This place is so beautiful!!! Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. By the time I get the time too I'm soo tired I fall asleep writing! We have had so many wonderful experiences here in Canada. The people are wonderful and so inviting.
A few days ago we rode a ski lift up to Mt. Whistler and then took the gondolas over to another peak. It was so beautiful! God spoke to us through creation. If he can make something that majestic it just makes me think of how much more beautiful he is than our minds can imagine.
Yesterday morning we were at Eastside Vineyard church in Vancouver. It was a smaller sanctuary but it was filled with people. We barely had room to fit us all in there!!! Afterwards we had a ministry time and then went and had a picnic with the church members.
Last night we were at a ministry called More Than 12. This is one of the coolest ministries I've seen. They mix worship music with hip hop and write verses that they rap during praise and worship. They have dj's and dancers and the works. They don't have a stationary building that is their own but they meet in a building that is a bar every other night of the week. But on Sundays they turn it into a place of worship! How cool is that? They also have a street ministry team that goes out every Sunday a few hours before their worship service and invites people to come. They do a meal at 5 and feed people in the community and then do a worship service.
This inspired me. I know that there are other ministries in other places that do that sort of thing as well. That is what spreading the Gospel is about. Going into the communities where the people are broken and bringing the Gospel to them where they are at. Yes, do invite them to church, but have you ever thought about taking church to them? Church isn't a building. Church is gathering in the name of Jesus. Doing life together, taking care of the broken people around us and pointing them to Jesus. That's church. We do church every day on this mission trip. We are together 24 hours a day. We fellowship and have community together. We share the Gospel. We eat. We pray. We read Scripture. We reach out to the broken and needy. That's what Jesus did.
Matthew 9:10-12
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
We want to be about what Jesus was about. We want to reach out to the sick. We are all broken and in need of Jesus.
Jesus is calling us to step out of our comfort zones. For the leaders at More Than 12 that meant to have church in a bar. For us it means being on a bus together for 14 days and sharing our stories with one another and those we don't know. What is He calling you to? What are you sacrificing for the Gospel to be spread? God is awakening us to something new. Something fresh and something different. It will be uncomfortable. Are you ready to go there with Him?
Monday, June 13, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Day 3 and 4
The last two days have been amazing. We have really been meshing as a group and getting to know each other and have been getting along really well. We have been praying for the Holy Spirit to move in us and He has. Slowly He is revealing Himself to us one by one. Every time we do a worship service He stirs up something new in our hearts.
Last night we were in Zillah, Washington and we had a small audience but God really moved. There were a lot of young people there and we got to really encourage them!
Tonight we are in Belfair, Washington we had a really good turn out. Some families and older folks and younger kids. A youth group from across town even came! God has really been on the move.
We have been reading the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan and it has been challenging us to search our hearts to see God in a new way.
Something that really has got me thinking is a video we watched yesterday morning that was of Donald Miller talking about his new book "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" He talked about story and our lives as a story. What makes a story meaningful, he said, was a character that wants something and has to overcome conflict to get it. It's really got me thinking about what I want for my life. What God is calling me to. There are many things. My dream job, my relationships, my passions. None of these come easy. But all of it will make a good story. Am I living my life in a way that makes a good story? Are you living a life that makes a good story? How are our lives intertwined with God's story?
My Professor Jim Smith tells this story about his good friend Rich Mullins,
Last night we were in Zillah, Washington and we had a small audience but God really moved. There were a lot of young people there and we got to really encourage them!
Tonight we are in Belfair, Washington we had a really good turn out. Some families and older folks and younger kids. A youth group from across town even came! God has really been on the move.
We have been reading the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan and it has been challenging us to search our hearts to see God in a new way.
Something that really has got me thinking is a video we watched yesterday morning that was of Donald Miller talking about his new book "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" He talked about story and our lives as a story. What makes a story meaningful, he said, was a character that wants something and has to overcome conflict to get it. It's really got me thinking about what I want for my life. What God is calling me to. There are many things. My dream job, my relationships, my passions. None of these come easy. But all of it will make a good story. Am I living my life in a way that makes a good story? Are you living a life that makes a good story? How are our lives intertwined with God's story?
My Professor Jim Smith tells this story about his good friend Rich Mullins,
"One day Rich was on a reservation teaching music to Native American kids. One day he went to a 4th grade class and they were doing reading and writing on that particular day. The teacher once a week would go up to the board and say” alright class it is time for us to write a story”, and the students loved this because everyone loves stories. She would get up there and the kids got all excited because everyone of us has a story and they were getting ready to write a story. Every week they had someone be the protagonist ( the person the story is about). So this little boy raises his hand, he is on the edge of his seat and says, “Teacher, Teacher write me into your story!” Rich then told Jim at that moment it was a epiphany. That, that was the longing of his heart. Jesus write me into your story!"
God is writing a big story and we are all part of it. How is God writing you into His story?
Grace and Peace,
Haley
Monday, June 6, 2011
Day 2 Delta, CO
So right now we are on the bus. Most of us are sleeping. We have about a 9 hour trip ahead of us today! It's been a great trip so far. I want to tell you a little about our day yesterday.
So we woke up bright and early, got our swimming suits on and loaded up the bus to head to Noah's Ark Rafting. We got there and waited around for a little while for our guides to give us some instructions. Pretty soon we got our wet suits on and our safety talk and then loaded up our rafts to get ready for our adventure. Noah's Ark is a wonderful ministry. They do everything with excellence and all for the glory of God! All of their staff is hired on character before their experience with rafting. Then they are trained in rafting skills. Our guide was named John McGreevy. We just called him McGreevy. He is a biological science major who is in between undergrad and grad school. The whole trip he was telling us all about the trees and rocks and animals. He opened our eyes to God's wonderful creation. He had such a love for what he did. We got to talking (before the water got crazy) and he told us that he has been studying non-violence and reading some of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speeches and letters. He was telling us about all that he was learning. This caught my attention because just recently I had taken a class at Friends called Theology of Forgiveness. We talked a lot about non-violence and the cycle that creates and keeps creating violence. I was able to give him some suggestions of some books to read. (The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal, No Future Without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu, and Exclusion and Embrace by Mirslov Volf) Seriously, check out these books they are some of the best books I have read. Each raft guide had a different story and they all shared about their ministry while we were rafting. Jesus and the Arkansas River and crazy rapids... that makes for one amazing experience!
Later that night we ended up in Delta, CO. The church welcomed us with open arms. They were truly wonderful. They were so inviting and they had a genuine love for God in their hearts. During our worship service while the youth praise band was leading we had some technical difficulties and lost sound for a while. They were singing Grace Like Rain. It was a powerful moment. It reminded us that God does not need big speakers and lights to move. He moves in spite of our shortfalls. We thought we got it all figured out and then sure enough in the middle of our first song, All My Fountains the music went out. Pause.
Funny Story: Earlier that day after rafting when our guides found out that we were a musical team they had us sing them a song. The song we chose to sing was All My Fountains. A capella. We had practice. If there ever was a God moment. This was it. We were ready for it!
Some of the sound guys clapped to help them keep a beat and they went right on singing. They didn't miss a step. It was a little familiar to them!
The musical was more powerful than ever. The people were so touched and we had a ministry time at the end an many came and kneeled at the altar. There was an urgency of action. To live out our faith. I felt it too. In deep ways. I still haven't made it through watching the whole thing without crying. It touches to very deep parts of my story that are still being written. All of our stories are still being written. There is no amount of words that I can use to describe to you how much I see God moving in these young people. They are the future of our church.
Love them.
Cherish them.
Disciple them.
Listen to them.
Teach them.
Learn from them.
Help write their stories.
Point them to Jesus.
We are so thankful for all of your support! We couldn't do this without your prayers. And a shout out to all the families that hosted us last night, thank you so much. You are the hands and feet of Jesus.
Well I think it's about time for a nap.
Grace and Peace,
Haley
So we woke up bright and early, got our swimming suits on and loaded up the bus to head to Noah's Ark Rafting. We got there and waited around for a little while for our guides to give us some instructions. Pretty soon we got our wet suits on and our safety talk and then loaded up our rafts to get ready for our adventure. Noah's Ark is a wonderful ministry. They do everything with excellence and all for the glory of God! All of their staff is hired on character before their experience with rafting. Then they are trained in rafting skills. Our guide was named John McGreevy. We just called him McGreevy. He is a biological science major who is in between undergrad and grad school. The whole trip he was telling us all about the trees and rocks and animals. He opened our eyes to God's wonderful creation. He had such a love for what he did. We got to talking (before the water got crazy) and he told us that he has been studying non-violence and reading some of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speeches and letters. He was telling us about all that he was learning. This caught my attention because just recently I had taken a class at Friends called Theology of Forgiveness. We talked a lot about non-violence and the cycle that creates and keeps creating violence. I was able to give him some suggestions of some books to read. (The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal, No Future Without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu, and Exclusion and Embrace by Mirslov Volf) Seriously, check out these books they are some of the best books I have read. Each raft guide had a different story and they all shared about their ministry while we were rafting. Jesus and the Arkansas River and crazy rapids... that makes for one amazing experience!
Later that night we ended up in Delta, CO. The church welcomed us with open arms. They were truly wonderful. They were so inviting and they had a genuine love for God in their hearts. During our worship service while the youth praise band was leading we had some technical difficulties and lost sound for a while. They were singing Grace Like Rain. It was a powerful moment. It reminded us that God does not need big speakers and lights to move. He moves in spite of our shortfalls. We thought we got it all figured out and then sure enough in the middle of our first song, All My Fountains the music went out. Pause.
Funny Story: Earlier that day after rafting when our guides found out that we were a musical team they had us sing them a song. The song we chose to sing was All My Fountains. A capella. We had practice. If there ever was a God moment. This was it. We were ready for it!
Some of the sound guys clapped to help them keep a beat and they went right on singing. They didn't miss a step. It was a little familiar to them!
The musical was more powerful than ever. The people were so touched and we had a ministry time at the end an many came and kneeled at the altar. There was an urgency of action. To live out our faith. I felt it too. In deep ways. I still haven't made it through watching the whole thing without crying. It touches to very deep parts of my story that are still being written. All of our stories are still being written. There is no amount of words that I can use to describe to you how much I see God moving in these young people. They are the future of our church.
Love them.
Cherish them.
Disciple them.
Listen to them.
Teach them.
Learn from them.
Help write their stories.
Point them to Jesus.
We are so thankful for all of your support! We couldn't do this without your prayers. And a shout out to all the families that hosted us last night, thank you so much. You are the hands and feet of Jesus.
Well I think it's about time for a nap.
Grace and Peace,
Haley
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Day 1- Salida, CO
Well I'm all settled in and all the girls are slowly chattering themselves to sleep. It's definitely been a long day. We started out strong this morning with a wonderful send off by all of our beautiful families. Seriously... None of us would be here with out you guys! Shortly after we got on the road we did our quiet times. This mornings was written by Pastor Dick and he shared a story about taking his family hiking in Colorado and accidentally dropping Katie's camera into a giant crack. He ended up buying her a new one but he related it to our pride and Jesus paying for our new life.
After quiet times some slept and some played games in the back. I did a little of both. We stopped for lunch in Garden City and ended up seeing a cute little boy named Jesus. He had a baseball jersey on with Jesus written on the back and the he was number one. We all got a kick out of it and kids were trying to take pictures without being noticed. Jesus met us in McDonalds through that little boy.
After lunch we put in a video called Basics and it's a series by Francis Chan. The first one talked about the fear of God. We then discussed how we have been taught about the fear of God. Have we heard a fire and brimstone message that is only fear? Have we heard that it's not really fear but just a reverential awe? I talked with Dayton and we said there must be a middle ground. A fear out of genuine love for God. I'm sure if we were to see God face to face we would be afraid. Just as Isaiah. But when we have that fear. God swoops in and shows us his relentless love. Isn't that the beauty in it?
Our service tonight went well considering the craziness. The bus beat the van by about and hour and a half. When the van finally got here we had 20 minutes to set up. We really worked as a team. During the musical we figured out that some of the speakers weren't hooked up just right and Kevin was running and crawling around trying to fix it all. In spite of all of that the group did amazing!
The people here in Salida, CO are wonderful. They were so happy to meet us and talk with us. One of the girls told her mom she wanted to move to Augusta so she could be a part of our youth group!! They were all more than helpful and we enjoyed getting to spend some time with them.
I posted a video of some worship we did after we got back from showers. It's on our facebook group site. Hopefully sometime soon I will be able to get a video of a song or two up. Well it's getting late and I better get some rest. We have an early morning! Tomorrow we will go white river rafting at Noah's Ark and then have a picnic before continuing on our journey. Thanks so much for all your prayers and for following along. Feel free to leave comments on here or on facebook. I will read them to the kids every couple of days or so!!! They love hearing from you.
Grace and Peace,
Haley
After quiet times some slept and some played games in the back. I did a little of both. We stopped for lunch in Garden City and ended up seeing a cute little boy named Jesus. He had a baseball jersey on with Jesus written on the back and the he was number one. We all got a kick out of it and kids were trying to take pictures without being noticed. Jesus met us in McDonalds through that little boy.
After lunch we put in a video called Basics and it's a series by Francis Chan. The first one talked about the fear of God. We then discussed how we have been taught about the fear of God. Have we heard a fire and brimstone message that is only fear? Have we heard that it's not really fear but just a reverential awe? I talked with Dayton and we said there must be a middle ground. A fear out of genuine love for God. I'm sure if we were to see God face to face we would be afraid. Just as Isaiah. But when we have that fear. God swoops in and shows us his relentless love. Isn't that the beauty in it?
Our service tonight went well considering the craziness. The bus beat the van by about and hour and a half. When the van finally got here we had 20 minutes to set up. We really worked as a team. During the musical we figured out that some of the speakers weren't hooked up just right and Kevin was running and crawling around trying to fix it all. In spite of all of that the group did amazing!
The people here in Salida, CO are wonderful. They were so happy to meet us and talk with us. One of the girls told her mom she wanted to move to Augusta so she could be a part of our youth group!! They were all more than helpful and we enjoyed getting to spend some time with them.
I posted a video of some worship we did after we got back from showers. It's on our facebook group site. Hopefully sometime soon I will be able to get a video of a song or two up. Well it's getting late and I better get some rest. We have an early morning! Tomorrow we will go white river rafting at Noah's Ark and then have a picnic before continuing on our journey. Thanks so much for all your prayers and for following along. Feel free to leave comments on here or on facebook. I will read them to the kids every couple of days or so!!! They love hearing from you.
Grace and Peace,
Haley
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