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(I have been asked what was the most important observation I made about what God did through this time of Youth Mission, at Ronan and traveling to and from there. I shared this with the youth in family time on Friday and with several of those who have asked me how the mission trip has impacted me. )
I was impressed this week that everyone has a story, and God is in everyone's story, even if we do not see it. Often we hide our story because of fear or shame. These keep us from the healing that Jesus wants to bring about in us, as we offer and receive the acceptance that is SUPPOSED to be available in the body of Christ. Our Thursday night outreach movie ("To Save A life") had a dual theme: 1. The desperate need we have when separated from God to know of the love and acceptance of Christ our savior; 2. Many members of The Church need repentance, because we are doing a poor job of demonstrating Christ's urgent love for our peers, both within and without the church.
But during the testimonies this week, the youth and leaders were transparent about our present and past stories with God. This allowed others to pray with us and for us, in a way that released us from the guilt and shame of sin. (See Hebrews 12:1-3, James 5:16, Galatians 6:1-3).
The church can not reach the world until the church has been reached by Jesus. This does not mean only our initial salvation, it also means that all those places we are hurting or have been hurt, or have guilt or unresolved relationships (which we can act on to begin reconciliation). All these need to be admitted and submitted to Jesus, our loving savior.
This happened within our combined youth team in Ronan as we all were united in comforting and reassuring each other, after we had admitted our failings and scars. Because we obeyed His Holy Spirit in this way, we saw others drawn to the spirit of joy and acceptance, which God gave us as a group. He also evidenced a sincere love and boldness that we did not have before, as He gave us a renewed joy in our salvation and in our relationship with Him. This unity will continue in Ronan and Seattle as long as we continue to "Walk in the Light" with God our savior (1 John 1:6-8) and "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3).
Your prayers were the catalyst for assuring God's will occurred on this trip, and assured that it did not just become another empty program to try to accomplish God's will using our own efforts. Thank you Brothers and Sisters for praying! I love you all, and wish you could have been there to experience this grace with us. But you can, and we need to experience this in our own community. Please keep praying for the other 51 weeks of mission that we begin today in our own "Jerusalem".
Rejoicing with you.
Mr. Tracy Tussing
Blessed to be a youth worker at Grace Church
Well, This Sunday morning we made a quick presentation at church, but spent more time saying 'see you later' to the team members on their way back to Vinton, LA. And I am not saying that we should have spent less time hugging and crying. (Real men do cry). But I heard a few of our supporters say that they wish they can get more details on our trip.
So along with all the stories that your will share in conversation with your friends and families, I want to challenge the team to feel free to contact Nathan or myself and add those details which should be put into this blog; for the sake of Glorifying our great God who was answering all our prayers every day this week.
Thoughtfully yours
Mr. Tracy Tussing
We are packing and getting ready to go back to Seattle. What God has done in and through this Grace Church-Crossroads-Ronan Alliance youth team is beautiful to experience with them. This is one team, unified and working together to reach the neighborhood and bless each other. They have not held back anything, have been honest with their past and present struggles. They have prayed for each other and are in the process of receiving that healing grace from God and from each other. They are the church that Jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail against.
Early on in our week the pastors prayed about what God would want to do here in the Ronan Alliance Church, and how the youthmark team could serve them. The Senior pastor and family were in process of moving to Cheyenne, Wyoming to serve at a new church. (Grace Church is familiar with the implications of having to search for a new pastor). The Alliance church, especially Youth pastor Levi and Jen Read, were still set to expend themselves in supporting our team’s mission. But their core group of teens were few, and Levi has just stepped up to take on this ministry less than a year ago. We all agreed that not matter what type of outreach we did, we need to not neglect "inreach" to this church and its members. That has been the best decision which guided us and we have seen that priority fulfilled. The members of the Ronan youth are stronger and more confident in the Lord at the end of this week, after stepping up to the challenge of reaching out to their friends and neighbors.
The outreach of Wednesday’s Ice cream van allowed us to personally hand out nearly 200 invitations to Thursday Night’s movie, "To Save A Life". The movie had both a strong gospel theme, and an even stronger theme exhorting believers to true commitment to each other and to the needs of unbelievers in spite of our own personal good. The four Native Americans from the neighborhood were Gods answer to our pray. Few, but receive with love and openness by the youth. I personally had a chance to pray for Glen Jr. and for his father in jail.
The other result of the movie and the other service projects was a renewed hope by some of the Ronan youth, especially those who have been looking for satisfaction in other places than Jesus, and serving His kingdom. We saw several of these fringe people join in, and some even gave their stories in public for the first time ever in our outreach time or family time. We all still need plenty of prayer, but God has answered the most important ones first. We are all glorifying Him for this, and I wanted you to know what He has done ASAP so you can too.
Well, I’ve got to go drive now. I will ask some of the team members to fill in details when we get back. See you in Church tomorrow.
Pray for the older van. Had to fix a heater hose leak yesterday, and it is squirrelly to drive on rough roads and with side winds. We will probably have to drive 5-10 mph slower on the way back because of this.
Thankfully
Tracy Tussing for Ronan Team.
It's pretty late, so I don't want to spend a lot of time on this post, considering how I need to drive for about 10 hours tomorrow. But let me just wrap up today as saying God just continued to be amazing all day long. At Lake Como, we had many Corvallis people join us, which led to many opportunites to have conversations with them. Then at the park, we again had a good turn out and even more conversations. But just as amazing, was Bradley's testimony. He was able to talk about his life and especially how this week has had such a huge impact on him. It enabled several more conversations to happen following it.
God has truly done an amazing work in Corvallis due to our team. We've seen a few of the teens from this youth group really get for the first time what it means to be on mission. I've seen our youth from Grace shine as stars due to their faith and boldness in proclaiming it. So many seeds were sewn this week, that it will be exciting to hear the follow up in the weeks to come. More so, I'm excited to see what our Seattle students do with what they've witnessed and experienced when they go home and have the opportunity to continue their mission back in our 'Jerusalem'.
Be praying for us tomorrow. For the reasons stated in my post "The Merge" below and also for safety on the road. We're excited to see everyone from Grace at church on Sunday, and for all the parents, we'll be in anywhere between 8-10 P.M. tomorrow(sorry I can't be more specific, but a lot depends on stops and how much time we take).
Nathan
Hey everyone. So while both teams are focusing 100% on where we're at today and finishing strong, I want to ask that all of you at home start praying for tomorrow for when the two teams come together. Merging back together can be an awesome time of praising God and celebrating what He has done. However, it can also very easily become something used by Satan to create division and jealousies. Both teams are being warned heavily about this, but we need lots of prayer! Pray that as students share stories, the emphasis is on how amazing God is and not "how awesome" or "how fun" of a time was had/inside jokes and stories/etc.
My prayer is that God uses these two mission teams to greatly strengthen the Grace youth as they come back together tomorrow. Please be praying with us!
- Nathan
It has seemed like every day on this trip has been better than the previous, and today easily has continued the trend by a long shot! This morning, our team did an amazing job by splitting into three teams and completed 3 service projects...plus even a bonus one on the way. One group finished the 3 days of work at Claudia and Andy's, weeding out the countless number of thistles they had. Another group essentially finished (only one small part was left undone due to a lack of supplies) the deck for Susan. A third group went to a new lady's (Margaret) house and sanded/painted a deck while others took care of other yard work for her. And along the way, two students helped install a window-sill air conditioner for an older couple. I can't express how proud I am of the entire team for their hard work throughout all these service projects the past 3 days!
Despite working hard, our students still showed determination in canvassing the town the rest of the afternoon, which led to a few more new people showing up and spending time with us at the park. Speaking of the park, it's been amazing seeing how God has used our team there this week. We've built so many relationships with students young and old, it's unebelievable and just has us praising God!
Tonight, Chelle gave her testimony. She also had the opportunity earlier at the park to have two great conversations with two of the youth who came tonight. I can't express how proud I am of her! I believe it's been very stretching and exhausting for her to be separated from every member of her family this week, who she so dearly loves! But she has done it and done it very well, glorifying God through it all!
Please be praying for us as we look towards our last full day tomorrow. We're planning on spending the daytime at Lake Como (30 mins away). The great part is we're bringing many of the local kids along with us (some who aren't even a part of the church!). Pray that this leads to a lot of great relationship building times and ultimately spiritual conversations this last day! Pray for this to be happening the entire day, especially at our last ministry time at the park tomorrow evening! Also, pray for Bradley, who is Brad & Beth's (the couple who lead the youth ministry here at the church) son, and who has been essentially an extra team member this entire week. He has grown so much this week with us, so I've challenged him to give his testimony tomorrow evening at the park! He's prepared to do this, but extremely nervous. So please pray for him, and pray that God uses the local voice to have an awesome effect on this community tomorrow night!
- Nathan
Hello everyone back home!! Thank you so much for your prayers! They are greatly appreciated as we all take huge steps of faith this week. I know I am speaking for the whole team when I say we have had a fantastic time so far!! Not only have we seen differences in the lives of our new friends in Montana, but we have also seen changes in our own lives. Last night after we climbed our way to our camping space, Pastor Rob held our family time around the camp fire. During this family time we are able to open up to each other, express the struggles in our own lives, receive encouragement from others, and pray together. These times together have been one of my favorite aspects of this trip because we really bond and we are able to relate to each other on a more personal level. The family time last night was significant to me because we shared with each other our favorite scriptures/stories. Pastor Rob expressed his gratitude to the Ronan people because they have blessed us in more ways than we have blessed them. I know in my heart this is true because I have seen the change in my own life.
One of the things I have learned this week is that success isn’t measured by numbers. Even after the hours in the sun we have spent canvassing the neighborhood and inviting people to attend our nightly ‘hang outs’, the number of people that show up doesn’t determine the effectiveness of everything we have done. Thanks to my youth family and Michael and Rob, I have come to an understanding that God would never criticize us because we didn’t bring the entire youth within Ronan to the church. It is in fact entirely worth the trip out here if we touch the heart of one person. My new friend Andrew is one example. He was the first person my group reached out to on our walk around the neighborhood and he ended up coming Tuesday night. He also came camping with us last night! I have been able to talk with him a lot and have formed a friendship with him. I would be very grateful if you could keep him in your prayers.
I ask that you also pray for our movie night tonight. We are all praying that the time we spent yesterday serving free ice cream and passing out flyers to come to tonight’s movie will reach someone’s heart. The movie is called To Save A Life and holds a very powerful message.
Thank you once again!! Keep praying and we all love you so much :)
-Christa St. George/ Grace Church
So Nathan named this post "Air Alec" because of a bridge that goes over a nearby river. When I first went to this river, many locals were saying that I should run on the 2 lane bridge, and jump over the railing; rather than simply jumping off of the other side of the railing. This railing is not a short one, so very few can make it. This bridge as well is not a short one, the bridge was around 25 feet high!!! So as I hit the freezing cold water, I instantly felt the incoming pressure of hypothermia. Once popping up to the surface, the constant rushing of the current started to sweep me away. This is when I knew I had to swim as fast as possible to the side dock. After escaping these obstacles, I was known as Air Alec!
(The meaning behind this name wasn't this intense, but it was still pretty sweet!)
So this week has pretty much been amazing! In the beginning of the week we felt like complete outsiders who would never be able to connect to the Corvallis community. However, within few days, we have grown many close relationships with the children of Corvallis. Seeing these relationships grow has been amazing thing for me. I know that without a doubt that these relationships are being run through our Lord Jesus Christ.
When we are at the soccer fields at the local highschool, where we go every day at 6, relationships are constantly being grown. It is simply amazing to hear the questions and interests these children have of Christianity.
As I said earlier, I know our Lord is working in these relationships. That is why I am asking for the continued support of prayer for these next couple of days. I know I am definitely not alone on the tiredness factor. I know without a doubt there is going to be some pretty cool stuff happening today and tomorrow.
Then I heard the voice of the LORD saying "whom shall I send?" And I said "Here am I. Send me!" -Isaiah 6:8
This missions trip has been awesome. The team chemistry has blown my mind. Y’alls prayers have been felt like no other on this trip. I have been so surprised at how God is working through us already. The focus of this trip til now is reaching the kids within the church. I feel so privileged to see the transformation I’ve seen in this church. Yesterday night during family time we felt so connected to this church and our team is growing. Quite a few of the local kids have already teamed up with us and grown so much. Garret, one of the dudes we have had the privilege of meeting opened up to our group last night with his testimony during family time. He feels so loved and accepted in our group and I thank God for that. There are so many stories of how we have had the opportunity to touch others and even more about how other kids have touched us. God is moving in Ronan. I’ve been growing and have been constantly challenged to look at the motives of why I serve Christ. I’ve learned a lot about myself and why I want to be in ministry. The weather has been amazingly beautiful and it’s amazing to me that anybody could look at the mountains and not see God. And this same beauty from the great montana outdoors has brainwashed Daniel, and now thinks he is a cowboy. =) Tonight we are headed up to the mountain and for dinner tonight we ate army MRE’s and it’s been one heck of a night so far. This has been a complete blast! Thank you for your prayers!
God Bless,
Sean McMonigle
Another day has passed, and suddenly we're realizing we only have two more full days left. Be praying for us as we look to finish strong. Pray that we persevere through any tiredness or weariness our bodies/minds might feel.
I am again so proud of our team and their efforts in ministering to this community today. During the morning and early afternoon, we split up our team for service projects. Some of the team went back to Claudia and Andy's (the place we served yesterday) to continue working on weeding out the many thistles they have in their massive property. The rest of the team went to a lady named Susan's house. Here, we tore up her rotted 8 x 10 deck and began work on building a new one. Many of the girls stained the new wood while the work went on of tearing up the old one. We also did a few other chores around the place for Susan. At both places, the students were amazing in their work ethic and attitudes! Be praying for tomorrow, as we go back to both places and go to a third place (so splitting up into 3 teams) to hopefully finish up at all 3 places tomorrow.
During the afternoon, the students have been doing a great job at canvassing the town the past few days. A group went down to the river where many locals show up to jump off the bridge into the water to cool down. Others walked around town periodiaclly during the afternoon. Many new people were met, and we got a few of them to actually come and join us at the park!
Our evening ministry at the park was great this evening. We continue to be blessed by a good crowd every night. Our team has been doing fantastic in spreading out during the different activities to ensure that we're taking advantage of building relationships with the people who join us. Tiffany shared her testimony tonight and did an amazing job. Tim and Claire continue to do an awesome job leading the worship for us each evening!
Please pray for Lance & Caleb, two older High School guys we met at the river and joined us at the park tonight. They said they plan on coming back, so pray that we'll continue to get to know them better. Also, pray for Cole & Paul, two younger boys who I shared the Gospel with tonight. They also plan on coming back, so pray that our students are able to continue to love them and they ultimately will make faith decisions to trust in Christ!
Also, Racquel came back, which Tiffany was excited about. And another girl, Tanny, who's come a few times but been very closed off, was all smiles tonight and actually was upset she had to leave early during worship. Pray for both of these girls and that our team will be able to have further conversations with them as the week goes on.
Finally, be praying for the town of Corvallis and its future after we leave this week. We've gotten very close to a few of the students in their youth group, and it's our desire to challenge them to keep ministering as they're learning by partnering with us. The main names to be praying for are Brittney, Bradley, Weston, Andrew, and Matthew. All of these guys have hung out with us quite a bit and we're praying they'll be impacted long term by what God is doing this week!
Thanks so much for your prayers! We love you all!
Nathan