Bethany Covenant Youth

Sanford: Day 6

2011-07-28T21:36:00.005-05:00

"Hey Steve, can we stay another week?"

"Hey Steve, we stayed up late last night brainstorming all these ideas for things we can do in Sanford!"

"Hey Steve, can we fundraise money to build the kids a new playground."

Yes, our teens have caught a passion for mission work in Sanford.

Anyone who knows me well knows I hate it when teens get stereotyped as lazy, selfish, and irresponsible. I hate this because I know the stereotype is not true. Our students this week have constantly proved this stereotype wrong.

They gave up a week of their summer vacations, when they could be hanging out with friends, sleeping in, earning money, or a whole host of other stuff to sleep on the floor, wake up early, work hard (for no financial gain), take 3-minute showers, let three 4-year olds hang from their arms, and put aside almost every selfish desire for the sake of someone else.

Today our teens finished a five-day drywalling job on Day 4.

Today our teens led a flawlessly-executed day camp program for the most kids we have had all week.

This week, our teens learned how to mulch, weed, plant, cut and hang drywall, paint, stain. Not only that, but they picked up on it fast enough to accomplish more than was expected of them.

This week, our teens left a massive impression on this community, encouraged a struggling community organization, made some children in need of love feel super-loved, and and brought joy to a sad part of the world.

This week, our teens learned to love the unlovable, care for the broken-hearted, and cultivate soil so that Evergreen Covenant can come in and plant some seeds.

This week, our teens learned to wash people's feet, to serve people to the point of near-humiliation, to love everyone.

I was blessed tonight when Pastor Frank told our students that he was a youth pastor for 15 years, and worked with several youth groups, and that our group of kids was the best he had ever seen.

I agree with his appraisal, wholeheartedly.

Parents, you should be proud of your kids.

I know I am.

See ya tomorrow night,

Steve

Sanford: Day 5

2011-07-27T21:02:00.002-05:00

Well, it's the middle of the week.

We are all a little tired, a little crabby, and a little hungry.

It's the day we all had to push through, fight through, and crawl on our hands and knees to get through.

It's the day we all start to miss our own beds. It's the day that all this hard work starts catching up to us.

And we survived it.

Our students continued to soldier on, working their hardest despite their exhaustion. Each of our work sites had new challenges to overcome: the mulching and gardening crew had to clear what could only be described as a jungle; the drywall crew had the challenge of hanging drywall on the ceiling; and the painting crew worked on staining a large deck.

Great progress was made by all teams, and we enjoyed another fun afternoon of hanging out and loving the kids at our afternoon camp.

This evening, an Evergreen Cov family welcomed us to their home for swimming and a BBQ. We are rested and relaxed and ready for another day of ministry tomorrow.

Blessings,

Steve

Sanford: Day 4

2011-07-26T20:53:00.002-05:00

I'm gonna be honest with you right now...

I was really nervous about this trip.

I was nervous because nothing like this has been done before. Evergreen Covenant had never hosted a bunch of teens coming to help them in ministry, and we had never done our own missions trip before.

I was nervous because we had a strange mix of students attending the trip. We had a lot of kids who normally wouldn't interact with each other going. This made me worry about group unity and all that.

I was nervous because we didn't have any chaperones until it was almost too late.

I was nervous I didn't budget enough money for the trip.

I was nervous all our plans would fall apart and no kids would show up.

I was nervous because I have never led a missions trip solo before.

How funny it is then, to see God take my worries and just obliterate them.

So far, our partnership with Evergreen has been fantastic. They have welcomed us here with open arms and have helped us get settled into our work projects. It seems it was the perfect marriage of us needing an affordable missions trip and them needing a boost in their work in the community.

Our students have been WONDERFUL. I have seen leadership skills come to the forefront of kids who had never been given the opportunity to use them. They are getting along beautifully, loving each other and encouraging each other and serving each other. They have responded to the various challenges we have faced with flexibility, willing hearts, and a desire to show God's love to everyone around them. I couldn't be prouder.

Our chaperones have been AWESOME. They have been such a blessing to me and to our students. They have brought wonderful ideas, much-needed organization, joy, and servant's hearts to our group. Our students are blessed to have such wonderful adults demonstrating what it means to follow Christ.

So far, God has provided all we have needed and then some. Our afternoon camp has been excellent, and we have been able to love kids sorely in need of it. God has been good to us. He always has, and always will.

Today we made tremendous progress at all of our work sites. The dry wall is going up very quickly in the community center and we should be able to finish the room by the end of the week. Pray for this center; it was tagged with graffiti last night by vandals, as is a common occurrence. Pray that those who wish to work against this project would find something better to do.

Our mulching and gardening crew are almost done with their assigned work and will be able to move on to additional projects for the organization they are serving. Our painters at the homeless shelter finished the railings on the deck and will be able to stain the deck tomorrow.

God in his goodness held the rain off until after our ministry work today. And boy did it rain! We had thunder and lightning, and the lights at the Chinese restaurant we were eating at flickered on and off. Fortunately, the rain passed through by the time we were done and God blessed us with a very bright rainbow.

Again, thank you for your prayers and support. Continue to pray for good health, good weather, team unity, and energy. We are getting to the middle of the week when people can start getting sick of other people and start getting crabby and irritable. Please pray this doesn't happen.

Blessings,

Steve

Sanford: Day 3

2011-07-25T21:05:00.002-05:00

We had an awesome day on our first day of ministry here in Sanford!

We were able to send three groups out in the morning to serve at various places in the community. One team went to serve an organization that helps disabled children and adults. They got to some much-needed gardening and mulching for them, and the difference was incredible! They will continue to help weed, mulch, and plant flowers for this organization.

Another crew headed to a homeless shelter in Alfred where they began one of several painting projects to help improve the outside appearance of their facilities. Today they tackled the painting of the stairs and ramp that lead to the front door.

Our third crew worked on installing drywall in an old community center at the park where we had our afternoon camp. This community center has been in a state of disrepair for many, many years, and was once the center of a bustling community park. As the neighborhood declined, so did the park. Evergreen Covenant has been hard at work to help a community organization restore this building and provide the community with a functioning community center.

Our afternoon camp was a lot of fun, as we played games, made crafts, and loved on 11 kids from the neighborhood. We had some kinks to work out, but I think we have a great plan for tomorrow.

Tonight we enjoyed dinner at Pat's Pizza, and took the kids on a shopping trip to Marden's. Both are Maine institutions. The kids did some shopping for their "Secret Servant Project." Every student has been assigned another person in the group to secretly serve and encourage this week. It's been a lot of fun so far, and it should get even better as the week goes along.

We talked a little bit today about how it's so easy to have a great attitude and servant's heart on a missions trip but the second we get home we are whining about dinner or complaining about our parents or being jerks to our siblings. I challenged the students to take the attitudes they have been developing on this trip home with them.

Tomorrow will be much the same thing. We are all having a great time and the students have been AWESOME. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Steve

sanford: Day 2

2011-07-24T20:57:00.002-05:00

Day 2 was a blast!

After a wonderful morning of worship with Evergreen Covenant, we went over to Kennebunk to go to the beach. We had an epic game of four square on the beach and went for several cold dips in the ocean. After this, we were treated to showers at the home of someone from Evergreen.

After dinner at Bennett's in Kennebunk (cannot recommend highly enough), we came back to the church to get everything ready for tomorrow.

Please pray it doesn't rain tomorrow; if it rains we can't have our afternoon camp.

Thanks for all your prayers.

Steve

Sanford: Day 1

2011-07-23T21:37:00.002-05:00

Boy did I mess up big time. And boy did God (and Rob Graff) bail me out big time.

I didn't have enough cargo room in our cars. I could've gotten another rental vehicle. But I didn't and we were left without room for a quarter of our luggage.

Praise God that Rob Graff volunteered to drive our bags up to Sanford. Thanks Rob!

We made it without further incident. We are sleeping at the church; the girls are in the main worship space, the boys are in the office complex. Evergreen Covenant meets in a couple storefront buildings between downtown Sanford and the Walmart.

We had an orientation meeting with Pastor Frank and he walked us through the week. We also practiced our "Minute to Win It" games and began our "secret servant" game.

Tomorrow we will be worshipping with Evergreen and hitting the beach.

See ya tomorrow night.

Steve

Mile Markers in Bethany Covenant Youth

2011-06-02T10:34:00.002-05:00

One of the most important parts of growing up is the observance of rites of passage. Rites of passage for teenagers are an essential part of measuring their maturity and forming their identity. These rites include entering high school, getting a driver's license, first school dance, first job, and graduating.

At Bethany Covenant Youth, we want to structure our ministry around various rites of passage so we can help our students measure their spiritual maturity alongside their physical and emotional maturity. We want these "mile markers" to help our students discover their identity as a child of God and as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Each of our Mile Markers corresponds to a level of spiritual formation. We want our students to KNOW Jesus, GROW with Jesus, SHOW the love of Jesus, and GO and make disciples of Jesus. This is the path people take in their faith journeys and a way of seeing how we can keep becoming more and more like our Savior.

Our Mile Marker for KNOW is our 6th Grade Breakfast. At this point, they are leaving children's ministry and entering into youth ministry. They are given a gift from Kelly, our children's pastor, and given a Bible by me that they will need for their next Mile Marker. The next two years for them in ministry will be devoted to KNOWING Jesus by getting to know him better through Scripture reading, prayer, and worship. They will work out what it means to have a relationship with Jesus and with other Christians.

Our Mile Marker for GROW is Confirmation. Our 8th graders go through Confirmation so they can be more sure of what they believe and why they believe it. They are given an overview of the Old and New Testaments, Christian theology, and church history. They are also challenged to memorize Scripture and do a project that displays compassion, mercy, justice, or evangelism. During this year, and the years that follow, students are challenged to GROW in spiritual maturity and start becoming more like Jesus in thought, deed, and attitude.

Our Mile Marker for SHOW is CHIC/Summer missions. Both of these events will expose our students to the world in new ways and help them get a bigger picture view of Christianity, the Kingdom of God, and what their place in all of this is. CHIC will challenge our students to go deeper in their own faith but further in their efforts to show God's love to others. Mission trips help our students be the hands and feet of Christ in serving others and sharing the Good News about Jesus with them. In following up with these major events, students will be challenged to be the hands and feet in their youth group, their church, their homes, the schoools, and their communities.

Our Mile Marker for GO is Senior Challenge. This is a new program and more information about this will be shared later. Senior Challenge will culminate on Graduation Sunday as we celebrate the lives of those who will be leaving our youth ministry, prepared to engage the culture around them and make disciples for Jesus Christ.

We believe as a ministry that rites of passage are essential for helping students seeing where they are in their walk with Jesus, how their faith is growing, and what they can be focusing on in their spiritual growth. It also gives students something to constantly be looking forward to, while at the same time allowing them to look back to see where they came from.

Winterfest Return

2011-01-09T16:11:00.001-05:00

The Winterfest bus should be back at 5:30 PM Today.

Winterfest

2011-01-07T23:01:00.000-05:00

Last I heard, they needed to go around an accident on the highway and then it should be smooth sailing. They will getting off soon for food at an all-night diner and the road to Winterfest is open.

Winterfest

2011-01-07T22:14:00.001-05:00

Everyone, it is slow moving on the way to Winterfest and everyone is doing fine. They will get there, we are just not sure when. Please continue to pray for safety, but at this point there is no cause for alarm. Everyone is in good spirits and maintaining a good attitude.

Christmas Parties

2010-12-14T15:52:00.003-05:00

Our Christmas parties will be this weekend, Friday the 17th and Sunday the 19th.

For SURGE, the party is a Sock-Swap! Bring a fun pair of socks, gift-wrapped and ready to be exchanged. Also bring your favorite holiday goodie!

For HighLight, the party is White Elephant, so gift-wrap something from around your house and bring it along your favorite holiday goodies.

After this weekend, there is no youth group for awhile, so come while you can! Youth group will resume the 14th of January for SURGE and the 16th for HighLight.

Self-Injury

2010-10-21T09:22:00.004-05:00

Our students live in a very high-pressure setting. They are encouraged to pursue excellence in academics, sports, music, the arts, etc. They are constantly on the run and constantly busy. This can lead to a great deal of stress in their lives.

One increasingly common form of stress-release is Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI). NSSI includes cutting, burning, rubbing, erasing, implantations, self-tattooing, and other activities that cause physical pain to oneself. It is most common among teenage girls, but not exclusive to them. Boys tend to seek out high-risk activities like extreme fighting or street racing.

Non-suicidal Self-Injury is just that: non-suicidal. Self-injurers do not want to kill themselves. They view self-injury as a way of relieving stress, of taking control of something in a world that seems to be completely out of their control. While this may seem to be a very silly way of relieving stress, we all have our favorite means of relaxing; for me, the best way to relax during a stressful time is to kick back on my couch, turn on a ball game, and eat Cheez-Its and drink Cherry Coke all day. Some might find that to be a silly way of relieving stress. We have to understand that self-injury is merely a coping mechanism for many students.

While it is a coping mechanism, it is a dangerous coping mechanism. Self-injury can be addictive. Every time one cuts or rubs or burns, they are releasing endorphins, aka "nature's heroin." This gives a high sense of pleasure that can be just as addictive as drug use.

Self-injury, while not suicidal by intent, can become suicidal by accident. A person could slip and cut deeper than they wanted to or hit a vein and lose more blood than they intended. They could lose control of the fire with which they are burning themselves and cause serious injuries to themselves. Self-injury can quickly become more serious and more dangerous than intended.

All self-injury is essentially a cry for help. Some people are quite obvious about this and will injure themselves in an easily visible place on their body and make no effort to cover it up. This is a very obvious and desperate cry for attention. Most self-injurers will go to great lengths to cover up their injuries. They will injure themselves on their upper thigh or midriff, places that are usually covered up by clothing, or they will injure themselves on their wrists and wear long sleeves (even in warm weather) or cover up their wounds with bracelets. Most self-injurers are in a place where self-injury is seen as their best option for coping with the stress and anxieties they face in their lives. They have seemingly exhausted all other possibilities for coping.

For parents, this could be a great cause for alarm. This could fill you with a tremendous amount of guilt to see your child injuring herself. It could be quite painful to know that your child is hurting themselves because they feel they have no other options for support or care.

Parents could also react by rushing to quick judgment and becoming angry with their child for cutting herself and punishing the behavior. This reaction ignores the fact that self-injury is a symptom of a larger problem. Again, self-injury is a symptom of a much more important and much more difficult problem.

If you, as a parent, discover your child self-injuring, do not rush to judgment. Do not react in a negative way. Listen to and empathize with your child without giving the appearance of anger, disappointment, or frustration. You may feel all of those things, but deal with those privately. This is a moment when your child needs you and needs unconditional love and support from you.

Affirm your child for being honest with you and affirm your love for them. Listen to them talk about why they injure and the stress that they feel at school or at home. Empathize with them and validate their feelings. Before you begin the process of helping your child overcome this and eventually stop self-injuring, make sure that they know you love them, you care about them, and that you understand them.

At this point you will have a few options, which will be discussed in a later blog post. But until then, make sure you are checking in on your children to see how they are doing and how stressed or anxious they might be. Do not assume that your child is self-injuring, but don't assume that they are immune to it. Keep your eyes out for the warning signs and high levels of stress in your child's life.

Remember that I am here as a resource for you and can point you to other resources as well. The goal of this post is to help you know about this trend, understand what it is, and what your first response should be should this become an issue in your household. Your job as a parent of teens is difficult, and you are always in my prayers.

Steve

Forms

2010-09-15T11:27:00.002-05:00

All forms (schedules, permission slips, policies) can now be accessed at bccyouthforms.blogspot.com. You may also click "Forms" in the links section of this blog. This is where you will be directed for any additional copies of print forms distributed by our ministry.

Confirmation Schedule Spring Semester.

2010-09-14T14:42:00.002-05:00

This is the schedule for Cross-Training for our New Testament semester this Spring.

Confirmation 2010-2011 NT

Confirmation Schedule Fall Semester.

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Below is the class schedule for Cross-Training Fall Semester.

Please Note: We will NOT be meeting September 29th. Sessions 7 & 10 will be due October 6th.

Confirmation 2010 OT

The HighLight Highlight Reel: Fall Kickoff Edition!

2010-09-14T12:17:00.001-05:00

SURGE Highlight Reel: Fall Kickoff Edition

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Fall Season is Here!

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Here is what you need to know about school year programming for Bethany Covenant Student Ministries:

1) HighLight (our high school youth group) meets Sundays 6-8 pm

2) SURGE (our junior high youth group) meets Fridays 6-8 pm

3) Cross-Training (our confirmation class) meets Wednesdays 7-8:30 pm

4) Spirit-Level (our youth worship arts ministry) meets Wednesdays 6-7 pm

5) Sunday School (7/8 grades, 9/10 grades, 11/12 grades) meets Sundays during the 9 am service.

For your convenience, the schedule is linked on this blog. Please make use of it to keep up-to-the-moment with our youth ministry programs.

Pray for a great school year of ministry!

Thoughts on Missions

2010-08-23T12:23:00.003-05:00

Last night at HighLight, Cora and Margo shared with us their experiences in the Philippines. They went for two weeks this summer, and brought back some very powerful pictures and stories of what God taught them on the island of Cebu. We also heard from the Benton Harbor missions team and learned what they discovered about God and life on that trip.

It is great to see young people serving God. As I keep telling our youth, they don't have to wait until they are adults to make a difference in the Kingdom of God. I have been impressed with the number of students we have serving in various ways already and am praying that God would continue to inspire and challenge our students to follow his calling into Kingdom service. Next summer at this time, I hope we are hearing stories from the missions trips 4 or 5 of our students went on, and that we keep hearing more and more stories every year of what God is doing in our students and through our students.

Goals are our friends

2010-08-17T13:46:00.002-05:00

When I was in college, we had to take a class called Integrated Field Experience. In this class, we learned about valuable, practical skills we would need as we prepared for a life in ministry. One day, our professor told us that "goals are your friends." Up to this point in my life, I was pretty much a "go with the flow" kind of person; I did very little intentionally. So even though my professor told me that goals were my friends, I wanted nothing to do with them.

As I have gotten older and been given much more responsibility than I had in my youth, I have learned to make goals my friends. They help me prioritize my agenda and my money; they help me prioritize my time and my relationships; they help me--most importantly--to be intentional in growing more mature in my faith.

In Philippians 3, we see that the Apostle Paul had a goal for himself:

¹⁰I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Pressing on Toward the Goal

¹²Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.¹³Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

You see, Paul himself had a goal: to become more and more like Jesus and achieve the prize of being made completely perfect in Jesus. His goal was to live his life like Jesus, to become like Jesus.

What is your goal for your life? What are your goals for the upcoming school year? What are you goals in becoming more like Jesus? Take some time in the next week or two to ponder these questions and seek out the Lord's guiding hand in your life.

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Tuesday nights in Benton Harbor from Benjamin Capps on Vimeo.

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"And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:8)

Humility doesn't come any more shocking than this. First, the Creator of the universe refuses to demand His right to be treated as God. Instead, He humbles himself by becoming stuck in time, first as a baby human, fully human, a servant down to His own human DNA. He grew, obedient to time, waiting for the hours and days and years to pass like every other human must. Finally, this passage tells us, God bowed so low as to obey even death.

Death -- the consequence for Adam's sin -- "for when you eat of it you will surely die." Now perfect and humble Jesus Himself obeys the consequence for sin to spare all of Adam's believing children. And not an easy death, either. Not a noble, kingly death. Not death "with his boots on" in the heat of battle or "passing in his sleep" to avoid the pain.

This was death at it's wickedest -- a death so cruel the Romans would not allow the worst Roman citizens to suffer through it. A death of shame. A death that invited mocking and spittle. How: "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus."

Think: Why would God allow His only Son to suffer by obeying such an ugly death?

Pray: Thank God for Jesus' enormous humility to lower Himself to the point where He could pay the penalty for your sin.

Do: Look up the definition of humility in a dictionary and write it out word-for-word while thinking about this verse.

Six Flags today

2010-07-22T17:16:00.000-05:00

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Canobie Lake Park Today

2010-07-20T09:19:00.001-05:00

Landed...

2010-07-11T12:01:00.000-05:00

Touched down. Now to luggage. Then to BCC.

On board

2010-07-11T10:00:00.000-05:00

Should be able to make up the time in the air.

Flight delay...

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Currently at 15 min.

Midway at 7am on a Sunday.

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4:45 wakeup

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They love being woken up this early....

Day 7

2010-07-10T21:08:00.001-05:00

Had a great and relaxing day. Good debrief time. I'll let the pictures do the talking tonight.

We head out at 5:30am because we lose an hour on the drive to midway. See you tomorrow.

-Adam

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Last night. Worship on the beach.

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Last night.

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Getting ready to go to an artshow.

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Day 6

2010-07-09T22:42:00.001-05:00

This morning we left YouthWorks. We had a great week and lots of emotional goodbyes. I won a calendar by beating Heather in a competition that ended with a task to impersonate a potato in the most realistic way.

We drove from YouthWorks to Benton Harbor Street Ministry where we learned about the ministry and all the things that they were doing. It was a great reminder of the continuing ministry occurring around town after we leave.

We spent the day walking around St Joe's and at the beach.

One of the lasting memories of the trip will be that we went to concert and I told the kids (who weren't enjoying themselves at all) we could leave if they would dance around to one song. They did a line dance that we learned at YouthWorks and the crowd turned around and watched us. Then They called us up front and we danced in front of the whole crowd. It was one of the funnier things I've ever seen.

We had a great debrief discussion.

We then returned to the beach to watch an amazing sunset. It was lots of fun. Getting to the end here and there's mixed emotions, but its been great.

More tomorrow...

2010-07-09T19:33:00.000-05:00

Debrief

2010-07-09T14:10:00.000-05:00

Relaxing and debriefing at the Krugel's

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Benton Harbor Street Ministry

2010-07-09T08:02:00.000-05:00

Leaving YouthWorks

2010-07-09T07:17:00.000-05:00

Day 5

2010-07-08T23:04:00.001-05:00

Started the morning with egg burritos.

Work projects were fun...

Group 1 went to a day care and a senior center in the morning. and Kids club in the afternoon. Great to play with little ones all day.

Group 2 spent the day scraping paint off a local church which will be worked on by the next group. They also got caught in a rain storm and had a mud fight as well as making a slip-and-slide from tarps.

After we returned from our projects we had dinner at Lark's BBQ in Benton Harbor. It was great.

After dinner we had our evening worship session on the beach at sunset. It was a great time of celebration.

Steve and I had the pleasure of washing the student's feet after the service. It was a very emotional time for the students and for us. After a great and emotional night our group "snuck" out for ice cream once the others left the beach. It was a great way to end a powerful and emotional evening.

Tomorrow we get up at 6:30am to pack up and clean the building. Once we leave YouthWorks at about 8:30am we will head to a street ministry here in BH to learn a bit about what is going on with them.

Then its 36 hours of debriefing time before we head to the airport. It's been an amazing week for all the students and I'm excited for them to be able to tell others about their experiences (just remember to wait 24 hours before asking.).

-Adam

Lake MI

2010-07-08T23:01:00.000-05:00

Kellyn and Emily

Lake Michigan

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Evening at Lake Michigan

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Emily's wedding

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Bible time at Kids Club

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Doug getting beaten up

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Salvation army day care

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Day 4 recap

2010-07-07T23:05:00.002-05:00

We are over halfway done with things here after a great day 4.

It was an eventful, productive, challenging and entertaining day.

My crew was in our first day of kids club today. We spent the morning planning our next two days with the children. Some of our students were in charge of games, some music, some arts and crafts and others reading books to the kids.

I got the opportunity to see our second group at the work project during the day as well. That crew did a great job of overcoming feasts and immense heat to get the house completed. Stephanie and Kellyn showed remarkable courage at one point that you should ask them about when they get back.

After dinner we went to Abundant Life Church and encountered a whole new style of worship. (The students haven't stopped talking about how great it was, so be prepared to have a gospel style third service sometime soon).
Emily and Elaina helped lead the congregation in a few songs which was great to see.

...Oh and when your children randomly cheer when Pastor Joel gets up to preach, know they were told to by tonights pastor.

The night ended with a little fashion show where the leaders modeled the youthworks tshirts for the students.

And the students don't know this yet, but after lights out the youthworks staff gave all the leaders a special ice cream party. It was great.

I've been very impressed with the attitude our students have displayed this week. They are having very productive work times with minimal complaining about the heat. They have challenged in many way.

When they get back you should ask all about it. (wait at least 24 hours before expecting to get a real answer. Also, use these daily recaps to ask specific questions.)

Your new youth pastor...

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Leader T-Shirt Models

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Abundant life church

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Leader T-Shirt Models

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Abundandt life church

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Preparing for kids club

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Day 3 recap

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Today was our 2nd and final day at our work projects, tomorrow we switch projects. We had more opportunity to work on Mary's house which was great. She really understood the mission of what we were doing.

The Kids Club group reported that they had a great time with kids. They mentioned being challenged to look not just at the behavior of the children but also to consider their life stories and situations.

At night we went to St Joseph for a scavenger hunt. The students were surprised to see just how much of a contrast there was between BH and SJ. Even one half of the 100 yrd wide river had yachts while the other side was run down. We had a great discussion about this.

Thanks for your prayers.
Adam

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A video from Mary, whose house we painted. Great lady.

http://tiny12.tv/JMW32

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Tonight we are going to see neighboring St Joseph. Should be a pretty stark contrast to Benton Harbor and only 5 minutes away. Students are really starting to wrestle with some of the issues we have talked about for months. Things are going really well.

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Breakfast clean-up

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Day 2 recap

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Here's a recap of today's events. As was the case yesterday its late and I'm too tired to proofread. . Occasionally this phone auto corrects words strangely so if something seems weird, sorry...

2 of our 3 groups went to a work project and the other went to a kids club. Both groups had a great time. No photos are allowed during kids club so that's why those aren't around.

8 of our students are in the 2 groups that painted the house of a great lady named Mary. Mary was originally from Jackson MS and will be a popular subject among students for quite a while. There was a real sense of appreciation from her that was vey meaningful to the students. It's a real privilege to be able to put a face to these projects.

Group 2 went to Kids Club and played with local children for the day. They led games and songs. A couple students who normally won't get up in front of people pushed themselves to not only be up front but to lead.

After returning from our project sites we talked a bit about our experiences. Each day groups of students are in charge of breakfast and dinner so so those involved in dinner got going with that.

After dinner we heard from the local director of the Salvation Army (he holds the rank of Major in the S.A.). He told us a bit about be history of the SA and their work in Benton Harbor. They do some really remarkable things in the community.

After that we watched a local ministry perform some great dance moves (none of which I am physically capable of doing). They are called Saving Myself and get use the arts of dance and music to encourage alternatives to "lifestyles of drugs and guns". They were a lot of fun to watch.

After that we walked to a local gelato shop for some dessert. The shop is also a glass-blowing studio an the $ from the gelato goes towards training for unemployed people in the studio.

We had a night worship session and discussed Peter stepping out of he boat and walking on water. Good discussion and debrief of the day followed.

And now its finally time for some sleep.

One last update... The fake British
accent thing that I mentioned in yesterdays update has taken on a whole new life. Not only do some people believe he's from Liverpool England, but there is at least one girl from another church who believes that the "American accent" he occasionally reverts to is the fake accent.

More tomorrow.

Quote

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From the homeowner whose house we are painting... "my heart is getting full but I'm not gonna cry". Great lady named Mary.

Day 1 work project for 2 of 3 groups.

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Morning Devo time

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Day 1 conclusion

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This is an overview/ highlights of the day post. Check below for pictures and video from today.

We had a good day. Good talk session tonight on John 3. Talked about giving things up and what makes it difficult. We discussed expectations that each student has for the trip. Saw a few fireworks from the parking lot of the salvation army where we are staying.

Oh yeah...and one student has convinced multiple people that he is from Liverpool with a very bad Brittish accent. Even the youthworks staff is in on it. We'll see how long that lasts.

Also, got a visit from Ben Capps, the regional director of youthworks tonight. Ben was in charge of our trip 3 years ago to Louisiana. Nice to see connections like that come full circle. Shows just how broad of a reach we really have in a short week.

Bright and early tomorrow where some will be off to a vbs type Kids Club and others will be painting. At the sites from 9am-3pm.

Having Steve and Heather Hoffman here is fun too. It's really a great way for them to kick off their ministry at BCC.

That's all for now.

PS. I'm not proofreading this post because it's 12:30 and I'm (unsuccessfully) sleeping on a floor typing on a very small keypad. Sorry.

More tomorrow.

Hello from students....Click on parts 1 and 2

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http://tiny12.tv/4CYW8 (Part 1)
http://tiny12.tv/HMB94 (part 2)

First session.

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Touchdown!!!!!

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In Chicago.

About to leave...

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Benton Harbor Mission Trip Updates.

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Day 1 has begun. We're in the car on our way out of Logan at 9:45. Check here for photos, quotes, and updates all week.

Saved How?: No Catch

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by Christopher Lyon on Fri, June 25, 2010

"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:6-7)

One of the ways I know my three-year-old son likes me and cares what I think about him is that he's always saying, "Let me show you something." He grabs my hand and drags me off to get excited with him about his latest discovery.

God wants to show us something. We saw yesterday that He has set us spiritually with Jesus in the exact spot we've been destined to fill forever. It's where we are meant to be. Today he tells us why. Finally. Here comes the small print. Here's the catch to everything He has showered on us. "He wants to show us in the coming thousands and thousands of years how endless His grace is by treating us kindly in Jesus."

Oh. No catch. In fact, you could define grace as "a gift with no catch." Apparently, it's not just that God loves us and has mercy to spare. God also likes us. Wants to be with us. Wants us to enjoy being with Him forever.

Oh.

Think: Why do you think we're always looking for a catch? Why do we want so badly to think we can ear some part of God's gifts to us?

Pray: Take some time today to think about it and tell God exactly why you're so grateful for all He has done for you.

Do: Pay attention to how people treat each other today. Why do people do good things for each other? See any examples of "no catch" giving?

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"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:6)

The Father who loves us -- who is loaded with mercy -- didn't just bring us to spiritual life at the moment of our salvation and send us on our way. He had a plan for our new lives. He had a spot picked out for us in heaven right next to Jesus. It's the place we were destined to sit. It's the life we were built for.

The trippy part is that it's where we live right now, spiritually speaking. In Colossians 3, Paul wrote that our lives today are "hidden" in heaven with Jesus. We don't always feel like it, but there's no doubt in God's mind that those of us who have trusted in Jesus as our only hope belong in heaven forever. What we feel -- deep down, in our core -- is a groaning, an achy longing that we'll never drown out. Paul said in Romans that it won't go away until our "adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."

On the ugly days -- when bad things happen or when we do bad things -- we need to remember we don't really live here. We don't belong here. It's a temporary address. Soon our hidden lives will be revealed, and every whiff of death will disappear.

Think: What does it mean to you to put your hope in heaven? Are you confident that's where you'll send forever?

Pray: If you've trusted in Jesus for your eternal salvation, thank God for making you spiritually alive and making a place for you in heaven with Jesus.

Do: If you haven't, yet, read Colossians 3:1-4 and Romans 8:18-25.