VBS and Testimonies

Day 2 & 3

On Tuesday we did our first VBS at each site. We have three sites; Metro Alliance Church, The Family Ministry Center where we’re staying and the Westfall’s – a family from Metro who is letting us use their home. We have had about 50 neighborhood kids between the sites – give or take a few. Everything at each site has been going well and our kids have been doing a great job in leading at each site.

On Tuesday evening we got to hear testimonies from pastor Juri (Metro’s senior pastor) and his wife, Ed and Peggy who have been helping us all week, and Aaron Ruffin. Aaron is the most captivating of all because of his unique background. But as always, hearing stories of all the Metro Alliance Church members is rich and powerful.  Every single one of these people has the ability to live in the suburbs in higher paying jobs and nicer houses, but they choose to see the Ohio City (west Cleveland) area as their mission field, and this is why it is so important for our kids to meet and get to know these people and their stories. Mission work isn’t just in Cambodia, or Sisseton, or Cleveland, but when we get back to Rochester the mission field is all around us.

On a different note, something amazing happened while one of our groups was prayer walking. Kent Milligan was leading his group and a man and a woman were arguing in the street and it turned violent right in front of their eyes. The man grabbed the woman’s neck and her arms and was trying to get her back in their house. But it was clear that this woman was in danger. Kent stepped in between the two of them, non-violently, and broke them up and the group proceeded to call the police. Kent wasn’t harmed in the situation, God watched out for him, but his intervention helped this woman escape without injury as well. Talk about God’s provision for this woman…there just happened to be a group prayer walking at that spot at that exact time. God is good!

Tonight we will be hearing more testimonies around supper time. Tomorrow we will be partnering with the Bridge Ave. School to get some work done in their building, and Friday is Cedar Point day. Oh, I should mention this too… At Christmas time I had given each one of our LifeGroups $50 for their Christmas party. Our 8^th graders decided they wanted to save that money and put it towards a good cause in Cleveland. That good cause is that we will be buying a bunch of books from a “1/2 Price Bookstore” and giving them to the Bridge Ave. School tomorrow. If I were you, parents and church members, I would be extremely proud of these kids and their amazing heart to be generous and share Christ with everyone they meet! As their pastor I couldn’t be more thankful for each one of them.

We do continue to appreciate your prayers. God is doing amazing things here in Cleveland that you are part of if you’re praying for us. Have a wonderful afternoon/evening!

Off to a good start!

Day One.
Monday was our first “regular” day during the trip. Once we woke up, and after we ate our breakfast of eggs, toast, bacon and a banana, we headed to a local favorite coffee shop called Gypsy Bean. Overall, everyone loved it! After Gypsy Bean we took a short driving tour of Cleveland. The area where we are staying is very run down with about 40-50 houses within a square mile radius that are in foreclosure. But on our tour we got to see the downtown area, including the Cleveland Art Museum, Cleveland Clinic (which is HUGE!!!), the Cleveland Orchestra Hall, Government buildings, sports stadiums and other places that give us an indication of how prosperous Cleveland once was. It was like being in two totally different worlds. It was good for our students and leaders to see the difference from one neighborhood to another.

After our tour we went to the West Side Market for lunch. They are celebrating their 100^th anniversary and so much of the Ohio City area (the area just west of downtown Cleveland where we are staying) has been cleaned up. There weren’t nearly as many homeless as in years past because they have been chased from the area…which makes me wonder where people who have no home go when they are chased from the places they once considered “home”.  We then took our group photo in front of the market, which I am working on uploading. 

After lunch we went back to the Family Ministry Center (FMC) and prepped for our cookout. We sent teams to three sites, and total we have about 80 kids signed up for a Backyard Bible Club on Tuesday...but that number will likely grow from one day to the next. 

After our cookout we came back to the FMC and had a time of debriefing. All of our leaders were able to give similar feedback: our students were great with the younger city kids. They played, connected, listened to, and had fun with the kids who came from the local areas. We didn't have to ask anything of them more than once and it was a pleasant experience. We all were very proud of the way our students stepped up and we look forward to seeing them step up more and more. 

That leads us to today. We will be prayer walking and then doing our first actual day of Backyard Bible Club. Pray for continued boldness and that God would work through and in spite of us to reach this area!

Josh

Counting down to Greenspace/Cleveland 2012

Tshirts are here... counting down the days to departure... Cleveland 2012