Cleveland Mission Trip #3

THURSDAY, JULY 12
We woke up today with a decision that was influenced by "the moms" but of which took very little arm twisting for me to agree.  We decided that we would use this day as our last day to do all the mission work we have been involved in and use Friday to go to Cedar Point.  That way, we can enjoy the day without having to be worried about driving 4 hours in the dark.  Instead we can have fun at Cedar Point, then go crash at the Nehemiah Mission, clean up the whole mission site, then pack up and leave on Saturday morning, arriving at the church in the afternoon.  It did not take much for them to convince me that this was a really, really, really good idea.   


So we started out our day knowing that this is the last full day of our work.  


The VBS team went back to their work site in the morning.  We continued the work of painting a lot of the trim on a Spanish UMC church just a few miles down the road.  The kids really cleaned up the look and feel of the building.  It looked sharper and well landscaped.  In the neighborhood it was in, it definitely stood out as a beautiful property, which is exactly what we wanted to do.  We were unable to get all of the painting done since the last part required tall extension ladders.  You can only get so much done if you want to do it right by cleaning and scraping before painting and making sure everyone stays safe on the ladders.   


I had a chance to quickly go to the other site to pick up some tools in one of our other vans.  I got to see the roof that the other team has been working on.  It was amazing to see how much they accomplished in just 4 days.  They completely ripped off the old roofing.  Replaced any damaged plywood.  And then re-shingled the whole thing!  Roofing is tough work but these teens did it like pros and with a great attitude.  


The teens that helped with VBS did a great job.  If there was one thing that trumped all the other aspects of VBS it was the relationships that were made.  Many of the kids that came were recent immigrants from Liberia.  There was some tension at the beginning of the week with this group being bullied by the African-America neighborhood kids.  But this has been an on-going problem throughout the Summer and the people at the Nehemiah Mission took a "no tolerance" position with it immediately.  Our teens made some really great friendships with these neighborhood kids that came all week long. There were lots of hugs at the end of the day.


That evening we took the kids out for dinner and to the beach.  We went to a popular local restaurant called MELTS.  It had gigantic sandwiches with big sides.  The kids had a lot of fun.  Hardly anyone could finish everything on their plate.  Including me!  We got the fried Twinkie dessert and all sung happy birthday to Devin.


After that we went to Huntington Beach and just enjoyed swimming and wrestling in the lake.  It was a beautiful night for a sunset and a group picture!  

FRIDAY, JULY 12
We took off for Sandusky, Ohio and spent the day at Cedar Point.  At first, some of the boys were upset with me because I did not just let everyone loose on the park like they do at King's Island.  Instead, I wanted to keep everyone together so we could all hang out together and experience all there is as a group.  After about the second ride the pouting stopped and we all had a blast.  I have done the "check-in" thing at Cedar Point with other youth groups and it is not fun for the leaders because inevitably there are kids who show up late or "forget" and there is always at least one kid who got separated from his/her buddies and has been wandering the park by themselves.  So it was just best to stay all together.  At the end of the day I think all agreed it was a good plan.  This really ended up being an amazing day for us to do this.  We had perfect weather and extremely low crowds.  The wait at most of the lines was less than 15 minutes.  We got to ride everything that they wanted.  Leigh Herrmann almost lost it on the SkyHawk.  The concept of this ride is like a giant swing.  Lucky for me she held it together but swore never again once the ride came to a halt.  We also had a lot of fun watching each of the kids go on the Dragster: 120 MPH, strait up and straight down, 420 feet high.  The G-force impact on everyone at the beginning of the ride was always funny to watch as it catches everyone by surprise.  


SATURDAY, JULY 13
We woke up and spent a good amount of the morning cleaning up the entire facility so that it was ready to go for the next week's group of mission trippers.  A great mystery was also solved.  Around Wednesday, we discovered that the Cargo Van keys were missing.  I try to be meticulous about making sure I know who has what, and any keys I have are either in my pocket or have a designated spot by my bed.  So the missing keys were either connected with me or Leigh.  We thoroughly  went through ALL of our stuff multiple times and could not find them.  I contacted D&L Leasing and had Stacey Mellett pick up their spare keys and bring them down since she was picking up Rachel on Saturday anyhow.  It turns out that the keys were under Jackson's bed!   Leigh bought something on the night we went out to Crocker Park.  She put her keys and phone in a bag of stuff she purchased.  When retrieving them, she only pulled out one set of keys and gave the bag to Jackson who then put it by his bed.  It was such a relief to figure out what happened and get the keys back!  No luck on my phone though.  I had to take care of that one once I got home. 


Overall, I think the teens had a great, great experience.  I loved the adults who came on the trip. They were a lot of fun and added a lot to the whole week.  The Nehemiah Mission is doing a great work in Cleveland.  I wish I saw even more interest in the big mission organizations showing interest in establishing Cleveland as a mission site.  
  

Cleveland Mission Trip #2

Tuesday, July 10th
Well the past 2 days have had some interesting moments!  Tuesday began with the team being broken up into two groups.  Team 1 went to a work site all day to work on a garage roof that is really bad.  I sent a group of boys to do this job because, now that we know what to expect for VBS, we only need just a few of them to help with the handful of boys who are attending.  They went to the work site with Scott Arnold and according to him they worked hard and had a great experience.  


The other group spent the morning at a new work site.  It is a Spanish United Methodist Church with a very old building.  Much of the trim and highlights to the outside of the building are in desperate need of a new coat of paint.  So we are landscaping, painting and trimming trees all around the property.  The teens were dying to get paintbrushes in their hands and attack the job.  They had fun once they were let loose on the building.  


A little before noon we headed back to the mission site to prepare lunch for the VBS crowd and get ready for bible school!  We start out doing our VBS songs.  Then I read the Bible story as some of the teens act it out.  The kids are split up into 3 teams and they rotate through their stations for the rest of the afternoon.  We are discovering with these kids that  well-defined teams with organized stations and time limits on when to switch are hard boundaries to follow.  Some of the kids just want to do crafts and only crafts.  Some would like to socialize and dance and laugh at each other the whole time.  Others really like just playing games.  The teens are learning the frustration of what it feels like to heard cats! But overall, they are having a good experience and building relationships with the kids we are hear to minister to.


On a lighter side, I discovered that some of the boys are dealing with some serious chaffing.  I told them to use Gold Bond.  They looked at me with quizzical looks not sure what I was talking about.  I tossed it to them.  They figured it out.  Then they came back with the kind of joy you only see on a person who has lived a hard life only to discover for the very first time that Jesus loves them. Chaffing be gone!


On the frustrating side, at a certain point in the afternoon when we had a little bit of down time, I crashed on a couch in the dining hall area.  I woke up and realized I did not have my phone on me.  I remembered plugging it into my computer up by the sound board so it could charge.  When I went up there to get it, it was gone.  I spent a good amount of time retracing all my steps, going through all my laundry, looking in every single possible place it could have possibly fallen or hidden from my sight.  I could not find it anywhere.  My stress level maxed out.  It is amazing how lost we feel without a phone of all things.  But we have turned our phones into so much more than just a phone.  And the kicker is that I JUST got this phone 3 weeks ago at Ichthus.

On the serious side, as we were having our debrief time in the evening, there was an accident right outside of our building involving a motorcycle going strait that plowed into a car making a left turn.  The teens wanted to toss their Bibles aside and run outside to see what was going on.  I put the brakes on that really quick.  Instead we said a prayer, continued with the debrief and sent them to their rooms.  They were able to catch a glimpse of the accident scene but only from the windows.  It was a shocking reminder about how fragile life can be and in a moments notice so much can change.  


On the funny side, for our evening down time, we took off to Crocker Park. This is a huge outdoor mall area in Westlake.  It is a really fun place to go just to walk around outside and  hit some stores.  Unfortunately, the boys discovered the limited edition of Dark Berry Mountain Dew which they bought cases of and drank profusely until it was time to go to bed.  I was about to blow a gasket at their continual chatter and laughing at farts.  Just then, the one young man sleeping directly beside me, made some smart-mouthed comment that he could easily take me in wrestling.  At that point my skin turned green and the gamma rays took over. I pounced on Braden and put him in a hold to the point where he felt like a pretzel.  He begged and whined to be let lose.  All the boys were shining the cell phones to see what was going on.  Braden no longer mocks me in my wrestling skills.


Overall, it was a good day with just some minor frustrations with the thought that my phone got stolen.  I will deal with that the next day.


Wednesday, July 11
Today started out similar to yesterday.  One group working on the roof of a garage.  The other group was working on the church property that needed some painting and landscaping.  It is turning into one of those jobs where once you think you got it all done, you look and see so much more we can be doing.  So a lot more landscaping and painting occurred throughout the morning.  


We came back for VBS even more determined to bring some more structure and organization to the day.  We had a great day.  The kids did some great crafts.  We talked and did skits on True Power, focusing on the story of the temptation of Jesus.  We taught the kids link tag and "Honey If You Love Me Won't You Please, Please Smile!"  They had a lot of fun.  The structure is still a little chaotic just because of the nature of the kids we are working with.  I think we are learning to accept that Epiphany VBS is slightly different when you try to bring it to an inner-city neighborhood.  To be fair though, I am definitely seeing some friendships blossoming between our teens and the neighborhoods teenagers and kids.  So I think our teens are learning how to adapt and change from moment to moment.  


Once I hit our early afternoon down-time, I headed off to a Verizon store to see what I could do.  As is with anything of this nature, it took much longer than it should have, but we eventually figured it all out.  3 weeks ago I also bought insurance on the phone.  I was approved to be able to get a replacement phone!  Woo-hoo!  I knew I bought the insurance plan.  It just took a while to figure out who the 3rd party company was that I had my policy with.


In the evening I had my father come and talk to the teens.  He brought my niece who just got into town from Arizona.  The twins were happy to see their cousin.  Dad did a great job challenging the teens to live their lives according to their faith.  The teens were amused at the apparent similarities between my dad and I.  


In our debrief time later on in the evening, we have been going through the letter of 1 John.  We look at one chapter a night and apply it to what we are experiencing.  The teens have been doing a great job of reading God's Word and talking it out in how it applies to us right now.  They have been doing great.  Although I will say, I am not allowing any highly-caffeinated, outrageously-sugary drinks right before bed.  They already sound quiet so I hope to get a good night sleep tonight and a new phone in the morning.  So I apologize if any of you have been trying to call or text me.  If my phone texted you back in the past 24 hours let me know because it wasn't me!  I will be back up and running no later than 10:30AM.  I just need to pick it up and charge it.  My claim has already been approved.  Glad I got the insurance!


Well it is time to hit the sack and I do not hear any clowning around!  I want to be joyful and excited!  But the inner voice of "Junior High Past" also reminds me that I could be getting set up for falling into a prank.  So I will move like a ninja as I head to bed hoping that I don't have to unleash my cat-like reflexes!

Cleveland Mission Trip #1

Well we took off for our Junior High mission trip early on Sunday morning, July 8th.  We got off on the road and had an uneventful trip which is always the kind of drive you want for mission trips.  Once we arrived, we parked our cargo van at the Nehemiah Mission, ate lunch at McDonald's and then headed down to watch the Cleveland Indians take on the Tampa Bay Rays.  It was a beautiful day for a game considering just how hot it was this past week.  The cold front moved through upper Ohio and made it really pleasant.  Thank you God!  I was dreading the heat and praying that it would cool off.

At the Indians game the Junior Highers had more fun socializing rather than actually watching the game!  Sounds like most high school football games I've been to.  Unfortunately the Indians played a stellar game except for the 9th inning.  They allowed the Rays to catch up and pass them by 2 runs.  Then the Indians couldn't rally enough to push the game into extra innings.

After that we headed off to Panini's Bar and Grill which has a classic sandwich that is as tall as it is wide, and piled high with sauerkraut and french fries.  A nice cultural experience that made the taste buds smile!

We headed back to the Nehemiah Mission and got ourselves situated for VBS.  The teens did a great job in setting up the decorations, organizing the plan for the next day, and getting excited.  When it was lights out it appeared that we had the wrong adults with the wrong teens.  I had to bark at the boys because they would not settle down, be quiet and go to sleep.  But the girls, of whom really wanted to sleep, were kept up by their adult leaders who were gabbing away like college dorm buddies.  They had to be asked politely to quiet down because others were needing to get up early the next day.

On Monday we began the day wondering what our first day was going to look like.  About 12-15 kids showed up and we dove into the Vacation Bible School.  Being the first day it was a little chaotic.  Our teens did their best as our plans morphed throughout the day. We did story time, songs, crafts, games and snacks with all of the kids.  We had about 12 girls as well as 4 boys show up for the VBS.  They seemed to have a lot of fun and enjoy spending time with our teens throughout the day.

For dinner we had an amazing Mexican Fiesta!  Delicious tacos, burritos, rice, and crapes.  The teens really dug into their meal.

We took some time after dinner to go over our devotions on the first chapter of 1 John.  Then we made a plan for the next day.  Since we have more of our teens than the actual VBS kids we will be sending out a group of our teens on a demolition project for the day tomorrow.  If we have a lot more kid show up for VBS then we can call these teens back to help us.  But we shall see as we are coming to understand what it means to be flexible and adapt.

After that, we went out for ice cream at the Sweet Moses.  One scoop on a waffle cone looked like a gallon of ice cream.  The boys were daring me to get the "Eiffel Tower" which included 10 scoops of ice cream for a mere $29.00.  The scoops at this place were the size of a softball.  I declined.

Now that we are back at the mission the teens are settling down playing Frisbee outside until people started getting hurt. Now they are inside playing card games before bed.  The moms have continued their flashback to the college days by getting a big Uecher game going.

All is well!

Cleveland Mission Trip: Day 6

A Perfect Day at Cedar Point!

Day 6 consisted of us waking up, packing our stuff, and heading off to Camp Sandusky.  Once we arrived at the camp ground we got settled into the cabins that we would be spending the night in.  And then once all was situated, we headed off to Cedar Point!  And boy did we have the absolutely perfect day for Cedar Point.  It was a little warm but not bad.  It was so much fun to take a large group of teens of whom, many have never been to CP.  I promised them that if we could all stay together, I would take them on a roller coaster tour de force.  We had a few coaster-haters with us.  When we got to the Maverick I dragged one of them in line with me convincing her that this was an easy ride.  Of course, I have never been on this ride since it was relatively new but I knew that it didn’t break any records for being the tallest or fastest.  But once we road it, it ended up being a lot more intense of a ride then I ever expected.  In fact, this became the one ride that we went back a second time before we left the park that night.  We hit them all throughout the course of the day: Mantis, Raptor, Magnum, Millennium, Gemini, Maverick, Skyhawk, Dragster.  We had such a fun time together. 

            After our time at Cedar Point, we headed back to Camp Sandusky, crashed for the night, and then made our trip back home!  Overall, this trip was a huge success.  We had many teens go for the first time with our youth group.  So this was a significant trip to help bond a new group of teens for the new school year.  I missed several of my Seniors whom I have had several mission trip experiences in the past with but I knew that most of them were just busy transitioning into the next stage of life and it’s time for a leadership shift in our youth group.  This trip helped us to achieve just that. 

Things that we learned from this trip:

1.  Once again, I really need more adult guys to come on these trips.  I was the only guy on this trip.  I thought I had another coming with me but it was at the last minute that he was unable to come due to unforeseen reasons.  But unfortunately I did not have a Plan B.  For the health of our team and the diversity of leadership we need more adults to attend these trips.

2.  A mixture of experiences was a very good thing.  We had days that involved hard work and others that involved relationally connecting with people.  Having a variety like that helped all the teens to discover what type of service really got them excited.

3.  I loved having more control over the design and implementation of the trip.  For the teens to take an active role in making decisions, crafting worship, and putting together devotionals I think helped grow them spiritually.  We could have gone with a mission organization that had all of that together for us already with a higher quality of preparedness, but I believe that giving teens, especially Senior Highers, the opportunity to lead themselves actually has a greater impact on them.

4.  Experiencing the culture and interacting with specific people are a big part of any mission trip.  It was exciting for me to introduce them to some of the culture of Cleveland and to meet specific people who have been heavily involved in ministry to that area or have been ministered to through these important ministries that we supported. 

5.  The greater the challenge, the more our teens would rise to the occasion.  Easy jobs were always completed quickly and efficiently.  But if you give our teens a job that was challenging they would always work hard to accomplish it. 

6.  Cedar Point was the perfect way to end a mission trip!  I loved taking the team there. 

7.  With maturity, comes rewards.  Our Senior Highers are very, very trustworthy.  When teens come across this way it is so easy for me to trust them with greater responsibility and reward them for their hard work. 

8.  It is always fun to see what happens with teenagers when left alone in a spiritually challenging and friendly environment.  Many good conversation, spontaneous worship, group counseling, and depth to friendships occur on these kinds of trips.  

What an awesome week!

Cleveland Mission Trip: Day 5

            This was our final full day at the Nehemiah Mission.  We got ourselves up and moving with the anticipation of not quite knowing what our assignment would be for the day since we were done with all we needed to accomplish at the City Mission.  So we were relying on the leadership of the Nehemiah Mission to give us jobs to do.  Jim is the head guy that runs the mission.  He had two sights for our teams and we ended up doing a lot of hard work!  My team went over to an elderly lady’s house.  She has let her house get out of control so much that the city of Cleveland wanted her to clean it up.  Our job was to paint her porch and clean up her backyard.  I got a team of boys going on the porch and then went to go see what the backyard looked like.  It became apparent to me right away that nothing has been done with this backyard in years.  Many of the bushes have grown to be as large as the trees.  In fact the teens got into an argument as to whether or not these were trees or bushes.  I assured them that we were dealing with bushes that have not been trimmed in a long time.  All of the bushes and trees connected at the top to form almost a cave-like feel in attempting to get to the very back of the yard.  So the hedge trimmers were set aside for a chainsaw instead.  I took a chainsaw to the backyard attempting to level all of the bushes and tree branches that were out of control.  We hacked down a ton of foliage.  Several hours were spent just bundling the branches in 2 foot length bundles.  Also, we spotted a lot of poison ivy in the backyard.  We tried our best to keep our distance but eventually several of us realized that it was a hopeless cause and chances are we will suffer.  The good news is that to my knowledge, I don’t think anyone got any reactions to it after the trip. 

            While we were working hard on bundling, there were many neighborhood kids outside in their front yards trying to escape the heat by starting a water fight.  It was fun to watch the water fights escalate.  Eventually one of the small kids made eye contact with me and I motioned with my eyes to throw water at one of my teenagers.  The kids got the hint that that would be a great thing to do and everyone would have a good sense of humor about it.  So they set their sights on Tyler and went after him first.  Then the attacks kept coming until just about everyone was wet.  And it was cold water too!

            As we cleaned up our sight and began to get ready to head back to the Nehemiah Mission, our elderly lady we were helping came out to talk with us.  This is when she approached me and said, “I didn’t even know that people like this even existed anymore.”  This floored me.  I asked her if she had any family and she said no.  She never married or had kids.  Just before we left we took the opportunity to gather together in a circle and lift her up in prayer.  She was really moved by our teens and all that they have done to help her out.   It was awesome.  The other team did a lot of similar type work cleaning and painting someone’s property that needed help.

            That evening we had another special guest speaker: my dad!  It was fun again to introduce him to our youth group.  He spoke heavily on stories related to missions, but then he wrapped it up with a challenge to live fully into what God has called you to do.  He did a great job.  He was very impressed by our teens and adults that he got to meet.  Afterwards some of the teens were laughing at how similar I was to my dad in mannerisms, speech patterns, body image, etc.   

Once he left we had our final group meeting to process the entire week and how it will affect our lives back home: our family life, our school life and our church life.  This is always a very critical part of the mission trip to help the teens realize that the purpose of a trip like this is to establish new ways of looking at our lives.  It is NOT about doing a mission for one week out of the Summer and then forget about it until the next adventure the following Summer.  Instead, these trips help to instill habits and behaviors that can help us to learn to serve in every context of our lives.  It was a really good night. 

Cleveland Mission Trip: Day 4

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

All of us went to the Laura’s Home for the entire day.  We began by getting ready for a big cook out and a fair for the kids.  I took on the task of grilling hot dogs and hamburgers with the hopes that I would be inside and out from the heat.  But unfortunately they took me and my guys right through the kitchen, out the back door, and into the blazing sun were there were two grills.  So we fired them up and got the burgers going.  Some of the other teens were busy filling up water balloons, setting up play stations, a face painting station, and preparing other food.  Once all the food was cooked, we all lined up for our lunch and went out to the pavilion and ate lunch together.  Lisa and Deb did an amazing job in connecting with many of the moms who were staying in Laura’s Home.  They got to hear some pretty intense stories that were difficult and heart-breaking at times.  Our teenagers played for a long time with many of the kids.   They had all kinds of fun things set up for the kids to do. There were also a lot of prizes for the kids and they all had a lot of fun throughout the entire day.   This gave many of the moms an opportunity to have a break from the constant presence of their kids and just talk with some adults.  Of course since there was water, eventually most of the teens and kids ended up wet.  A sneak attack came towards me and I tried to react quickly, but not quick enough.  I got soaked.  We all enjoyed the relational opportunity to minister to women and children who were going through rough times in their lives. 

After we were done with our time with the kids and moms at Laura’s Home we headed back to the Nehemiah Mission to get ready for an evening activity.  We headed out to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!  This was a great night!  There are 7 floors at the Rock Hall so we started at the top and worked our way down.  On the top two floors there was a large exhibition dedicated to Bruce Springsteen.  It was very cool.  Of course I almost blew a gasket when one of the teens started to get bored and asked me, “Who is Bruce Springsteen anyhow?”  I started to have my doubts wondering if the teens would have liked going to the Lady Gaga concert in town instead of being at the Rock Hall!  But in reality, we all had a good time even if rock music was not your preferred style of music.  I was personally surprised by how small Springsteen’s jacket was that was on display.  He is a small guy. 

            After checking out all things Springsteen we went to see the U23D movie that was being featured at the Rock Hall.  It was truly an amazing experience on many levels.  First of all, the 3D quality was amazing.  It felt like you could reach out and touch Bono, or that you were actually floating right above Larry Mullins banging away on the drums, or that you were right in the audience with the rest of the crowd cheering on the band.  The spiritual aspect of the concert was deeply moving too.  They performed many of their songs that had strong spiritual themes.  Bono preached for justice and love and tolerance.  In many ways it was the most emotionally moving concert film I have ever seen.  This is of course coming from someone who has grown up with U2 and has loved their music.  Some of our teens were lulled to sleep by the melodious sounds of Bono and Co.  But the way I see it, at least they got it on a subconscious level. 

            Once the movie was over we check out the rest of the museum.  We saw the displays from “Pink Floyd’s The Wall” Tour; large displays on Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, The Who, and many, many others.  There were a bunch of interactive displays to discover the influences of certain bands, to hear the best rock albums of all time, to see clips from those who have been inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame, and many others.  It was such a cool experience.  We also took a group photo of us superimposed on the cover of Rolling Stone.  It is very cool!

            As we left the Rock Hall we went to go see the sun set off of Lake Erie.  It was a gorgeous sight.  To see the reflection of the sun off of the water with all the colors is just a breathtaking experience.  And then when you turn around you can see an amazing view of the Cleveland skyline. After just chilling out enjoying the sights for a while we then got hungry and wanted some dinner.  We headed down to a nice area in Lakewood that had a bunch of restaurants.  We tried to get into a local place call “Melts” but they were too crowded so we walked down the street and found a Chipotle and Five Guys.  So the team split up between those two restaurants.  I went to Five Guys.  We goofed around and had a lot of fun that night.  It was an enjoyable night as a youth group.

Cleveland Mission Trip: Day 3

Jaime and her son

Today we flip-flopped the teams.  I took the other group down to the City Mission.  Lisa and Deb took the other team down at Laura’s Home.  Both teams did a lot of outside work.  On the downtown property there are a lot of trees!  Many of the branches were quite long and needed to be trimmed back.  There were also some dead branches that needed to be taken out.  So we attacked the trees!  This brought back memories of the Junior High trip last Summer were all we did was eliminated Honeysuckle.  But this job was not as brutal.  It was a relatively easy landscaping job.  At one point we got Mitch up in a tree to try and get at some branches and this provided an easy target for many of us guys!

At lunch time the teens got to hear some of the same stories from the men living in the City Mission that shared yesterday.  It was powerful. 

Once we were done, we headed back over to Laura’s Home to get the rest of our team.  The teens there spent time disinfecting all of the toys in the kids rooms and helping with many of the flowerbeds and spending time with the kids.  We got to meet some of the kids and let them know that the next day we were all going to spend the day with them.  They were excited and looking forward to it.

That evening we had a very special chapel time as a group.  Our teens lead us in worship and then Jaime Buxton spoke to the teens.  Now let me remind you that Jaime came through my first youth group.  She did a phenomenal job in telling her story of growing up through high school, college, single and married life and how God has impacted her through all of the stages.  She was very vulnerable in explaining how it was very easy for her to live in two different worlds in high school: her “party” life as a popular cheerleader and her “religious” life as a youth group member.  She talked through how those two worlds eventually collided and she realized that she had to make a choice between those two identities.  She described how she finally committed herself 100% to follow Christ.  Since then, God has used her throughout college, and as a missionary in Belize and now as a youth pastor and social worker in Cleveland. 

I have always wanted to get Jaime to speak to the youth group but I always knew that her life was to crazy to be able to get away and come down to Cincinnati.  So this was a dream come true for me.  She also brought her husband Sean, their son who is 3, and 2 of their youth group girls who apparently wanted to know if we had any cute guys.  I did not hear the verdict on that mission but I am sure there was moderate success in their opinion. 

It was a good day!

Cleveland Mission Trip: Day 2

The 2010 Senior High Mission Team

We were off to a good start on our first full day on the mission trip. After breakfast we had the president of the Nehemiah Mission give us a talk about the history of this church and how the East Ohio Conference turned this church into a mission site for people to come and make an impact on the city of Cleveland. He told the Nehemiah story and how it related to him and his staff as they have seen Cleveland fall apart and God has challenged them to rebuild the community and help restore hope.  It is always awesome to here about someone’s passion that God has laid on their heart. 

Then we headed off to Laura’s Home which is a ministry of the City Mission in Cleveland. It was awesome to go to the Laura’s Home. About 9 years ago I took my youth group in North East Ohio to this very building when it was bought by the City Mission. We helped to demolish the insides of the building so that they could begin making it into a mission for homeless and hurting women and children. So now fast forward several years and here is the mission in full swing with a large staff and a lot of ministry going on. Also, one of my students from my first youth group was a full time staff member helping to make an impact on the children who come through this mission.  It was great to see Jaime and to see all that she was involved in at the mission.  I was really excited to introduce her to the teens. 

 

After that we split up the team into two groups and I took one of the groups to the City Mission site that was directly downtown. We were told that the City Mission is right on the 21st most dangerous intersection in America in the 7th most dangerous city. This site primarily took care of men.  At the City Mission we met a guy named Bob who was a really nice guy that helped line us up with jobs around the mission site.  We did a lot to make the outside look really nice: yard work, weeding, cleaning, taking care of dead plants, etc.  During our lunch break Bob got two of the men at the mission to come and share their stories. It was very powerful for the teens. These men shared how they ended up here at the mission and what God has been doing in their lives to change them around. Their former life and their current life were seen in very stark contrasts. They both emphasized how they wish they could be young again and make the right choices instead of the path that they lived out.  They let the teens know that that just one bad choice can forever alter their lives.  They need to be smart, follow God, and make good choices.  J.R. said that at 53 years old he is just now beginning to put his life back together.  He has just about ruined all relationships with friends and family and is just now trying to rebuild relationships with his grown children that he neglected throughout their childhood.  Toby told the teens that he has lived more than half of his life in prison because he stole millions of dollars.  But even with all the wealth he acquired, he was never satisfied until he came to know God. He challenged the teens to stay focused and follow Jesus.  He shared how someone in prison began witnessing to him and through that relationship he came to know Jesus.  Now he would like to go back and minister to other guys in prison.  After lunch we did some more work around the mission and then headed back over to Laura’s Home.  

At Laura’s Home the other group did a lot of similar stuff taking care of the outside of the facility. Some of the boys got the privilege of playing Wii with some of the kids.  I also got to see Jaime’s office and catch up with her a little bit.  

We wrapped things up in the afternoon and came back to the Nehemiah Mission. We had a Chicken Parmesan dinner and then one of the other guys at the mission gave a devotion. He emphasized how we are bringing hope to the hopeless just like Jesus did in his ministry. 

After that we headed off to Huntington Beach in Bay Village.  We had a blast together swimming.  It was a beautiful night.  It was slightly cloudy so the sun would peek in and out of the clouds.  You would see some amazing clouds lit up by the sun; the sun breaking though the clouds sending down beams of light onto the water; little pockets of rain out on the water.  There was also a lot of wrestling, dunking and Marco Poloing going on.  We had fun.  We returned to the Nehemiah Mission and had our team meeting. The worship team lead us in music and then we talked about how we were impacted throughout the day.  In the midst of doing odd jobs there were some interesting stories of interacting with people and hearing what God is doing in their lives.   The teens are getting along great and having fun with each other.  It is awesome to see how God is using them already to grow together.

Cleveland Mission Trip: Day 1

The Nehemiah Mission

Well we spent about 4 hours straight up I-71 on our way to Cleveland.  We saw a lot of classic cars and Ohio motorcycle gangs on the road for some reason.  It kept it interesting.  It was also a beautiful day to travel.

We found our destination called the Nehemiah Mission.  It is a church that is set up for missions work throughout Cleveland.  It is an older building that has been renovated to host groups as large as 50.  The downstairs is the kitchen, cafeteria, bedrooms and showers.  The rooms that the teens are staying in are large bunk style rooms.  There are 2 showers for each gender!  So the 5 minute rule has been put into effect.  The rest of the building has a nice classic sanctuary, a basketball court on the second floor, and more bunk rooms.

When we arrived we found out that we were early enough for a hip hop worship service that was scheduled for the evening.  It was awesome.  Very different than what our teens are used to but it was great.  Then the pastor of the church, who looks a lot like a 20 year old version of TobyMac, preached a great sermon about blocking out all the noise in our world so that we can listen to the One True Voice.  He did a great job.  I was jealous of his coolness.

We ate dinner, had a leaders meeting, had a team meeting and established all the rules, plans, and procedures for the week.

I am excited about the week.  I am also a little anxious.  I really want this week to go well for our teens and for all those we serve.  I am also really excited to take them out to have some fun in North East Ohio. We have a great team of teens here.  About half of them have done trips with me before and the other half are new to this type of experience. 

Well, it is close to lights out time and I would like to feel a little clean before I go to bed.  And I do want to get my sleep tonight.  So until tomorrow . . .