Breakthrough!  New family and kids came to camp at Faith EFC this evening because of the BUMPers prayer walking this afternoon.  God is so great!  He lifted us up when we were tired.  No one got cranky or on each other's nerves.  We get along great with the Atlantic BUMPers.  Our music team rocks, the drama was great, the kids loved the bible stories.  Great big shout out for all the team.

Tom the guitar man, and in background from left Caitlin, Isaiah, Garrett, Sam, and Tami

Here's what it's all about

Can't believe how hot it is!

Interlude!  It rocks!

Atlantic E-Free: Day 1

Hello from Minneapolis, Minnesota!
Today was an absolutely fantastic first day of BUMP! We started the day off with a great outdoor service at Faith EFC and got to meet the brothers and sisters from Robbinsdale and Hot Springs that we'll be working with this week. They're some really great people, and I'm very excited to be working with them. We had a great time bonding over sandwiches and silly games, then loaded into the blue and yellow school bus from Hot Springs and rode up to where we were going to be in the "Whiz Bang Days" parade.
We walked with the Faith EFC truck and handed out candy and flyers about the sports camp we'll be doing. Everyone loved the candy (and we managed to not run out!), and I was particularily encouraged to see that a lot of people seemed to be very interested in the flyers. Hopefully this means we'll have a lot of participants in our sports camp!
Our team had a lot of great bonding with the kids from Faith who will be coming to our sports camp, and I got to see a lot of budding relationships. It was also a huge relief to us Atlantic kids to find that the Hope Springs youth group was just as weird as we are!
The rally was really good and thought-provoking, and our team ended the night by talking about the good and what was hard about the day and encouraging each other's strengths.
I'm really excited to see what God is going to do with us this week. So far it's been good, and I can't wait to tell you all about what God does here in Robbinsdale.

Signing off,

Hannah McLean and the Atlantic E-Free Youth Group
 

Right before the parade! 

During the parade. 

Reid with an umbrella hat!

A parade to show off the splendor of Jesus Christ!  Southern Hills E Free Church marched in the Whiz Bang Days parade with Pastor Tom and the congregation of Faith E Free Church in Robbinsdale (along with the crew from Atlantic E Free).  Saw Christ show up and show off when the teams met and immediately bonded and did crazy and goofy stuff together and included the congregation in their games.

Homewood Heart Check

Somethings been missing and today we found it. We started the day with worship and teaching at Antioch Community Church in Minneapolis and that was awesome. We then spent the afternoon getting mentally prepared to serve at the ESL camp and in the Minneapolis Community and all day you would tell, something just wasn't quite right and tonight we figured it out. We didn't quite have our hearts prepared, more specifically we were doing a lot of work on our own for God and not depending on the Lord to do work with God. God definitely used tonight's worship and teaching to reorient our attitudes ever so slightly, and we'll definitely be depending more on God than we did today! To His Glory!

Looking forward to God doing some awesome things in Minneapolis and in our students lives.

On a slightly more entertaining note the students invented a new game in the car yesterday called "snap ball." It's pretty much ridiculous but entertaining. The gist of it is this. One person starts by working up a "snap ball" (just snapping their fingers) and then they can throw it around and when it comes your way you better catch it and snap right along... who knows maybe we'll have a video soon of "snap ball."

Checkin in for Homewood EFC

After an 8+ hour trip (should have been more like 6, we stopped at Cabela's on the way!) we got all 14 of us unloaded and settled in to our dorms.

Who are the 14 you ask? Starting with our awesome students in no particular order
Trent "I can dunk on the 5ft rim at Pizza Ranch" Blaser.
Courtney "I'm fluent in whonk" Blaser.
Tater "the nerf hunter" Seaberg.
Josh "I broke my shoulders for life" Seaberg.
Erika "I destroy people at skunk" Parks.
Brandon "I'm working off one hour of sleep" Smith.
Jurnie "the young gun" Hinde.
Luke "second in command" Friedline.
Sam "what shorts rule?" McNalley.
and
Daniel "I get to drive the van if something bad happens to all the adult leaders" Frazee.

And now our fearless leaders
Diane "I'll jump out of an airplane and enjoy it" Blaser.
Ted "I'll be 50 all week" Blaser.
Kristi "the enforcer" Z.
and the YP
Nick "I ate at Pizza Ranch so now my wife doesn't have to" McKittrick.

Looking forward to an awesome week! Starting tomorrow off worshiping the Lord with our brothers and sisters in Christ at Antioch Community Church! Gonna be awesome!

Atlantic E-Free: Checking In

The party just started, 'cause we drove in! We are Atlantic E-free Church from Atlantic, Iowa. Today,  all twelve in our intrepid party piled into a van and a car and drove five hours to come up here for BUMP.

Brief introductions: first of all, our fearless leaders, Youth Pastor Kyle Bartholic, Paul Iekel, Bobb Joseph, and Laura McLean. Then there's us: Matt Iekel, Preston Hoye, Josiah Williams, Reid Nichols, Cassie Hallman, Tiffany Williams, Lydia Joseph, and me, Hannah McLean. 

This week, we're all super excited to be working with the Southern Hills Church from Hot Springs, SD, to bless Faith EFC in Robinsdale. We'll be running a combination sports camp and VBS for kids in the community. We'll also be doing some service projects. 

We're very excited to see what God has in store for us this week! I'll keep you posted on what God's doing here in the Twin Cities.

Signing off,

Hannah McLean and the Atlantic E-Free Youth Group

Our group about to leave! Left to right: Kyle, Preston, Paul, Reid, Josiah, Matt, Tiffany (in green), Bobb, Cassie, Laura, Hannah, and Lydia.

Playing cards in the girls room

Welcome to BUMP Twin Cities!

Welcome to BUMP Twin Cities 2013! This year BUMP is blessed with 181 students and leaders serving and learning at six different locations in Minneapolis and St. Paul:

Antioch Community Church, NE Minneapolis  will partner with Crossroads EFC, Albert Lea, MN and Homewood EFC, Moline, IL.

Cross Cultural EFC, St. Paul, will partner with East EFC, Wichita, KS and The Chapel EFC, St. Joseph, MI.

Faith EFC, Robbinsdale, will partner with Southern Hills EFC, Hot Springs, SD, and Atlantic EFC, Atlantic, IA.

New Salem EFC, Minneapolis, will partner with First EFC, Sioux Falls, SD, Bethel EFC, Fargo, ND and Marshall EFC, Marshall, MN.

Payne Avenue EFC, St. Paul, will partner with North Suburban EFC, Deerfield, IL, Hope EFC, Roscoe, IL, and Christ Community Church, Sioux Center, IA.

Riverside EFC, Minneapolis, will partner with Faith EFC, Austin, MN, and Grace Fellowship, Kansas City, MO.

Pray with us during the final 30 days before BUMP Twin Cities! Follow the blog to see what God is doing in and through all who participate!