most of our income comes from generous individuals and churches who make up our community. We ask that you would prayerfully consider partnering with us by signing up to become a monthly donor or by sending a one-time gift. Donations go towards paying our staff and allow us to offset the cost of operating our program.
If you would like to partner with us in this way, you can contact the office or find more information here.
Dawson: I have really enjoyed going more in depth in the Old Testament. I feel like we generally don’t look into it as much in church. Jeremy’s explanation of Song of Solomon, for example, really changed the way I read that book. It’s no longer just strange to me, but really meaningful.
Ruby: While going through the book of Ruth, I learned about the concept of the word ‘hesed’ love, and how it is the type of love that is selfless and expecting nothing in return. I’d never heard of it before and I thought it was a really cool way of describing unconditional love.
Caleb: Our Intro to the Bible class, and specifically learning about the process of biblical exegesis, has really stuck out to me. I learned how important context is, and how we are not supposed to just put our own modern context into the Bible. This has helped me learn how to better read the Bible.
Dawson: Community this year has taught me to be less selfish. I had not realized how selfish I was before. This community has helped reorient my focus. It is challenging me to not just spend time with the people I want to or just do the things I want to. I’ve realized that loving people is a choice not just a feeling. Don’t get me wrong, my classmates are great and it’s usually easy to be with them. But, in those times when it gets hard, it has made me want to work through it.
Ruby: The community has taught me to be more open and honest. It has given me a place to grow alongside my friends.
Caleb: It has been great to be part of a community that better understands me and that I can hang out with and talk to. During the year, we have grown both in our faith and our closeness to one another. Although we got close as a group quickly, over the last few months I have gotten to know individuals better and it has been really cool to know each one of them. I also feel like I am known as well.
Dawson: Carmel has really made my faith more prominent in my life. Before, I felt like I sometimes put faith on the back burner. Now I want to prioritize it. I had always heard that if faith is number one in your life it should always occupy your mind, but I didn’t think this was possible or reasonable. However, this year, it has really reoriented how big of a priority it is and that is it reflected in what I do, how I talk and what I think about.
Ruby: Carmel has played a role in shaping my faith by introducing me to spiritual disciplines, like prayer, which has helped me stay consistent in my relationship with God.
Caleb: Carmel has really reinforced and solidified my faith. It has helped solidify what I already knew and helped me gain more knowledge. I have not had many close friends the same age as me until being part of this community. I also always have enjoyed serving, but learning about why, along with the amount of serving we have done, has taught me just how important it is to my faith.
