Winter Retreat Update

Our second winter retreat with the middle schoolers was awesome! God answered our prayers because none of the 70+ students got hurt or injured, which I think is amazing! It was a great weekend! Many students either made commitments to put more effort into their daily walk with Christ or made first-time commitments. I've included some pictures below.

The Whole Group!

My Cabin of 6th Grade Girls
Can you tell they're having a good time?

Some of My 6th Graders Eating Icicles on the Last Day

Winter Retreat - Round 2

Well, Luke and I are off again for another weekend winter retreat at Spring Hill Camp! This time, however, we're taking middle schoolers...about 70 of them, in fact! So many signed up that we are now taking two charter buses! Even though there's no snow here at the moment, Evart, Michigan (where Spring Hill Camp is), got 5 inches of snow last night and are expecting another 2-4 inches to fall today. That's a sure sign that we are in for a fun weekend. Please pray for our safety to and from Michigan, that no one gets sick or hurt, and that lives will be changed. With the size of group we have, I think that will be a miracle if we do come back without something like that happening. Thank you for checking in and for praying for us! I will be sure to post pictures when we return.

Winter Retreat Pictures

Here are a couple pictures from the senior high winter retreat last weekend! The weekend turned out be pretty awesome--two students accepted Christ!! The only negative thing that happened was early on Sunday morning (the day we left for home), Luke and two other students got the stomach flu. Fortunately, they didn't got sick on the bus ride home and no one else got it after returning home!

The Whole Group!

Me and Most of My Freshmen Small Group Girls
(Kaitlyn Sheets, Nikki Aumsbaugh, Summer McEvoy, & Amy Spencer)

Winter Retreat

Tomorrow afternoon, Luke and I are hitting the road on a Charter bus with 41 high school students to head to SpringHill Camp in Evart, Michigan, for a winter retreat! We are so excited, as this was one of the highlights of our ministry last year! We have quite a few students going with us this year who are not very plugged into the church, so we are expecting God to do great things in them this weekend.  Please pray for our safety and that lives will be changed!  I'll be sure to post pictures when we get back.

And if you're thinking we'll be tired when we get back, you are absolutely right! We'll both be off from work and in a sleep-induced coma on Monday. ....But, we get to do this all again in February with over 50 middle schoolers! That's when we'll REALLY need your prayers! :) The high school trip is a breeze!

More from Tennessee

Well, we made it back safely from our mission trip in Tennessee! Luke and I are now well rested after taking most of yesterday to catch up. It's hard to believe that Luke is done with mission trips for the summer. Where did June go? It's been a whirlwind and yet so rewarding! I shared our favorite "Yay God" moment from the trip in my previous post (Tennessee Mission Update) so if you haven't read that yet, be sure to! It is definitely ironic because we go on these mission trips to serve others and impact other lives, but so often we are the ones who come back impacted the most.

My second favorite highlight from the trip was on Thursday when we were given three hours to focus on ATL (Ask the Lord). We were given $50 as a group and were encouraged to ask the Lord how he wanted us to use the time and money. This exercise really stretched our students and was a great way to finish out the week. I had five girls in my group. We started out by going to a nearby Christian bookstore to buy a small pocket Bible and some bookmarks with encouraging sayings. We then spent time praying and asking God to show us who He wanted us to bless. The girls have become so much more open and willing to pray out loud since we left! It's been amazing to watch their progress. We started our morning by visiting a nursing home. There, we talked with several residents and even prayed over some of them. Most of our time there was spent with Charles Tony, an 84 year old man, who was at the nursing home visiting his wife. It was clear that our time with him greatly lifted his spirits.  See the picture below of Charles and our girls:

Charles with his ladies!

After we left the nursing home, we spent time in the van praying individually, trying to find the right person to give the pocket Bible to. After praying, we felt that we should go to Arby’s and pay it forward by paying for the car behind us. We pulled up in the drive-thru line, and the car that was originally behind us pulled away, out of the drive-thru. We knew, at that point, that wasn’t the person God had in mind for us to bless. Behind that car, was an old, beat-up rusty blue car. In the car sat a man who was probably in his mid-twenties. He looked a little rough around the edges and was smoking. As we got closer to the window, we felt butterflies in our stomach as the time came for us to pay it forward. Just as we were talking about the “butterflies” in our stomach, two doves flew right in front of our van and landed on the ground next to us. (Yes, doves! Truly a gift from God!) From there, it all fell into place…

At the window, we asked the lady working to place the encouraging bookmark, note, and pocket Bible in the bag with the food in addition to letting us pay for the man behind us. She willingly agreed. As we drove off, we talked about how difficult it was not to stick around to see his reaction, but we left trusting that God would take care of the rest.

We had an amazing trip and are greatly encouraged knowing that the students we took are only in middle school. Our prayer now is that God will continue to draw them closer to Him throughout their teenage years and the rest of their lives--that this trip would only be a launching pad for all that God has in store for them.

Thank you to each and every one of you who partnered with us financially or in prayer! Your prayers were definitely felt this week!

I've included a couple pictures below from our trip:

The Whole Group Before Leaving the Church on Sunday, June 26th

Luke and I at the Cumberland Gap (a pit stop on the way to TN)

Tennessee Mission Update

This week, Luke and I are in Morristown, Tennessee, on a mission trip with 14 middle schoolers (11 of them, girls!). We will be here until Friday morning, but since I have some spare time this morning, I wanted to share last night's experience with you. The following is a journal entry that I wrote last night....

Tonight is one of those nights I hope to remember for the rest of my life. I tried to take as many mental pictures as possible, trying to soak in every moment, but even those don't compare to actually experiencing it in person. In our team debrief meeting tonight, our 14 middle schoolers sat in a circle on the floor to share about our day's work. After hearing some great stories from the day, Luke raised the question, "How would you rate your spiritual life on a scale from 1-10 before coming on the mission trip until tonight?" It was great to hear how much these young teens have grown in the two day's we've been here. Their eyes have been opened. Their hearts have been changed. Our prayers have been answered. As the group continued to share, it became evident that these teens desired to spend more time with God on a daily basis by reading the Bible, but didn't know where to start. Like many of us, they struggle to make it a priority in their lives. Little did they know, Luke had packed away One Year Bibles for each person, not knowing if and when to distribute them. When he mentioned the Bibles to them, their eyes lit up and smiles filled their faces. I wish you could have seen their smiles! It was as if we just had given them new iPhones. It felt like Christmas with everyone quickly tearing open their new One Year Bibles, EXCITED to get on a daily schedule of reading the Word. While this was happening, Luke and I exchanged glances and smiles as we watched their faces light up. I have never seen anyone get that excited to receive Bibles. What a special moment that God blessed us with! My eyes filled with tears as we bowed our heads to thank God for that special moment. After we left the meeting, we headed back to our host homes and the girls and I stayed up late, as I tried to answer the many questions the girls were asking about the Bible. This morning, they all bombarded Luke at breakfast with more questions. God is definitely stirring their hearts and minds and drawing them closer to Him. It is an awesome sight to see!!

The great thing is, we still have two full days of work here in Tennessee. More opportunities to serve, yes, but also more time to invest in these teens and continue to stir their excitement for Christ!

How You Philly?!

"How You Philly?!....Philly good!" (an insider phrase from the week)

Thank you for partnering with me as I went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, serving God on a mission trip!  The following is a quick day-by-day snippet of what we did and where God was working in and through us!

Saturday, June 11th

After prayer, hugs, and goodbyes, 22 students and 3 adults piled into vans and headed for Philadelphia.  After 8 hours of driving and a few pit stops, we arrived in Bedford, Pennsylvania to spend the night. 

Sunday, June 12th

At breakfast, I challenged the mission team to make experiencing God an everyday occurrence over this next year by reading through the One Year Bible. This will allow us to make time for & experience God on a daily basis.

Afterwards, we headed to Kings Street Church in Chambersburg, PA.  The service was awesome—only a glimpse of what was to come this week.  Following the service, we met the church’s youth pastor for lunch with some of his students and then joined them in serving an organization called Samaritan’s Feet.  We moved boxes and sorted shoes before the rain came and thwarted our efforts.   

We spent a couple hours there and then departed for our final destination, accompanied by some great singing from our students (mainly the guys).  Once we arrived in Philadelphia, we joined the YouthWorks staff (the mission organization we went through) as well as two other churches (from Louisville & Toledo).  Our church formed three ministry teams that we would be serving with all week:  Hershey, Hoagies, and Water Ice (all ministry teams were named after famous Pennsylvania foods/places).  The Hoagies and Hershey teams were made up of First Church students and adults; whereas, Water Ice had five members from First Church and five members from the church in Toledo.  

Each evening, all the churches joined together for club time (teambuilding activities, worship, and lessons) and church group time (opportunity for discussion, processing the day, and sharing our hearts, which became the best part of each day).

Monday, June 13th

Starting Monday morning, we would spend the next four days serving at various non-for-profit organizations.  This particular day the Hoagies spent time at Teens For Good, an organization that does urban gardening encouraging teens to get involved and give back to their community.  Water Ice partnered with a local thrift store near our mission base called Circle Thrift Store.  Hershey walked through Chinatown and went to downtown Philadelphia to serve at the Eliza Shirley House (Salvation Army), an emergency shelter for women and children. 

An inspiring and life changing story came from the Hoagies ministry team today.  Oddly enough, they started their day believing that all they were going to be doing was pulling weeds!  God had bigger plans for them!  As soon as they got there, they were met by their instructor, a man named Henry.  Henry changed their life!  He had an extremely rough story, but found God in prison and committed his life to Him.  While pulling weeds, Henry left the garden to talk with a homeless man, Daniel, on the street.  After sharing his faith with him and giving him food and water, Henry introduced Daniel to our ministry team.  Our students got the chance to hear Daniel’s story, engage with him, encourage him, challenge him, and then circle up and pray over Daniel.  After leaving Daniel, Henry was not to be found.  Once the Hoagies found Henry, he told them that God had called him to bring Daniel in to the garden, but Daniel was not opening up to him; God had placed these people from Columbia City, Indiana to encourage Daniel and have him open up to them. 

After dinner, everyone hopped into a van and traveled to the Philadelphia Museum of Art… a.k.a. the “Rocky Steps” and raced to the top! 

Tuesday, June 14th

Day two of our journey included both the Hoagies and Hershey serving with the same organization as the first day.  Water Ice, however, partnered with a non-for-profit organization called Veteran’s United.  They got the opportunity to talk with homeless people, hand out food to them, hear their stories, and pray over them.  Each day was so remarkable to see how God was using each of team member’s individual passions and gifts for each situation set before us.

That evening, each ministry team performed hilarious skits for the rest of the group.  Our own Hoagies came out victorious, presenting the story of Jonah and the whale in a whole new fashion (Finding Nemo even made a cameo)! 

Wednesday, June 15th

Today brought new experiences as each group headed to a place it had never been before:  Hoagies to Whosoever Gospel Mission (rescue mission for men that helps with food, clothing, training, & counseling), Water Ice to Eliza Shirley House, and Hershey to the Ken Crest Center (children’s center for those with disabilities).

During the evening, we had the wonderful privilege of going to a gospel church service at Greater Exodus Baptist Church.  This service was completely different than anything we were used to in Columbia City, Indiana!  The first hour of the service was devoted to individual and group prayer time.  We were blown away by the hospitality that the people in this church showed, along with their desire and passion for the Lord!  It was evident that God was moving in and through this church.

Thursday, June 16th

Our last ministry day!  It all goes by so quick.  All three ministry teams were supposed to go back to the same ministry sites as they did yesterday.  However, God had a different plan in mind.  That morning, the Water Ice group (mixed of two churches) was told they were going to be serving at the Philabundance Food Bank.  Praise the Lord!  The group got to spend a good amount of time in discussion with the other church about their faith and what a personal relationship with Jesus looks like.

In the evening, YouthWorks partnered with the host church to have a cookout for the community in the park across the street.  Kids, teens, and adults from all over came for burgers and hotdogs as well as dancing and games.  Many of our students had great opportunities to invest in and be intentional in their conversations with these people. 

During our last night together, we had a foot washing service.  The leaders washed each one of the students’ feet and prayed over us individually.  By the end of the night, students were washing one another’s feet and praying over each other (and crying).  What an incredible sight to see! 

Earlier in the day, the Water Ice group had some great conversations with some members from another church.  They decided to meet together after the foot washing service to continue their discussion.  That night, four of First Church’s students had the wonderful privilege of sharing their faith with these other youth and leading them through the prayer of salvation, asking Jesus to personally come into their hearts, and to follow Him!  What an AMAZING way to end such a God-designed week for everyone in our group! 

Friday, June 17th

Friday was an early morning as we packed up our vehicles and said our goodbyes.  Before we left, we rode on the subway and got to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.  Then, after 11 hours of driving, we returned home to family and friends, forever changed and inspired to serve God.

The best is yet to come!

Luke

Front Row Seats

On Monday night, Luke and I took some students to the Hillsong concert in Indianapolis. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Hillsong, they are an amazing worship band based out of Australia. Most of the worship songs sung in church today were written by Hillsong. I went to one of their concerts a couple years ago at Willow Creek Church in Chicago and it was, by far, the best worship experience I've ever encountered. I was thrilled when I found out they were coming to Indiana! We booked our tickets a while ago and had a student back out shortly before we left, so Luke's mom, Deb, ended up going with us! What a treat. When we arrived, we found our seats (which were pretty far up, but had a great view). One of the students ordered cotton candy, and we anxiously awaited the start of the concert. A few minutes before the concert was scheduled to start, a guy came up behind us and with his Australian accent, leaned down to Luke and said, "Hey Boss, do you guys want to sit in the front row tonight?" After asking many skeptical questions, we finally realized he was serious! So we ended up watching the concert from the FRONT ROW! It was incredible. We're not sure why God chose to bless us with such amazing seats, but the concert definitely exceeded our expectations. There's nothing greater than being in a room filled with thousands of people worshipping God!

Lots of Happenings!

This has been an exciting and busy month for us! The school year is coming to a close, so we are wrapping up many youth group activities at church. At the end of April, we had a spaghetti supper at church to raise support for youth mission trips this summer. Since our church hasn't done a youth fundraiser like this in a few years and with it being our first time "in charge", we didn't really know what to expect. But, as usual, God provided! It turned out to be a wonderful night and everything seemed to run smoothly. We have about 45 students going on mission trips this summer, so this fundraiser really helped offset some of their costs. Thank you to all of you who came out and supported!

Another exciting event for the youth was RAMBO NIGHT a couple weeks ago! For this, we took a bus and several car loads of students to Krista Pope's house and all gathered in her woods. Several of our adult volunteers were already hidden in the woods when we arrived, and the students had about 30 minutes to "hunt" for the adults. It was such a fun night, and it was great to see the students interact in a new environment. Many of them showed up ready to go, decked out in camoflauge and "war paint"!

We only have two Sundays left of youth programming. It is hard to believe! It seems like just yesterday that Luke started working there...and yet, here we are at the end of the school year! We'll be sad to bid the seniors farewell, but are looking forward to meeting our new batch of 6th graders!

Purity Ball

Saturday night, we had our third-annual Purity Ball at church for 7th & 8th grade girls. What a fun event!! I started it a few years ago, and it's amazing to see it grow each year. This year we had a record 24 girls, 6 adult leaders, and many high school students who helped serve! The evening started with a formal dinner and then we had Amy Jagger, a woman from church, speak to the girls. Her message was phenomenal and there were many tear-filled eyes around the room when she finished. There was a lot of prayer leading up to this event, and God definitely delivered. At the end of the night, we gave each girl a purity ring or white rose. Here's a picture of everyone (including the leaders).

Popcorn Party

Last night, Luke and I invited some students over to watch some of the NCAA basketball tournament games. It was so much fun! As you might expect, food was a necessary part of the festivities. Lately, I have heard great things about Kernal Colada's Snack Shack in Columbia City, so I ventured out to pick some up for the party. And thanks to my Groupon, I got it for half the price! It is the coolest place. They have tons of popcorn flavors...traditional Chicago style, caramel, birthday cake, hot jalapeno, and many more. I bought three different flavors for the youth to try, but the birthday cake flavor ended up being the overall favorite. Leave it to the pictures below to leave your mouth watering....yum!!



All Three Flavors...Chicago Style, Birthday Cake, & Caramel



A Winter to Remember

With blizzard conditions in the forecast, this winter seems like it's going to be a winter to remember. Luke and I would definitely have to agree, but for different reasons than the weather. We spent Friday - Sunday in Evart, Michigan, with 23 senior high students! We traveled to Spring Hill Camps for a winter retreat and came back with a renewed passion for youth ministry and a stronger desire to thrive in our walk with Christ. It was an awesome weekend! We couldn't have asked for a better one. The roads were clear for driving, we didn't have any injuries, and we were able to get to know the students on a deeper level. On Friday night while we were there, we got 6 inches of snow on top of the accumulation that was already well established on the ground. I hadn't seen that much snow in a long time! We experienced a lot of new things - snow tubing, horseback riding throughout the camp, snowboarding, and broom ball (essentially hockey with boots and a ball instead of skates and a puck)! There were also amazing times of worship and messages that challenged us to thrive in our relationship with Christ rather than just get by.

I've posted some pictures of the weekend below to give you a glimpse of our awesome weekend!