Accomplishing God's Goals
Jesus, friend of sinners, open our eyes to the world at the end of our pointing fingers.
Let our hearts be led by mercy, help us reach with open hearts and open doors.
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks yours.
MISSION PHILADELPHIA 2012, STUDENT WORSHIP!
Good Morning North Carolinian's in the name of Jesus! I write this letter to tell you of my missionary journey to Philly...Ok, so maybe I can't be a Paul.
We left Monday morning July 23rd. There were 50 of us. We chartered a bus. It was our first trip without Phil Chaney. This was his vision, and heart for our Students. He loved us all as his own, Koral told us one night during our devotion time that Phil told her as he was dying to take care of his kids, and he wasn't referring to Chaney kids, but the kids of Student Worship. He truly trained us up in the teachings of the Lord. He took much pride in the kids.
Every year when we go on these trips we don't stay in nice accommodations, or even in a nice part of town, we are normally in the inner city of places. Places where people dare not go. This year really shocked me where we were. We pulled up to the church where we were staying at and I was like we are in the ghetto! In fact we had a curfew set when we had to be back inside the church for our safety.
We worked closely with Salvation Army this trip. It was really interesting to learn about the Salvation Army and that is it more than just a place to drop off your clothes. It is actually a church/ summer school. They have their own seminary. They relate closer with Methodist beliefs. The pastors are divided into rank, we worked closely with Major Murray, and Lieutenant Rachel, I forgot the Captains name. They dress in uniform everyday, and on either shoulder they have 2 badges with the letter S which means, "Saved to Serve." We worked there Tuesday and Wednesday. We were issued shirts, which are apparently well known in the community and it served as our safety shield, people knew not to mess with us on the street when we wore those shirts. We canvassed neighborhoods, apparently where we were was considered middle class, it looks like the ghetto of Charlotte. You wouldn't believe the trash that was on the ground! We bagged over 20 huge bags of trash! Just this year in the part of Philly we were in there had been over 300 murders alone. The schools are so bad that some parents don't allow their children to attend. It is very rare that kids ever finish school. However, the Salvation Army does school children in the summer. They are fed 2 meals a day, and taught the Bible and other subjects. Many of the kids walk 20 or more blocks by themselves to get to the Salvation Army, many of the kids mothers are prostitutes, or drug addicts, and don't even have a dad. it's a very diverse city, there weren't a lot of white people, the majority was made up of the black community, there were some hispanics, and oriental, India...
We walked door to door handing out flyers for a block party we were doing at the Salvation Army the next day, and promoting VBS trying to sign their kids up. We also were told to pray with and for the people and write down their requests so Salvation Army could follow up, and be praying as well. We met one guy who asked us to pray he would die that night, we met another guy whose son had just died in Afghanistan, he was in the Marine Corps. Gloria Suttles, Dr. Suttles wife, was in the group and it was amazing to hear her speak in her native language of Spanish to other hispanics. We walked miles! The kids held up well, I am so proud of them. We got to one door and the man started yelling at us inside, we all were scared of being shot, we were in that rough of a place. I yelled for Jonathan to come to the door, he was down the road. I didn't know what was going to happen, my girls kept knocking and I was like STOP! my guess is we reached about 1,000 people that afternoon...maybe even more.
We went to a nursing home after all that. we didn't know till we left that it was a Jewish nursing home. The kids loved on the residence, and talked to them. We met a feisty little woman in there. We was a little vile in her speech, and offensive...she didn't posses that southern charm we are all so use to. We'll just say she didn't say cheese when we took her picture. I don't have a Salvation count to give. I can just tell you about the people we impacted.
I gave the devotion Tuesday night. I spoke on the fruits of Salvation, addressing how to combat doubts of salvation, and shared a little bit of my testimony. A lot of the kids came up to me, and even leaders telling me they needed to hear that....to God be the glory!
Wednesday was the day of our block party that we invited people too. That morning we did a concert for the kids who attend Salvation Army summer school. We danced and sang with them. Steve, our middle school leader, gave a little message. Those kids were so well behaved! They were dressed well, and spoke well. They didn't have that thug, gangsta attitude about them. Our kids spent some one on one time with them and played games with them in their individual classrooms. The staff commented that these kids of course have major trust issues and so much baggage just from what their life consists of. They were amazed at how the responded to our kids. They said we have never seen their kids open up so much to complete strangers. We cleaned Salvation Army's facilities. We washed walls, mopped floors, cleaned tables and chairs, the kitchen, bathrooms (that got awkward as I was helping in the mens room and men kept walking in to use it...I was like HOLD ON! WAIT! when men have to go, they go.) Shortly after the block party started, we had popcorn, grilled hotdogs and hamburgers, drinks, face painting, inflatable games, we were the music. We had a great turn out. Major Murray informed us that this was the first time that the community has been able to join together safely and just have a good time as a family. There weren't any murders, no rapes, no gang activity, no fights. The town officials came out and slapped a $5,000 fine on Salvation Army because the parking lot we were having the party was over capacity, and was not "safe." Major Murray wasn't too concerned though, I think what was more important was that this community came together in love and heard the gospel of Jesus through music and our lives.
Just a random thing here but we kept hearing an ice cream truck all week, and the kids were excited and we had to tell them that it wasn't really an ice cream truck, it was a drug front. Kids who live there in Philly and are recruited by gangs are called the mules, they run drugs. So the ice cream truck was actually delivering drugs, so it doesn't look so weird that a kid is at the truck.
Thursday we traveled to West Philly, this is the lower income part of town, meaning it was going to be worse than what we had been in. We did some sight seeing and visited the steps that Rocky the boxer trained on, and yes we ran up every single step! my legs have never burned so bad! We saw the liberty bell, and Independence Hall. Dr. Suttles has a friend over there is walks around and preaches and evangelizes in front of all these sight seeing places. So we did a mini concert in front of the Liberty Bell then he preached. We then went to West Philly Salvation Army and did some work around there. We cut down trees, found that some homeless people had set up a home there in the brush. But it was private property so we had to take it down. We cleaned the facilities. Did yard work, picked up trash. I'm really proud of our boys, they worked so hard this trip. Every single kid smiled in every project we did. As they hauled off lumber and trash, they were smiling! Who smiles while doing such hard manual labor?! OUR KIDS!
Friday was our fun day. We went to Hershey Park. I spent the day with Koral laid out by the pool while the kids rode rides, and whatever else. Koral is my mission trip buddy. We got burnt up! But it was a good day. We were able to bless a family of 4 with free tickets into the park. They were touched.
Saturday was one of my favorite days. We went to a "Stop the Drugs, Stop the Violence" festival in Pottstown, PA. It was in a park on a river. Teen Challenge was there, which is kind of like House of Pearls but it's co ed. We did a prayer walk in the park. I had a group of kids, and I took the time to pull them aside and teach them as the Lord lead. We sang, we prayed, and I just poured into them all I could. Teen Challenge people shared some testimonies. I really really really really wish ARM folks could have been there. It was powerful! http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20120711/OPINION02/120719812/stop-the-drugs-stop-the-violence-crusade-returns-to-pottstown
A young man gave his testimony, his mom got him into drugs, and was his best friend, she OD'd and died. He said he didn't have anyone. One of our chaprones talked to him afterward and the young man asked if Student Worship would be his family. Saying that even if he didn't see us or talk to us he was encouraged to know he could call us family. We heard so many stories. I can't even find words to describe that event.
Sunday we lead the services at Salvation Army. Being that the city is multicultural and diverse, there is a Korean Ministry, so during the service the Captain interpreted into Korean, and it was so cool because you heard different languages being sung at the same time, English, Spanish, Korean, and whatever else. Lieutenant Rachel preached that morning on Worship. I was looking for a deep sermon, she had just graduated from seminary. I had to high expectations, LOL! She had good points. We at FBCIT are spoiled people. After services we hit the road to come home. We got back to Indian Trail about 2:00 AM monday morning.
Our kids have blessed me so much this past week. Their knowledge of the Word. Each day they were instructed to read a Psalm and Proverb, as well as study deeper into the devotion given by a leader the prior night. So they were immersed in the Word, and Jesus 24/7 this past week. We had them share what God was teaching them, what they were getting out of the assigned readings. They blew me away. Their humbleness, their love for Jesus, their service, their good attitudes. The guys stepped up and took care of the girls, they went out their way to serve each other. Not only are we training them up in the Word, but also in many different avenues of life, I don't think they realize it yet. The girls made cookies for the guys our last night there. They truly understand that their lives are a testimony.
Our bus driver was a professed Christian, however, he recently married a Muslim. Talk about being unequally yoked! But I think we made an impact on him. He was around us 24/7 too. I saw him bowed in the bus one day on a rug, and I asked one of the other Chaprones if he was praying to Allah, apparently his seat had an air leak and he was trying to fix that...so he wasn't praying to allah....whoever Muslims pray to.
It was a really good trip. Witnessed a lot of amazing things. The Word went forth, seeds were planted. Our kids were complemented everywhere we went. Our host church informed us that we were 10 times easier than the last church they hosted a few weeks ago. Wow!
Phil was missed very much. We had a sweet moment on the bus on the way to Hershey, the kids broke out singing "I Will Rise." Tears streamed down. I think he would have been proud. he taught us how to worship not just with our mouth but with our lives. To be following in his steps is such a blessing, and carry on what he started. I look forward to these trips every year since 2008!
We are so very blessed to have Jonathan Schallmo as our worship leader. Since Phil's sickness and death he has had to step up and take on A LOT of responsibility. I pray God's blessing on his life and families life. Please pray for him as he continues to lead us.
Together we are accomplishing God's goals, when we work as a team and utilize our given gifts for His glory we make greater headway into impacting a nation for Christ! Our goals must be the same as God's goals, and I can tell you our Student's have the same goals God does. May we all take possession of the calling, and make our futures congruent with that of Christ's.
Let our hearts be led by mercy, help us reach with open hearts and open doors.
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks yours.
MISSION PHILADELPHIA 2012, STUDENT WORSHIP!
Good Morning North Carolinian's in the name of Jesus! I write this letter to tell you of my missionary journey to Philly...Ok, so maybe I can't be a Paul.
We left Monday morning July 23rd. There were 50 of us. We chartered a bus. It was our first trip without Phil Chaney. This was his vision, and heart for our Students. He loved us all as his own, Koral told us one night during our devotion time that Phil told her as he was dying to take care of his kids, and he wasn't referring to Chaney kids, but the kids of Student Worship. He truly trained us up in the teachings of the Lord. He took much pride in the kids.
Every year when we go on these trips we don't stay in nice accommodations, or even in a nice part of town, we are normally in the inner city of places. Places where people dare not go. This year really shocked me where we were. We pulled up to the church where we were staying at and I was like we are in the ghetto! In fact we had a curfew set when we had to be back inside the church for our safety.
We worked closely with Salvation Army this trip. It was really interesting to learn about the Salvation Army and that is it more than just a place to drop off your clothes. It is actually a church/ summer school. They have their own seminary. They relate closer with Methodist beliefs. The pastors are divided into rank, we worked closely with Major Murray, and Lieutenant Rachel, I forgot the Captains name. They dress in uniform everyday, and on either shoulder they have 2 badges with the letter S which means, "Saved to Serve." We worked there Tuesday and Wednesday. We were issued shirts, which are apparently well known in the community and it served as our safety shield, people knew not to mess with us on the street when we wore those shirts. We canvassed neighborhoods, apparently where we were was considered middle class, it looks like the ghetto of Charlotte. You wouldn't believe the trash that was on the ground! We bagged over 20 huge bags of trash! Just this year in the part of Philly we were in there had been over 300 murders alone. The schools are so bad that some parents don't allow their children to attend. It is very rare that kids ever finish school. However, the Salvation Army does school children in the summer. They are fed 2 meals a day, and taught the Bible and other subjects. Many of the kids walk 20 or more blocks by themselves to get to the Salvation Army, many of the kids mothers are prostitutes, or drug addicts, and don't even have a dad. it's a very diverse city, there weren't a lot of white people, the majority was made up of the black community, there were some hispanics, and oriental, India...
We walked door to door handing out flyers for a block party we were doing at the Salvation Army the next day, and promoting VBS trying to sign their kids up. We also were told to pray with and for the people and write down their requests so Salvation Army could follow up, and be praying as well. We met one guy who asked us to pray he would die that night, we met another guy whose son had just died in Afghanistan, he was in the Marine Corps. Gloria Suttles, Dr. Suttles wife, was in the group and it was amazing to hear her speak in her native language of Spanish to other hispanics. We walked miles! The kids held up well, I am so proud of them. We got to one door and the man started yelling at us inside, we all were scared of being shot, we were in that rough of a place. I yelled for Jonathan to come to the door, he was down the road. I didn't know what was going to happen, my girls kept knocking and I was like STOP! my guess is we reached about 1,000 people that afternoon...maybe even more.
We went to a nursing home after all that. we didn't know till we left that it was a Jewish nursing home. The kids loved on the residence, and talked to them. We met a feisty little woman in there. We was a little vile in her speech, and offensive...she didn't posses that southern charm we are all so use to. We'll just say she didn't say cheese when we took her picture. I don't have a Salvation count to give. I can just tell you about the people we impacted.
I gave the devotion Tuesday night. I spoke on the fruits of Salvation, addressing how to combat doubts of salvation, and shared a little bit of my testimony. A lot of the kids came up to me, and even leaders telling me they needed to hear that....to God be the glory!
Wednesday was the day of our block party that we invited people too. That morning we did a concert for the kids who attend Salvation Army summer school. We danced and sang with them. Steve, our middle school leader, gave a little message. Those kids were so well behaved! They were dressed well, and spoke well. They didn't have that thug, gangsta attitude about them. Our kids spent some one on one time with them and played games with them in their individual classrooms. The staff commented that these kids of course have major trust issues and so much baggage just from what their life consists of. They were amazed at how the responded to our kids. They said we have never seen their kids open up so much to complete strangers. We cleaned Salvation Army's facilities. We washed walls, mopped floors, cleaned tables and chairs, the kitchen, bathrooms (that got awkward as I was helping in the mens room and men kept walking in to use it...I was like HOLD ON! WAIT! when men have to go, they go.) Shortly after the block party started, we had popcorn, grilled hotdogs and hamburgers, drinks, face painting, inflatable games, we were the music. We had a great turn out. Major Murray informed us that this was the first time that the community has been able to join together safely and just have a good time as a family. There weren't any murders, no rapes, no gang activity, no fights. The town officials came out and slapped a $5,000 fine on Salvation Army because the parking lot we were having the party was over capacity, and was not "safe." Major Murray wasn't too concerned though, I think what was more important was that this community came together in love and heard the gospel of Jesus through music and our lives.
Just a random thing here but we kept hearing an ice cream truck all week, and the kids were excited and we had to tell them that it wasn't really an ice cream truck, it was a drug front. Kids who live there in Philly and are recruited by gangs are called the mules, they run drugs. So the ice cream truck was actually delivering drugs, so it doesn't look so weird that a kid is at the truck.
Thursday we traveled to West Philly, this is the lower income part of town, meaning it was going to be worse than what we had been in. We did some sight seeing and visited the steps that Rocky the boxer trained on, and yes we ran up every single step! my legs have never burned so bad! We saw the liberty bell, and Independence Hall. Dr. Suttles has a friend over there is walks around and preaches and evangelizes in front of all these sight seeing places. So we did a mini concert in front of the Liberty Bell then he preached. We then went to West Philly Salvation Army and did some work around there. We cut down trees, found that some homeless people had set up a home there in the brush. But it was private property so we had to take it down. We cleaned the facilities. Did yard work, picked up trash. I'm really proud of our boys, they worked so hard this trip. Every single kid smiled in every project we did. As they hauled off lumber and trash, they were smiling! Who smiles while doing such hard manual labor?! OUR KIDS!
Friday was our fun day. We went to Hershey Park. I spent the day with Koral laid out by the pool while the kids rode rides, and whatever else. Koral is my mission trip buddy. We got burnt up! But it was a good day. We were able to bless a family of 4 with free tickets into the park. They were touched.
Saturday was one of my favorite days. We went to a "Stop the Drugs, Stop the Violence" festival in Pottstown, PA. It was in a park on a river. Teen Challenge was there, which is kind of like House of Pearls but it's co ed. We did a prayer walk in the park. I had a group of kids, and I took the time to pull them aside and teach them as the Lord lead. We sang, we prayed, and I just poured into them all I could. Teen Challenge people shared some testimonies. I really really really really wish ARM folks could have been there. It was powerful! http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20120711/OPINION02/120719812/stop-the-drugs-stop-the-violence-crusade-returns-to-pottstown
A young man gave his testimony, his mom got him into drugs, and was his best friend, she OD'd and died. He said he didn't have anyone. One of our chaprones talked to him afterward and the young man asked if Student Worship would be his family. Saying that even if he didn't see us or talk to us he was encouraged to know he could call us family. We heard so many stories. I can't even find words to describe that event.
Sunday we lead the services at Salvation Army. Being that the city is multicultural and diverse, there is a Korean Ministry, so during the service the Captain interpreted into Korean, and it was so cool because you heard different languages being sung at the same time, English, Spanish, Korean, and whatever else. Lieutenant Rachel preached that morning on Worship. I was looking for a deep sermon, she had just graduated from seminary. I had to high expectations, LOL! She had good points. We at FBCIT are spoiled people. After services we hit the road to come home. We got back to Indian Trail about 2:00 AM monday morning.
Our kids have blessed me so much this past week. Their knowledge of the Word. Each day they were instructed to read a Psalm and Proverb, as well as study deeper into the devotion given by a leader the prior night. So they were immersed in the Word, and Jesus 24/7 this past week. We had them share what God was teaching them, what they were getting out of the assigned readings. They blew me away. Their humbleness, their love for Jesus, their service, their good attitudes. The guys stepped up and took care of the girls, they went out their way to serve each other. Not only are we training them up in the Word, but also in many different avenues of life, I don't think they realize it yet. The girls made cookies for the guys our last night there. They truly understand that their lives are a testimony.
Our bus driver was a professed Christian, however, he recently married a Muslim. Talk about being unequally yoked! But I think we made an impact on him. He was around us 24/7 too. I saw him bowed in the bus one day on a rug, and I asked one of the other Chaprones if he was praying to Allah, apparently his seat had an air leak and he was trying to fix that...so he wasn't praying to allah....whoever Muslims pray to.
It was a really good trip. Witnessed a lot of amazing things. The Word went forth, seeds were planted. Our kids were complemented everywhere we went. Our host church informed us that we were 10 times easier than the last church they hosted a few weeks ago. Wow!
Phil was missed very much. We had a sweet moment on the bus on the way to Hershey, the kids broke out singing "I Will Rise." Tears streamed down. I think he would have been proud. he taught us how to worship not just with our mouth but with our lives. To be following in his steps is such a blessing, and carry on what he started. I look forward to these trips every year since 2008!
We are so very blessed to have Jonathan Schallmo as our worship leader. Since Phil's sickness and death he has had to step up and take on A LOT of responsibility. I pray God's blessing on his life and families life. Please pray for him as he continues to lead us.
Together we are accomplishing God's goals, when we work as a team and utilize our given gifts for His glory we make greater headway into impacting a nation for Christ! Our goals must be the same as God's goals, and I can tell you our Student's have the same goals God does. May we all take possession of the calling, and make our futures congruent with that of Christ's.
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