Atlantic E-Free: Signing Off

Dear friends,

Well, we've reached the end of BUMP. Right now, we're sitting in the white van, listening to Lecrae, on our way back to Iowa. 

Today, we ran the music during the service at Faith. Then we ate our final meal with them, cleaned up a bit, and said goodbye. 

This week, God has impacted all of us in different ways, so I'm going to let my teammates tell you in a few sentences what he did in their lives during BUMP. 

--

Matt Iekel:

God really taught me to rely on Him in everything this week.  As the week started I was stubbornly trying to do what I thought I should, but as the week continued God showed me that he wants me to serve and love the people in the Robbinsdale community.  I also realized that I did a much better job if I was doing what God wanted.

Cassie Hallman:

Our BUMP team this week had a song that we kept playing in the van: Signed Up To Die by Thi'sle. In the song it talks about not having to be afraid of dying because God has everything planned for us. And if we don't have to be afraid of death, then what do we as Christians have to be afraid of? What is there in the world that we cannot trust to God? This impacted me because, on the way here, I had a lot of doubts and worries about the schedule of events, the interaction between the two teams, and the effectiveness of the sports camp. God impressed upon me this week to trust in Him with all of my worries; He had a plan and would take care of His children.

Preston Hoye: 

God has given me and shown me the importance of a serving heart. The week also presented the opportunity to meditate on his word throughout the day which has affected my thoughts and attitude tremendously. I have a new respect for short term missions and the effect they can have on a community.

Josiah Williams: 

God has been moving this week in the Robbinsdale community and it has been awesome having an opportunity to be a part of it. My personal highlight of this week was connecting with the kids that came to the sports camp and teaching them about Christ. Thank you for thinking about us this week and keeping us in your prayers

Reid Nichols:

God has done a lot in the hearts of many people in the Robbinsdale community this past week. Not only in the children but in the hearts of their parents and definitely in the hearts of the church community of the Faith E-Free church. But especially in the lives of the children! It was so cool to see them asking questions with us and getting in deep conversations with us. It was just a pleasure to get to know the kids and to love on them all week. God definitely stretched my team and I, in many ways, but mainly just by getting us out of our comfort zone. But he made sure that we could handle it and our team did a wonderful job at doing whatever we needed to do with all our effort. It was amazing to see how hard our team worked and how well we worked together! God has defiantly been working in our hearts as well. Just being able to see the diversity and the poverty in the city of Minneapolis. Living in a small town such as Atlantic I don't often get to witness that. It really moved me this week. I had an amazing experience this past week. Thank you all who prayed for us and I just ask you to continue to pray for our youth group and the young children of Robbinsdale. God bless.

Hannah McLean:

I've loved being able to watch God move this week. At first, I had doubts that we would have any lasting impact. I thought we'd just have fun with some kids, build a shed, and leave. And while we certainly did have fun and build a shed, we also brought several kids to Jesus. And God also showed me that what matters isn't always the life and world-changing impacts, but the little things, like blessing a church with painted windowsills or spending ten minutes talking to a little boy about his favorite superheroes. God is there even in those seemingly menial tasks. 

Lydia Joseph: 

God's been doing some pretty great things in Minneapolis this week. I didn't have very high expectations for this trip, and God's been showing me how truly in control of everything he is. I didn't think we could contribute anything valuable in one week. But if showing children the love of Christ isn't valuable, then I don't know what is. I could see God working in the lives of the kids at the church and working through us to accomplish what he wanted. And I've been shown this week just how much I should trust God with everything.

Tiffany Williams:

I didn't come into this week expecting very much, but God has really shown me how great He is and that he doesn't always work in the way we expect him to. The best part of my week was probably getting to know the kids. At the beginning  of the week it didn't really seem like God was doing any thing but at the end of the week kids came to Jesus and were asking some really great questions. It showed me that God doesn't work on our time but he has a purpose for everything. Thank you all for your prayers.

--

As you can see, God has done great things, both in Robbinsdale and in our own hearts. Thanks to all of you who were praying for us or thinking of us, and thanks to the organizers of BUMP for making this possible. It's been a great week. 

Signing off one last time,

The Atlantic E-Free Youth Group

Lunch today

Left to right: Kyle, Lydia, Tiffany, Hannah, Cassie, Matt, Preston, Reid, and Josiah. 

Carnivale! and cleanup and Valleyfair

Yesterday (last nite we got back too late for me to post) we did a carnival for the neighborhood and it was a blast!  We had a bunch of people there--way  more than for the sports camp, and the neighbors enjoyed it.  We did, too, and we carried on a running squirt gun fight among ourselves and the kids. Lots of games and prizes, a bounce house, and free hot dogs, cotton candy, snow cones and popcorn.

After cleanup, we headed to Valleyfair and did the roller coasters, water park and just had fun walking around, sitting and people watching--and there's quite a lot to watch there.  Sang some songs on the bus going back to the dorm and piled into bed after a very busy day.

Today it's off to Faith EFC for worship and a goodbye to the congregation and Pastor Tom and to the team from Atlantic EFC.  It's been a great week, and we're sorry to see it end, but we're looking forward to seeing our families and friends again (and to sleep in our own beds).

The leader gets highlights

Unloading the bounce house

Squirt gun wars!

Wyatt spent his money wisely at Valleyfair!

Atlantic E-Free: Day 7

Hello again everybody! 

Today was our last full day, and our last day of interacting with the kids who came to our sports camp. We hosted a carnival for them at Faith church, with tons of games and a giant inflatable obstacle course. It seemed like everyone who came had a great time--and a few squirts with a squirt gun turned into a huge water battle. 

After the carnival and cleaning up from it, our group went back down to the Minnehaha and swam around for awhile (Tiffany caught a three inch fish with her bare hands!), then got dinner at this fantastic Mexican restaurant.

Getting to see our kids and some new faces having fun at the carnival was really great, and a good way to end the week. 

Tomorrow, I'll have each of my teammates write a bit about BUMP and what it meant to them. It'll be a good way to spend the five hour drive home! 

Signing off,

Hannah McLean and the Atlantic E-Free YouthGroup

Matt and Tiffany making signs.

Cotton candy chef Matt!

Me with my carnival game

Food tent supervisors Cassie and Lydia

Playing in the river. 

 

Maegan's Blog Post! BUMP- 2013

             My name is Maegan and I've been working with a team in the Twin Cities. We teamed up with a church from Michigan to do a VBS at Cross Cultural Church.  I ended up working with the 3 year olds and preschoolers most of the week and leading music up front. As I walked these little kids around, they were constantly tugging on my clothes, sitting on my lap, playing with my bracelets, and holding my hands. At the beginning it really threw me. I couldn't understand why these little kids were missing games purely to sit, spend time and talk with me. So as the week went on, I came to realize that each of these little kids were so desiring affection and love from someone and they so badly wanted someone to tell their stories to. For these little 3 year olds, it was hard to teach a Bible story to them and help them memorize verses, but suddenly I realized that Christ was able to use me to reach those little kids where a memory verse wasn't quite clicking. Through Him, I had the opportunity to demonstrate Jesus' love.  I was totally taught by the Lord this week that I might not understand my purpose or even where I'm being led, but that He's already gone before me. As long as my sights are set on Him, He'll take me where I'm needed and my job is to listen.

Atlantic E-Free: Day 6

Dearest friends,

It's 12:01 and I'm just starting this blog post. We just got back from our final team time, a very emotional but touching time. Because of the late hour, this will not be a very long post, but I do have some things I want to say.  

Today's work day was great because everyone pitched in and got the entire church looking spotless. I got the particularly glamorous job of cleaning the toilets. Then we had our final sports camp night. 

God truly moved at Faith EFC tonight, despite the distractions and lack of focus of many of the kids. There were a lot of great conversations going on, and at least a few children who gave their lives to Jesus. So praise God for that. 

Tonight, I felt closer to God in a more active, personal way than I have this week.  When story time finished, I noticed several of my teammates engaged in deep conversations, one with a girl I've been praying for all week. I really wanted to do something to help, but there wasn't anything I could do--or so I thought at first. But then I felt something telling me to sit down and pray. So I did, for as long as Hayley, Tiffany, and Cassie were talking to the kids. And I actually felt Gods presence there, with me and with them. He was definitely moving at our sports camp today, and in our team time afterward where we talked about how to carry this trip back to our youth group in Atlantic. 

God truly is fantastic, and I'm so glad he let me and all of us be here to see him work this week.

Signing off,

Hannah McLean and the Atlantic E-Free Youth Group

Southern Hills and Atlantic--What a Team!

We finished out Sports Camp and the Scar Force drama today.  What a blast it's been!  Kids prayed to receive Jesus, more came today than earlier this week, we worked really hard on painting and raising a shed that's the size of most barns. This was our "tired" day, and we had to work hard to maintain focus and finish strong.  No frayed tempers, great bible stories, and a bucket of water for the actors in the J-Di skit.  Thank you, Lord for the strength to get it done and the laughter we experienced on the way.  Carnival tomorrow and finish up of a few more work projects at the church, then off to Valley Fair for some roller coaster action.

Our Rolls Royce

They're feeding us well at Faith EFC

Stretching!

Cheerleaders and basketball

The shed as big as a barn, finally up

Questions about Jesus

Pizza Party

Barbarians!

Devon from Bethel (Fargo, ND)

This is Devon  and I'm 13 years old. I helped at a soccer camp at New Salem it's fun there but takes some speed and agility to play.  At the beginning of the week I only knew 2 other people besides me then when Friday came around I knew around 22 people.  It is tons of fun helping at the soccer camp and tonight we're having a water balloon  for the last day of camp. 2 of the people I was working with got 2 kids to Christ and I'm hope there love for Jesus grows. In the mornings are awesome because we do church rallies and at the very beginning the guy that is the main guy sings songs about random stuff like the toilet flooding.
Friday (tonight)

Atlantic E-Free: Day 5

Hello friends!

 

Today provided a much needed break from the fast-paced routine of the past week. It was our day off, and our group headed for the city. First of all, we walked around Minneapolis and to the Foshay tower. Then we went to the Midtown Global Market, with the intention of getting some lunch. However, after we'd been standing there a moment, we noticed a distraught woman talking to security. Turns out her daughter had wandered away while they were shopping and was now missing. We fanned out to help search, frantically praying that she was okay. Praise God, the police found her outside after about half an hour. It was a frightening and somewhat eye-opening experience for us--in Atlantic, if your child goes missing in a store, it's a cause for concern, but not abject fear. 

After that experience, we grabbed some food from an absolutely amazing African  restaurant, Safari Express. The best Chicken Fantastic and mango juice I've had in my life!  Then we went to Minnehaha falls and relaxed in God's creation together. 

The day of rest restored our energy in   amazing ways, and the sports camp went really well. Today was the day for the gospel presentation, and we were all nervous and excited to see how it would be received. It was super encouraging to hear the great questions the kids asked and to hear about some of them praying to give their lives to Jesus. One boy ran up to Matt after the drama and said, "I'm a J-Di now, and this is my Saber of Light!  And you're my brother!" Seeing him and others like him giving their lives to Christ or even just thinking about spiritual matters made this entire week worthwhile. 

While sitting at Minnehaha, we talked about spiritual warfare and how Satan loves to use discouragement against God's people. That's definitely something a lot of us, myself included, have been fighting against this week. But today, God did things and was here at Faith EFC. Maybe we're not going to start a revival or change the course of the city, but we showed some kids God's love and helped lead them in the direction of him, and that's what God's called us here to do.

Signing off,

Hannah McLean and the Atlantic E-Free Youth Group

Cheerleader kick line!

Leading the kids in a silly song

Presenting the good news of Jesus Christ from Southern Hills EFC

Today was the day to present the story of the good news of Jesus Christ.  The team put together the story from reviewing the gospels, praying, and accepting guidance from other loving members of the team.  Several kids accepted Jesus as their savior tonite.  What a blessing!  And, the Holy Spirit fought the spiritual battle for us when Satan attacked our gospel presenters.  What an awesome experience for us.

It was also the day for a little fun and games at the Mall of the Americas.  It's our traditional Thursday trip, and it's truly a multi-cultural experience (albeit from a different perspective).  We did have a chance to engage a homeless man and listened to his story.  We also engaged several people on the light rail and learned a little bit about them.  Praise God for all He does!

Finally, the campers put on a puppet show for us at the end of the day at our debriefing session.  They're really into it!

The campers did a puppet show for us

East E. Free: Thursday

Greetings J-Di Cadets! I know I'm supposed to talk about what happened today, but to do that we need to rewind approximately 27 hours.

You know how rainbows are always pretty and beautiful despite however bad the rainstorm was before it? And sometimes, the bigger the storm is the more amazing the rainbow is. That's kind of how my night was last night. They call the Wednesdays of BUMP Warfare Wednesday because that's the day the exhaustion sets in and Satan tries his darnedest to discourage us. I never really believed that, until last night.
My job at BUMP is pretty easy, I help lead actions to the music. However, only about half the kids at VBS actually do any of the actions and the other half sit there and look very bored. When you put a lot into doing something and only half the people you do it for try to do it, it's very discouraging. When I'm not leading the actions, I'm kind of a free-agent and help out wherever I'm needed-primarily in snacks. Last night I was tired and frustrated because it seemed like no matter how hard I tried to make sure the kids had fun after snacks, there was one kid in particular who let me know he wasn't having a good time. Combined with the frustration from another conflict at the VBS and the lack of fun the kids were having during the songs, I really questioned why I even bothered trying. Surely, there's no way that feeding the kids Kool-Aid and cookies can bring them to Jesus, nor can teaching them motions that they'll forget in a week. I left feeling discouraged and ready to cry.
When we got back to the dorms, I was ready to go to bed and sleep like the dead. However, Rachel convinced me to go to the Skywalk (the hangout of all the cool teenagers) and I agreed despite my gloomy feelings. If you read Leon's blog yesterday, you know that an NCU student invited us to a small worship service in the lobby of the dorms.
We went, and it was by far the most powerful worship service I've ever been to. The power of God was definitely present, and I poured out all my feelings and complaints to Him. After that, He gave me a peace about VBS. I still don't know how exactly God uses snacks and motions to reach kids for Jesus, but I'm realizing that doesn't really matter. Look at the picture of me blowing up that giant beach ball. When I was blowing it up, I was sure it was leaking because it wasn't expanding at all.

When I was blowing air into it, I couldn't see the progress I was making. I was sure I was wasting my breath. However, I kept at it and, with only a little dizziness and a lot of help from others, it grew into a giant beach ball that one pre-schooler said was the size of the moon! The thing is, I didn't see how what I was doing affected the balloon. Looking at it now, I can see the difference I made. My job(s) at VBS is the same way. Maybe the actions help kids learn the song, and the song will stick in their memory when the actions are long-forgotten. Maybe the snacks make it so the kids don't have rumbling stomachs during the more-important lesson time. I really don't know what the purpose of my duties are, but I am confident that God has a bigger plan that calls for actions and snacks.
Aside from that ramble of a day, the other events today are quite noteworthy. One of the kids from the church we're partnering with fell out of his bed at 2 am and broke his foot and busted his lip. We went to the Mall of America. I found a store dedicated to the fluffy marshmellow treat Peeps and I could've sworn that I was in Heaven. Overall, it's been a great week so far filled with lessons from God and I really can't wait to see what He has in store for us tomorrow.

One Love,
Hannah

On a much lighter note, I can cross tripping backwards over a speaker in front of a room full of children off of my bucket list.

East E Free BUMP blog -- Wednesday

East Evangelical Free Church-Wednesday

Hello world!
It is I, Lloyd Leon Edwards III coming to you here from the Twin Cities at approximately midnight on Thursday so technically I'm a day late...but who cares! Today was a very interesting day. We had our normal morning schedule  with breakfast, chapel, lunch, and on to our site, but what made our day VERY interesting was the fact that it was Ricky's birthday. We got to embarrass him during breakfast with party hats, a "Free hugs cause it's my birthday shirt", and of course we got the whole dining hall to sing Happy Birthday to him so it was just a wonderful morning. Skipping ahead to the afternoon, we didn't have a service project scheduled so most of the group went to a local grocery store and picked up trash all around the building and served lemonade. Our dinner meal was AMAZING. One of the local Hmong wives from the church made us some homemade Hmong cooking including: Spicy Chicken, Fried Rice, Egg Rolls, and some very exotic drinks. It was BY FAR the best meal we've had all week and it will be a miracle if anything tops it. The VBS went great again tonight. We had 52 kids come to hear the word of God and it's exciting to see their faces light up the second they walk through the doors and their eagerness to want to learn more about God. After the VBS we all took the opportunity to grab a bottle of silly string and destroy Ricky because, I mean, it was his birthday. When we returned we went to our normal hangout spot in the skywalk when a God thing happened. One of the students that was staying at the university over the summer stopped and talked with us for a minute or two and as he was leaving he asked us if we wanted to join him for a worship session called PG (praise God) in one of the lounges. So 7 or 8 of us went and just had an amazing time worshiping the Great God of the universe for 2 hours, just praising him for what he has done for us. It was one of the most intense times of worship I have ever been a part of and just so encouraging to just be with a family of believers in the lounge of a dorm worshiping God!! All the glory to Him. Tomorrow we are heading to Mall of America so all of us are pretty excited for that so we will let you know how tomorrow goes when it happens. Pray for us because "Prayer is the difference between what the best we can do, and the best God can do." (Mark Batterson)

Peace Out

Hump Bump Day

Hey from Southern Hills E Free!  You all rock!  We love our partners from Atlantic--Paul and Mark from our church were awesome on a REALLY tall ladder doing roofing and gutter work.  We gave testimonies at a Memory Care Unit which was really sweet.  Lots to think about from the rally this morning--both good and bad.  We had a really good discussion on propaganda and worldview tonite.  Thanks to all the staff that do such a great job in making this an opportunity to see God at work.

More breakthrough with even more kids coming to sports camp.  Can't wait for tomorrow--sleeping in a little, Mall of the Americas on the light rail, another nite of sports/vbs camp.  We LOVE our kids.

REALLY tall ladders

Yes, you are!

Not so tall a ladder, but scary nonetheless

Atlantic E-Free: Day 4

Dear friends,

God's still moving here in the twin cities, both in the people around us, the work we're doing in his name, and our own hearts. 

After our talk last night, we opted to skip the morning session and instead spend our time experiencing the city. We walked around the business district, watching the people who passed us, noticing how they're different from the people we're used to--and how they're the same. Then we headed for a coffee shop for lattes and smoothies and got to see and talk to some really cool people. 

Experiencing the city and its people really put us in a good frame of mind for later in the day. Everyone on the team worked super hard that afternoon, prayer walking helping in the kitchen, cleaning the church, scraping paint, and taking a trip to the Memory Home to bless the residents with songs and testimonies. 

Then the sports camp at night was our smoothest night yet, and all the kids had a blast. 

The kids God had given us an opportunity to work with have been a huge blessing this entire week. From Shahn, nine year old who bikes over from  his house every day during the work periods to hang out with us, to the little Somali girl Tiffany talked to at a bus stop while waiting for the rest of the group to catch up, they've been friendly and open and so much fun to be around. Tomorrow is the first time we'll present the gospel from start to finish, and I'm praying that we'll get to see some of those who've become so dear to us become part of God's kingdom. 

Another thing that's been great about this week is getting to see our youth group function as a team. Everyone uses their gifts to help the bigger cause of furthering God's name. And today, when we didn't have the snacks ready on time, everyone immediately pitched in to keep the kids entertained and get the food to them. It's really cool to see God using us in that way. 

Tomorrow is going to be a big day for us and the VBS. I can't wait to see what God's going to do.

Signing off,

Hannah McLean and the Atlantic E-Free Youth Group. 

(P. S. Refer back to my earlier posts to see some of what God's been doing!)

Homewood: Wednesday Checkin In

Wednesday is just about in the books and it was a HOT one! Despite the heat good things happened. The ESL Camp had the highest number of kids they had all week, praise God and the North Community Team did some killer weeding.

Most impacting for us though was our morning session in which we witnessed a play designed to challenge our thinking about homelessness. I think often times when we hear the word "homeless" the cliche stereotype comes to mind of an older bearded man wearing a beat up coat holding a bottle of alcohol. The short summary of this mornings play was this; the stereotype just isn't true. 

If we're honest we all know that the stereotype just isn't true, but we still find ourselves drifting back to that stereotype, and unfortunately let our thoughts and actions flow from that. One simple fact that I'd like to share with you to help completely break that stereotype is this "in Minneapolis there are more kids who are homeless than adults." Read that again, and let it sink in for a moment. Kids. 

Something else that blew my mind is that in Minneapolis they have more than enough food to feed the homeless, they actually have so much that they end up having to give the surplus to farms in the area to feed livestock. 

Naturally though when people think of a homeless ministry what do they think? Well it usually involves feeding them, and for Minneapolis, more food won't help solve the problem. 

So what will help you ask? Answering that question was what was so challenging about this morning, we can't assume we know what will help. We need to get our feet on the pavement and figure it out by getting in the trenches, so to speak. 

I think there's a truth that rings deep in what we learned this morning that extends to all ministry.

1 - Recognize the need (don't assume the need)
2 - Meet the need (feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless and don't mix it up)
3 - Share the gospel

Anything less falls short of the work of Christ.

James 2:15-16 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

Atlantic E-Free: Day 3

Hello again from the Atlantic E-Free Church! 

Today was much smoother and much more organized than yesterday. After the rally and lunch, we headed for the site and got right to work. One group when prayer walking and handing out flyers, and, as a result of that, our numbers that night jumped from 25 to 32. The construction group split into three groups, one scraping paint off the side of the church, one group priming the entire old shed, and a third continuing the building of the new shed. And two girls helped in the kitchen, cooking us a delicious supper. 

The sports camp is also going well. All the kids that came seemed to have a fantastic time, playing sports and watching a drama and hearing the story of Noah. 

It's been hard for all of us to not see immediate results--to have doors literally slammed in our faces while handing out flyers, to have kids not pay attention during the bible stories, to not be able to see how anything we're doing is furthering the kingdom of God at all. But through our hour and a half long discussion tonight, we talked about how God works in ways we can't often see, but that doesn't mean he's not working. We exposed, analyzed, and resolved the mindset problems that many of us had, the expectations that were different from the reality of what God wants to do with here. We're also working on solidifying our relationship as a group, from twelve people putting on a sports camp and doing some work projects to a team of brothers and sisters spreading God's love. 

God's still working here in Minneapolis, and I'm excited to see what he's going to do the rest of this week. 

Signing off, 

Hannah McLean and the Atlantic E-Free Youth Group

Cheerleading

Basketball

Soccer

Reid with Preston and Alex on his back. 

Scar Force Ep. II: A Servant's Heart -- East E Free, Wichita

Hi this is Kevin from East Evangelical Free Church located in Wichita, Kansas.  We are working at Cross Cultural Church this week and have had a blast these past two days!  Now that the vbs week has begun, we have been working tirelessly to train our new, young cadets to become J-Di (Jesus Disciple) cadets at the Scar Force J-Di Academy.  We have been blessed to welcome a great number of new attendees to the Academy.  Today, we learned about God's plan and guidance for the Hebrews in escaping from slavery in Egypt to finally reaching the promised land, while the kids enjoyed the light sabers that they made in crafts yesterday and spent some energy in games, music and snacks.  To finish the evening we witnessed JJ get blasted with silly string following a red team victory and were encouraged to see two girls ask for Bibles and leave very excited to be able to take one home.  Praying for a great and powerful rest of the week!

EEFC