Blog
By: Payton DeVencenty
Holy Cross Family,
My name is Payton DeVencenty, and I am your soon-to-be Director of Christian Education (or DCE) Intern! I will be joining the family in mid-August of this year, and I am thrilled to be hopping right into a congregation that demonstrates God’s love and mercy. Your ministry is known here for its faithfulness to God and in its approach to the community, so thank you for continuing in God’s ways and making an example that is known all the way out in Nebraska.
I am a Colorado boy, born in Pueblo and raised in Denver until the ripe age of 17 when I moved out to Nebraska to begin my education towards ministry. I am a child of divorce, I have tasted and seen the love of God. His mercies dawn each morning as we need them to cover our sins and mess-ups.
Thankfully, our stories are not that simple—even when our stories are way more complicated than we would like them to be. My story is no exception to the messiness, heartbreak, and the struggles that all of us know—yet in the wonder and grace of God I have experienced the redemption and love that sets stories apart into the story of Jesus. I was not raised in a Christian home, and the faith that we now share was shown to me through faithful Christians like you.
For years, my closest ties to the church were disciples of Jesus making disciples in the world (me). People who lived their Christian faith in the way they went to work, bought groceries, made dinner, played with their kids, called me when things were hard, and all the rest of the mundane tasks we engage in day after day. There is much to be shared, so I hope to share the details of this story of grace with you someday soon.
I have been led into DCE ministry through my extensive camp experience. I worked at a summer camp in a variety of positions, from being a counselor for boys in grades 4-12 to coordinating high school volunteers and programmatic needs to (currently) facilitating the camp program in Idaho. The DCE ministry is related to these positions I had the blessing of filling for four summers as the position seeks to equip others to do ministry in their own lives.
The combination of living a life which has experienced the goodness of God as well as having the experience through my time at summer camps and at Concordia Nebraska has shown me the immense blessing and mission I have been called to through the DCE position. I believe we are all on mission together, living the call of Christ to reach out with loving hands to our brothers and sisters in Christ and to those in the community. This is our call, this is our life, and this is the mission of Jesus. I cannot wait to join you side-by-side in a few weeks.
In Christ,
Payton
