Pastor Elton DaSilva of the Christian Family Centre in Winnipeg was our host for SOAR Heartland 2007. The church served as a home base for the program.
It is hard to believe that it is over. The serenity and quietness of normal church business, somehow seems wrong. For ten consecutive days I was greeted by loud music and shouting youngsters. My days ended with the rhythm of drums and the distortions of a guitar; not to mention the shoes... my Lord the shoes!
The sight of 200 plus people rummaging through your church, occupying many of your rooms with luggage and sleeping bags, may seem terrifying. The reality however is that, when we get past our initial assessment ,and allow our eyes to gaze beyond logistics, we will be amazed.
Soar Heartland paints a different picture of today’s youth. While society tell us that the “look at me” generation is only interested in what else they can get; here we found a group willing to give. While the church says that their youth is uninterested in God; here we found a group weeping at His feet. While those in the know ,affirm that this generation is lazy; we found a group putting in hard days of work for the benefit of others. There is no better sound than a room full of young people earnestly singing praises to God, learning to listen to his voice and discovering a future in serving.
It is true that after everyone is gone and all the sounds have quieted, you will find things out of place. Those can be moved back. You will probably find scratches on your walls. Those can be patched. And the smell of feet will clear up in a week or so. What will last is the impact of seeing God at work in the lives of our future pastors, missionaries, business people and politicians. This will stay with you forever.
As a pastor I’m proud of the attitude of our church towards hosting this event. We considered what it would mean for us, and found out that the benefits far outweighed the stress it would bring to our facilities. To us hosting Soar Heartland was not an obligation, a duty or even a service it was a privilege. - Pastor Elton DaSilva
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