Upward Challenge 2017

This summer I had the awesome privilege of taking some of our youth group kids to a camp called Upward Challenge.  This was a weeklong camp in North Carolina at the same location that I've been to several times this year for my inner healing and deliverance ministry class.  It was a great experience for myself and the youth and I can't wait to share about it with you!

On the way down we stayed at a friend's house in Kentucky in order to break up the long 12 hour drive.  The kids enjoyed banana splits (some for the first time) and pancakes made by Al.

We were very excited to finally make it to North Carolina, especially me because my back was really out and stiff from all the driving (I'll talk more about that in the next post).

The Community of the Cross is PRMI's headquarters, it is beautiful and on 25 acres of mountain land.

Around 50 campers came from youth groups all around the country. 

At the beginning of camp most of my youth were feeling well out of their element.  They hardly leave the city and only one had ever been out of state.  We found out that there would only be one shower available the whole week, that we had to use outhouses, and that there were bears on the property (and of course our girls saw one right away!).  I thought there was going to be a revolt, a mutiny of epic proportions.  But I urged them to give it a chance and to be open to trying new things.  I am thankful that God made it possible for them to do just that, and he worked in their lives in amazing ways.

Each day we had a large group gathering in the morning and evening.  As a leadership team we felt that there was a great need for sharing the father heart of God for the youth as many were questioning if God exists and if so why it would matter.  So we focused a lot on this and sprinkled in some of the original topics having to do with how God works through the Holy Spirit and the spiritual gifts that He has for us.

Many testimonies were given by young leaders and their stories really connected with the campers.  The testimonies reminded us that we aren't the only ones who have experienced pain and brokenness in our lives and that it is God who wants to heal us from those things and set us free in Christ. 

There was a lot of healing that took place in these group settings.  Truth is powerful when coupled with the love of Jesus.  Having these experiences during the large group prompted many to seek to have a prayer appointment.  These are a time spent with 2-3 leaders where Jesus is invited to speak and work in the life of the one receiving prayer.  I will talk more about this in a future post as we have been working on launching this type of prayer ministry at Gold Avenue Church, and this is what the training I have been going to in NC is all about.  

Several of our youth had wonderful experiences in their prayer appointment.  One accepted Jesus for the first time.  Another felt burdens lifted from her and has been much lighter and joyful since.  One was able to let go of anger and anxiety when Jesus showed up in a vision and showed her that he is with her.  In the same vision he also gave her a glimpse of her mom, who had died unexpectedly a couple years prior.  He let her know that her mom is ok and that she doesn't have to worry about her any longer.  These are significant encounters that will help shape their faith and their walk with God.  This is what we yearn to see happening in our youth group on a regular basis here at Gold!

Worship was a wonderful piece of the large group meetings.  On our way home a couple of the girls looked up the songs on their phone and were singing along.  This is another thing we'd like to incorporate back into youth group at home, and are praying for the right opportunity.

We also had small group time where one of the students was the leader.  Then there was a young adult leader and an older wiser leader - guess who that was :-)  These were good times for us to process what happened in the group and to pray together.  This is my group here.  In addition to helping lead this group, I also participated in early morning prayer, helped lead prayer appointments, and was the official camp photographer.  In addition to sleeping in a tent with the boys it made for a very busy and exhausting week.  God got me through though and I am thankful for his grace!

I was very fortunate and thankful that our friend Jaci came with us.  She is a leader in our youth group and wanted to come to experience this with the youth.  It was also great to have a helper for driving especially because I was having back issues on the way down and I was beat on the way back.  We all had a really great time together.

We also enjoyed free time and games each day - swimming in the river was fun...  

Joking around and laughing a lot was fun...

Arts and crafts were fun...

And, well, I didn't experience this one, but I heard that nail painting was fun too!  This is our friend Stephanie who was one of the co-directors of the camp.  She has been a part of our Gold Ave Church family for almost a year since she moved up here from Florida to do ministry here.

Games were fun too, this was sock wars, basically capture the flag but to get people out they had to be hit with a sock full of dirt.

Here is the whole group of campers and leaders, it was a great group!

At the end we prayed for each group that left and blessed them for the trip back home.

On the way back we were able to stop at Chick-fil-a, one of our favorite stops along the way.

This was an amazing camp experience for me and I know it was for many others.  Many people were praying for this for quite some time and I believe those prayers were answered!  Now we move to continue discipleship for our youth.  I appreciate prayers for this and for protection, because the evil one would like to steal away this progress!

Create! Arts and Sports Camp 2017

Things are finally starting to calm down after a very busy summer, so it's time to get caught up on the blog!  You can expect several new entries over the next few weeks as we recap all that has happened.  

Create! Arts and Sports Camp was the first big event to happen this summer.  At Gold Avenue Church it's our version of Vacation Bible School and is intended to be an evangelistic reach into the neighborhood.  It took place the week after school got out for the summer.  We invited children and youth from the local schools and handed out fliers while we were prayer walking in the weeks ahead of camp.  Around 50 kids came throughout the week to learn about God through arts and sports.  

This is just one of the many pieces of art that reflect what the kids learned!

Each evening we started with a meal since the camp took place over dinner time.  We are very thankful that people from Caledonia CRC and The Gathering were willing to put together and donate these meals.  Kids ate dinner with their class while watching pictures from the day before; afterwards each class went to their place.  The children were able to pick and one class for the first two days and one class for the last two days so that they could experience a couple different things.

Here is a glimpse of the different classes, or studios as we called them:

Cooking was a highly sought after class, because there's food to eat!  They made cupcakes, yogurt parfait, worms and dirt, and more.  They also had fun learning about eating healthy.

They even shared some with me, in fact, they were eager to make me a parfait.  It was delicious!

Next was Sculpting, where they made Papier-mâché bowls and decorated them with special paper.

Next was Drawing, where they learned how to make an underwater seascape like the one you saw at the beginning of this post.

In all of these classes we got to enjoy seeing the natural talent that the kids had.  It was fun to encourage them and to build them up as they learned how to do new things.

Next up was Painting, where they were able to learn some cool watercolor techniques.  They used wax to create big stars on their galaxy, salt to create little stars, and a hair dryer to blend it all in.

Next was the Music class, where they learned how to play different instruments and how to create some cool beats.  A few of them had enough courage to perform at the gallery on Friday and they did a great job!

This year sports were an addition to camp to make it more appealing to all kids, and it seemed like this worked out well.  Soccer was a big hit as were the other sports classes.

Basketball class taught shooting technique and they played through lots of drills.

Volleyball class was a big hit (punny)!  They focused on learning the basics, which included lots of chasing after volleyballs!

We were blessed to have this aweseome camp photographer too, his photos really help to tell the story of camp! (I took a few too but I need a nicer camera like that!)

After the classes were over everyone returned to the large group for the lesson.  Each night we were blessed to have a different person or group share about God through their form of art.

We had Master Art Theater come and do a fun drama performance for us of different tales and stories that taught important principles from the Bible.  They were really fun!

Sharon from our church told the story of Lazarus using some beautiful story boards.  Then she explained the gospel with the help of some volunteers.

We got to hear from Julie about her paintings and what they mean to her.  They represent her prayers and were very beautiful.  We also heard some singing on another evening and learned of the inspiration behind it.  It was a real blessing to be able to hear the different ways that God has created us and how he can use different ways to share his gospel message.

At the end of the evening, after the lessons were done, we enjoyed eating what the cooking class produced!

On Friday night we had a special art gallery to show off the artwork and pictures from the camp.  We invited families of the kids who came.

We enjoyed an extended performance by Master Art Theater where they performed Bible stories about Jesus and how he seeks us out, inviting us to faith in Him as we accept his love.

It was a great opportunity to share the gospel again and to show the love of Jesus to all that attended.  

Create! went so well, it was a lot of work planning it but I had a lot of help.  Many people were in prayer before and during this camp.  Thank you!  Many people from our church and the community helped with different areas of the camp, from being teachers, helping with setup/teardown, helping with transportation, making signs, food, supplies, etc.  In addition Bridge Street House of Prayer (BSHOP) helped with some of the planning, helpers, and materials, it was great to have a wonderful neighborhood organization involved.  I was so blessed by everyone and so were all of the children and youth that came.  I praise God for making it all work and for blessing the camp, and I ask that we would all continue praying for those that came, that the seeds that were planted will grow into faith in Jesus!  Thank you!

May 2017

May was a month to get outside and enjoy the really nice spring weather.   We did a LOT this month and really enjoyed ourselves.  R continued to grow and she got a couple of teeth.  She has loved being outside, hanging out with people, and being the center of attention everywhere she goes.  

Ministry at Gold Ave Church also went well.  God answered prayers by calling more people to help with Children's Worship this summer, and lots of people signed up to help with our upcoming Arts & Sports camp.  I have been busy planning for that, we are hoping for many children to be blessed by it.  We have lots of exciting things happening at the camp, please pray that many kids (we are shooting for 100) come and are blessed to know Jesus!  Please pray for me as I continue to work on planning, lots of details need to come together now as there are only two weeks to go.

We started the month of May by celebrating my birthday early with our friends Scott & Kayleen.  We went downtown and ate at our favorite place - San Chez - we tried out lots of new tapas and had some of our favorites.  We also had a new dessert which was amazing! (Flan de Naranja - blood orange flan, vanilla bean wafer, lemon basil mint sorbet, blood orange sauce)  We would go there way more often if it wasn't so pricy, it is a place to save up and splurge on.  It is always fun to go with friends!

It was a nice brisk night, and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the river.

We had brunch on my birthday with our friends Neil & Annah.  We had mini-quiches, cinnamon rolls, bacon, pineapple, and pancakes.  Afterwards we went to look at some houses with them as they are looking for a house in the neighborhood.  Later in the day we went to the park so I could fly my kite.  We met up with my Mom and Step Dad and then afterwards I went to dinner with some friends.  It was a really nice day!

The next weekend we did lots of different fun things too.  We started off by going to watch the Riverbank Run with our friends Andrew & Lindsay.  We went to cheer on Annah as she raced.  R really enjoyed waving at the runners and they smiled at her as they passed by.  On Mother's Day we went to have ice cream with my mom, step dad, brother, sister & brother in law.  We were amazed by the size of the scoops at Get The Scoop!  After that we went to celebrate Mother's day with some of Rebecca's extended family... a busy but fun day!

The next weekend we went to visit my Dad & Stepmom and then we went to the kite festival in Grand Haven.  It was so cool!  There were lots of kites in the air, I was inspired!

We watched some kite teams flying synchronized shows.  They were so good, we just wished that we could have been there for longer time.  The weather wasn't good for the first day of the festival so we waited until Sunday, when the clouds broke and it ended up being beautiful.

Memorial Day weekend we worked on planting our garden.  I so wish I could put pictures of R on here, she loved going to Fruitbasket Flowerland, she was smiling and sniffing everything with a big scrunched up face!  

We composted our fruit and vegetable waste in a bin that I made last year.  I was skeptical whether it would work, but it did!  We had lots of nice fresh compost to put under each plant to give them a boost of nutrients.  I was excited about that!

We planted lots of different veggies, here Rebecca is planting peas.  We also planted seeds for carrots, beans, beets, herbs, winter and summer squash and cucumber.  

We normally start plants inside from seed in the early spring, but it didn't work out so well last year.  Instead we bought plants - here you see broccoli, napa cabbage, eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes.  We just love fresh produce from the garden, especially tomatoes!

We also got together with our family on Memorial Day and then went to Grand Haven to fly the kite.  Yes, Grand Haven is the perfect place to fly and I am maybe a little obsessed with flying.  It is kind of my hobby at this point, now I am starting to learn some tricks with the kite, they take lots of practice.

  We always appreciate your prayers; our lives and ministry are really blessed by God's answers to prayers that he constantly provides.  Thanks for keeping up with us!