tanya.rodgerson@cco.ca
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I belong to a wonderful, wholesome, and hard working family. My parents, Eugene & Hilda, came from Belgium as children, and they met and married here in Canada. Eventually, they settled into farming life near Woodstock, Ontario. Being the youngest in my family, I’ve always looked to the example of my 3 older sibling’s to:
- Learn how to have fun.
- Learn how to stay out of trouble.
- Learn how to be a good person.
Despite having attended religious education classes through my childhood, faith really didn’t have a real role in my life until high school. A friend persistently invited me to my church youth group, and after 3 years, I decided to give it a try. The loving witness of the youth leaders, and the steadfast sharing of the Gospel, tilled the soil of my heart to receive God’s love. It was on a retreat in Niagara Falls that I first experienced God’s love in a deeply personal way. Although the fine details are blurry, I recall the significant loneliness I had experienced in my teen years being completely obliterated by the love of God. I knew I was loved unconditionally, and I wanted to love God back, to the best of my ability. I immediately wanted to tell people about how much Jesus loved them!
My role with CCO is Talent Manager and Director of National Recruitment. I want to see each CCO Missionary live to our fullest potential for the Lord, and I believe we can do that by understanding our natural talents and living out of our spiritual gifts with confidence! In 2 Timothy 2:2, St. Paul exhorts Timothy:
“… what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well.”
On one of my first days back on CCO Staff, a staff member that I’d not met, Kirsten Lane, approached me with her first words being “Thank you.” Kirsten proceeded to explain to me that, when she was a student at the University of Ottawa, Jackie (Murphy) Lavery had a significant impact on her faith through their discipleship relationship. She knew that Jackie’s life had been similarly impacted by another CCO Staff, Amy (Peloso) Hall. This new staff member also knew that Amy had come to Christ, while I was discipling her, more than a decade ago at the University of Ottawa.
Twelve years. Four generations. One legacy. Who knows where this legacy will stop, or what will come of it? I was completely and utterly humbled by this encounter, and in awe of what God can do with one little “yes”.
In my earlier years on Staff (2000-2006), CCO taught me how to channel my enthusiastic love for God & people by using simple analogies to communicate the Gospel message effectively. In addition to that, I’ve learned that everything rises and falls on leadership. Although I’m not yet as proficient in leadership as I would like to be, CCO both sets the standard and provides the environment for me to grow!
ONGOING PRAYER REQUESTS
Considering my role in Human Resources, I’d ask that you’d please pray for all CCO Missionaries, that we’d all be ministering out of the gifts and talents God has uniquely entrusted to us.