Joy comes in the Morning

About a month ago, at our morning church service, our Chaplain had a goodbye ceremony for Abby with many of our students and parents present. I sat there wanting to cry and looked around as I saw both middle school and high school students with stone wall faces. Though they were completely stoic, it was obvious in their eyes how much they were hurting. I struggled inside and felt my old military kid mantra circulate in my mind “Bekah, you can’t cry it would be unfair of you to break down. That will cause everyone else to break down.” I heard another small voice say “It is okay to be sad. Be honest with yourself.” I would love to say that I then broke down, but I didn’t. I held it together...until out of the silence I heard sobbing from the back of the congregation. I looked back and saw Sally, one of our high schoolers with down syndrome running to the front of the congregation covered in tears with her nose running because of the sobbing. She ran up to Abby and embraced her in both love and sadness. I couldn’t help it. Seeing her being so vulnerable and honest and not even caring about the social rules she was breaking was amazing and moving. Seeing her honesty gave me permission to be honest and so I cried. At first I thought I was the only one that was moved, but as I sat there looking around through my tears I saw my middle school friends and my high school friends crying as well. Some of these students I have been friends with for two years and I have never seen them so unguarded. It was almost as if there was automatic intimacy between both the students and the leaders and together in our tears we were able to acknowledge our loss of a great friend. I realized that it was the honesty of Sally that had broken that barrier with the entire group. She didn’t even have to say anything. She just cried.

April Update

Some Highlights from the last few months:
-We took 40 students to Camp Eagle on a service project.

-Camp Eagle has an interim year spiritual discipleship program for 18-25 yr olds and they came to Fort Hood to learn about military ministry. It was fun introducing them to our students and families and opening their eyes to the blessings and trials that come with being a kid growing up in a military family.

-We said goodbye to one of our dear middle school ministry volunteers Abby Mayfield and were able to celebrate her going into Full Time Club Beyond Ministry in Ansbach Germany.

-We are starting a middle school discipleship Bible Study on Thursday nights which is EXTREMELY exciting!

-We have been working through stories in the Gospels with the middle schoolers and will begin teaching on Acts throughout the rest of this semester. I am excited about it. Acts is such a great book.

-Our highschool leadership team helped to plan all of the middle school clubs for the rest of the semester which was such a sweet thing to be a part of as I watched Juniors and Seniors getting so excited about ministering to their middle school friends. They are SUPER creative also which is a huge blessing for our middle schoolers. It seems like every club until the end of may is going to have completely interactive messages which our middle schoolers LOVE!

-We are currently working on getting all of our kids signed up for summer camp at Camp Eagle which is going to be happening during the first week of June.

Was the Forbidden Fruit Really Snickers?

In January we held our first all club Interactive Gospel Message. I don't think I have ever felt the presence of the Lord in the way that I did that night. Before every meeting we worship together as a leadership team and that day as we sat in a circle like we have many times before there was something different. The Spirit of the Lord was tangible and thick and throughout the entire night there was a cohesion and peace among our leaders and kids that I have never felt before. It was amazing!!

Our middle school friends entered the club room to find a makeshift Garden of Eden waiting for them with candy laden trees (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil had snickers or course... cause they are amazing!!), a serpent, the whole works. We talked about creation and some of our amazing student leaders acted out the fall after which our students were led out of the garden and into the hallway to learn about to consequences of sin, the wandering of the Israelites, and the law. They were then led back into a dark club room where they were blindfolded and separated from one another, signifying the spiritual blindness and separation that sin causes in our lives. As they sat there in the darkness our leaders were surrounding and scattered among them, acting out dialogue examples of the role sin may play in a middle schooler's life. They were then un-blindfolded and invited to think about the effect sin has had in their own lives and to record their sin on post it notes. We then shared the message of the cross and redemption and restoration that we have been offered through Jesus Christ. As soon as we stated "It is finished" two white boards at the front of the room that were covered in black sheeting were pulled apart to reveal a huge cross on the wall where the students were invited to once and for all lay their sin on the cross and give it to Jesus.

Throughout the whole process of planning this event it was obvious that the Lord was working. Our entire leadership team Martie, Steve, Abby, Victoria, Matt, Sean, Scott C., Amy, Derek, Dave, and Scott M. participated in the execution or planning. It was amazing to watch us all work so well together and bring us closer as a team. It was also such a blessing to watch our students hear about the hope that we have in Jesus. There is no blessing greater than watching a 7th grade girl's eyes well up with tears of hope as she hears that The Lord loves her enough to have sent His only Son to die and receive the consequences of her sin so that she could have eternal life with Him forever!!!! This is what it is all about!!

Christmas Time is Here

Hey Guys!! I am so sorry that I haven't updated my blog in a while. So much has been happening. We finally moved to the new chapel and had our Glow in the Dark club as our new location kick off. It was AMAZING!! We had twice as many middle schoolers as usual and it was great to see them dancing and hanging out and actually being attentive during our small group time. We also had a great group of high school and adult leaders who have decided to commit to walking alongside our students for the rest of this year. This change to the new building has really made a difference in the whole direction and feel of ministry. Our leadership team just seems to be blossoming. It is so exciting to really focus on worshiping together and thanking Him for the way that He has been providing.

The week after thanksgiving we were able to include the kids in that worship and praise during our "Thanksgiving Leftovers Club" We turkey bowled... dug our feet into mashed potatoes and guessed thanksgiving baby food flavors, but best of all we all sat together before the Lord and really thanked Him for the things that He has given us in our lives. Our list of things we are thankful for was HUGE!! It included Jesus, our family, angry birds, chocolate, Puerto Ricans, Justin Bieber, Xboxes, freedom, the ability to read, our homes, our iphones, and the ability to worship our God freely. It was so much fun seeing all of the kids raising their hands and genuinely contributing to our discussion. I LOVED IT and I know God did too!!!

We are taking a little break for the Christmas Season which makes me sad, but at the same time grateful. I love when I have time to just sit at the Lord's feet and rest in Him. I pray that you and your families are able to do the same. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

MMMMM... DONUTS!!!

This week at Club we had DONUT OLYMPICS!!! It was a blast and the students LOVED IT!! It was a little sad being as it was our last club at 19th St. Chapel, but I am really getting excited because we are finally getting into the swing of things and our Middle School ministry is starting to have a life of its own which is GREAT!! I can't wait to see what the Lord does the rest of this semester!! We move to the new building next Friday.

Here is a slide show from our Donut Olympics!!

Upcoming Excitement/Prayer Requests:

-Camp Eagle Service Project:

We are taking both our High School and Middle School students on a retreat/Service Project at Camp Eagle in Rock Springs TX. I am really excited because we are going to be serving and we are going to be teaching them about how to love our Lord and our Brothers and Sisters in Christ well. We are going to be talking about how important it is to be satisfied and content in the Lord in order to love other people in the way that we are called to love them. I can't wait!! We leave tomorrow morning and will be getting back on Sunday. Please keep us in your prayers. Pray that this would be a time of bonding and of intimacy with the Lord for both our leaders and our students.

-Middle School Glow in the Dark Club:

Friday night we have our first Middle School Club at the New Chapel. We will be having Glow in the Dark Club and talking about how not only is God working all around us, but He is inviting us to join Him in the work that He is doing and how important and satisfying joining Him is!!

-Christmas Video Production:

We are currently working on our annual Bob's Diner Christmas Video. It is going to be a modern day Nativity Story. Please pray that it goes well and that we get it done... ha ha we have less filming and editing time available before Christmas than there is both filming and editing to do.

Photo Scavenger Hunt

This last Friday we had an amazing Photo Scavenger Hunt and S'mores Night with our Middle School Friends... it was such a great time of bonding and fellowship.

Here is a video that we put together for club this week!! ENJOY!! (There are only the pictures from two of our teams... the other teams pics got "mysteriously" deleted ha ha)

What I live for!!!!

I am sitting here in my kitchen counting down the hours until High School club tonight... I forgot to tell you guys about what happened last week. Well we were in our girls small group discussing the message from the night which was about how the Lord calls us into a Love relationship with Himself. One of the girls started to talk about how she sometimes feels like the Lord is far away and started to express just a few of the many fears that she is currently battling in her mind. As she was pouring out her heart to her friends Martie and I as the leaders sat there and listened while the high school girls that surrounded us bound up her heart and encouraged her using the word of the Lord. It was one of the most powerful things that I have ever seen. These young women between 15yrs old and 18yrs old were learning what it looks like to be used to heal people's hearts by the Lord. It is those moments where I just get to watch the Lord working and get to see a glimpse of fruit and growth and HIM that I live for. This is my purpose... to Experience and share the Glory of God!! I can't wait for tonight!!