1) There is no such thing as hidden sin.
We like to think that there are some parts of our lives that are private. There are times when we might feel safe to engage in “private sins.” We might even justify these by saying that we are not hurting anyone. When we do this, we forget that when we play around with sin, there is always a price to pay. The biggest price is to our personal integrity and our relationship with God and others.

“The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.”
― John Wooden

2) We need to choose our hero’s wisely.
We live in a celebrity culture and we tend to put human leaders on pedestals, especially those who can shoot a ball through a tiny rim, run a oval shaped ball across the goal line, or those who are proven to be able to win. There is nothing wrong with having role models and examples that we try to emulate, but we need to be careful that they are worth our attention and reverence.

Psalm 118:8 reminds us that “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.”

Our young people need models of faithfulness and godliness. As Paul said to the Corinthian church “follow me, as I follow Christ.” Are we seeking to follow Christ or celebrities? Are we modeling faithfulness and integrity to those who are following in our footsteps?

3) As Christians, we need to respond to the failures of others (no matter how public and how offensive) with humility, knowing our own tendencies toward sin.
We should be grieved when men and women are caught in the tentacles of sin. We should hurt for their families and friends who lives have been touched by the effects of their sin. We should be driven to prayer for the gospel to penetrate the depths of their depravity and sin. We should remember that, “but for the grace of God, so go I.” As I shared with the youth last night: We are no different than they are, we are just on the other side of the cross. Those who have been saved by the blood of Christ have changed from the thief that was mocking Christ, to the one who claimed him as their Savior.

Finally, We need to pray for those who are caught up in sin and pray against the same tendency towards in sin our own lives.

We started our morning worshiping downtown Cleveland with City View Community Church. Our missions team had a chance to lead two songs in the church service and Rachel Muckley gave her testimony. The church service was well attended (close to 50 including our team.) It was good to put names with faces of some of the people we heard about from the Taylor’s and Dockery’s ministries and be able to encourage this new church. For the Sunday School hour Terry taught the teen class a lesson from 2 Timothy 1.

Following the time at City View, we returned to Faith Baptist Church for a Community Dinner at 1:30, followed by their church service at 2:30 pm. The girls from our team did a puppet skit and we also had a chance sing special music in the service. The song we did was “Our God.” The words are appropriate for stepping out and serving God in a new setting.

“Our God is Greater, Our God is stronger, our God is higher than any other. Our God is healer, Awesome in power, our God, our God!”

We had a full evening as well – we had some team bonding time at a community pool, grilled out (and in), and then paid Brad Dobney a visit at Lower Edgewater park near downtown Cleveland.

Right now we are loading up the van and trailer and heading to the Taylor’s house for our last missions project. We will be doing acts of kindness in their neighborhood (landscaping and other projects.) After lunch with the Taylor’s we will be heading back for Canton. See everyone soon!

Although we didn’t come far to go to Cleveland for our missions trip, the culture we were dropped into is very different than what we are used to in our daily lives. We had lunch at Grace Baptist Church (Westlake) and then headed out to Faith Baptist Community Center. We spent the afternoon preparing for the “Fun Day” (a carnival type event we will be hosting for children in the community tomorrow afternoon.) We divided into groups of 4 and went out into the low income housing areas surrounding the Community Center to pass out invitations to the event. We were able to pass out about 300 flyers to children and parents. All the kids said they were coming, but realistically we are hoping for around 60 tomorrow.

After a dinner of pizza, we headed to Public Square in downtown Cleveland. There we had a chance to hand out 40 dinners to the homeless who gather there at night. We used the opportunity to invite them to a meal and church service on Sunday. From Public Square, we went on an hour or so, walking tour of the area that City View Baptist Church ministers in. City View Missionary, Bill Taylor, gave us a perspective on their approach to ministry in showing us 3 different locations they minister to, all within walking distance of the Wyndam hotel, where they meet for church on Sunday mornings. Although growth has been slow, they have built many relationships with those in the city, as they have showed Christ’s love to the hurting in the city.

It was a later night, as we got back to the church around 10:15 pm. We are looking forward to a more relaxed morning tomorrow (pancake breakfast, team devotions, and West Side Market) and then will host the “fun day” for the afternoon. Be in prayer for the children who come – that we can give the message of salvation through the wordless book and the love we can show each child.

I challenged our team on Thursday morning to give the last two days 100 percent effort and not leave with any regrets of what we should have done.  I believe each person has risen to that challenge and has served well.  This was evidenced today during our final day of Vacation Bible School.  It was a great encouragement to me to be able to serve in the background and let them take responsibility for running the VBS.  But even beyond this, it was of greater encouragement to see them spending time with kids, having the kids looking for them to sit on their lap and say their verses to them.  For myself, two kids in particular stood out, Nick and Zach.   These were two of the older boys who at the beginning of the week were “too cool” to sing or listen very much to what was going on.  But they kept coming back and by the end, Nick was wanting to answer all the questions about the meaning of the “wordless book.”  It is my prayer that these boys (and the 50 or so kids we reached) would come to know Christ as their Savior.

As for an update on our last day of VBS.  We started a little slow, but throughout the first hour kids continued to come and we ended up with 45 kids for the last day.  They had a great time, as we had a friend contest throughout the week and the group who brought the most friends got to put a “readi-whip” pie in the face of two leaders.  They picked Wade and “Mr. Nate.”  I was thankful that I wasn’t as popular as them – but I did manage to get the GBC Youth version of the coaches gatoraide dumping at the end of the time.  After VBS we were able to come back to BBC to get cleaned up and ready for another night of outreach with Steamtown Church at an event called First Friday.  We will be doing sidewalk chalk, giving out balloon animals, making hot dogs, and using these to get into conversations with people.

Thanks so much for your prayers and support during this long week of ministry – we were able to plant many seeds and share the gospel with many children and adults.

Here are some ways the trip has impacted those on the mission team:

Alicia- I have really enjoyed passing out free coffee to random people and spreading the gospel. I really enjoyed the vacation bible school and getting to know the younger kids. I have also enjoyed hanging out and getting to know the everyone better!

Megan- The best memory I will take back from this trip is getting a closer bond with everyone on the team and my experience of fame in the local paper.

John- The best memory that I will take away from this trip will be  the fellowship that we experienced with each other. I feel that all of us hear have grown closer to brothers and sisters in Christ!!!

Nathaniel- I really enjoyed talking to people I might normally have avoided and being an outreach into the community in ways I have never done before.

Jon W- I loved reaching out to the older kids, ages 10-12, that at first seemed closed to us coming. Once they opened up and accepted us, they were much more open to listen to anything we had to say. The best part of it was when one guy came up to me the second day and was begging be to say his verses.

Brandon-  pizza was good but greasy. i witnessed to my new best friend Rumael! had a great time with the Philly kids! love you guys!!

Jon McMichael- I have really enjoyed getting to know the teens better on this trip and have a chance to work with them in ministry.  I have particularly enjoyed the coffee give away as I had a chance to talk to a construction worker two days in a row and was able to establish a relationship and he had many questions.  I am hoping and praying he will be there Friday morning and hope to give him a bible to encourage him to read through the gospel of John.

Allie-  This trip has really been a good experience for me. From trying to plan and direct crafts with Alicia, to talking to people on the streets, I have had several new experiences. I have also enjoyed getting to hang out with everyone and getting to know them better…. especially seeing the true side of Jon McMichael.

Karen- I loved our coffee giveaways. I got to talk to many people who were very open about their lives and what they believe. Bible School has been awesome. Monday we had 4 girls, but by the end of the day we only had one. Today and yesterday we had 20ish girls! It has been so much fun to show love to the kids and have a good time. I wish we could stay another week. =)

Wade-  I loved the fact that God kept bringing more and more little kids to the VBS. I also was super stoked that I found out about Rick. This man is a very strong man of God and is fully submerged into the Lord. Rick gave me his E-Mail, phone number and address to get a hold of him anytime I need to. I also enjoyed VERY much John and I’s turtle services To end I just want to thank God for all the blessing he has poured out on us and continues to do so. Much love.

Hannah- I have really enjoyed doing the vacation bible school. I really love the kids. I have enjoyed the coffee giveaways!!

Nick- I have had an amazing time here working with the kids in the VBS and talking to people around the community. This is also evident by my last two blog posts if you want to hear more about my thoughts on the week.

With those words from the team we bid you all a good night and will see you on Saturday.

Day three of our ministry in Scranton was a rough morning. Some members of the teem struggled to wake up in the morning but after the rush to the rescue mission we began an amazing day of serving God. Our day began with the introduction of two new teem members, Brooke and Sam from Steamtown Church. We had our daily devotions on the steps of the mission in the heart of downtown Scranton and then folded clothes to prepare them for their outreach in the community.

After folding the clothes we headed to day three of out VBS which was an amazing blessing. As of today we had 40 kids and the numbers seem to grow every day. God is working wonders in the community and the hearts of the children there as well as some parents as they came to observe the work we were doing on the hill. We had an amazing message presented by our team that included some special effects that really seemed to get the kids to listen so please pray that the kids will listen more and more as the week goes on so we can spread Gods word into the households of the Bangor complex.

After VBS we were given the opportunity to swim in a community pool which was an amazing break from the stress of a long week. We got to cool down and grow closer which was an amazing blessing. From the pool we went to Peters house for dinner and a home church ministry. While at this ministry Jon McMichael and I had the chance to Josh Wilson a man who holds some unusual beliefs in theistic evolution so please pray that we had an impact on him thru the words we shared with him.

Our day came to a close with a trip to Walmart where we restocked our food stuffs in the room. It was a great day to worship God all around the community and we pray that tomorrow will be another productive day in Gods great creation.

Oh and on a side note, Pastor Jordan found his wallet. It was in his pants pocket all along so thank you to all that were praying for us.

After the coffee give-away we headed to our second day of VBS.  We tried a different location, up on the hill, which worked well.  We had close to 30 kids today and they really seemed to be warming up to the teens.  Allison did the lesson today, teaching about Jesus Calming the Storm.   Everyone is working really hard to get to know the kids and impact their lives in the short times we have with them.

We also had a chance to serve again at the Ronald McDonald house – painting the back porch, cleaning, and organizing.  We got back to campus at 7 pm and had our team meeting in the rotunda of Jackson Hall.  It was amazing acoustics for our praise and worship time.

We are tired, but feeling blessed by this chance to serve with Steamtown Church to those who need Christ in the Scranton area.  We believe God is allowing us to have boldness as we talk to people we meet and point them to a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Keep praying – tomorrow is the mid-point and often one of the hardest days energy wise.

On a side note:  My wallet has been missing since Sunday night – which has been an unexpected stress.  Last seen at Walmart I am praying it will show up.

We started off the first day passing out coffee on the streets of Scranton. It was an awesome opportunity to spread the news about the church. I got to talk to a couple people who were interested or looking for a church. The people seemed very willing to talk and share with us about their lives.

We then went to the field in the middle of some low income housing to get the vbs started up. The first day of VBS went fairly well. We had about 20 boys and 3 girls come.  Obviously we are hoping for more girls to come tomorrow! =) We had games, crafts, opening session, lunch and story. We had beautiful weather, and a lot of water.

We then went to the Ronald Mcdonald house, where we stuffed envelopes. We stuffed close to 1000 envelopes and had a nice time to hang out in the air conditioning!

Our last stop for the day was the Scranton Mission, where the team got to lead worship and Pastor Jordan got to share a message. Meanwhile, the rest of us transported a truck full of donated clothes. We ate with some of the people of the city there, then headed back to BCC.

After a team meeting, a few games, I should tucking my girls in soon! Thank you for your prayers, God is doing great things this week!

The team is having a great time together…they can tell their own stories…but it is a blessing to have a group that enjoys each other.  We will have a full day tomorrow – coffee giveaway, Vacation Bible School, work project at the Ronald McDonald House, and then doing a chapel and serving at the Scranton Rescue Mission.  Pray for endurance and many opportunities to show Christ’s love to those we meet in the community.