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Hey Team,
Thank you for attendance to our "Team De-Brief" last week. It is the hope of your leadership team that you all have a good "walking start" toward Mission 51.
We watched a short clip from the movie "Space Jam" that I thought painted a good picture of the defeated feeling we all experienced on the first VBS night. When the toon characters got a taste of Micheal's "Secret Stuff" they were energized and ready to go into the second half of the game.
Well, we have a similiar, but more eternal refreshment. It's called, God's Word. The Living Water. Let's take our "Secret Stuff" and walk into Mission 51 feeling energized, motivated & ready for what God has prepared for us.
Galations 5:16 says; "So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh."
Let us take the Holy Spirit with us as we walk in Mission 51!
Mission 51
"Let's get it done Seattle Team Two"
"May God Himself bless the efforts of our team!" Amen
Hello Team Two,
Well, we are back home and we have re-inserted ourselves into the busyness of life. Your leadership team wants you to be successful in merging the experience of Missions, with the experience of everyday life here at home.
The best way to be successful in anything we do ("Anywhere we are.") is to rely on the wisdom of God's word. In a few days you will receive a bible study guide designed to help you merge with God's word through fictional senerios that tell stories about real life experiences. This study is appropriately called "Merge". Your guide contains 18 individual studies in the Book of Ephesians which will direct you to and through God's word. The purpose of this study is to help you relate your Mission experience with your life here at home through integration of the prinicples found in God's word.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012 we will host a lunch and "Mission De-brief" session in Mr. Ye's classroom. We will give you your copy of "Merge", and we will discuss tangible ways to live out "Mission 51". We are excited to hear how God is using you in this mission since we have been home. So, please plan on sharing with the whole team the encouraging things God is doing in your life. Likewise, please share the challenges so that we may have the opportunity to be an encouragement to each other.
Mr. Ye will give us an introduction in the study. He will guide us to think about what we can do as a team collectively and individually in order to demonstrate our commitment to follow God's will for our lives. You say, "but I don't know what God's will is for my life." Well, here is a great scripture that gives an answer to that statement; 1Thessalonians 5:16-18. It says; "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." You see, you can know and do God's will as you live out your life here at home. Is it easy? Not hardly, but it can be done if we rely on the God's Power, Promise, Plan, Provision, Purpose and Pleasure!
Looking forward to seeing all of you next week!
Blessings,
Mr. Black
Hello Team Two,
Wow! God really has blessed our students! We accomplished all of our objectives for the trip!
The Faith Church has new landscaping which will help people feel comfortable and welcome on their campus.
James and his staff at the Tyler campus of the Tacoma Rescue Mission has cleaner and safer grounds for the many children that play in their community.
Kyle and his staff at the Adams campus of the Tacoma Rescue Mission was encouraged by a flawless VBS and after school program. We prayed for and built relationships with Kyle, Hana, Andrea ans Jake. These individuals modeled for us the kind of relationships we should have with each other and with our loved ones back home.
Felix and his skilled volunteers at the Downtown campus of the Tacoma Rescue Mission exhibited joy as they worked. It was contagious! We had prayer before each nights work began, and boy, was it work! We helped serve almost 900 meals in three days ministry. We earned the right to have conversations about God. We will keep in touch with many of the people.
We will miss them very much! We had the opportunity to be a blessing to Ben our Youthmark facilitator by surrounding in prayer with the laying on of hands to anoint his ministry as a young youth pastor.
Our final family time was heartfelt, honest, and encouraging. Our students have learned and applied many great things. Our missions training was pivotal in the success of this year's trip. We are grateful to God. These young men and women are ready to do God's will anywhere.
Thank you for entrusting us with your precious cargo! Now we know just how precious they really are. See you in about 10 hours.
Blessings,
Mr. Black
Hello Seattle Team Two,
What a wonderful day of ministry we had yesterday! Our students and leaders effectively communicated the love that only comes from Christ.
They have been prepared for such a time as this, to serve this community through a variety of tasks. While performing those tasks they have been able to be an encouragement to the people around them. For example, when asked during Family time; what task so far on the trip has been the most revalent or impactful?The answer given really sums up the method by which the Holy Spirit works. The answer was pulling weeds!
When one tenant came out of her apartment to find several young men pulling weeds during a cold drizzle of rain. She approached Gannon and asked why he was pulling weeds. Gannon had the opportunity to tell her about our school missions and the purpose of it; to be obedient to Jesus through serving our neighbors. She replied, "That is really great to see, you guys made my day". Gannon had the conversation, but his action spoke louder and clearer than words. That is just one example of the kind of ministry that all of our team members have been performing.
Think about it. Pulling weeds; most revalent? If God can work through one of the most mundane but necessary tasks, then He is able in any task to accomplish His will.
Please join us today in prayer that we would experience God's pleasure as we form stronger bonds in relationships with each other and those we are serving.
We have a lot of laughs with Felix and his wonderful staff at the downtown campus of the Tacoma Rescue Mission. Being encouraged by what they are doing to help the homeless community and also having the opportunity to be an encouragement to them through our efforts is the "icing on the cake". This is yet another way that we are being prepared for "Mission 51". Although our hearts have never left home, we will be physically turning home in less than 36 hours.
Thank you for your prayers. We love and miss you all!
Blessings,
Mr. Black
Hello Seattle Team Two,
We had an eventful day!
0800: Breakfast
0815: Make sack lunches for on-the-go lunch at Faith Church
0830: Return to cabins, clean-up, get jackets, coats & gloves for grounds work ministry at Faith Church.
0845: Depart for Faith
0925: Arrive at Faith. Cut-out and relocate approximately 3,000 pounds of sod. Prep garden beds and spread approximately 1,500 pounds of wood chips. Met a little boy named Frankie who wants to draw our group a picture and give it to us tomorrow. Met a lady who is from Scottsdale, and is a SCA graduate from the class of 1979.
1200: Lunch. Family-time. We shared our experiences from the morning, talked about Frankie and how his mom was at the church because of the MOPS ministry. We also discussed the impact this kind of ministry of support has through mothers who have a more mature perspective.
1245: Head to Tacoma Rescue Mission (Adams Campus). Split into two teams. One going to the downtown campus to cook and serve dinner for the homeless. The other going to the (Tyler Campus) to pickup trash and deweed all the flower beds. Sort, catalog and organize childrens books. Help in after school program.
1630: VBS prep time. (Most of this time was dedicated to organizing the books.)
1730: Dinner. VBS. Noticed rear tire of van leaking air. Installed spare tire (will get it repaired in the morning).
2020: Depart The Mission. On the way to Lake Retreat surprise the students w/ a visit to Cold Stone Creamery.
2220: Arrive at camp. Road Grip.
2255: Lights out. (Blogging til 0030 hrs.)
Thank you Lord! And good morning again!
Please pray for unity, a spirit of willingness and a urge to intercede for those around us as we attempt to God's work here in Seattle.
Blessings,
Ed Black
Hello Team two,
We have begun our mission here in the Seattle / Tacoma area! Several of our team had some "Ministry Touch Points"on the way here and even after we arrived (before beginning our official ministry work).
Elliott Brietta had the opportunity to be an encouragement to one our flight attendants who commented how wonderful it was that our school was committed to such a noble cause. Ed Black had a similar encounter with a somone ahead of him in line at Star Bucks in Phoenix, and a cashier at Jack in the Box in Seattle. On our way to our orientation visit with Kyle at the Adams Campus we stopped by the Tyler Campus where whole team was approached by several children. We met a young man named Trevon. He was very excited about us being here. And we can't wait to get back there today!
Last night at Family Time was our first opportunity to do our Road Grip devotional. Mr. Ye masterfully lead us through the first study. We encouraged each other by listing the anticipated roles and impacts we might have on each other. What a great exercise! We discussed the difference between anticipation and expectation. Mr Ye gave us a great example of anticipating the birth of Christ through Advent. Elliott Brietta had a great word picture for the contrast between Anticipation & Expectation. "Expectation is setting a bar at a certain point with disappointment under that point, but Anticipation is giving that same bar to someone else". Of course, the bar should be handed to Jesus, every moment of every day!
Today, we will be working at three campuses of the Tacoma Rescue Mission throughout the day, but before we get there we will be working at Faith Church until 1:00 pm.
We appreciate your prayers today for the impact that only God can make as we go out on His Mission today!
Let the day begin!
Blessings,
Team Two
Hello Team,
We were represented well in our Commissioning Chapel this Thursday! Thank you Rylan for responding so graciously, even though you weren't feeling well. (We found out the Rylan has a sinus infection. Please pray that the anti-biotics will work quickly and effectively!)
Thank you Mrs. Black and Mrs. Segneri for represented our Prayer Team. Nita prayed a wonderful prayer about what happens when we respond positively in obedience to God's will and what He can accomplish through that response. We are responding to the Great Commission of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
We are Seattle Team Two!
Our Mission will invlove coming alogside local ministries in the Seattle / Tacoma area.
Our hope and intention is to take a "Culture of Encouragement" to those we will be serving, leave that legacy behind us, and bring that very same culture back home.
We will intentionally live out "Mission 51" here in the Valley of the Sun!
During our time in the Seattle area we will have the priviledge of working with ministries that are helping hundreds of people everyday! One of these ministries is the Tacoma Rescue Mission (http://www.rescue-mission.org/downtown-tacoma-campus). This ministry provides families with temporary housing, addiction counseling, job training and job placement assistance. The goal of this ministry is to help families recover from crisis, gain employment and permanent housing.
We will also be working with Faith Church. They have recently adopted a local elemtary school were 75% of students are on the government assisted lunch program. We'll have plenty of opportunities to be an encouragement to the teachers and students.
Our goal as a team is to share God's love through joyfully serving dinner, helping in construction/clean-up projects, providing a Vacation Bible Study experience and interacting with the people in the community.
We are grateful for your prayer support! Our team prayer is that our group and the people we are going to serve will experience: God's Power, Plan, Purpose, Provision, Promise & Pleasure.
Zephaniah 3:17 says it well; "The Lord your God is with you, He is Mighty to save, He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He rejoice over you with singing."
May God's Pleasure be the foot print that we leave behind in the hearts of those we touch this week!
Blessings,
Mr. Black
Hello Team,
Your Leadership team (Mrs. Aholt, Mr. Ye and myself) are very proud of your willingness to walk in faith regarding your VBS assignments! You all were very respectful, attentive and active in the sign-up time that Mrs. Aholt so skillfully presented!
Join me in thanking Mr. and Mrs. Blincoe for providing a pizza and cookie lunch for us today. Thank you!
Also, let's give a big thank you to Mrs. Aholt for the many hours of preparation for our Vacation Bible Study (VBS) program, group matrix and training time today!! We are in good hands!
Our Spiritual Shepard, Mr. Ye will represent our team (ST-2) in the Commissioning Chapel next week. Let's remember to pray Mr. Ye and his lovely wife as they both journey to see one of the wonders of this world, which happens to be right here in Arizona! They are going to the Grand Canyon while celebrating the President's Day weekend!
Well, we had a good time on this final mission training week. Team Flair was short on peeps; Maddy was out sick, Connor went home sick, and Elliott was headed to audition in Tucson. Let's remember them in our prayers. Consequently, in our team building activities, Team Flair was at a disadvantage. However, they overcame adversity in the "tie-breaker" round of the Hula-Hoop Pass game to bring home a victory! Good job.
Team Style dominated the challenges today. They exhibited great team work. Team Life was hot on their heels and performed very well! Good job ladies and gentlemen!
I referenced Romans 15:5 today as a reminder of the "Culture of Encoruragement" that we have been developing together during the last 6 weeks of Missions Training. Remember that our attitude is 100% recognizable and 100% effective. So having a postive attitude will positively affect those whom we come in contact 100% of the time! Those are pretty good odds, let's use them for God! "May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had," (Romans 15:5)
Blessings for a great weekend! Seattle here we come!!
Expectantly,
Mr. Black
Hello Team,
What a great training time we had this week! Thank you all so much for the encouragement you exhibit to not only one another, but to those you come in contact with! Thank you!
This week we discussed Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. We see how God uses team work to accomplish His tasks. We also see that with Christ as the center of our team, there is a bond that cannot easily be broken! Let's take the "Culture of Encouragement" that we are perfecting to "Sea-Tac", then back here to Phoenix, and then on to the ends of the Earth. We can and will, through Christ our Lord who gives us strength. (Phil. 4:13) Amen.
Please join me in thanking Mrs. Reaser for the pizza lunch she provided to our team.
We had a tender time with our "Mission Buddies". Thank you Mrs. Olsen for allowing us to come introduce our team, encourage and be encouraged by your beautiful third graders!
Our team really modeled Christlikeness as they spoke with their buddies, prayed and took prayer requests! I am so proud of you all!
Thank you Mrs. Aholt for organizing our Vacation Bible Study logistics. We will be compiling songs and lyrics to work on next week. Also, Elliott Breitta has graciously agreed to direct the skits. Mrs. Aholt had a great idea for any "in-between" time with the kids. Each of our team members should bring three of their favorite childrens books to read to the kids. If we have the opportunity, we should be ready to give these books away as gifts! I am sure the Rescue Mission could use these books.
Well, next week is our last training session! We will receiving the "Road Grip" devotional guides to help us assimilate our experiences each night, aid us in the study of God's word and to keep unified in our mission as a team. Our parents and Prayer Team will be receiving the "Home Base" devotional guide that we guide them in the same way as our material as they support us in prayer.
We still a lot to do, but our God is an awesome God and He has plans to prosper His kingdom through us. Care to join Him?
Blessings for a great weekend. Remember to pray for your team mates.
In His Service,
Ed Black