Project David — creating leaders

They say leaders are born, not created. Project David 2016 proved otherwise in just 4 short days.

Apr 22, 2016

MELAKA JOHOR: They say leaders are born, not created. Project David 2016 proved otherwise in just 4 short days. From the 16th till the 19th of March, youths from the Melaka-Johor diocese started off camp as participants and at the end of the 4th day left as leaders.

The first day of camp consisted of the usual ice breaker games and a welcoming praise and worship session. It was nice to see the participants put their differences aside and bare their hearts as they sang their worship. The day continued with sessions by Raynold Dass on why we serve in the church. The participants were then broken into groups and pitted against each other round robin style in Captain Ball. Dinner was then followed by movie night where participants were treated to a screening of The Blind Side. Movie night was not without purpose since the movie had a very important message for the participants about serving.

The second day of camp was when the participants created Project David history. They ventured out of Majodi Centre and into the heart of JB town for the first ever Project David Field Operation.

The day started off with some briefing on the task by the brains behind the field operations, Jameson Tan. Then they were sent out with no more than a small amount of money and the simplest of instructions to make their way to Hutan Bandar. Once there, the race to be the first group to complete all the challenges commenced. The first station proved to be one of the toughest as the participants were instructed to enter a muddy stream with their shoes still on and complete their challenge in the stream. Some of them went in without hesitation, shoes and all. Some however, refused to go anywhere near the banks of the stream.

Some were even willing to forfeit the entire groups progress just for the sake of their shoes. According to Jameson, this whole operation was designed to push the participants to their very limits. It was to test them physically, emotionally, mentally, and even spiritually. The first challenge itself was a test, to see if participants were willing to sacrifice their materialistic possession for the sake of a collective goal. Some failed, but many passed with flying colors. One participant even sacrificed his spare shoes so that his team would not be disqualified. The other challenges were equally as demanding and by the end of it all, the participants were exhausted and were more than ready to crawl into bed. After dinner however, there was a session to explain the significance of the challenges and by the end of it all the participants went to bed a little happier.

Seeing as the the third day of camp was a Friday, after a session by Matthew Wee and lunch, the participants attended confession and it was then followed by the Way of the Cross. This time around, each group had the opportunity to carry an actual cross as they made their way around Majodi. At each station, the participants would kneel on the ground regardless of the fact that most of the time they had to kneel on the road, and even though you could see that they were in pain, they persevered.

Friday nights happened to be festival night and each group had the chance to perform. There were skits and mimes and some of the performances brought the participants to tears. Bishop Bernard Paul, who was our special guest ended the night with a prayer after he gave a short speech on how proud he is of the youths.

The last day of camp was a rush of packing and photo taking, yet we found time to have our final bible sharing. Before mass, the participants were lucky enough to have a session with Bishop Bernard where they asked him questions on both his personal life and his life as the new bishop of Melaka-Johor. As camp drew to an end, the participants exchanged numbers and promised to keep in touch. Many also started planning activities to carry out in their own churches. Project David was a success in more ways than one and it was plain to see that the participants gained more than just the know how on being a leader. At the end of it all, what is important is that the youths continue to carry out their roles as the messengers of Christ and that they be the leaders that will lead the church of tomorrow.--majodi.org

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