World Changers Day Four

What a day!  This is what we came here for!  There were four professions of faith on the streets of Tupelo today.  Three of those were students leading adults to Jesus.  STUDENTS leading adults to Jesus.

Mariah Brown was poured out today.  She was burdened by a lady she met Tuesday.  She returned today to visit.  After a 10 or 15 minute visit the lady asked Mariah what she meant when she said there is a difference between religion and a relationship with Jesus.  By the power of the Holy Spirit she poured out the heart of the Gospel to this lady.  The lady couldn’t do anything but accept Jesus and begin a relationship with him.  This is why we came!

Casey Guess was with a group that was able to lead a couple of men at a trailer park to Christ.  Our team was able to lead a 14 year-old foster child to Jesus.  This is why we came!

Tonight was the “concert of prayer” service.  In short, we stop everything and pray as teams and then as youth groups.  The mood is very somber and the prayer becomes very genuine.  Katie Chenowith re-committed her life to Christ tonight.  A couple other students mended a hurting relationship.  Another student is on the brink of salvation.  When we stop and just pray, God works.

Tomorrow is our last opportunity.  Please pray again for the people we will encounter.  Also pray for the student here who is close.  Her heart is as good as gold…she just needs God to draw her (Again, John 6:44).

Thank you for all the prayer support.  Thank you for all the financial support to send so many kids here.  Thank you for allowing God to shape us into a church to GOES, not sits.

A divine appointment…

I will post a full report later tonight but wanted to share a huge praise!  John 4 is the story of a divine appointment between Jesus and the Samaritan woman.  Today we experienced a divine appointment of our own.

Upon completion  of our home today we took to the streets to evangelize an apartment community.  There we met Vanessa.  Vanessa is a sweet foster-mother who is also helping care for her two-year old grandson (who, by the way, was precious!).

As we unfolded things to her it became evident that she was a Jesus follower.  She needed help, though.  Her most recent foster child was very troubled…a broken home, some criminal background, and generally unhappy.  She (the foster child, age 12) was also white in this predominantly black area.  The foster mom’s concern was finding a church where Bentley, the foster child, would be comfortable.

As as a group of students and myself began to mingle, pray with, and play with Vanessa and her other foster children our crew chief Billy and a female student from our team Taylor took Bentley aside.  After many minutes and many tears they emerged from a corner seeking a hammer and nail.  They proceeded to the nearest tree where Bentley hammered the nail into the tree.

This young lady was in desperate need of love.  She was angry, felt betrayed by her family, and was lonely.  Billy and Taylor allowed the Holy Spirit to use them and God did the drawing…Bentley marked the spot where she asked the Lord to rescue and redeem her with that nail.

Bentley had one of the most genuine professions of faith I’ve ever been able to see…Praise the Lord that this sweet girl now knows the love of Jesus.  Praise God that He planned long ago that our group would finish our project early, have extra Gatorade and waters, and be on the right street at the right time.

Her road will be hard, so please pray for her.  Her eternity, however, is secure and she will forever know that she is loved by our Father.  If World Changers 2011 Tupelo project was put together just for Bentley it was a success.

Thank you, Lord, for divine appointments…we seem to be having a lot of them lately.

World Changers Day Three

Day three was very much a success.  Today is exactly what these students came here for.  From a productivity standpoint, today was incredible.  To hear each participant speak of the volume of work completed today was very encouraging.

Our evangelistic job today had a very specific goal.  Each night we have a worship service and a message from the project coordinator, Ricky Young.  The worship is simple and intimate…one guy with his acoustic guitar.  It’s a dramatic change for our students but a very important one.  It serves as a reminder that worship is not about style, but about heart.

Back to our goal for the day…tonight’s worship service was open to the public.  Our job was to beat the streets of Tupelo inviting residents.  Specifically, we were to reach the neighborhoods where we worked.  Our teams worked hard and had some in attendance.  It was wonderful to worship alongside the people we get to serve this week.

It was hot and humid today.  Fortunately, everyone stayed hydrated.  The teams that had roofing jobs were definitely the biggest concern but they did very well.  The team I am on drove by a team at 3:00 as they were on the roof.  I was grateful for their hearts and God’s mercy that he kept me off those teams…

Tomorrow most teams will finish their labor work.  We then begin to bless the school that allows 260 teenagers to sleep on its floors for a week by painting around here.

Tomorrow night should be very special…please pray.  We will have what World Changers call a “concert of prayer.”  During our trip to Dallas last Summer, this night changed the lives of several of our students.  If what happens here has just a fraction of the heart that one had, lives will again be changed.

Students have the opportunity to give financially tomorrow, too.  The offering taken will go to 10 church plants across North America.  Specifically, it will go to help them begin a student ministry.  Students here pouring into students in a future youth group…I love World Changers!

These next two days are vital for the accomplishment of our greater purpose…glorifying Jesus and helping bring people to Him.  Please plead with God to draw people.  Please pray for God to use these students.  Please pray in faith.  Our mission depends on it…

World Changers Day Two

Today the work began.  Following a 6:00 a.m. breakfast (talk about culture shock for some students who’ve been on Summer vacation), we loaded up the vans of 11 person teams and assaulted Tupelo!  Carrying tools, bibles, tracts, and LOTS of water we went to work.

Anytime you put together a project of this magnitude, supply issues arise.  This year is no different.  Some crews, including Mark Ardemagni’s, did not receive their supplies until mid-afternoon.  North Park should be VERY proud of her youth leaders.  These adults improvised, adapted, and overcame to make this a fruitful day in spite of supply issues.

One area where we experienced NO issues was the lunch plan.  Each site has a church adopt it and provide lunch for them that week.  I spoke with every team and, across the board, the lunches were great.  North Park, we are doing this in Fort Smith in August…please join in!  You have no idea how wonderful it is to see the lunch van pull up…we get to do this for World Changers Fort Smith project!

The single biggest issue today was well beyond anyone’s control…the weather.  For a little over three hours we have heavy rain today.  Most of our projects are paint jobs and were basically shut down.  It seemed like a lost day.

But then again…not really.  Maybe that was God’s plan for day one of the field work.

The rain forced us to focus our efforts NOT on the home but on the neighborhood and its people.  Every group (22) sent at least one group of people to walk the streets and talk to its people.  While there were no new professions of faith, we made it clear why we are here…to honor and serve our Lord Jesus and to make disciples.  Seeds were planted.  Please continue to pray John 6:44 over the people we contacted today.

The students of North Park Youth are TRULY exceptional.  On almost every work site, they are the hardest workers with the best attitudes.  This group of young people has given their lives to Jesus and are honoring Him with their effort.  You can take much pride in the work the Lord has done in these students.  They are allowing Him to use them in very uncomfortable ways.

One student knocked on doors just to pray with people for the first time today.  Another student (who just entered “youth”) took one of the hardest jobs at his site.  One college student stepped into a roofing job as if she had been roofing her whole life.  Some took natural leadership roles on their crews, pouring into the other students on their team.  I am so proud to be associated with this group of young people…you should be, too.

Continue to pray for boldness.  The crew chiefs all seem confident they will complete the work on their respective houses.   We want to see new followers who will create new followers who will create new followers and so on…Please pray!

World Changers Day One

A crew of 27 students and 8 adults assembled today at 6:10 a.m. to leave for North Park Youth’s church camp.  If you keep up with this ministry you know that last year we changed our camp philosophy.  We abandoned the traditional church camps of the past to try our hand at a mission camp…World Changers.

Last year was a great success.  Attendance was almost identical as we took to the streets of Dallas, Texas to rehab homes, heal hearts, and tell people the Good News.

This year God has placed us in what seems the be the humidity capital of the mid-south…Tupelo, Mississippi.  The task will be very similar to last year.  North Park Youth and 230 other students will scrape, paint, roof, apply siding, and do other home repairs in the most impoverished portions of Tupelo.  It was very hot in Dallas last year.  It will be very hot here.  There were long lines for the shower trailer last year.  There will be long lines again this year.  The only rule in the cafeteria last year was hurry up and wait.  The same can be said this year.  We are sleeping on air mattresses on the floor of a school again.

Let me be clear, though.  We are so very grateful for the opportunity to serve here.  We are so grateful for air conditioning and shower trailers.  We are so grateful for the people working their tails off in the cafeteria.  We are so grateful for those who have spent months organizing this.  We are so grateful God counted us worthy to serve Him here and now.

One thing is markedly different this year.  This year we have a very clear understanding of the mission.  Last year we came to rehab homes and bless home owners.  There is certainly nothing wrong with that…

However, this year is different.  God now seems to have spent the past six months preparing us for our one mission:  Evangelize Tupelo, Mississippi.  We will use the platform of home repair to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with Tupelo.  The adult team God set for this trip is laser focused.  The students have seen the redeeming power of Jesus over the past six months and are so hungry to pour themselves out.  We are ready to serve him with our hands, feet, AND our MOUTHS!

Please pray tomorrow not for safety and not that we would be effective carpenters and painters.  Please pray that we would be BOLD like Peter (Acts 4).  Please pray that we would use EVERY opportunity to share the Gospel.  Please pray that God would draw people to His Son (John 6:44).

I can’t wait to share the victories God accomplishes through the students of North Park Youth.

Contempt is good?

The ups and downs of scripture can, at times, be very hard to grasp.  For example…

“Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.  The old life is gone, a new life has begun!” 2 Cor. 5: 17 (NLT)

Doesn’t that sound glorious?!  You become a follower of Christ and your life is about to change!  For those like myself, who came with some nice-sized baggage, that change can be pretty dramatic.

But a month or two into your new life, you notice something.  The people around you are a different.  Or, are you different?  The people you used to spend your time with don’t seem interested in being in your presence much anymore.  I like the way Peter says it…

“Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do.  So they slander you.” 1 Peter 4: 4 (NLT)

Doesn’t that sound fun?!

I imagined this to be a problem primarily among american young people.  Someone who gives their life to Jesus changes dramatically, quickly, and radically.  They are then ostracized by their former closest friends.

But then we went to Haiti.  The same issue is in place their.  Clearly Peter knew this would NOT be simply a cultural problem.

So what do we do?  We start by finishing 1 Peter 4.  He goes on in verse 14 to tell us to be happy when we are insulted for being a Christian.  Be happy.  How?  1 Peter 4: 14 says “For then the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you.”(NLT)  That sounds pretty “happy” and for those who have experienced it you know it to be true.

Students and adults alike…let us be willing to be different.  NOT so that we may pat ourselves on the back and say “good job.”  Rather, so our friends, maybe even just one of them, will see the light and love of Jesus Christ.  So maybe just one of our friends can come to experience the glorious Spirit of God resting on THEM because you were bold and brave enough to be different, to be slandered.

How was the trip!?

How was the trip?

A genuine, kind, seemingly simple question many ask following our return from Haiti last Friday.

Having been to World Changers (U.S. missions), Mexico squatter camps, and impoverished areas of Crawford County I expected to be able to answer that question.

It’s not that simple this time, though.  I literally don’t know how to answer that question.  The trip was “good.”  We accomplished much through God’s power!  But to call the trip “good” just doesn’t feel right.

The trip was productive.  35 souls are now forever rescued by Jesus.  But the volume of work still to be done makes it hard to answer “productive.”

The trip was awe-inspiring.  Between the faith of the Haitian Christian community and the faithfulness of our Lord in prayer, I am in awe. I find myself struggling to focus on that aspect, though.

“Are you glad to be home” is another good, honest question we hear a lot.  I am glad to be with my children again.  But I find it hard to say “I’m glad to be home.”  Our trip to Mexico a few years ago kept a part of my heart.  Haiti seems to have taken the rest.  The people, the great need, the passion of a few Christ followers…all consume my thoughts right now.  Not to mention the particular young child from the orphanage Kim and I bonded with.

I humbly seek your prayers.  First for Haiti…they need God-fearing men and women in positions of influence to reverse nearly a century of demonic control.  They need work.  They need shelter.  Many need Jesus.

Secondly for us.  I’ve never been anywhere or done anything that has created such a burden and feeling of heaviness upon its completion.  I don’t even know how to describe what the prayer need is.  Something along the lines of restoration, but I don’t want to lose the helpless feeling for Haiti’s people.  It’s confusing honestly.

Thirdly for adoptive guidance, blessing, and favor.  Three of the couples who were on the Haiti team have children from the orphanage they want to bring here.  God will truly have to do many miracles to see that happen…but He is a big God capable of all things.

Please keep asking questions…I hope to have the capacity to answer them soon.  Until then we praise God for opening our eyes to the suffering that is very real in this world and to the ONLY hope we have in Jesus Christ.  Philippians 4: 4.