Rock The Block

Today was a change of pace.  Big surprise, I know.  

We served our host church, Freedom Chapel, in Amityville, NY.  After a great pancake breakfast, provided by Andrew, Nathan, and Christian we went over to the church's unfinished basement to work.

Andrew, Nathan, and Christian making pancakes and sausage for breakfast.

This is Freedom Chapels basement, which will be called "Wilkerson Hall" when it is finished, in honor of David Wilkerson, founder of Teen Challenge, Times Square Church, and author of The Cross and The Switchblade.  David Wilkerson was Pastor Jimmy Jack's mentor.  in the picture are Jeff, our Forward Edge International mission host, and Bob and Giovanni from Freedom Chapel.

Some of the kids went outside to trim hedges. Okay they forgot to mention that some of the hedges were 20 ft tall.

Dennis having fun with a chain saw :-)

John hedge trimming

Which reminds me, the kids are really enjoying working, and we have been working hard all week.  One of the boys was sharing that he was really enjoying the work this week, and that this was not a usual feeling for him towards work.  Several other boys chimed in with the same feeling,  it just felt good to do work for the Lord.  And they didn't expect anything in return for their work.  That conversation was a highlight for me, and I told them that now, they really understood what the verses in Colossians 3:23-24 mean.

Colossians 3:23-24

New International Version (NIV)

²³ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, ²⁴ since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

We should work for our dad and mom like we are working for the Lord.  We should work for our employers as if we were working for the Lord.  [Author's Note:  That may be hitting a little too close to home for me ;-) ]  Yes, even the adult leaders are learning on this mission trip.

While we were talking about working for the Lord one of the boys mentioned, that he may have found his future career.  He thinks he would like to be a missionary.  So yes, as you can see this mission trip is affecting us and changing us to be more like Jesus.  And I thought we came to help the people of Long Island.

While Dennis and John were working outside, the rest of us were cleaning up the church basement.

The church basement before cleanup

The church basement after cleanup!

The team worked together amazingly well.  We had two, three, and sometimes four projects going on simultaneously all in the basement and the kids were great.  I think we looked like ants.  We had a path for each project and kids were carrying chairs across the basement, another group was moving trimwork across the basement, another group was carrying trash and construction scraps outside to the dumpster.  All paths intersected and there were no collisions, just happy cooperative workers.  God is good.

Malea's strong!

I think this is Colin and Halston.

Luke and James moving chairs

Luke, Madelyn, Tatum, and James are so happy to be done moving chairs.

Halston, Madelyn, Luke, and Gator hauling scrap sheetrock upstairs to the dumpster.

Kris is our mission hostess, with Forward Edge, with her husband Jeff.  We really would be lost without their excellent leadership, and friendship.

It's a long walk to the dumpster.

Madison and Malea carrying scrap to the dumpster

Calli, Luke, and Jeff

Liam has his hands full!

After lunch we helped setup chairs for the Rock the Block event at the church.  Rock the Block was started by Pastor Jimmy 10 years ago, as a community outreach event, with hip-hop, singing, dance, drama and of course testimony (because Jesus love you and he has a plan for your life, that is better than your plan for your life, somebody say 'Amen').  One thing that is special about these events is that Freedom Chapel takes these events into the worst neighborhoods in New York, and now to some of the worst neighborhoods around the world.

Before Rock the Block setup.

After Rock the Block setup.

After the chairs were all setup it was time for some canvassing.  The team split up into 6 teams and we went out into the local neighborhoods to invite people to the Rock the Block event, and to tell them that Jesus loves them and he has a plan for their lives.

In the picture below you can see one of the homes we went to.  But Long Island neighborhoods were interesting because on the same street you would have this immaculately manicured home right next to a house that with boarded up windows, an eviction/condemnation notice on the front door, with people living inside.  Please ask your students about their canvassing experience.

Calli, Madison, Tatum, and I inviting a family to the Rock the Block event.

 

Luke, Halston, Dennis, and Kris making Pulled Pork for dinner, Yum.

Time for downtime, Farkle and cards

Praying with Pastor Jose before the event.

We then went out canvassing one more time before the event. 

And then we went to Rock the Block and had a great time.  We were asked to help with the alter call, and it was an honor to pray with people that gave their life to Christ for the first time ever!  God is good, all the time.

One of the performers, Sheena  Lee, was so much fun.  She has a beautiful voice and she had fun with our group.

The whole place was hopping to Sheena's song H2O!

In addition to hearing Sheena Lee, above in the picture with me and Jonathan, we heard about how Jesus dramatically changed lives through Teen Challenge.  We heard testimonys from a former gang leader from Detroit, and a young lady who has had victory over her addictions.  The young lady touched my heart deeply, and brought tears to my eyes, as she described her father who had saved her and her sister from abandonment by adopting them when they were very young.  He saved her, he loved her, and he pointed her to god.  She didn't appreciate him until he wasn't there for her any longer.  That was a perfect testimony for me to hear because later I prayed with a man and then a young boy who each  responded to the alter call and asked Jesus to be their saviors.  After I prayed with them I told them, "Welcome to the family, now we have the same adoptive father, and he will never leave you.  He will always love you and he has a plan for your life."