DC Missions

Here are a hodgepodge of pics from our students' mission trip to DC.
If you prayed, thanks. It was an incredible opportunity.

The students served children with special needs all week.

Here's a pic of Rob, one of our leaders.

The girls during youth group devotions - another favorite part of the trip.

We were pretty proud of these cats.
They worked hard with the best attitudes.

We ended the week at DCLA.
The theme of the leadership conference was Be. Love. Serve. Repeat.

Another one of our leaders - Abby.
We're so thankful for all the work she and Rob put in.

Cooking up dinner at the Week of Hope.

A treat out to ESPN zone.

We all split meals and/or ate Paul's much talked about chocalate chip cookie dessert.

Here's Joel, on the left, who can't keep from talking about the week.

And we kinda hope he doesn't ever stop.

Some of the girls - Lillian, Sarah, and Megan.

I think they're waiting for the guys for once.

The Washington Monument at Midnight.

Francis Chan was one of the speakers at DCLA - fantastic.
If you haven't read Crazy Love, please get a copy.

All in all, fantastic trip.

Lots of God moments, fun, work, and time together.

Now for 2010 Peru.

Mission: Manassas

Check out our Mission Team's blog here. It's good stuff.

If you get a chance to comment, I'm sure they would love it! Thanks!

Prayer Guide

Hey Guys-

Paul left today with our Missions Team to Manassas, VA. (Sad face, mine.) I hated to see him go, but love that God will do brilliant things in and through everyone involved. I'll meet up with everyone on Friday to help out with a Leadership Conference in D.C.

The following is a prayer guide that we've created for our Team. We would really love if you prayed with us on a daily basis. I'll keep you updated if you care:) Thanks!

Much Love,
Kristin

Here goes:

SUNDAY, JULY 5th
Pray for safe travel for the team, including Rob who is flying into D.C. Pray as they receive their responsibilities for the week. (Already prayers answered:) Pray that they start making connections with team members of other groups.

MONDAY, JULY 6th
Pray for the team as they head to their ministry projects. The team will be working with many special needs children. Pray that the students are challenged as they serve so that their faith grows. Pray that they work humbly, hard, and without complaints. Pray for meaningful connections to be made with those whom they serve.

TUESDAY, JULY 7th
Pray that God deepens relationships. Pray for our students and leaders to see opportunities that are available to them, even when it feels like there are roadblocks. The students will have Tuesday evening free to spend as a youth group, so pray that they have safety and a great time of team building.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 8th
The students will continue the projects at their sites. Pray that they will see God clearly at work in their service to Him. Pray for individuals to come to Christ. Pray for students to be challenged in the morning and evening programs and through personal devotions.

THURSDAY, JULY 9th
Pray for the teams to complete the work that they began at the sites. Pray for good attitudes and energy to get through the last full day of ministry. Pray for Abby and Heather as they travel back to PA in the evening.

FRIDAY, JULY 10th
Pray that the team makes it to the conference safely. Pray for safe travel for Aprille and Kristin as they drive to D.C. to meet up with the team. Pray that God deepens relationships with Himself, as the team is challenged by the first evening message.

SATURDAY, JULY 11TH
Pray for the team as they attend seminars, learning labs, and an evening message. Pray that they are challenged to “Be” the people whom God has created them to be.

SUNDAY, JULY 12TH
Pray for continued growth in Christ. Today the students will be challenged to “Love” those whom God has called us to love. Pray that God is honored in worship. Also pray for Aprille and Christin as they travel back Sunday night.

MONDAY, JULY 13TH
Pray for the team as the conference concludes. Today, the focus will be “Serve.” Pray that all will leave this week changed and affected for a lifetime of discipleship. Pray for safety as the remaining team members travel back.

Flamingos!

We've got 24 flamingos on the loose.

These gals are helping us get to DC for our missions trip.

They'll flock a yard of your choosing for $20.

Since this was our master plan, we weren't expecting an attack on ourselves:)
And with our minuscule yard, 24 flamingos were quite prominent. Those students!

Shoot me an email if you've got a victim in mind (and you live nearby).

Oh, and you can follow their flight patterns here.

Thanks!

30 Hour Famine

The youth group is participating in a 30 Hour Famine this weekend, proceeds benefiting World Vision. They will be "starving to provide food" for others in need.

The students have raised money through donors and sponsors that will go towards projects in areas like Malawi, Swaziland, North Korea, and the States. They will be fasting to feel the pangs of hunger, felt around the world. There are 26,000 who die from hunger every day.

Included in the weekend will be basketball, volleyball, Ultimate Frisbee, a late evening message and worship, building cardboard homes to sleep outside in, morning devos, community and church work projects, a scavenger hunt, and a spaghetti dinner to break the fast.

Paul and I would like to thank Heather O. for all of the work she has done to help organize this. We love you, girl. Thanks for having a heart for God, the girls in your small group, and the world at large. Thanks for also being flexible when everything started falling through.

If you would like to donate to the famine, please let me know. If you want to host your own famine, find out more information here.

Please pray that these 30 hours will draw students closer to God, each other, and somehow to that 13 year old in the North. Thanks, guys.

FAMINE UPDATE:
Our incredible students raised $900 for the fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow! Are they amazing or what? And they had a blast while doing it. I'll post some of the pics this week.

Don't ever count teenagers out.

Ever.

Honkin Bag of Potatoes

Great picture of our Compassion child Ruth (2nd from right) and her family, after receiving our youth group's gift. Everything in the picture was provided with the money (including sneakers, bookshelf, honkin bags of potatoes and rice, etc.) Thanks, Michele, for scanning this for me:) And thanks, PBC students, for your continual support of Compassion. You guys CAN change this world. And maybe, you already are. Love you.

The Perfect Guy

One of our small groups recently compiled this list of traits. It cracked me up so much I had to post it:).

Must
1. True Christian
2. Not a jerk face
3. Good with kids
4. Good sense of humor
5. Good morals
6. Mature
7. Treats family well
8. Treats friends well
9. Good work ethic

Maybe
1. Hot
2. Confident but not conceited
3. Basketball player
4. Likes Mexican people
5. Drummer or guitarist
6. Loves animals

Extras
1. Writer
2. Surfer
3. Six pack
4. Taller then you

Funny thing is, Paul meets 99% of the requirements, though I have yet to see him on a surfboard. Love you, hon:)

I Love the Castle Part II

Almost Blank Canvas

Lined up to Be His

"Into marvelous light I'm running

out of darkness, out of shame..."

"You are the Truth

You are the Life

You are the Way..."

To Know God is to Love Him is to Serve Him

I Love The Castle Part I

Ultimate Frisbee Of Course

Beautiful Girls with Quirks

Selah Flying into the Midnight Hour

My Love and His Scotcheroo

World Series of Spoons

An Endless YS Snippet of Sorts

The YS conference ended last evening for me. Walking away from the convention center there was a sense of fatigue and joy and too much good food and circles under my eyes from crying and great conversations with friends and giggling and hope and promise and one too many coffees and God time and late night pizza and talks with Paul and lots of just us time. And it was everything I didn't know I needed and yet everything I wanted at the same time. It was invigorating. Here is just a little snippet (okay, a ridiculously too long one) of random treasures.

In Margeret Feinberg's talk, I was challenged to listen to God's voice and to pursue the passions He has written on my heart. My joy is my God and my family, without question. But my joy is also listening to stories and hearing God's heart within them. I want to give credence to voices who have drenched their pillow with tears, but are waking up to restoration and beauty each new day. I want to serve a broken world with words of hope that communicate love winning in the end. I want to point to Jesus, I want to point to Jesus.

Andrew Marin, founder of the Marin Foundation, is a guy who has committed his life to loving Jesus and living right in the middle of the largest gay and lesbian community. His intention is not to change his neighbors with an end agenda in mind. Quoting Billy Graham, he stated that it's the Holy Spirit's job to convict, it's God's role to judge, it's his place to love. Clearly through his stories, it was more than his place, it was his honor to love those that the Christian community has despised for far too long, to our shame. (It's always hate the sin, love the sinner, but geez... we sure can't seem to extricate that hate from individuals whom God longs to pursue.)

Francis Chan, author of Crazy Love, took the stage Saturday night. And dude, he took the stage. He convicted and challenged and said just about every hard thing I didn't really want to hear. If you haven't seen this guy speak or read his book, please do. He is as authentic and true to the word of God as it gets. One of my favorite quotes was, "Teach in such a way so as not to cheapen the gospel." Oh, and "When salt goes bad, it's worthless. So worthless that it ruins manure." Yep, manure. I don't want to be the one to ruin manure. (Luke 14: 35)

Phyllis Tickle spoke at some point - at this point everything is a blur- and she was this wondrous genius, this spitfire of a sage. She gave a history lesson and covered the Great Reformation, the Great Schism, the Fall and Decline of Rome, Jesus' arrival, etc.... Her premise was that every 500 years the church goes through some type of major deal. And it's that time again. We're at the precipice of another 500 years, so there are crazy implications to this cycle that we'll see in our lifetime. God does have a funny thing for numbers in His word. Strange stuff, but great thing to be aware of.

Mark Yaconelli spoke about the soul and disco balls. I sorta wish he had dove deeper into the word, but I did love how he said that joy is always, irrevocably connected to suffering. Joy is an expression of healing. And he gave a great object lesson to boot. It's why people found it easy to celebrate around Jesus, because he was connected to their pain. It's also what I can stake the last 2 1/2 months on. I would've never understood this concept, had we not lived through it (to a minuscule degree.) Deep joy finds a reservoir in wells of suffering. Those tears were worth it for this joy now.

Beyond the general session speakers, I attended a few seminars, two of which I would highly recommend - Jim Burns' seminar on Marriage and Youth Ministry and Andy Root's seminar on Rethinking Relational Ministry.

One comment from Jim Burn's seminar really stood out to me. In speaking to a teenage girl (whose dad was very effective in young life), the girl said, "I hope you do things differently than my dad. He saved other kids. He didn't save me." Ughhh... our families, first and foremost, need to know that we are for them. "For them" (for our kids at least) translates into lots of time playing, laughing, hanging out, listening, praying for, and inviting them to be a part of what matters most. I will leave this weekend with a million strategies in working with teenagers, but I will also find myself playing tag a whole lot more in the leaves with my kids (and being more intentional about date nights with Paul!) Playing tag is of infinite value.

Andy Root's seminar on Relational Ministry had like no one in it, but it was really like this gem. Here's this little soft spoken preppy guy who learned what he knows from working with gangs in LA (I think, I could be totally lying about the LA part.) What I got out of it was that students can sniff out agenda from a mile away. So if you've got this goal of getting an unchurched kid to sit quietly in a pew with a collared shirt on, he will never ever get anywhere near you. (Bad goal anyway) But if you meet him where he's at, in his place of deepest need/vulnerability/weakness and communicate that you care about him - well, then that is the framework for a relationship. Yes, you can still speak the truth in love, but you listen more than you talk. And you let Jesus do the saving anyway.

Gosh, all of this plus Crowder and Matt Maher (fabulous worship leader), Shane and Shane, a Compassion graduate, Kendall Payne, and the Skit Guys. Oh yeah, Tony Jones was there too. I really didn't get his whole beginning ditty and frankly didn't find much value in it. It bothered me a lot, especially the prayer mocking of sorts. But what the guy had to say was great. He spoke on not cheapening the gospel, getting into the word of God, and letting the person of Jesus Christ (with dirt under his work worn hands) be our example. Can't argue with much of that.

Well, it's late and I need to get to bed. It was a long day of work today. I am thrilled about spending tomorrow with Selah and Adden. I missed them immeasurably while we were gone. (And huge thanks to Paul's amazing parents for loving them the whole weekend and giving us this retreat!)

Can't wait to play tag in the leaves....

$300 and She Loves Nebraska

I love our youth group students. Absolutely love them.

I love the could care less about God students, the ceiling dwellers hanging upside down, the students who get it - like really get it and live it, the Mountain Dew drinking spitfires, the kids with questions - hard questions, the athletes and band members and artists and AP everything students...

I love that we have students who are living out their faith now as twenty somethings and desperately seeking after God. I love that we have former students who are struggling to find their way. But they write and sometimes call and we hang on their words and hurt with them too. And those students, well, we couldn't love them more. There is always grace at the cross. Always.

Tonight we had our regular small groups. There was a badly sung birthday song, gooey yummy brownies and soda, Paul rambling with the announcements ( I love you honey and I can't think of anyone who loves our students better than you:) There was great insight into Luke 9:25, "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?" There were random, out of nowhere, "I love Nebraska" comments and giggling and story telling.

And then there was the $300 that the students raised in a week and a half!!!!!! Ahhh!!!!! Since Ruth's mom passed away (their Compassion child), we challenged them to raise the maximum amount of money that we could give Ruth's family (in honor of her mom.) $300 and a bunch of teenagers and a week and a half and a girl loved on in Bolivia. Beautiful...

If that weren't enough, I sat in Heather's small group today. These girls have been raising spare change of their own accord. There were these little falling apart decorated Styrofoam cups with money in them. I think they called them Cups for Causes. Money for a crisis pregnancy center, a local family who had a fire, Operation Christmas Child boxes, and former students now in the military. The girls were giddy over them and brainstorming ways to love people... with quilts they didn't know how to make, brownies, baby clothes, and more talk of whipping up quiltage.

I'm really not sure what God has in store for these students, but I've got to say there's a good bit of hope, faith, and love going on. Stored up in simple prayers, big dreams, and spare change in little Styrofoam cups with wings.

I love our youth group students. Absolutely love them.

A Need for Compassion

"Every child you encounter is a divine appointment."
- Wess Stafford

Monday night, we received this heartbreaker from our youth group's other sponsored child, Ruth. Excited to receive another letter from her, I ripped it open and began to read aloud:

Dear Mr and Mrs Charles,

We send many greetings to you. We thank you for your letter you sent to me. Always I pray for your good life. I send my greetings to all of you in your family and youth group.

I am fine but sometimes sad with my siblings because the death of our mother. She dies in last April in the hospital. She was so sick.

How are you and Selah and Adden?

I ask you to pray for my father Juan please. Also for my siblings and me. Our life is so hard without our mother. She was so kind. I know that the Lord is my strength. I love a lot Jesus as I loved my mother.

In my Student Center we the children play sports. My team was defeated but we hope to win next time.

With all my heart, I love you. Please write soon.

How are you all?

With Love,
Ruth

We wish we could fly to Bolivia and cry with Ruth right now. And take her to the park and take her pain and make her smile. And love on her like we would our own kids.

But we can't.

What we can do, is ask for compassion. Please pray for a broken heart to be healed. Pray for her requests earnestly.

Pray also that our youth group students can scrape up $300, the maximum gift we can give her family, in honor of her mom. Ruth's child development center staff will buy items her family needs - new beds, livestock, food supplies, whatever.

That kinda gift would be way cool.

Thanks for holding out Ruth's needs to Jesus.

Much Love,
Kristin

Our Team Who Loved Out Loud

Included here is a sampling of what some of our students (and one of our leaders) learned on their most recent mission trip to inner city Cincinatti. The students made me tear up quite a few times as they recounted things that they saw that broke their hearts. Like, for instance, kids coming to the boys and girls center and eating 4 helpings of lunch because it was their only meal of the day.

They also had me in hysterics as they told the tale of a crazy lice infestation. It's not a funny scenario to be found in (63 or so of the 90 some students had it!) but the students were real troopers. Instead of freaking out and taking off, most of them stayed the course, served through it all, and became lice trivia experts. (Like did you know if you are of pure African descent, you can't acquire lice? Huh...) We give a lot of credit to Rob, who held the team together through the infestation and resulting quarintine.

Anyway, enough of me talking. Here is what they had to say:

Rob (the fearless leader):
I really enjoyed being challenged to forgive others, and just as importantly to be mindful of our own flaws and to seek out forgiveness, cause I'm sure I offend people and don't think twice about it. I wish I'd found it at the time, but Acts 14:21-22 was helpful to me. We might've faced challenges, but not the greatest, and we know that challenges help to grow us in faith and our dependence on God.

Meghan:
I have learned so much from this trip to Cincinnati. My favorite lesson though was learning to be unselfish. When things stirred up, most people spent a lot of their time helping others instead of worrying about themselves. It made me think a lot on how much we should love others, even enough to help out when it was unexpected. I guess that true love means that when you're willing to help out until it hurts, your connection with God grows even more.

Cheyenne:
I learned just how great God's forgiveness is and how much we take it for granted. I know I sure do anyway. I've been challenged to forgive others their transgressions because our trespasses against God are way bigger than others' against us. I've also been challenged to remember how undeserving I am of God's forgiveness and how lucky I am to have been given it.

Amy:
I know I have now said this a couple of times.... but the fact that God pays just as much attention to the little stuff as the big stuff. Just like one sin is the same as another. Plus, through devos and experiences, I have learned to serve when I don't feel like it, and love when I don't feel like it (and have a VERY long way to go)...

Week of Hope

This week some of our youth group students and leaders are serving with Week of Hope in Cincinnati, OH. We would love your prayer for them.

Pray that God would make Himself known to each of the team members.
Pray that our team would reflect our God of hope in each of their assignments:

The Boys and Girls Club of Cincinnati, CityCURE, a local homeless shelter, working with disabled children, and repairing a nature trail in the city.

Pray that God would rescue, heal, and restore the lives of those they meet.

To Live on Purpose

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
Did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
But made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.

- Paul, in Philippians 2:5-6

Our speaker at church this weekend drove home this premise:

To know God is to love Him is to serve Him.

Paul and I were talking last night about the general state of our youth group. From what we've observed - the kids, for the most part, serve God because it's what we're doing at the time. They're not opposed to serving God, but they're also not crazy about it. There are the select few that head to the homeless shelter whenever the opportunity presents itself and are always clamoring to help more in other areas, but most of them have to be nudged a good bit. And some, with nudging, could still care less.

So maybe the serving isn't there cause the love isn't? And maybe the love isn't there cause the knowledge of God isn't? I guess our daily decisions always point back to our hearts. Our lives will tell a story of who God is and whom we are not. It's easy to say that the kids have some work to do, but I've got to be honest and say that I've got work to do. I need to know God more. I need to love Him more. And I need to serve Him more. At the end of the day, I want my life to have been lived with significance. And I want it to say that God is my everything.

Joining Up with the Mission of God in the World

Here are some of Mark Oestreicher's ideas for helping high school students engage in what God is doing around the world. Some of them could be scaled down for children as well. I suppose it's never too early to build these foundations.

Paul has been challenging our youth group of late to do this exact thing. We believe in our kids and know that they can live outside of themselves and accomplish something greater than they even considered possible. They have the potential to fight great injustices, if only their compassion can team up with their ambition. We couldn't be prouder of a handful of them who are already being Jesus' hands and feet around our nation and world. I just can't wait to see what's going to continue to come out of P'ville. Whoohooo!

Anyway, here are those ideas...

• Regularly share stories, and ask for teenagers to share stories, of places we “caught a glimpse of God.” Allow this storytelling to become natural and normative in your group.

• Encourage your students with the biblical reality that the earth is God’s, and everything in it . The natural extension of this is that God can be found, living and active, all over the place. Since all of us our God’s creation, even those who aren’t intentionally following Jesus leek out bits of the gospel in art, film, music, print, conversation, and other public arenas. Constantly ask your students – while standing in a forest or on a mountaintop, or in the middle of slum, or in the parking lot of their school – “What can we learn about God from this place?” and “Where and how is God present in this place?”

• Learn together about various injustices in your community, your region, your country and the world. Together, discern your individual and collective “holy discontent”. Devise a way, together, to address that issue.

• Try a wide variety of missional activities and together discern where God is moving you or calling you.

Photos from our Castle Retreat

The Castle 2007

Ahhh... The Castle... a long desolate drive to the middle of nowhere (my apologies, Angie)... a castle that transports you to a different period altogether - of ballrooms and ladies teas and servants' quarters... and an invasion of 80 some young adults who are seeking more than this world has to offer.

Our theme was Storyline this year - centering on the crazy beautiful story that God has written -discovering how that overarching story speaks to our own lives - and allowing our stories to offer hope to the hurting.

The kids heard relevant messages, sang out to Jesus with Crowder and Brian, gained ten pounds compliments of Mary and her amazing kitchen staff, fought over cabbage patch kids and oil filters in the dumb item game (Paul exercised his authority to acquire one sweet Hello Kitty princess crown for Selah), watched Noomas, played hockey, dodgeball, ultimate frisbee, and football, created commercial spoofs (though I would have to say that Narnia and Ricky still hold the prize), listened to honest talks on sex (which I am hoping to address in another blog), clawed people during the World Series of Spoons, displayed talents, spent time alone in the prayer room, were challenged by Bre's stories of loving like Jesus in the Big Easy, etc, etc.

All that to say, it was a busy weekend, but a great one. God never ceases to amaze me how he correlates everything together and how He speaks to hearts. I want to thank Paul on behalf of the kids, for all of the work and prayer that you put into this, honey. Best Castle ever and I'm not just saying that cause I'm your wife:). I want to thank everyone who had a part, whether you were at the retreat working or at home praying. Based on tears shed, dialogues beginning, and facebook chatter all over the place, I'm thinking that lives were changed.

On a final note, I want to ask those of you who prayed to continue to speak to God on behalf of this generation. In fact, I beg you to cry out to God on behalf of these lives. One of the guys did not return to the Castle this year because he lost a battle to depression that no one knew he had. Talk about a tragedy that would break your heart. Please pray that each of the kids would know God as their Glory and the One who lifts their head. (Psalm 3:3) It's difficult navigating your way through this world as an adult - much less a teen that's got crazy hormonal things going on, a horrendous home life, and is inundated with this world's ethics and mores.

Update on Castle and Christmas Pics

We are still catching up on our rest following our youth retreat, but much thanks to all who prayed. Everyone seemed to have a blast! I'm hoping to post pics of the weekend within the next few days and write a little bit more of all that happened up there. Till then, here are some pics from Christmas. It was such a joy to celebrate with our kiddos at home this year (though we definately missed Rhode Island and especially my brother in France.) Enjoy!

Pray for the Castle

We've got our annual winter youth group retreat this weekend. So far the numbers are in the high 80's and counting, even at 10:00, the evening before:) Gotta love teenagers. Anyway, for all of you praying people, please pray that lives are changed during our weekend. Pray that kids are introduced to Christ, that they fall in love with His story of redemption, and that their stories are changed as a result. Please pray for Paul as he orchestrates the whole shabang, the speaker Travis Watson (one of Paul's college friends), all of the counselors and workers (lots of college students helping as always:), me as I'm dialoguing with the girls about chastity (Lauren Winner's book entitled Sex Talk is phenomenal - probably the best I've ever read on the subject,) and just for all of the other details to fall into place. Oh, and pray that the kids have a blast- tons of fun, laughing, crying, staying up all night, making fools of themselves, talking, learning, being ridiculous. Thanks so much:)