Monday

 

I still don’t know what John Long does to make his pancakes so wonderful, but as someone who is quite guilty of skipping breakfast, I find it to be one of the best parts of missions trips. Our first stop was a YMCA-like building where the Boys and Girls clubs of America had a gathering. With a largely younger crowd (only a handful seemed older than 10), they were a lot of fun to work with. The way that we worked with them was that the team members who weren’t a part of the dramas sat in the crowds with the kids and quietly interacted with them. It was interesting experience for me personally. God hasn’t given me the natural ability to effectively interact with younger kids; I’ve normally taken to doing my best in taking care of the logistical end instead. What happened was that as I was sitting on the bleachers, one of the kids asked me about the video camera, so I let it rest on his shoulder and look through the eyepiece. The child next to him showed interest, so I did the same to her. This went on for several more kids. It was so strange to me that it would make their day to have a 15-pound camera on their shoulder, and it was a unique avenue for God to allow me to minister through. But enough about me. After the dramas, we played Shackles and got all the kids up and dancing. I’d never seen a 9-year-old break dance, but it was an incredible sight – naturally I didn’t have the camera handy to film it. After that, many of the team members played basketball with some of the kids. It was a great game that got a lot of our team members involved, as we switched players every few minutes. Justin, Emily M, Tori, David, Tom, Dan, Christian, Tim, and Ariel, among others, gave these kids a memory that I’m sure will last – even though pointwise they won the game =).

Our next stop on the Georgia tour was H.E.A.R.T. ministries, a rehabilitation center for women who were coming clean from their drug and alcohol addictions. There was a very visible emotional connection from these women to the message our team presented, especially in “Everything” – then four of our girls shared their testimonies. There wasn’t a dry eye thereafter; the box of Kleenex made its way all over the room. After a few more dramas, Pastor Kevin shared a brief message (not the one that he initially planned on) and gave the opportunity for residents to receive salvation. Several of the women raised their hands.

Many of the team members have already picked out their fast food restaurant of choice that they want to go to before we leave – places like Sonic, Dairy Queen, Chick-Fil-A, and a few other places that don’t exist in New York. The ladies at H.E.A.R.T. settled that debate for us and treated us to lunch. During that time, we got to talk with the ladies at the home. When I asked some of them for their story, many of them humorously replied something to the extent of, “We’re in a drug rehab center, duh!” While most referenced the struggle that inherently comes with their situation, it was wonderful to hear such a positive outlook from these women about their circumstances. I personally had a tremendous respect for them; they left their homes, many of their own impetus, and pay a sizeable amount of money to be a part of this eight week program to help them recover.

While the rest of the group came back to the cabins for a little chillout time, God had a divine appointment for me. The guys in the shuttle with Pastor Kevin and me took a quick detour on the way home from the rehab center to stop at the church where we were to have the youth service tonight. The rationale was that in the event that we needed to set up our sound gear, we would have the time and manpower to do so. The church was pretty well equipped in that area, but I decided to stay there for the short time span and dialog with their technical and media teams. Their lead tech, Wendel, I actually knew from an online forum, ChurchMedia.Net, and ended up meeting him in person! We had a great discussion about all things technical and wrapped it up just in time for the youth rally to start.

The youth group we merged with was about the size of our team, so it was a great match and I could see that many of the kids from our group were interacting with the local kids. It was great to see them have such a great time and being with new kids their own ages. After the dramas, worship, wonderful testimonies from the team, and challenging message from Pastor Kevin on ‘Untamed Christianity’, There was a true outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Christianity is all about surrendering everything to Him – our thoughts, our dreams, our plans, and our future. Nearly everyone from both youth groups had a personal encounter with Christ. It was a blessing to see the group have such a genuine response to the moving of God. Further fellowship ensued after the service was dismissed.

Thanks for reading! Keep praying for us, and I’ll try to get photos up tomorrow morning (I figured it out finally! =)

Monday