Sunday Mornings – 10:00 a.m.

A Study on the Book of Mark – Led by Pastor Wilke
Genesis…In the Beginning – Led by Pastor Hintz
A Comprehensive Study of the Book of Acts – Led by Pastor Spomer
Financial Peace University – Led by Les Heisterberg

Midweek Bible Study – (Wednesday evenings 6-7:30 p.m.)

Year Long Study of the Gospel of Matthew – Led by Pastor Wilke
Love & Respect – Led by Pastor Hintz
Ecclesiastes…Does Life Have Meaning? – Led by Pastor Spomer

What happens when 22 pre-teens and let’s say… adults that are older, come together for 12 hours of non-stop play, worship and fun? You get a bunch of tired, tired, people. But we survived albeit a groggy survival.

We started off at 8 p.m. on Friday, August 27th, with an energy that was ferocious. Some kids were literally bouncing off the walls with excitement. For a lot of them, this was their first time coming to a lock-in and the unknown that awaited them acted as a crude fuel to the insanity. The adults began to wonder just a few minutes after 8 p.m. if they were going to be able to keep up.

It was now time for us to make some introductions. What better way to get to know someone then to start off with a game. It’s a basic game that involves a large circle of people, a ball, and a good memory of who your neighbor is. Hannah begins by throwing the ball to McKenzie and McKenzie to Skylar until everyone has passed the ball and finally ending with Tyler. If you drop the ball – you start over. It took us a while to make it to the end but they persevered. Did I fail to mention that I was timing them? I gave them 30 seconds to complete the task. 40 minutes later!!!! they succeeded. I wasn’t done with them yet. One ball wasn’t enough – time for a second ball to be introduced. It went something like this – Hannah to McKenzie, McKenzie to Skylar and somewhere down the line the ball would drop to the floor. Redo. Repeat. Redo. Repeat. It was the second ball that made them lose their focus (and their minds). While watching the first one they would inadvertently miss the one coming toward them. I had a mutiny on my hands. “We can’t do it” they balked. “Take away the other ball”. “Why are we doing this?” By this time anger was beginning to show it’s ugly head. I admit – I was stubborn. I knew they could do it. “Focus”, I reminded them. “Focus on your neighbor”. Another 30 minutes later and…SUCCESS! We threw our hands in the air, we jumped higher and higher, people began slapping high-fives and the yelling at the top of their lungs-a sound that could be heard blocks away. We made it! We did it together and we made it!

There was a lesson in all of this and as we made our way to the Sanctuary we began our worship with singing. I read them Romans 5:1-10. “…we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” The lesson we learned that night was that it’s hard to keep going when we continue to fail. Our first reaction is to quit. Move on to something else, anything else. We talked about how it’s hard to keep loving someone when they keep pushing you away. How it’s hard to share the Gospel with someone when all they want to do is make fun of you for it. But God calls us to persevere in all the little things as well as those life changing things – a relationship with our Savior and the forgiveness that comes only from Him.

We did make it through the whole night. We didn’t lose anyone and we didn’t have to take anyone to the emergency room. That’s a success story by its self. Over 80% of the kids there last night stayed up the entire time. Many checked this accomplishment off their bucket list and wore it as a badge of honor. We survived and we persevered to the very end. It was a great night with some great friends. We’ll do this again real soon…then again I haven’t slept in 30 hours so I may be a bit delirious. Time for a little nap. Good night or is that good morning?

Todd

Mission Trip Reunion Night Potluck

Sunday, August 29

St. Louis and Corpus will meet at 4:00 p.m.

Grenada will meet at 5:00 p.m.

The potluck will begin at 5:00 p.m.  This event is open to all servants, parents, and church members.  Come and see what the Lord has done.

BRING A POTLUCK DISH THAT FEEDS AT LEAST 8.  CHIPS ARE NOT A DISH.