I don't know about you, but last week wore me out. It was HOT! As temperatures climbed to the triple digets, we had to cancel our regular Wednesday and Thursday Bible Clubs due to the extreme heat index. After a long, hot week, a dip in the pool was long overdue. On Friday, Jacob and I had the chance to grab about 15 kids and head to Dave and Michelle Sorg's house to cool down. Personally, I haven't been out to actually play in a pool for years. It was refreshing to hang out with the kids in this new environment. From the slide, the hot dogs, and the floaties to the total pool war that broke out using noodles, squirt guns and our best dunking techniques, the kids had a blast. The whole way home, they were thanking us and telling us how much fun they had. We even had one girl ask if we could do it again next month. Ha, we'll see.

At lunch time, Jacob shared with the kids, telling them about how we can demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ by loving each other. How can we love each other even while we're playing in the pool? Eating lunch? What are some things we can say to each other that will build up our friends instead of tearing them down?

It was a wonderful day, full of fun and connecting with the kids. Never should we overlook the impact of even the simple things and opportunities that come our way. I believe we were able to make a difference even in the simple act of taking the kids to the pool for a day and having a cookout with hotdogs and cookies. They will be asking to do this again until frogs grow wings and fly away, and I am 100% okay with that. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I've been so encouraged as I've watching this ministry grow in my two summers here. It has allowed us to touch the lives of even more children as well as expand our activites, even adding new ones! One of my favorite things about this summer so far is seeing some of the older Sowing Hope students step up and help the younger ones. Two of them specifically have been an almost constant presence in a lot of our projects and events. They gave their Friday morning to help us sort the clothes that had been donated Sunday mornings, and have volunteered to help in some of our Bible Clubs. We have loved watching them grow into young leaders, even in front of their peers. Then on Friday, another boy stepped up and helped one of our five-year olds pray before lunch. I personally had not seen him lead in that capacity before, and was greatly encouraged! These are just a few illustrations of how our ministry in the southside of Wooster has been impacting lives and growing children to be leaders in their own communities. We're so excited to see what the Lord has planned for their livesas we continue to serve them.

The water fun will continue tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 at the Wooster Towers! Tomorrow morning, Pastor Ivanildo will be holding a seminar, talking about ministry being a presence not a project. Then in the afternoon, people will have the chance to visit the Towers and see our southside ministry in action! We'll be having a water obsticle course with water balloons, super soakers, a slip 'n' slide, and a sprinkler all at the same time! Then we'll have snowcones and a massive waterballoon fight! Jacob and I are really excited :)

Thank you all so much for your prayers as we look toward the conclusion of our summer.

God's Deeds are Marvelous!

So, I thought I was going to be passing out all of the postcard-size fliers tonight for the CoffeeHouse but God had a better plan in mind: he allowed me to pass out some but provided wonderful helpers to do a lot of the work. The kids at the Towers took several fliers from me and went ahead of me to pass them out to anyone they saw. In addition, several adults at Rebecca will be passing them out to their friends tomorrow. Adults and kids alike are looking forward to spending time at the Sowing Hope House around games, coffee, and hot chocolate. The response of people to Sowing Hope Ministries is the Lord's work! Lord, your deeds are marvelous!

Please pray that believers will shine for the Lord in word and deed, that residents will be loved, and that the Holy Spirit will open the hearts of people to the gospel in the heart of Wooster!!

Want to see what all the hype is about? Stop by any time at the Sowing Hope House between 7 and 8:30 with friends or family for free drinks and snacks and to participate in God's mission of making fully devoted followers of Christ!

(Pictured above are two servants interacting with Sowing Hope kids at one of last week's Bible clubs. Thanks, Sowing Hope volunteers, for your faithfulness in serving the Lord in the heart of Wooster and your personal sphere of influence as well for more than six years!)

For the address or more information, contact Jacob or Stephanie at sowinghope@woostergrace.org or check out the Sowing Hope Ministries Facebook page.

Summer Ministry Opportunities

Summer is about to begin. We're not yet sure if the weather knows it, but summer is just around the corner. Sowing Hope is excited about the opportunities we'll have to minister to under-resourced kids and their families during the months of June, July, and August. The kids are also looking forward to the fun-packed summer.

Stephanie and I are back from a year at school-Stephanie from Grace College and Jacob from Dallas Theological Seminary. We are ready to dive into serving the Lord alongside His people from Wooster Grace!!

One of the exciting things for me at the beginning of summer ministry has been seeing God lead His people to commit to doing the work of ministry. He is doing this again this summer yet has gone about it in some new, fun ways. (This reminds me of what one of my professors at school has said on numerous occasion. It goes something like this: "What God has done in the past is a model of what He will do in the future. Yet He is too creative to do the same thing the same way more than once.")

For in past years God provided volunteers for Sowing Hope through us making phone calls or sending e-mails. But this summer, while we have been and will be initiating the first contact with people to fill ministry positions, God is prompting many to approach us to ask how they can be involved in summer ministry. What joy God has brought me the past weeks through many faithful volunteers because they walked up to me and expressed interest in serving kids and families in the heart of Wooster!

Below are just a few of the many encounters Stephanie and I will have this summer with people who have chosen either to make the first contact or to choose to generously give of their time for the Lord.

While I was still at school in Texas, I received an e-mail from a Wooster grace family. They expressed interest in getting involved this summer. I believe this will be their first summer serving through Sowing Hope. This is the first time, I think, that a Sowing Hope intern received such an e-mail while he/she was still at school! Thanks, Lord!!!!

My first Sunday back from school, Lynda approached me to ask if we still needed a bus driver for Vacation Bible School. Lynda has exhibited great faithfulness in service, compassion for those in need, and love for others the past five years. For she has devoted her early mornings (7:20 am or earlier until 9:15 am) and afternoons (12:30 pm to 1:40 or later) to pick up and drop off kids for VBS. She has even given up her Friday evening of VBS week to transport kids and some parents to VBS Closing Program. She has done this not for just one or two years but for the past five years!! And for the kids and Sowing Hope volunteers she is more than a bus driver. She serves the children by allowing them to help her in small ways, by passing out any papers that the kids may have forgotten, and by talking with kids. She's a follower of Christ who is using her abilities to bless others and serve the Lord. I'm so excited that this will be serving again this summer! Thanks, Lynda, for your faithfulness!

That same Sunday one of the many high school student who served faithfully last summer approached me in the hallway. "When are we starting up, Jacob?" he asked enthusiastically. What an encouragement it was to see his excitement and commitment to to return to three apartment complexes! He's ready to play with and love kids ON THEIR OWN TURF for the sake of doing the Lord's work. Praise the Lord!

Lastly, Stephanie and I were excited to have the opportunity to share about Sowing Hope and ask for volunteers at yesterday's High School Ministries mission trip meeting. Before we spoke, I had prayed that the Lord would prod students to choose to serve. I am amazed at how the Lord did more than I could ask or think! The Lord provided abundantly as 17 students approached us to express their interest in serving this summer. Students, thanks for being on mission not only when you're away on a missions trip but even in your own sphere of influence back home. Thanks for wanting to boldly shine for Jesus wherever you are. Stephanie and I are excited to serve with you this summer!

Many more stories could be shared of how God has saw fit to faithfully encourage me in ministry by providing workers for His service and harvest field.

Instead of sharing more encounters, though, a couple questions seem to be fitting here:
1. How are you going out into the world to make disciples of Jesus Christ?

2. Will you participate in the Lord's work of bringing people to Himself and growing them in His Son wherever you are this summer?

3. Is God prodding you to serve under-privileged kids and even adults this summer in the heart of Wooster?

If so, contact us at sowinghope@woostergrace.org to inform us of how the Lord is leading you to impact the lives of people who live in the heart of our city.

A Summer to Remember

Wow, well that title sure makes this whole thing sound like a eulogy. But don't be fooled! The summer is far from over! Well, maybe not far, but it's not over yet! Haha!

Well, we spent the day at our three locations: Rebecca St, Perkins, and the Wooster Towers. We mostly played baseball. It was the favorite of the day. Hey, it's the American pastime! And every time we had to leave, it broke my heart telling the kids that I wouldn't be here at all next week. So maybe for me this is the beginning of my final hoop-lah for the summer.

However, we left the kids at Rebecca a piece of chalk to remember us by until Jacob shows up next week, and left them all with the promise of a picnic! We have decided to add our third location to our picnic list. We're just waiting on the OK from the complex director. Or whatever you would like to label that position. I'm very excited about all of it. I personally counted each and every house there, and they total to 62 apartments jammed into that small area. What an opportunity we have to minister to those families!

Although I'm kinda bummed I didn't get more time at Rebecca St this summer, not adding them to our location list until the week of Vacation Bible School, I'm excited to possibly see them on weekends I'm home during the semesters leading up to next summer :)

But I must say, today was the most successful day of Friday Activities we've had all summer. We had great turnouts from all three locations which was a major encouragement from last week with the triple diget heat on Thursday and the torrents of rain on Friday. We had kids come pouring into our activity spots, jostling to line up to bat (I prefered all-time outfielder whenever I could).

We had mostly older kids at Perkins, the young ones were all either gone, sleeping, or uninterested in whatever we had going on (baseball). But I feel compelled to note that the girls beat the boys in baseball 11-4. That put a little boost in their step. Although with only 3 players on a team we had to cross over teams when the bases were loaded. That made for interesting scenarios to be sure!

This was absolutely the most fun I've had all summer, and I love to exit off to volleyball camp with a bang. I can't wait until our picnics, where I get to be with all these kids and their families one more time before school rips me away.

God has done some incredible things this summer. Take a look back at the other blog posts if you need some refreshing. Much more is to come as well. We have placed a vision before us. We are taking steps to reach beyond the summer months and further into the school year. We want to build upon what has already been set in place to nurture deeper personal relationships as we strive to develop all people into devoted followers of Christ.

So let's clap our hands above our heads and jump fearlessly off the high dive to end this summer with a splash! Just like we started.

The Thursday Turkeys

When you sit under a giant tree and break a sweat playing Chutes and Ladders, you know it's hot. When the kids are getting thirsty reading a book, there might be a problem.

This is how it was for our Thursday Events team yesterday. Temperatures climbed into triple digets, but still we pushed on. We started our day like any other typical Thursday at the Wooster Towers at 10:30 and didn't admit defeat until 4:00 when the pounding of the sun's rays finally became too much for everyone. During our last stop, Joseph (played by my brother for the Bible story) was so exhausted he stood, rather weakly, amidst all the kids that had just collapsed at his feet, scattered around, for the story. The prison and Pharoah's throne room were a foot apart since everyone opted for minimal movement. Poor guys. We couldn't even get a palm tree and some sand out of the deal.

Part of me was getting discouraged when we showed up at Rebecca St a little before 4:00 and our feet were definitely starting to drag. Not many kids were home, and those that were were rather unwilling to brave the sweltering heat. Especially since there's essentially no shade in that area, unlike the Towers and Perkins. But I rested in the fact that Friday would come, and we would get another shot.

However, I walked out the door this morning only to see that rain was pouring down in torrents. Lovely. I almost stopped right there and cried. Too much rain is our natural enemy at SHM. It prevents our activities from happening. So while our plans are yet pending, God gave me a little flick in the ear. "Hey. Cut it out."

I had become so afraid of failure. The bulk of this ministry is currently in my hands. Jacob is off at camp with one of the boys, and I'm left to run the busiest, most chaotic (yet I do think the most fun!) days of the week: Thursday and Friday. Thursday ended in a flop and Friday is already looking like a very possible cancelation. I so desperately wanted to prove (to who, I'm not sure) that I can indeed do this on my own. Yet, discouragement almost to the point of defeat, was my only companion as I stood outside, watching the rain tumble to the pavement from the front porch.

But as I quickly threw my belongings into the passenger seat of my car, fumbling to shut the driver's door behind me, God kinda draped His arm across my shoulders and said "Stop trying to control this. Believe it or not, I still know what's best." Everything will turn out all right.

Ugh.

How many times must He remind me of this before I get it through my thick skull? Things can't always go my way. So upon my arrival at the office, I grabbed my favorite mug from the cabinet, smiled to myself, and said "Alright." I find this mug rather humorous. On it is pictured an elephant that is lying down looking disgruntled and defeated and he's covered in much too happy turkeys. Splashed across the top of the mug are the words "Don't let the turkeys get you down." I could probably name all six of those turkeys, assuming I was the elephant:

1. This weeks lack of sleep
2. Yesterday's early ending
3. Waking up to rain to start my "second chance"
4. The slow progress of my summer project
5. Pressures from the coming semester/volleyball season
6. Balancing relationships through my busy schedule (this is the turkey that is clawing the poor elephant's backside)

Just to name a few. What about finances? I have to find a way to pay for school and keep gas in my car. What about my health? My back is no joke. What about all those issues I've had at my second job? I swear those managers will be the death of me. Endless "turkeys" weigh me down. Think about it, those birds are heavy!

For me, as well as many college fall student athletes, this is crunch time. We have, on average, only a few weeks, a month at most, before our summer ends and we switch into the fourth gear of preseason. And more than likely, our bank accounts are probably still low enough to make us have an involuntary nervous twitch every time we see the number or let it cross our minds. What number turkey is that?

Admitedly, I have allowed the turkeys to get me down. But today I'm going to take the advice of my favorite mug. I have decided to not see my schedule as "busy" but as "full of opportunities". I don't know what your weekend looks like. I don't know if this week was crazy insane, boring as all get out, or just downright awful. Well I don't want to get all Negative Nacy on you, so maybe you've had the best week of the summer! Whatever the case, take this weekend to recharge your batteries. Sit outside and marvel in the wonder of God's creation. Go stargazing and think about how huge the universe is, and remember that God made it all for you. So what else matters? Don't worry about your schedules, if you're five minutes late to a coffee date on Saturday, the sun will rise tomorrow.

The stronger you get, the faster you will rise from the ground, and the faster your rise, the more startled the turkeys will get. And you'll find these turkeys are afraid of heights. They won't stick around.

I wish you a very pleasant, turkey-free weekend :)

Childlike Faith in a Grown Up World

Let me give you a little mini rundown of how the MBTI personality test describes the way I work. I am proud to claim ENFP status. Now in those two sentences, I'm ready to bet I lost most of you already. So let me explain. MBTI is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. It is a basic psychometric assessment that is designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. There are sixteen possible type combinations between the eight dichotomies, each indicated by a different capital letter (extroversion (E)/introversion (I), sensing (S)/intuition (N), thinking (T)/feeling (F), and judgment (J)/perception(P)). One of the sixteen combinations does indeed fit every individual. We have our own personalities within them though. And each combination and dichotomy has a scale of how extreme or subtle it is...it's crazy.

I won't try to sqeeze a whole psychology lesson in this little blog, because that's not what I hope to accomplish in the next, oh, foot or so of lettering. But background is needed. In there, you will find my four letters: ENFP. I am an extrovert, I'm intuitive, I'm a feeler, and I live a lifestyle of perception.

HUH?

Okay. I'm an extrovert. Extroverts basically are energized by people. We are action oriented and actually recharge our batteries by being with and interacting with people. I usually think things through as I'm saying them versus before I say it (so things can sound either really stupid, or really scattered, sometimes both). An introvert spends more time processing.

I'm intuitive. This means I base decision on things that may not be concrete and understood by the five senses. I look way beyond into the future and the possibilities it holds (the head in the clouds stereotype). I tend to trust information that is more abstract and theoretical that can be associated with other information. For me, meaning is found in how the information relates. I "go on a whim" and give flight to those ideas, those hunches that seem to "come out of nowhere".

I'm a feeler. This one gets me in trouble sometimes. I base my decisions on how the decision will effect the people involved instead of from a detached standpoint. I empathize with the situation and do everything in my power to balance out and create harmony, considering the needs of every party in an attempt to make everyone happy. For me, many times, this means I take the hit and wind up partially if not entirely miserable so that no one else has to be.

I'm a perceiver. Basically this means I don't like "written in stone" schedules, I prefer to take things on the fly. I come and go as I please and have an awful tendency to put things off until the last minute because something else has snatched my attention and seems more interesting...

To put it simply, I'm a kid in a box.

So what's the point of me telling you all of this anyway? Why should you care? Because when you throw all that together with my uncanny habit of being in constant deep thought, I'm a little twisted. But in my thinking, I've come to truly realize that not everyone can perceive the world through the eyes of a child. I'm slowly coming to believe that through maybe having never fully lost that ability, I've been given a gift.

We all long for the days when things were simpler. Would we really go back? No, of course not. We've come to realize that life gets better by the decade. Each phase of life holds something new and exciting for us. But we still have a yearning for freedom. But what is it we long to be free from?

It's not something that can easily be put into words. Nor is there a three-step solution that just anyone can write a book on. In fact, I don't think a book can really be written. It's a matter of the heart and mind.

We have been enslaved by our culture. Sure, we live in the Land of Opportunity! But we live in a culture that is a walking contradiction to this claim. We walk under the banner of "YES WE CAN!" and we march up the hill of success, beaming with false gratitude because really, we think we deserve it because we "worked hard". But underneath that banner, underneath the masks, we limit ourselves and each other. We want the world, but we "get real" and "face reality" to see we can really only maybe reach the end of the drive.

Life sucks and drama's unfair. The prince has suddenly run off with the hag and the princess is left with the pimp to be sold as a cheap sex object. Children are told they can do anything but then told what to do with their lives. At the end of the day, everyone feels worthlessly content to sit on their overstuffed couches and call it success because the dog didn't pee on the carpet today. We still assume that where we're at and what we have is all we'll ever amout to and that's somehow just fine with us. We've taken on the life moto "that's just how it is" and don't want to take a needle to the opaque bubble around us to see beyond into what can be. That would risk unwanted exposer to the elements and we'd rather "stay safe" thank you very much.

My mom and I had lunch with one of the girls from SHM a few weeks ago. Although my mom kept a straight/interested face, I could plainly see the pity and the horror that was written in her eyes. This little nine year old watched horror movies of the worst form and sex was a common subject (although she was forbidden to say the word). She found most children's movies a bore and if it wasn't at least PG-13 it probably wasn't worth her time.

What has happened to our children?

The Scriptures tell us to have a childlike faith. We are to run to the Kingdom of God like a child running into His waiting arms. Mark 10:14b-15 says:

Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.

Sadly, children can hardly walk the neighborhood "like a little child" today. There's a push to grow up faster and be something quicker. We teach algebra in third grade instead of sixth. Athletes need to be the next LeBron James, going pro at eighteen. The birth rate of teens is still on the rise. Not even considering the pregnancies that ended in abortion. Abuse is becoming the norm, taking more subtle forms, like emotional instead of physical. Most don't even realize it's happening to them.

Why?

We're all selfish. We want what we want, when we want it, and how we want it. Burger King proudly proclaims that we have every right to "have it your way"! Our culture is saturated in what makes me happy right now. So much so, that children are losing their childlike innocence faster and sooner because Americans are too selfish to take the time to protect them. In doing so, the future of America is endangered and on a one way track to destruction.

With this "reality" of life floating all around us, is it even possible to have a childlike faith? Is this something we can even teach children anymore?

Children are straighforward, they are trusting, and they have a sense of wonder about the world. Why do people stand aside an allow this to be destroyed? For this is how we must run to the Kingdom. We have to be honest with ourselves. We have to know we can't do it without the Father. We have to trust. We have to believe that God will make anything and everything possible, so we must run, sprint into the unknown with wreckless abandon, holding nothing back. We must constantly be in awe of the world God has created and put us smack dab in the middle of. An awe that takes us beyond what our eyes can see to the very throne room of our Father in Heaven. Looking at the stars and allowing my ability to see beyond take over brings me to tears in the wonder of His magnificance and glory. In wonder that He can love me! That He created those stars, with a smile on His face, knowing that I would look up at them someday and know that He loves me more than I could ever ask or imagine. My little tin can of understanding could never hold the ocean of His love for me. So how can I not run forward? How can I hold myself back?

It may sound backwards, because I know it may be hard to truly grasp what I'm trying to say, so I pray you at least understand the gist. But I believe that we need to resurrect the child within all of us. Make anything and everything, the impossible, possible again. Make awe and wonder the new reality. Make the abstract the concrete. And then we need to take that child and invest it in the children we come in contact with.

There's a reason God calls us His children and not his co-workers or employees. We're here to serve Him and serve for Him, but we are to do so as we run like young-legged chilren into His loving embrace.

So let the little children come. Let the little chilren run. Let the little children be free. Free to be.

Another Location!!

I'm not good at making long stories short. Just ask my family...I love to tell every detail. I also strive to be precise but fail to be concise. And so as I ramble on and on, I bet I lose my listeners in the process: maybe they don't understand what I'm saying amidst all of the details or maybe they tune me out because they get bored. Being clear and concise and to the point in what I share with others is something that I must continually work hard at. So, I'll try to be concise in the following important Sowing Hope update.

God has opened up another area in Wooster where Sowing Hope Ministries has and will be able to continue to share the love of Christ. It all began last year when a mother around the Wooster Towers indicated that her friend's kids might be interested in the summer's Schellin Park day camp. Although I did not know her friend or the kids, I went over to the apartments off of Rebecca Street where they lived and was received with open arms. (Literally, the 5-year old girl came up to me and gave me a hug as I was talking to the mother.) The kids attended camp; a volunteer even picked up and dropped off these kids for the camp. They enjoyed their time so much that they kept coming back. In fact, the mother, kids, and another sibling chose to attend the Wooster Towers' picnic. And this same volunteer that had gotten to know the family picked them up and dropped them off for this picnic. Praise the Lord!!!!

So this year Stephanie and I made contact with this same family in order to say hi and invite two of the kids to Vacation Bible School. The mom signed the kids up on the spot!

Meanwhile, another mother from the apartment complex came to the church in need of food. While she was talking with a pastor, she shared that her boy had been picked up by a van from the Grace Brethren Church before they had moved to Rebecca Street Apartments and still desired to have her son be picked up. Although I'm pretty sure that it was another church that had been picking her boy up, Stephanie and I indicated that we would look into a ride for her son.

A couple weeks later we went over to Rebecca Street Apartments in order to give this mother information about VBS and the bus pick-up for VBS. "There are some other kids here [in the apartment complex] who might be interested in going as well. I can give them the information," she said. So, we left her with several fliers and packets of registration forms. I personally was not expecting anything great to come from this encounter. Yet the next time Stephanie and I stopped by the apartment complex, a mother approached Stephanie with the registration forms all filled out. What was surprising was that we did not know this mother that approached Stephanie and that she had been thinking about getting her son in a Vacation Bible School (apparently the same day that she received the registration and information from the first mom). Several days later we ended up walking away with a total of nine kids registered from the apartments. This number did not even include the kids that were registered from the area immediately surrounding the apartment complex.

Because of God's work in providing opportunities for ministry at Rebecca Street apartments, we ended up adding this location as a third stop to our normal VBS pick-up route. The pick-up time? 7:30 am. And believe it or not, most of the kids were ready to go at this early hour. And we ended up picking more kids up from Rebecca Street Apartments and the area surrounding this apartment complex than we did from the Wooster Towers and the area surrounding that complex. And 4 kids trusted in Christ from Rebecca Street apartments through the ministry of VBS volunteers. Wow. Praise the Lord!!!!!

Since the Lord has opened up the door for ministry at Rebecca Street Apartments & the surrounding area, Sowing Hope Ministries has decided to incorporate the apartment complex in its regular ministry activities. And today was the first day that Rebecca Street Apartments was included in SHM's regular summer ministry schedule.

What is this regular summer ministry schedule?

• Mondays: One-on-one activities with kids (building friendships through ice cream, hiking, walking, playing at the park, etc...)
• Tuesdays: Small group (Bible study and fun activity)
• Wednesdays: One-on-one
• Thursdays: Thursday events (games, craft, Bible lesson, snack)
• Fridays: Kids activities (games and snack)

Please pray for Sowing Hope that the Lord would work in the lives of volunteers and families through the above events & relationships.

Oh, and not only was Rebecca Street a new stop for the bus during VBS, but, Lord-willing, it will be a new and third location for our annual picnics.