Michael S. - Give All the Glory to God

I got the opportunity this summer to go on mission trip to Kentucky. we went to a place where just about everyone lives below the poverty line but none of them are poor. they are all rich with life and love and they are very proud of where they come from. We got to put on a VBS for the kids of pikeville through the YMCA. We set up everything, taught the lessons, sang the songs, and even ate lunch them. We spent our church group time every night working on the lessons for the next day which none of us wanted to do but it paid off more than we ever thought it would. After lunch we were split into two teams to go out and work on houses. My team had the privilege to work with a church who provided the tools we needed to work on the house. We forgot our tools at home because we were more worried about our van situation. When we left for Kentucky the van rental company bailed on us leaving us with only a huge a charter bus that could not make it to the homes. Shelley explained our situation at the leaders meeting the first night and a man from epworth baptist church in Georgia told Shelley that he was driving the vans for his church and since we did VBS in the mornings the timing was perfect and he was able to drive us to our job sites. And his church was finishing up a house that had been working on the previous so they finished the first day and were able to come help us the rest of the week. this is a perfect example of how God works. We were so blessed and God was definitely with us. And When we were out working on the houses the only complaining that went on was when somebody didn't have something to do. Everybody was worn out by the end of the week but we never slowed down. The only reason we didn't finish our house is because the doors and window's we ordered did not come. It was the best mission trip i have ever been on. The Lady at the YMCA said we were the most prepared group the had ever seen not to brag on us because God helped each of us as we taught, as we played the games, and as we sang the songs so all i can say is give all the glory to God. This a very successful trip and i am looking forward to next year.

Michael S.

Cyndi J - Middle School Testimony

God has really changed my life. Before I accepted Jesus to be my Lord and Savior, I really didn’t like doing anything. I never obeyed my parents and tried to bad things but didn’t. I was also mean to my friends and some other people. I accepted Jesus into my heart at eight years old. I was very excited because I was a Christian with my family. I didn’t really get the whole being a Christian after I realized what I had done.
I started to not treat my friends nice again. I realized that I was in trouble. I wasn’t obeying God either. Something wasn’t right.
I went to camp as soon as school was out. I had a great time. While I was there, God was really speaking to me. He was telling me that I should rededicate my life to Him. I thought what he had told me over for about a day or two. Then the Wednesday during worship we had a thing were we went and placed our problems at the alter. I went down there and place my problem on the alter. That was a very good night. Then the Thursday during worship, the speaker said something that really made me think about rededicating my life. I went to church group time and told my youth minister that I wanted to rededicate my life to Christ. From Camp down to Mission Trip down to now, I have really watched how I treat people. I am so glad I really got to accept him into my life!!!

cyndi j.

A Few Items.

1) Please pray for Austin today as he is finally having toe surgery. He'll be off his feet for a couple of days at least.

2) Love Granbury - please check out www.lovegranbury.org Come be a part of showing others His love! Check back here later in the week for more specific details....

3) Testimonies! More to come.... if you're sharing one, you may send it to me via email at cameybelieves@charter.net or thru myspace. Now... if you're Ryan.... you can submit it directly here. (RYAN!! Get er done.)

4) Hoover (aka my mom's boyfriend) had eye surgery yesterday. It wasn't completely numbed. OUCH! Please pray for him as he heals and prepares for another surgery in a few weeks.

5) As always..... feel free to comment, submit prayer requests and etc..... If you would like to have some thing posted here for your specific area of ministry - just let me know!

HAVE A GREAT DAY! If you need a laugh.. Check out the pics at the end of Imperial March or Imperial Sugar.

High School Mission Trip

I agree with Austin when he says it is hard to put into words just how good God was on high school mission trip. I also agree with Courtney that I would not change a single thing.

God amazed me this year in how attentive He is to details. Things that seemed so "insignificant" at the moment turned out to be God working in huge ways. There are several ways this was seen. First of all, this was the first year both Dick and Brad came with us on mission trip. There knowledge of construction was greatly needed. To be honest I did not ever "seek" them out to go on mission trip...they came and found me. Of course, I always need adults but this year I needed THESE adults. Prior to departure Mitchell George was not sure if he was going to get to go due to work. But he was able to go. I am not sure that we would have been able to do the construction side of our jobs without these three men. God was good in providing the leadership that we need.

Secondly, many of you prayed about our "van" issue. I have planned countless mission trips as both the youth leader and a missions coordinator and I have never had a car company call and say "sorry we are overbooked. Figure it out." I have also never seen the lack of availability of cars. But God knew if we had vans His plan would not come to pass. If we had vans we never would have met our friends from Georgia who drove us all week. We also never would have gotten the manpower and tools that we needed at our house. By having to ask for transportation we met an awesome sister church who became our partner in missions. Both churches say it was the highlight of the week to see the body of Christ work together. Where wer were weak they were strong.....and vice versa.

Thirdly, the youth that went on this trip were the ones that needed to be there. Every person had a role. Every person had a gift. Every person was used and needed. IT was amazing to see the kids work together and while we had "minor" issues because we were tired...this was the easiest mission trip I have ever done. Each day working with these kids was a joy. They made my job easy. I am so excited for mission trip next year. And the word is out...we have adults and students lining up to be involved next year because they want to be involved in what God is doing. The small taste of mission trip this year has made others hungry to be involved in what God is doing through missions with our students.

Thank you to everyone that prayed. Thank you to the sponsors who made it financially possible. This was not just a youth trip but a church trip. What a joy to see our church come together to do work for the Kingdom. God is good!

Courtney S. - God IS Great!!

Going to Kentucky was a lot of fun. it was new scenery new experiences and a totally different way of life for these people. I worked on a lady's house named Mrs. Bevins. she was a sweet heart she was so happy to see us, knowing we were there to help fix her house. she opened up her house and everything she had for all 20 of us working on her house. what i thought was really neat was how when we got there she asked where we were from and we told her texas. she was like is that where all the flooding has happened and we told her yes and she replied ive been praying for you..it was amazing to see how God had her praying for us..and the same time we had been praying for her since we found out we were doing home repair..it just shows how big God is and how everything in his plan works together...we also did a vbs at the local YMCA. it was a lot of fun. there were a lot of kids...who loved us being there...one time my group was outside the front door teaching the bible story..and one of the parents had just dropped their kid inside and came out and asked where we were from...we told her texas..and she was astonished we came all the way to kentucky to teach a vbs to these kids we didnt even know. but just seeing how greatful these kids were was incredible...i wouldnt have changed anything about the week..God IS Great!!


Courtney S.

Austin - To Define in a Single Word

To define in a single word how this week was is simply an impossible task. You may study it, question it, and try to wrap our puny human minds around the very concept of the magnitude of the events that took place that week. Nothing will change

Someday you might come up with an answer.

It will be flawed.

There is no word. At least, not in proper English that can put all the words like ‘amazing’, ‘awesome’, ‘astounding’ in one word. And that was just the ‘a’ section of the list. There are still 25 more letters.

The reason we cannot come up with a word? Because the Lord worked so much in that week that He won’t let us come up with a proper term, nothing short of ‘the Lord was ever present and worked hard in everyone.’

This was my first mission trip with a church, and as much as I want this and hope this to be true, I hope every other mission trip is like this one. You drag yourself out of bed, and you’re tired. You eat breakfast, and you’re tired. You arrive at VBS, and you’re exhausted. The kids show up, and you’re dancing and singing and bouncing off the walls with energy you never knew you had. The kids thought we were kings. To see their smiles as we gave them a tunnel entrance was worth it. They got pumped and so did we. They enjoyed the music, the games, the crafts and the stories. Well, VBS ends, and after hanging around the kids for a few hours, you feel like you want to take a nap, and somewhat unwilling to get on the site and work. Well, when you get there, you feel like you can chop down a mountain with the energy that come from nowhere, well, God. Speaking from my site’s perspective, yes it was hot, and yes there were hundreds of stinging wasps and bees and yellow jackets, but we didn’t care. Just seeing the smile on Mrs.Bevin’s face every day was more than worth it. She would wait for us every day for us to come out and work on her house. At the end of the week, some of the workers and I made a new sign for her house, and she cried when we presented it to her. During the week we got to know her better, and while we had been praying for her, to hear from her that she had been praying for the Texan’s in the flooding areas for a while now brought to us a happiness that only the Lord could provide.

It would take me a while to explain all the marvels the Lord did that week. Sadly I have no time left, and I want the other students writing a testimony to give their views. My hope is by the time you’ve read all of them, you will get an idea about the week. And it will inspire you!

God bless,
Austin G.

PS- Mrs. Bevins made THE best biscuits and fried chicken you can EVER taste. If you wanna talk about heaven on earth, her cooking was a good example.

Children's Camp

Our 1st - 3rd graders are officially on the road this morning to camp. Please pray for Jim and Dawn, along with all the children and sponsors. They left at 7:00 a.m. and will be back around 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night. The camp is down by Lake Travis. There are going to be around 600 campers from various churches.

As parents, we are thankful that our local church body has an over-night camp for these grades. It truly helps prepare the children for the week long camps that come with growing up. We also greatly appreciate those adults who make time for the children.

Please pray that during this time, each child and adult will come closer to God. That if they do not already have a personal relationship with Him... that this time will be the start of a beautiful and lifelong one. May HE truly ROCK their worlds!

Testimonies. AWANAS. Fall.

Testimonies: They are coming. Please be sure to watch for different names at the beginning and end of posts. We've got some amazing guys and girls in our student ministry. Please pray for the ones who will be sharing their testimonies here. Actually, continue to pray for the student ministry as a whole. They are exciting to watch and be around!

AWANAS: Last night was another training session for this exciting adventure! Our family can personally testify to the impact AWANAS has had on our whole family. Please consider being a part of this vital ministry. Next training session is Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. in the DMZ.

Fall: There are many new exciting things happening in the fall. Where is the fall going to have YOU? (ask yourself this whether you're here locally or not)

Off to serve meals as a part of Healthy Kids now.... Looking forward to getting all wet!