Summer 2010

We’re so excited about what all we’ll be doing this Summer. Stay posted for more updates about Nashville, Dallas, middle school camp, and more!

Also we’ll be posting some info about our new Summer interns soon!

June 26, 2009

Wow…what an incredible way we have begun this Summer. June 6-13 we took 180 people to Dallas to partner with Pastor Chris Simmons and Cornerstone Baptist Church. We saw God do amazing things in the lives of people in Dallas and our group from Trussville.

We got home and had LOST Middle School VBS the following week. It was a great time of fun for the middle schoolers…and there were a lot of new faces!

Each Monday night our interns are leading a Bible Study called Dig. They’re doing a great job, and God is using this time to teach our students more about who He is.

Wednesday nights we are doing something fun together as a student ministry. We call it Connect.

There is a lot on the horizon…

I can’t wait to see what else God does this Summer.

Don’t forget…It’s all about Him!

-Dan

Day 6 Recap

Day 6::

Today was our last day here in Dallas. When we woke up this morning it was raining like cats and dogs, which unfortunately stopped us from doing Backyard Bible Clubs, but the Lord had a different plan for us today. Our word this week has been “flexible” and that is exactly what everyone was today, from the kitchen staff, to the bus drivers, to the students.

After breakfast, we broke in to various groups which consisted of construction, clothes distribution, cleaning apartments, serving the homeless, and cleaning up the soup kitchen. We worked in these groups all morning, and it was so neat to see everyone being so willing to serve wherever they were needed.

When lunch rolled around, we ate and then broke into groups again; one group stayed at Cornerstone to help with the clothes distribution closet and soup kitchen, and the remainder of the group headed to the Dallas Galleria for a few hours to relax and do a little shopping.

Jeff and Dan took the Seniors out for a special dinner tonight, while the rest of us ate yummy bar-b-que:) They had a great time reminiscing and hanging out on their last mission trip of high school.

The remainder of the night was spent cleaning and packing, wrapping up with a movie and lights out…everyone is so excited about going to Six Flags tomorrow that they probably wont be able to sleep:) As we travel there tomorrow and also begin heading home, please pray for safety. God has been so good to keep us safe while we have been here in Dallas, and just pray that He continues to do so. Guess I can’t end this one with “until tomorrow,” so I guess I will just say….cya…

(blog updates courtesy of Liz)

Day 5 Recap

Day 5::

Today began like any other day, we woke up around 6:30, ate a fantastic breakfast thanks to our amazing kitchen ladies☺, and prepared to leave for our sites…the only difference was the weather. All morning it was overcast and looked like rain was headed our way. This was obviously a little bit of a bummer because most of us expected the attendance at Backyard Bible Clubs to be significantly lower, but what we didn’t realize was that God had other plans. The attendance was exactly the same, if not higher than all the other days. This was a great testament to how much these kids love what we are doing here in Dallas and want so much to be a part of it.

While Backyard Bible Clubs are so important, one of the most pivotal parts of our team this week has been the construction crew. This team has worked so hard, and as Dan so intelligently put it, “deserves some mad props.” These guys and girls have woken up at least an hour before the rest of us even thought about getting out of bed, and worked tirelessly in the sun all day long. They have cleared out the land surrounding Cornerstone Church, done landscaping work, and have been putting up a BEAUTIFUL fence that will surround the church yard. They have all been a true example to the rest of us, of what it means to work as if working for the Lord. Keep them in your prayers as they wrap up their projects tomorrow, that they will finish on time and stay safe while doing so.

The rest of the afternoon was spent resting; we watched movies and ate ice cream Sundays☺ Thank you for all your prayers and encourage-o-grams this week. They have definitely gone a long way! Tomorrow is the last day…pray that we will accomplish all that God has planned for us, and do so joyfully☺ Until tomorrow…

Summer

We’re so excited about what all we’ll be doing this Summer. Stay posted for more updates about Nashville, Dallas, middle school camp, and more!

Also we’ll be posting some info about our new Summer interns soon!

Day 4 Recap

DAY 4::

Day 4…what a day! Trying to put all we experienced into words can not possibly do any of of it justice. We kicked off with Backyard Bible Clubs again. All five groups reported a great turn out and spent the morning loving on all the kids and teaching them about Christ. The students are quickly building relationships with the kids in their areas and are really learning what it means to be a light to this community.

When we wrapped up the Backyard Bible Clubs, we quickly ate our Subway sandwiches:) and headed back to a park near the church where we we served lunch to the homeless. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with them, getting to know them, loving on them, and letting them love on us and share their stories. We had the opportunity to pray with some, and share with them the story of Christ. We all left there with a new perspective on how blessed we are, and also with a deeper love and appreciation for each of the people we met.

We ended this amazing day with a bang, taking a trip to The Ballpark at Arlington to watch the Texas Rangers play the Toronto Blue Jays. The game was less than impressive, with the Blue Jays shutting out the Rangers with a 9-0 win. Though the action from the game was not all that amusing, we of course found various ways to entertain ourselves throughout. We took full advantage of the “all you can eat” buffet:) and enjoyed hanging out and just spending time with one another.

We are looking forward to what God is going to do with and through us tomorrow. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Until tomorrow night…

Tuesday 3:34 pm

Sorry that we have been a little slow updating the blog…it’s been super busy around here lately. This morning our groups went out and worked at their backyard Bible club and construction sites. At lunch we fed over 200 homeless men and women and our choir sang. It was pretty warm today but everyone kept a smile on their face. We’re leaving for the rangers game in about an hour. Most of the high school students and middle school girls are taking a nap during this short break…the middle school boys are wrestling. We’ll provide pictures via Twitter from the game tonight. Grace and peace!

Day 3 Recap

DAY 3::

We kicked off our day with five different Backyard Bible Clubs all
across south Dallas. Each group had a great turn out, overall we
ministered to 160 kids!! It was an amazing time filled with games,
worship, a Bible story, and arts and crafts.

Throughout the day many of our students and adults participated in
construction around the area. This mostly consisted of clearing fields,
cleaning apartments, and also clearing debris from the surrounding area.

During lunch, many members of our team were blessed to spend time with
the one and only, W.L. W.L. is an incredible man with an incredible
testimony who showed us a side of Dallas that we had yet to see. Through
our experience with him, we were able to better understand the reason
why we are here.

The Doulos choir had the privilege to perform at Park Manor nursing
home. They all came back with touching stories about different people
they met and ministered to, and who ministered to them.  After today’s
many events, we quickly wound down with a time of prayer and worship and
reflection on what the Lord had done throughout our day.

Monday 3:08 pm

What an amazing day we’ve had thus far… we saw over 150 kids come to our backyard bible clubs. We also worked incredibly hard and cleared out several areas of land for the church. Our students are sharing God’s love and doing His work with a continual smile on their face. Choir is headed to a nursing home to sing tonight. The rest of the students will be working to get supplies ready for the bybc’s tomorrow. It’s been a great day!

Recap Day 2

DAY 2::

Great day of worship with Cornerstone Baptist Church!  Their choir joined with our choir and all I can say is wow!  Then Pastor Chris brought the WORD.  It is so cool to get to worship outside of our comfort zone. It was a glimpse of what I think heaven will be like.  People from all ages, of different races and backgrounds.  Thanks Marty and Doulos.

Canvasing the neighborhood with flyers to promote the backyard Bible clubs was very eye opening for our team.  They saw a ton of different needs and I believe gained a new appreciation for what they have.

Concert in the park.  One person from the neighborhood thought the fair was in town.  He said that he would tell every kid on their block to come to the backyard Bible club.  The man that was going to tell his entire neighborhood was in a wheelchair!  If only we didn’t make up a million excuses for not telling others about what God is up to.

Grilled out burgers and just hung out some tonight.  The burgers were great and the time for the team to spend together was great!

Prepared for tomorrow.  Cooler filled up.  T-shirts washed.  Backyard Bible club supplies sorted.

For Monday, pray that people’s lives will be touched through backyard Bible clubs, construction, choir opps, and just the way they see our team interact with each other.

Sleep.