Philly 2015 Day 4

Yesterday was another great day of serving Jesus and His love here in Philly! The day began with breakfast and youth group time followed by the director of urban hope, Jason, sharing his testimony with us. He challenged us to consider four things that keep us from sharing our faith and living on mission. This has been one of the challenging yet encouraging parts of our trip so far. It is not always easy to initiate conversations with people especially when it comes to issues of faith, but our students have risen to the challenge and have had many conversations with the people of Philly about faith issues. We have also been able to pray with a lot of people as well. It is really exciting to see students getting outside of their comfort zones and be willing and more comfortable talking to people about Jesus. Now, the challenge will be for us to begin to think about applying this back home. Who has God put in our everyday day life path that need to hear about Jesus? Nothing is an accident. Nothing is a mistake. God has placed us at our schools, at our part-time jobs and in our families for a reason and we need to be willing to be used by Him to point people to Jesus in whatever way we can. 

Students have been encouraged to use the FISH method when sharing Jesus with others.

F - friendly (be friendly)

I - initiate conversations

S - share your story/serve

H - hope (Jesus is the answer)

Our high schoolers have been doing a great job of living on mission and serving the people before during and after our park program. Yesterday was no exception. They did a great job of initiating relationships and really loving on the people of Mifflin Park. After our park program and dinner, we were able to pass out water ice to people in the community. It was a great way to begin conversations in order to pray with them and talk to them about Jesus. Overall, it was a great day here in Philadelphia.

Please continue to pray for us and the remaining few days here. Pray that God would continue to work in the lives of our students and leaders, that we would finish strong, and that we would begin to be burdened for the people at home who may not know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Sorry for the long post, but God is doing some pretty incredible things among us and we wanted to share it with you!

 Here are some pics of our day!

Philadelphia 2015 Day 3

What a great day in Philadelphia! Our schedule for our first full day in Philly was jam-packed. We our grateful to God for giving us all the strength to make it through the day. Here are a few pics highlighting the day!

Small Group time this morning.

Practicing for our park program.

Park program!

Cheesesteaks at Gino's.

Sightseeing in Philly

Keep praying for us as we begin to deal with fatigue! Lord Jesus, help us to live on mission and see people through your eyes even when we are tired, amen!

Philadelphia 2015 Day Two

Orientation with Luis from Urban Hope.

Praying for our "prayer walk" around the community. We were given the opportunity to walk around the community surrounding urban hope, begin conversations with people, and pray for them. 

A group shot at the park where we will be helping put on a park program for kids all week.

Playing with kids at the park.

Thanks for praying! More updates tomorrow!

Philadelphia 2015 Day 2

We arrived safely to Urban Hope around 12:30 pm, unloaded our luggage into the dorms, & are now enjoying a great lunch before our orientation meeting for the week!

Philadelphia 2015 Day One

Hello! 

We made it to our destination for the evening around 6:30 pm after a successful trip today. The weather was warm and sunny the entire drive, beautiful for traveling! The students enjoyed pizza for dinner and playing games in the hotel pool. We finished up the night by having some time together as a team. 

Josh challenged the group to "be ready!" Asking them, "What do you need to do tonight to prepare yourself spiritually to get the absolute most that God has for you on this trip?" He encouraged them to spend some time tonight asking God to prepare them for our week in Philly and to write down three personal goals  before they go to sleep.

Please continue to pray for us as we travel the rest of the way to Philly in the morning and enjoy our first afternoon and evening at Urban Hope. God will do something special in each of our hearts and lives this week! We our excited to be used by Him in a special way. Thanks for your prayers and support!

Getting ready to leave church for Philly!

Fun in the hotel pool!

Wintertainment 2014

Our speaker, Dave Creek, challenging us during the morning session.

Having fun in the game room! 

Wintertainment 2014

We arrived safely to wintertainment around 3:30 pm and quickly scattered to our various cabins! We are all excited to be here and just finished our first session with our worship band and speaker, Dave Creek. 

Please continue to pray that we would grow deeper in our relationships with each other and with our great God! More updates tomorrow!