apprentices

went to the CTC apprentices orientation today as a “coach”… sports analogies are often lost on me but… oh wells! i’m fairly excited yet at the same time a bit anxious (see a previous post about that general feeling). excited at a structure to help grow people that i don’t feel like i have to impose on people because they willingly submit to (and pay “tuition” for). how nice it is to have people who enter this explicitly desiring growth. overall i thought the orientation went fairly well. the material was good. i found myself having my default sinful reaction though: when i hear someone teaching things i already know and practice, i receive it as a critique that i am not doing it rather than an affirmation that i’m doing it right. gotta work on that and changing my view of others and self.

i do have one concern about this whole program… and perhaps its my limited vision in how this is supposed to work… and its how project-based this whole thing is. i totally understand the practical need for something in which to apply, but from what i was able to gather from this first meet, the whole thing is very objective-task oriented… and i’m wondering how this helps build people in their character and spiritual disciplines. what will sustain the apprentices after this project is over? perhaps the expectation is that the church will do that as the apprentice program supplies content and structure… just a guess. we shall see!