COLORBLIND?

It was a fantastic weekend. A young adult who attended rightly said, "Thank you, Pastor Lyle. I came away from this weekend comforted, nurtured, empowered, and supported!"

Wow! Those are the kind of words you want to hear as a youth director. It was the weekend of "Control+ALT+Delete." Control+ALT+Delete was a popular keyboard command on IBM-compatible computers. If something was wrong with your computer and causing disruption, all you had to do was perform the three-finger salute, as they call it, and your computer would automatically reboot (i.e., restart). It was a way to refresh your computer.

This Central Alberta youth empowerment, being hosted at the Red Deer Church, was precisely that: a reboot; a restart; a refresh for our young people.

The weekend was filled with praise and worship, fellowship, food, and strong, spiritually empowering messages from Pastor Orlando Pule. Pastor Orlando was born in New Zealand with strong Samoan and Tongan roots. He grew up in Toronto, received a call to ministry, and studied at Andrews University, where he met his beautiful wife, Liz, who is also a pastor. Together, they have a unique role at the Ontario Conference, serving as Men's Ministry, Women's Ministry, and Family Life directors. It was so fitting to have Pastor Orlando.

He is currently working on a doctorate in organizational leadership, focusing on the theology of advocacy and social justice. On the Friday night, after engaging the youth in a participatory activity, he waxed eloquently on the idea that after this pandemic, God is expecting our world church to do something new and fresh within our local communities—something that has never been done before—because we are in a time in history we have never experienced. Pastor Orlando shared a powerful story of how Blockbuster used to be the famous movie store giant, but because they did not want change, they closed down, and Netflix overtook them. Pastor Orlando finished off the night with this statement: "I believe that God's spirit is greatly experienced, not within the four walls of the church; God's spirit is greatly experienced outside of the four walls of the church because out there, it cannot be controlled."

Richard Gray, Master of Design Student

Sabbath morning started with a creatively intriguing presentation by Richard Gray, a Master of Design student who shared the connection between the design thinking model and Christ’s method (Ministry of Healing, p. 143), sharing tips on how to retain young people ages 18–25.

Sabbath morning worship was filled with blessings. Pastor Moises and the Red Deer youth did a fantastic job with praise and worship. EJ singing along with his guitar was genuinely refreshing. We were also blessed by Ayden, who played his violin as the offering was collected. There was a special feature by Cheri and Odessa that was so touching and moving.

Red Deer praise team

Pastor Orlando preached about building bridges and gave a powerful testimony about his father and how he used to cook food for the community. What was so amazing was the local Mighty Mongrel Mob showed up at his father's funeral. They presented a traditional Haka dance to celebrate his father's legacy of love and kindness within the community.

Pastor Orlando's afternoon presentation on social justice and advocacy sparked discussion and debate. It was indeed an eye-opening presentation on how early Adventism was very much involved in social justice through abolitionism, the temperance movement, and women's rights. What was interesting was the discussion on the term “colorblind.” Pastor Orlando explained that we don't want to be colorblind when we look at the skin colour and ethnicity of people because we want to see, acknowledge, and affirm people for who they are. When we say we don't see colour, we could be dismissing the identity and reproducing inequality. It was a positive and rousing discussion on race, multiculturalism, and diversity.

What was incredibly touching and spoke to the warm and inviting community the Red Deer Church has established was the statement by a regular attendee, Sadia, who is a friend of an Adventist, Dieulita. Sadia, a Muslim, started coming to church because of an invite from Dieulita. However, even when Dieulita is not there, Sadia will attend Red Deer. She mentioned she feels like she should just be there — feeling a sense of community and belonging even though she is just a visitor who regularly attends. We thank God for the ministry of the Red Deer Church, where people feel welcome.

The night ended with a social gathering at the South Side Christian School gymnasium. Volleyball and basketball were the popular activities for the night. There were lots of leftover pizza and snacks on which to munch.

Friday night with the youth

As the night ended, it seemed my basketball career did also. I was beaten by a 12-yearold boy named London in a one-on-one basketball game. It looks like another pair of shoes will be gone from my closet. Oh well!

By Pastor Lyle Notice, Youth Director, Alberta Conference

London going for the Yeezy win against Pastor Lyle