2011 Slideshow Video

Greenspace 2011 to Cleveland is HIStory, but God will continue to use our experiences and relationships to grow our faith.

Yo! If you are interested, here is the link to a video with some pictures from our trip. I just put some music to it. Praise God for all he has done in, through, and among the group that went!

And thanks for all your support!

Josh

Thoughts on an amazing week...

Growing up I went to a VBS once or twice. I went on one mission trip, and had a couple other short mission experiences during youth group. The first "big event" I ever planned at CCC was middle school mission week in 2007. Other than that...I have only been in Ohio twice - never to Cleveland - and I had never done inner city work. I am not exactly experienced in the things we did this week. Needless to say, this week in Cleveland was a challenge for me.

God is faithful! As leaders, we talked about how amazing this week was many, many times. We had very little drama. No messy boy-girl relationship stuff, and overall, the kids listened really well. We actually heard from the people in Cleveland that this was the most well run VBS yet, and best of all, our kids did almost everything. That speaks to their maturity and how they've grown over the past year.

This is my first group of 8th grade students as a pastor. I really could not ask for a better first year, first group of students, or first set of leaders. I could not be more proud of the entire group of people I served with on this trip.

This is the verse that was constantly in my head for the entire week. "But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me." 2 Cor 12:9

Blessings.
Josh

What a great week!

As i take some time to reflect back on this past week, one thing keeps sticking out in my mind: God showed up in amazing ways! Daily, as the students opened themselves up to the Spirit's leading, God worked through them in unexpected ways. God showed his faithfulness over and over again throughout this trip.

I have been so proud of and impressed by each student on the trip. They asked deep questions that I never thought of when I was their age. Even when they were at their most tired point, they were still willing to serve and get work done. Yesterday, a group of girls stopped and prayed for a woman who had fainted at Cedar Point. I could tell countless stories of how the students were able to talk to many people with amazing stories because they were willing to follow the Spirit's leading, but I will let the students share those stories with you themselves.

In closing, I will just say that I have been super blessed to be on this trip and be around this great group of students. Praise God for what He did in us and through us this past week!

-Mike

What a great group of people!

This week has truly been a blessing to be apart of. All of the people that have been involved with this Cleveland Missions trip have been awesome. The people that have helped us coordinate from Metro Alliance church, TJ, Cathy, Peggy, have been helpful and fun to work with. The six families that hosted dinners for us for Wednesday and Thursday were fabulous. The camp that we are at has provided us with great breakfasts every morning, a bed to sleep in, and a roof over our head. The leaders, Josh, Mike, MeLea and Laura are a very talented, flexible and very enjoyable people. And well the kids are AWESOME. They have been stretched, they have worked hard and I think they have seen our God working through them, in them and around them. Families thank you for sharing them with us. We became one big happy Italian family that ate a lot of Mexican food together! God Bless from the Grandma of the family, Cindy

VBS - Day 3

We all made it! The VBS at Metro Alliance has wrapped up for 2011. All we have left is a 97 degree day at Cedar Point (don't worry parents, we are taking precautions for the heat) and a 90-some degree day helping the Bridge Ave School and our good friends Dan and Amy McElwain move to their new building.

So, about the last day of VBS... We had a smaller turnout this year. There happened to be a soccer camp and another VBS going on this week at two other places, so I guess it isn't surprising that we've had a smaller turnout at ours. But...God isn't only concerned with numbers. We still have stories of our students and the kids in Cleveland connecting in awesome ways. For instance, one of our young ladies was talking to a little girl who asked her "what do I do if a guy calls me ugly?" and our student told her "never let a guy call you ugly, you are beautiful and made in God's image". People in the inner city don't hear things like that very often - especially young ladies.

Something I have learned here is that ministry to inner city people is not nearly the same as ministry to people in a community like Rochester, or to people in suburbs. We are very fortunate to have the inner-city kids at VBS that we have had. In the city, relationships are so much more critical, and so is pushing through barriers. In another story from one of our students, a girl came the first day of VBS and was very angry and mean with something she said to one of our students (who hadn't done anything wrong by the way). She came back to him yesterday and said she was "sorry for her attitude" on the first day of the camp. What a change!

I know we value relationships at Christ Community, and in Rochester, MN, but being in Cleveland and seeing what a HUGE role relationships play in inner-city ministry it puts a new perspective on it for me. Seeing a church full of stories like the ones I've told you about helps me to see how important it is to not take offense at something someone else says and continue to show them love no matter what.

Blessings to you. And thank you for your continued prayers!

VBS - Day 2

It's hot in MN...It's hot in Cleveland! We have been going through gallons and gallons of water with a lot of walking and playing outside with kids because it has been hot and humid in Cleveland. Today is supposed to be 91 degrees, but a little lower humidity. However...

God continues to show himself in what were are doing in Cleveland! For example
- TJ (our Cleveland contact) and I didn't get much of a chance to plan together this year (with it being my first year and with him having a newborn), so most of what we were doing was what our group planned and he is just along for the ride. He was feeling like things would fall apart because of our lack of communication but God is merciful and everything has been wonderful - not to mention I seem to remember some verse in Scripture that says something like "when I am weak he is strong"...

- We have had to expand our age range because some of these kids that were here four years ago still want to come. We have a program designed for 5-11 year-olds...and 13 year-olds are wanting to participate! This just shows how much of an impact we have had in our 4-year partnership here!


Our first day of VBS went very smooth. No problems...but a great time was had by all. We wrap up our VBS today. Be praying that some of these kids (and parents)get connected with the people at Metro Alliance.

Blessings!

VBS - Day 1

Today was the kickoff of our VBS at Metro Alliance. Our morning started by heading into Metro Alliance and distributing fliers for the VBS...we covered a very good area and it was nice to see more of the area around the church.

After we handed out fliers we prayer-walked to the market. Prayer walking was good and interesting. If you're bold and outgoing chances are you would end up praying for someone right on the street - as many of our students did. If you were quiet you probably just ended up praying silently, but the key is to make yourself aware of your surroundings and situations to pray for. So, this was about a 30 minute walk to the market. At the market we each had $6 for lunch. Everyone ate plenty (except for me, because I gave part of my food to a homeless man) and it was delicious food!

We hurried back and started to set up for the cookout. We cooked burgers and hot dogs for anyone who wanted to come. Altogether we served for about 2 hours. Then we had worship time and then time to welcome the kids who came and invite them back for tomorrow. We then headed back to Beulah Beach where most of us went swimming for a while.

It was a good day and everyone is looking forward to tomorrow. And the picture was taken right outside of the market.

Good night!

Sunday...

We started off our day by waking up at 7:30 (after an amazingly challenging day yesterday) and we ate breakfast at Beulah Beach. We then got ready to go to Metro Alliance and we attended their 11am service. The service was about two hours. I think you all should ask your kids what they noticed as different from Elevate (or CCC big church)and ask them what they liked and didn't like. They have some very good thoughts.

After church we attended the Metro Alliance picnic. We decided since yesterday was so eventful that tonight would be a good night for us to relax a little bit. So relax we did.

We came back to Beulah Beach, went swimming, and then we headed into Sandusky for dinner. We found the most amazing (and hospitable) Mexican restaurant I have ever eaten at! This is where we did our debriefing for the day. After that we made a pit stop on the way home for ice cream...love it! And now we are finishing up the night by heading to a free Phil Wickham concert here at Beulah Beach.

That sums up our day. Keep praying...VBS starts tomorrow! Good night!

We're here!

Well, it took us a couple wrong turns and a scary trip through Gary, IN but we made it to Beulah Beach. Our cabins definitely remind us we are on a mission trip and we are in this for the Lord!

Be praying everyone gets enough rest and that we are all ready to serve Metro Alliance Church tomorrow. I will update the blog again tomorrow. By the way, there isn't wi-fi at the camp, so this is from my phone. I will be bringing my computer to Cleveland tomorrow so I can blog from there. Good night!

The day before...

Rochester was hammered with rain today. A lot of rain. Lucky us, we get to drive through that same storm again tomorrow on our way to Cleveland.

Well, I like to give credit where credit is due. In the past, we always had to pay for some of the tolls on the way to and from Cleveland. This year we had two people step up and loan us their ipasses and offer to pay for our tolls to and from Cleveland. I don't want to mention any names, but we really appreciate this as it will save us hundreds of dollars. God is an amazing provider!

More to come later. We leave at 7am tomorrow morning. Pray for safe travels, drivers to stay awake, and light traffic! Peace!