Indianapolis 2016: Thursday Pictures

Flyers, sharing in the mall, and giving out sandwiches to those in need.

What an awesome last day God has given us. We spent time handing out flyers the first half and then to the mall to share the Gospel on this hot day. We finished by giving sandwiches to those in need. We enjoyed some great pizza together and ice cream. We can't wait to come home and share all that God has done!

Indianapolis 2016: Wednesday

We had our training in the morning, learning about true friendship as we examined Jonathan and David. The students were reminded that Jesus is the greatest friend they'll ever know. In the afternoon we did another car wash at the elementary school. It's conveniently located by a 3-way stop so there's lots of opportunity to enthusiastically invite cars to come on in.

The students continue to grow closer together as a team. It's a joy to watch them serve together. We are praying for the friends they'll interact with when they come home, that they'll continue in the same spirit of boldness.

A change of plans...

Our van had a broken drivers seatbelt.we brought it to be fixed. Pray that it would be fixed quickly. Instead of handing out flyers we are cleaning the church instead.

Morning devotions

Each morning we start out with personal devotions after breakfast. Each devotion focuses on one of four "i's". We looked at "Identify" "Invest" and today was on Invite. Looking at Jesus' message in Luke 5:1-11, we looked at how Jesus invited those around Him to be His followers.

Pray for us today as we continue to encourage the community of Indianapolis to become followers of Jesus through both our words and actions.

Indianapolis 2016: Tuesday Continued

Once again we began our day with a time of prayer, singing and teaching. Today we studied the life of Esther and were challenged to consider what God may be calling us to in this season. In our  devotions, we also looked at what it's like to invest in others like Jesus did. The students are learning a lot about how to share the gospel and build relationships.

In the afternoon, we prepped for our evening car wash and then canvassed a different neighborhood with invitations to our church plant's upcoming launch. After dinner we washed cars in the community where our church plant has been partnering with a local elementary school. The students had a great time washing cars and sharing about the church launch with those who drove in.

Tonight we shared some highlights from our day with the other teams we are here with. Continue to pray for our students - that they would rest and wake up refreshed to build relationships and serve again tomorrow.

Indianapolis 2016: Tuesday Pictures

Car wash, more flyers, and Gospel conversations

One of the unique aspects of this trip is our chance to invite people in the community in to the local church. Our students have done an absolutely amazing job of getting people connected to Dwayne Gibbs and the District church.Pray that these conversations would continue long after we leave.

Indianapolis 2016: Monday

We began the day with a time of gathered teaching and worship. After lunch we met up with our church planting team to begin canvassing the neighborhood surrounding their church site. The students passed out invitations to the church launch, striking up many conversations along the way. It was fun to see students stepping out boldly to invite people to church and even asking how they could pray for those who opened their doors at our knocking. Please be praying for the seeds that were planted today.

The team continues to bond and grow. We are excited about serving with kids at a local elementary school tomorrow.

Some Pictures From Sunday

Our day so far....

We were able to worship with the district church this Morning. Their official launch is 3 weeks away. We practiced the praying walking we learned yesterday and prayed throughout the mall in groups. After church we came back to our site for lunch. Pray for our training at 3pm and our devotion time tonight. Tomorrow, we meet at an elementary school to begin our projects. We will hand out 15,000 brochures about the church, start some car washes, and begin having conversations with those in the community. Continue to pray for us.

We made it safe! Pictures to follow :)

After a fantastic send-off we stopped for lunch at Subway and Taco Bell. We made it to the site a few hours later. Our students received t shirts and name badges. We will be eating dinner and will get a tour of Indy. Pray that out students hearts will be open to seeing how God might use them to share the gospel.

Start of the Indianapolis missions foe 7th and 8th grade!

I can't begin to express how excited we are for the 7/8 grade trip to Indianapolis!!!! Continue to pray that: Everyone will be healthy, that our hearts would be opened, that we would have the opportunity to share the Gospel, and that lives would be changed.

Our goal is to keep you informed on what's happening so that you might pray for us. God is so good!

God is SO good!

We have been home for a day now. The trip was absolutely incredible. Thank you to all of you who prayed for our team! If you want to hear more about it ask anyone from the team! God showed up over and over and over again. I'll I can really say is our God is SO good.

My last prayer request:

• That our team will never forget what God did in Maine. 

Thank you a thousand times over!

   Because Jesus is Lord . . . 

Wow!

I'm sorry if parts of this don't make sense! I wrote this at 4:45am and I'm kind of out of it! :)

Today was our day of rest. Our morning lesson was an hour and 45 minutes. We talked a lot about "the 3 stages" of discipleship following the life of Peter as our example. Jim also talked to us about UNITED and the future of our youth group. Another thing that we were reminded of is that God keeps on working even when we stop. Our team spent time in down town Portland with the Phillips' family. We shopped and went to an Irish Pub for lunch. It was a great day for fellowship and community. God has really been unifying our team! After lunch we went back to the hotel to get ready for church. We left early so we could help set up for the pig roast and spend time in prayer for those coming. Josh Phillips shared with us that there were 21 people who came because they were invited by kids handing out strawberries! Praise God!!! Each of us were able to realize that we are a part of the church tonight. Whether we were called to start a conversation with someone or watch their kids or help clean up, God IS using us! Our debriefing time was also great tonight!

Praise God for . . . 

• showing up to so many of us individually.
• bringing MANY new people to Paupers' Chapel.
• team unity.

Pray that . . .

• tomorrow when we paint the church and work at a school we will do everything for God's approval and not man's. 
• the love of Jesus will shine through all of our actions.
• we rely fully on God for everything!

Pictures! - July 9, 2016

Here are Saturday's pictures:

Another AWESOME Day!

  We received only a sprinkle of rain! Praise God! After being taught by Josh Karhan and having quiet time, we drove 30 minutes to the strawberry patch. Many hands make light work and we picked 44 pints in less than an hour! Lois, who owns the strawberry patch, found out that we were using the berries to invite people to church. Because she is also a follower of Jesus she gave us the strawberries for FREE! Our team then prayed over her and the girls that were working with her. God is so good! From the strawberry patch we drove to the Phillips' (the family that planted Pauper's Chapel) house. There we split into groups. We delivered the berries to the neighbors and invited them to church and a free pig roast on Sunday. Many of us were shut down, but there were quite a few people who were very greatful! Everyone met back at the Phillips' house and then went out to lunch. After lunch it was back to work. We pulled weeds, cut down trees, chopped wood, spread mulch and painted. God stretched our time and energy and we were able to get tons of work done. The Phillips' blessed us with lobster for dinner. When dinner was over we heard another testimony. Again, it fit in perfectly with our sessions! God has lined everything up so perfectly that it's obvious He is leading this trip. He has really been at work in Maine by changing our hearts and our wills to look more like His. Satan hates what we are doing and his demons are going to do everything they can to try to stop us. "If our God is for us, then who can ever stop us? And if our God is with us, than what can stand against? (Chris Tomlin)".

Please pray . . .

• that many who were invited to come to church on Sunday will come.
• that we live out 1 Timothy 4: 12 ("Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the Believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.")
• that God keeps doing what He's doing (because it's INCREDIBLE!)

Pictures!!! - July 8, 2016

Here are the pictures from Friday: