Grundy Mountain Mission School: Day 2

Today was incredible thanks for the prayers! We had such a great time and everyone did such a great job. Hopefully I won't forget anything in the update, but it was a very jam-packed day so forgive me if something slips my mind.

The Sotkiewicz family arrived here safely this evening. Now we have our whole team here. Julie, who is sick, had a good day today and was such a trooper. All the urgent care facilities here around Grundy will open back up tomorrow so she will be able to go get medicine and hopefully get to feeling better right away! Please continue to pray that she has a speedy recovery and that no one else gets sick.

Our day started off with our first set of lessons for VBS. We did it all as a part of their normal Sunday School. Our theme for the week is Courage: Doing what you should do even when you are afraid. Our students jumped right in and showed a great amount of courage too! They did a great job of leading the songs, sharing stories and leading small group time with all of the children. It was so cool to watch them in action. I can't wait until tomorrow so that I can upload some pictures of our team (I don't have the camera with me tonight, sorry!) Everyone did a really great job.

In the afternoon our guys played pick up basketball with their High School Guys. It was so much fun. We held our own and even won a few games. Needless to say we are all tired out from the games, and a few of us have blisters on our feet from all the action.

In the evening our students led the Mountain Mission Students in a prayer time after dinner, and then held an open gym for their Middle School and High School Girls.  Much fun was had by all.


Please continue to pray for our students, families, and the rest of our team. It has been such a special mission trip already and we hope that God lets us continue to serve and be a blessing. Tomorrow we will be working on several projects around the campus, having part 2 of our VBS, and starting our soccer camp as well. Thanks for the prayers. Tomorrow I'll also try to get some of our students and leaders to give the update on the blog. Keep up the prayers!

Grundy Mountain Mission School Day 1

Hey everybody! Thanks for all of your prayers and support. Our team made it here safe and sound this afternoon. We had a small bump in the road with some car sickness, and one of our adult leaders isn't feeling well, but God definitely is watching out for us on this trip.

We are so excited because tomorrow we will be getting to start our VBS during their Sunday School hour, we will get to hang out a lot with the students, and run through all of our materials for the rest of the week. You can be praying for us that God would keep us all healthy and safe. That he would help our adult leader who isn't feeling well have a quick and speedy recovery. On top of all of this pray that our team will reveal and celebrate God's glory with passion. We want to lift Jesus' name on high and share His goodness with everyone we meet.

I am so proud of our team already. They are doing a tremendous job. Everyone did a great job traveling. Our little guys and gals were such troopers, and our students did a great job of being flexible to their schedules.  When we arrived they did a great job of representing both Parkside, and God's Kingdom with how they acted. During dinner because of a kitchen accident they ran out of food, and not all of our team was able to eat as much as they wanted. Still nobody complained, whined, or even looked upset. Praise God how cool is that!

Tonight we also got to have an open gym with the Middle School Boys from the Mission. It was such a blessing. They are so well behaved and we had a blast playing basketball with them. Please continue to pray for us. I'll do my best to update the blog daily and who knows I might even find a way to get some pictures on here or on the church's Facebook page. I'm so excited to see the special things God lets our team be a part of this week!

Worship in a Box

This past weekend in Student Ministry we had our Worship Services in a box.  It's not the conversation that you think is coming either. I've heard a lot of ministers talk about their Sunday morning services as, "Worship in the Big Box." As our Student Ministry team got ready to do a series on Biblical Worship it gave me an idea. We wanted to show students why our Sunday services look like they do. Why do we sing? Why does someone speak? Why do we collect money? Are we really eating Styrofoam wafers during communion?

So instead of getting everyone into a 'big box' and teaching them about every element of our worship service, we put all of the elements into a little box and gave them to our small groups to go outside and explore. Our students and leaders loved going outside and having their own special worship service with their group. 

One of the most memorable parts of the Worship Field Kit was how we 'took up' the offering. When each group opened their box a helium balloon would pop out and just float there, tethered to the box. When it came time for the offering, someone in the group would read the prompt. This is what it said:

Offering  
1 Timothy 6:17-19 (NLT)
"“17 Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. 18 Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. 19 By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.”"
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Uh-oh we are talking about money. Why do we collect money during a worship service? Are ministers just too lazy to get a real job? When we give our lives to Jesus we are also giving him everything we have for Him to use as he wants. That'’s why we ‘sacrifice’ and give our money as an ‘offering’ for Him to use. We can give other things besides our money too though. We can also give our time, and use our talents to serve him.
I bet you have been wondering why there was a balloon in your field kit. Hopefully you haven’t popped it or let it fly away yet. Part of giving an offering is trusting God to use what we have given for His Glory.  Hold onto the balloon we are gonna use it in just a second.

Who in the group has a single dollar that they are willing to give to God to use? Put all of the money in the offering envelope in box. Seal the envelope and tie or tape the offering envelope to the balloon ribbon. Have someone who gave a dollar pray that God would use your offerings to bless someone in need. After the prayer, release the balloon. Its ok if it doesn’t fly away. If it stays on the ground just leave it there and trust God that someone will find it who needs it.


It was one of the coolest Offerings I've ever seen collected. Throughout the evening in the park beside our church, groups of students would bring their balloon with the handful of dollars they had collected, pray that God would use their gift, and then release their balloon. None of us know where our Offering Balloons ended up, but we all know that God is going to use what we gave.