Louisville Day #2

It sure was a steamy one today in Louisville as we headed out in the morning to three different service locations.  Everyone did a great job serving at the Wayside Christian Mission and interacting with the local people. Some served at the mission’s homeless shelter, some at their storage and warehouse facility, and the rest stayed back and served here at the mission.

Following the service day we hosted a block party in the parking lot of the mission. We grilled and served picnic food as many of residents came out and ate with us and danced to the music.

Following the block party we loaded into our buses and headed out to a local park along the Ohio river that provided us with some much needed ‘down time’ and lots of different recreational activities. Some played ‘Ultimate Frisbee’ while others tossed baseball, rode bikes (and bike-like contraptions), and many played and cooled off in the water playground.

We wrapped up the evening with worship and hearing from students as they individually shared with the group about their experiences at the Life conference. Our students shared how God touched them during the week and the direct impact it’s making in their lives. The sun was setting over the river and provided a beautiful backdrop for our time as we thanked and glorified God as a family together.

One more service day ahead tomorrow. All the students are healthy and doing very well. We have a few cases of poison ivy from the Life service day last Wednesday, but other than that we’re in stellar shape.

Please continue to pray! 

The team serving at the homeless shelter

Hello Louisville!

The Life 2013 conference finished out strong. We experienced a tremendous final few days as things finally wrapped up late Saturday night. This morning (Sunday) we were blessed with a few extra hours of 'shut eye' before loading the buses and heading out for the bluegrass state.

We stopped at Ryan's buffet for lunch, and rolled into town about 6 pm.  We loaded our gear into the hotel, then divided up in our teams for a 45 min prayer walk around the neighborhood before enjoying some Pizza from 'Wicks'.

After dinner, we headed out for some fun at a nearby bowling alley where we had a great time with each other. Everybody was pretty tired, so off to bed we went about 11 pm.

Tomorrow we begin our service days. We will head out at 9 am to three different locations to serve people in need at the Wayside Christian Mission. Our students and leaders are ready for the challenge and opportunity, and we'll cap the day off with a cookout and block party here at the mission.

This has been a fantastic group of students. Watching them grow in Christ and relationships with one another has truly been a blessing and worth every penny raised to send them here.

That's all for now. Please pray that our students will finish this trip out strong and that God will reveal Himself to us, and work through us as we serve the people of Louisville.

Life 2013 - St. Louis

Greetings from St. Louis! 

It’s Friday afternoon already, and it’s hard to believe the conference ends tomorrow night. The days have been long, but time has moved very quickly. All is well with our team of 74 students and 23 leaders. The students have responded tremendously and are busy seeking what God has in store for them this week.

The overnight bus ride was smooth, and we enjoyed an excellent breakfast meal at Cracker Barrel in Indiana, however sleeping on the bus was a bit more challenging than anticipated. It generally seemed easier for the students to sleep on the bus than the leaders, but overall some had an easier time than others.

It was very hot and humid in St. Louis when we arrived, but the weather has gotten better as the week progressed. It's sunny and beautiful today in the mid 80's.  The walk back and forth to the convention center takes about 10 min and is very easy. 

It's amazing to witness so many students (approx 6,000) all converge into one city for the purpose of seeking Christ. The Scripture says that God has reserved for Himself a remnant, and many of them are here this week in the form of our young people and the faithful leaders that brought them here.

New CMA President John Stumbo took the time to visit with us and spoke to all the students on Tuesday evening. The Life conference changed his life many years ago while he was a young teen struggling with his faith. He experienced God that week and never looked back.

The students were also treated to a LeCrae concert Tuesday evening, and many were impacted by his life story and testimony on Wednesday during his seminar.

Also on Wednesday, we had the privilege of participating in an afternoon service project to bless the residents of St. Louis as we teamed up with hundreds of other students to clean brush and reset grave stones in an old abandoned cemetery. 

Please continue to pray because this trip has the potential to be life changing for students and we’re beginning to see some evidence of that.  Students are being challenged by the way they live out their lives as the Church of Christ, and have been busy attending a variety of different seminars that will position them to live differently when they return home.  It’s also a blessing to see the love they have for one another as they build and strengthen relationships with their peers and leaders.

Tomorrow morning we’ll be participating in a 5k race to help support local education here in St. Louis. We have dozens of students and leaders participating. The conference will wrap up tomorrow night and we’ll head off to Louisville Sunday morning.

Please pray for Jared Ziegler who broke his finger during the service project. He is doing well and the pain has been manageable, but please pray for quick and complete healing.

That's all for now - we’ll try to post more in a few days.

Adios!

Baltimore 2013 Conclusion

Well, today is the final day of Baltimore SMO 2013.  We are currently on our way home -  but no fear,  Joel is not the one blogging! His hands are on the wheel and eyes on the road.

As a recap,  yesterday was our final day of working at the sites with our teams. Every group worked extremely hard and was able to conclude the week on a good note. Last night we had the normal church service and also wrapped up The Voice competition. Our group was so excited to have Meryl as a finalist and is very proud of her 3rd place finish! There was also a time dedicated to an awards ceremony for "hardest working",  "loudest" and "most compassionate" within each team. ACAC took a lot of the awards and we are so proud. Believe it or not - a lot of our students were awarded loudest.

Overall,  the week was a success. We most definitely have some sleepy students... And leaders!  Thank you for all of your prayers and support. We will see you soon.

Smo Baltimore 2013

Here's a picture from our evening service!

Baltimore smo 2013

Tonight is our last night. It is also the finals of the Voice competition. Meryl is one of the final three! Here are some testimonials from the week.

Testimonials:
Adam:
Today we were at the house and we were basically cleaning up the whole house and the backyard.  Ed the leader was threatening an all nighter for all of the leaders because of our progress but we tried to step it up and we got a lot done today. 

Malizia:
Well yesterday was cool because we met someone that was originally a pastor from rock City church (the church we are with)  and he wasn't going to church anymore and his relationship with God wasn't very good.  We encouraged him to come back to church and come to the block party tomorrow at 12. Also I learned how to start the coach bus and I got to turn the steering wheel. I'm going to be a bus driver when I grow up.

Justin:
Today we went out to our work site and there we painted the wall of the park pool and made a mural out of it. A lot of people stopped and said how awesome it was. The mural consisted of butterflies, dragonflies, grass, blue and red flowers. Even though we got stuck inside because of the rain we got to paint signs and flower boxes. It was awesome we finished the mural even though we had 3 days of work. Dinners were really great! I have been deeply impacted by the services.

Baltimore 2013 July 4th

Good morning everyone!

Today is the fourth of July. We are currently heading to breakfast at the church before we break off into our work groups. Students are excited for today as they are becoming comfortable and familiar with the other students and leaders in their group. But more importantly, the students are excited for a day that is going to be different because the church has games and activities planned for a celebration this afternoon for the 4th of July.

As for yesterday, there were quite a few memorable experiences throughout our group.  The group that Joel is leading is fixing up a house in the city to give away at the block party on Saturday (think Extreme Makeover). They have begun to paint the walls and we're not quite sure if more paint got on the students or the walls! The painted people had to be plastic wrapped before they got into vans!

Last night, the Voice competition continued and once again,  Meryl rocked the stage with her beautiful voice. She will continue more this week. There was also a concert from Daniel Boshta. He is the Christian artist that wrote the lyrics,  '' my God's not dead he's surely alive,  he's living on the inside roaring like a lion''. The kids loved the music and was able to meet and greet the band at the end.

Keep praying for safety as we have 2 more days of work.

Baltimore 2013

Hey everyone,

We are having an awesome time in Baltimore! Everything went smoothly on our way here. Each night at 7 we have a session full of impacting stuff. The theme for the week is: Together We Have a Voice. The drama is off the tv show The Voice and one of our students (Meryl) got picked to sing! She dominated the first night for the blind auditions and everyone loved her! The sessions are full of great teaching. The first night the speaker talked about authentic Christianity. Last night our speaker talked about BBC (bedroom bible college). The challenge was to turn our bedroom into a Bible college and study God's word. It has been great and the students are looking forward to a great night tonight.

We also have had a great experience serving the people of Baltimore. Our students have done a ton of work in just 2 days. The have done farming, building, painting, cleaning up a lot, interacting with our summer camp children, and a ton more. Many students are learning how to tell their story to the people in the community.

The students are pumped because there is a Walmart right across the street from where we are staying. More posts to come.....