Westmont in San Francisco: Final Integrative Essay

Throughout the 2018 fall semester, I have had to practice taking my disappointments in
stride, discerning whether or not I am heading in a good direction, communicating and leading
others well, and continuing to trust in Jesus as I take the next step. These four major lessons are
ones that are still in progress; I know God is not done teaching me these things. But through my
experiences here in San Francisco, I have more wisdom of how to live well as Ceili Joy than I
did before I entered the program. I know that it would have taken me a lot longer to learn these
things if I had not participated in Westmont San Francisco, so I am grateful even though it was
difficult.

I had originally planned on being a Worship Leadership intern at Reality San Francisco
(RSF). But that fell through near the start of the semester. By God's grace, I was placed in a
ministry position, but not the one I had planned on. I was the intern for the Administrative
Coordinator, Kristen White, at RSF. There, I was stretched to do things outside of my comfort
zone in the familiar environment of a church. At the beginning of my internship, it was difficult
to move past my disappointment in not using my musical gifting in worship. I tried to be
understanding, but I still had a tinge of disappointment because what I had originally wanted was
so close yet out of reach.

Despite my disappointment, God placed me in the perfect position to learn and practice
humble leadership, diligence, and increase my joy. I would not change my internship placement
for anything else because it is a part of what made me who I am now. I hope you are able to see
in my reflections why I was so blessed by my internship with every event, task, and person that I
met.

I watched the Annual Vision and Prayer video for RSF. The purpose of me watching this
was to give me a broad sense of why and how the church is moving in the city of San Francisco.
The main point that stood out to me in watching this was based on the verses 1 Peter 1:6-7 which
says, "So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials
for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests
and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith
remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day
when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world." With this verse in mind acting as my
framework for understanding the church and my experience as an intern, I was able to see that
our intention should be to bring the very good Gospel to the world and work for the glory of
God, not our own.
 This video also acted as confirmation that I was in the right place. Months ago, I had a
vision for my life to be "blue and gold." These colors are significant because blue is the color of
Revelation- the divine inspiration the Holy Spirit, and gold is refined and tested in fire. This
vision reflects my own faith, and I was encouraged to see that Reality SF was also wanting the
faith of the church to reflect this way of life.

In the leadership classes I took, I practiced things like communicating clearly to a group,
observing and guiding group dynamics, recognizing other people's gifts, creating space for
everyone to build on those gifts, communicating lovingly to individuals, mirroring back
emotions, calling up the goodness in an individual, and how to care for the spirituality of a
leader. These life skills were practiced in a spiritual setting, but I know their concepts can apply
to people in my everyday life, work, and at home. I built on my emotional intelligence while
gaining a better connection with some of the leaders at Reality SF. One of my goals was to create
a network of people I trust and can help me later down the road. It was in these classes that I
made those connections.

I had the immense privilege to attend Reality's major retreat, RDNA in October.
Volunteers and staff from Reality Stockton, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San
Francisco, Boston, Hawaii, and London all attend this retreat at Mount Hermon in Santa Cruz,
CA. The theme for the retreat was Our Mutual Faith. It was an encouraging time where the
leaders of the church could be empowered in their gifts, restored in their vision, and renewed in
their energy for service.

It was wonderful to come together from all over and encourage one another in the work
we're doing. It was also nice to be included and seen as a valuable part of the RSF staff enough
to be invited to this retreat. For me, it was a time of quiet reflection as I was trying to figure out
the purpose of the work I was doing at RSF, and what it would mean for my future. I was able to
step back from thinking so much about it and refocus my attention on what matters- loving and
being loved by God. I was reminded that my belovedness is the place where my faith and
ministry work should be stemmed from, not my own accomplishments or experience, but the
knowledge that I am loved and known by God. This is the very good news that I want to share
with everyone, and I needed to be reminded of that before I was given clarity on the direction I
am supposed to go next. Which, I am pleased to say, is to finish up my Bachelor of Arts degree
at Westmont in the Theatre Arts.