Blessed to be a blessing …

Try this … place your name in a hat along with 25 others …. then each person draws a name out…

Your assignment is to pay attention to ‘your’ person all day …  notice and write down 2-3 things to say to them to bless them… then pray and ask God to give you an encouraging scripture to share with that person in the evening debrief.  It is intimidating, but a powerful exercise!

The power of blessing … can break the power of the lies that Satan tells us!

Satan says:                                                           God says:

You are worthless                                                You are a person of great value

You are selfish                                                      You are self-less

You don’t care about others                               You care about others, you look out for others

Nobody cares about you                          God cares about you … you always care about others

No one notices you                                              I noticed you today ….

It was a very sweet time of blessing!  The students took time to find scripture … and then you could tell, they labored over what they were going to share.  For some, it was difficult to speak out loud … but even that was a blessing… in their speaking and blessing someone else… it also revealed more about the person speaking.

At the end we talked about how this can become a way of life for them as a person and as a class.  A couple of them have a

sked if they can do this periodically as a class … to help it become a habit and to include those back home and to continue to unify them as a class!

We talked about the school today… the kids there… how we need to continue to pray for them, that they would want to learn and better their lives.  For most of the children there, no one in their families has ever gone to college, most of them never finished high school!

Please join us in prayer for the children that are being challenged to live to their God given potential and that their lives would be lived to glorify God!

Right now … one team is  dividing the ‘gift bags’ that we’ll use in the park ‘kids club’ ministry tomorrow  … and another team is putting together the ministry time. After Sunday, these students are pros! 🙂   Another team is eating popcorn (very important task) … someone ha

s to do it!

It’s raining… hard right now … we would love to have clear skies tomorrow… but we’re ready to go to plan B … or C … or whatever God puts in front of us.

At this point we’re planning to go to the French Market to shop..  prayer at the crisis pregnancy center … then kids club …  back to the pink house for dinner …  clean up … sleep … drive home …

Warning … they’re not wanting to leave… I think I’ve got an advocacy group going to petition to make this a 6 day trip

!  HA..

I love it … I love them … We love Jesus!

We have been blessed …. by the power of the Holy Spirit … we have been flavored …

Today … these past two days our students have been … ‘the salt of the earth’

Until tomorrow!

Mrs. G

BTW … the quote above is one that is on the walls of the school!

Sci – Tech Laurel Work Day

Mon 12:43 – lunch break

We ended last night and started this morning with a devotional … who is my neighbor?  As we are serving Re-Nu (organization that is helping this Charter School – rise to the top) we are also focusing on our team relationships.  Barbara is the coordinator and she is so wonderfully organized … she is utilizing every muscle, every brain and it the product she’s getting is … efficient teamwork!  These kids are ‘rockin’it!   Of course already … compliments … (I know you’re not surprised but I do like to brag on our kids).

I’m going to give you a rundown …

Painting doors – Hannah, Kayla

Painting playground – Ally, Kayla, Hannah

Scraping old peeling paint and painting stairwells – Elisha, Brandon, Michael, Katelyn, Liz, Jordan, Mrs. Knighten, Mr. Iverson

Cataloging donated books – Jocelyn, Naomi, Trevor, Grace, Mr. Wilson

Pricing donated books – Jocelyn, Dawson, Chandler, Kayla, Alyssa, Naomi, Hannah, Michael

Accounting/Purchasing – Dawson

Painting library shelves – Cheyenne, Jess, Chandler, Christopher, Mrs. G

Painting signs for the garden – Grace, Maclin, Trevor, Christina

Classroom reading – Cheyenne, Jess

Planting Garden – Mrs. Schnucker, Maclin, Christina

Delivering copy paper – Maclin, Michael, Christina, Trevor, Grace, Mrs. Schnucker, Brandon

Writing this part of the blog in the door where there’s a breeze  – Mrs. G

Drilling deadbolts – Mr. Wilson, Dawson, Naomi

Resetting the playground benches/planters – (everybody we could find)

Handling and throwing away extremely nasty mop heads…. Mrs. Schnucker, Maclin, Christina

Pulling weeds – almost everybody

Trash Detail – Chandler, Christopher, Michael, Elisha, Jess, Ally, Jordan, Alyssa

Hanging college banners – Mrs. S, Maclin, Christina

Alphabetize papers – Ally, Alyssa

Delivering boxes – Mr. Wilson, Maclin

Re-New Charter Management Organization takes over and turns around failed public school systems and turns them into Charter Schools.    Most of the students are so far behind in their basic skills so they have 90 minutes of math, reading and language skills.  They touch on science and geography/history… but they’ve found unless those three basics are down, the other three subjects are a wash! They’ve seen great success…  looking at all the quotes hanging and painted on the walls… they are really encouraging students to ‘think ahead’ ‘understand they can have a successful future!  The Mission Statement of Re-New is …  The ReNEW Schools’ Charter Management Organization will transform existing academically unacceptable K-12 schools in rigorous, college preparatory schools.

In the lunch room there are college banners from all over the U.S. hanging … HOWEVER, we noticed a couple were missing … Mr. Wilson asked what it would take to add another college banner… Barbara replied, “Just get it to me”  Mr. Wilson, “Easily done.

So…  Mrs. Wilson (8th grade science/cheer coach)  … I’m thinking … we better be looking for an A&M banner …  then I said, “what about UT?”  I’m pretty sure Mr. Wilson said something like… “What about it?”  something like that… LOL… anyway… we are thinking we want to send one of each!

They are also teaching character development –  Respect, Enthusiasm, Never Give UP, Excellence, Work Hard!

Please pray for them and the work they are doing to ‘raise the bar’ for these young people… they have 5 schools that they have turned in to Charter school

Motto:  All Students Deserve A Rigorous College Prep Education!

Theme for the Day … My Identity

It was a really great time at the Youth Detention Center. As we were debriefing tonight, there was admission that many were kind of nervous at the beginning, but we allowed the Holy Spirit to ‘help us’ conquer our fears.

Alyssa, Brandon, Michael, Dawson, Naomi, Christina, Grace, Jocelyn and Elisha led worship and did an amazing job!

Alyssa, Dawson, Maclin, Christina, Michael, Liz and Jordan performed a skit they had put together yesterday!  Each one had a heart taped to their chest with the words … thief, pride, lust, violence, lazy, hypocrisy …  as Elisha tried to minister to them… they mocked him… then he took God’s word, prayed …. and as he went back to them and shared … they tore the broken hearts and Elisha replaced them with … giver, humility, love, kind, helper and honesty…  then the last heart was replaced with … identity …   then they all lifted their hands to God.

I shared a testimony of our God miraculously delivered our son out of a lifestyle of drugs – and of how God changed the lives of our foster daughters.  Even though they have made choices that have placed them where they are today… they do not have to stay on the same track … they can make another choice… and begin a new life of purpose… one that God has designed specifically for them!

Christina then shared her testimony of how God rescued her and changed her completely.  I believe it really touched them.

The lady who is the Chaplain over the Youth and Adult Detention Centers has been working  at them since she was 13 years old.  Such a commitment to the at risk young adults and men and women that find themselves in detention centers and prison.

We went to Celebration Church (Kathy and her husband Bob are co-pastors) they meet in the movie theater !  Great worship and service!

Afterwards we headed to Little Sicily for pizza buffet …  good choice … filled us all up!

We ‘chilled’ at the ‘Pink House’ for a while then began to prepare for the homeless outreach.  Our kids made the hotdogs… wrapped in foil… loaded up 104 ‘dogs’ into the ice chests to keep them warm … 100 bottles of water… and headed to ‘the bridge’ where they hang out and sleep.  At first the teams were a little apprehensive … but it didn’t take long till they were talking to and praying with the homeless. They didn’t really want to stop!

We headed out for the devastation tour!  Steve and Bronwen took us to the 7th, 8th and 9th wards…  Steve shared about the day Katrina hit  … and the months following Katrina and how God used the church to change the atmosphere and heal racial mindsets in New Orleans.

Sloppy Joe’s for dinner …  yummy!  Homemade cookies … double yummy!

Mr. Iverson has a new trick… details to follow later!

During the debrief, it was a very special time of sharing … feeding and talking to the homeless was a favorite of the day … seeing and acknowledging the value in each person they talked to! Then when the homeless encouraged our kids and pointed them to ‘Jesus is all you need’!

The young people at the Detention Center really touched them!

Mr. Wilson shared about how he saw the day as the theme of our identity in Christ.  God wants us to have our identity in him… in some ways our identity is assigned to us through … our name… SS# … our beliefs … sometimes our identity comes by proxy –  I’m Chandler’s dad … I’m Mrs. Wilson’s husband … however … my real identity comes through the choices I make … I can have an identity in Christ .. it’s my choices that will define it!

The other 3 leaders encouraged them as well and shared their own vulnerable moments of the day …  We then broke up into our teams and prayed about our day… the people we saw and heard from … those that God put on our heart and for each other …

All of a sudden we heard loud popping sounds …  no … it wasn’t gunfire… across the Mississippi was a fireworks display…  it was AMAZING!  We stood on the back staircase of the house and watched the show!

We ended out night singing … Mighty to Save …

Our God is Mighty to Save!   Yes.. He… Is!

until tomorrow!

‘Nawlins!

It was a long trip, but it was a good one!  We made it here about 4:00pm.

We unloaded.  The team met Steve and Bronwen Niles (YWAM directors) then headed to the ferry to cross the Mississippi and have a brief tour around Jackson Square/French Quarters!  After Steve shared more about the story of Jean Lafayette  and how he was a criminal turned hero … and then how that translated into it opening the doors of wickedness/witchcraft/etc… we spent time in the park in Jackson Square praying for the people of New Orleans, praying that the spirit of God would continue to bring his healing and remove the witchcraft that is practiced and draw the lost to Jesus Christ!

Since many people were at the Final Four Playoffs… there weren’t crowds and Cafe DuMonde was the least crowded I’ve ever seen it!While we were headed over on the ferry, I was talking with Bronwen and we were going over the schedule for the next few days!  That’s when we found out that she thought Summit teams had ministered at the Youth Detention Center before.  We never had. We understood it as joining in with their Sunday service and encouraging them…Well… we had the joining in right… however … we are the Sunday Service!The students took it on… were very excited …we have 3 songs … a skit (powerful one I might add)  and a testimony (amazing one)  and an excited team, ready to minister!

It’s going to be an amazing time tomorrow morning.

Pray for our students as they lead worship and they boldly share their faith!

Pray that the Holy Spirit penetrates the walls that have been built around the hearts of the young people we’ll be ministering too!

Pray that God is glorified in everything we do!