My oh my it has been far too long since I have updated my
blog, and I have SO much to catch you up on! We have had a great summer of
mission teams so I’ll dedicate this blog to them and include plenty of photos
to get you through this long catch up post. Deal? Ok Deal! Let’s dive in!
Our summer started off with a group from Mt Airy Baptist in
Easley South Carolina. This team consisted of 5 guys that helped us follow up
with the elderly we helped shovel snow for in the winter. Since the snow was gone, we put the team
to work planting flowers. The residents loved it and several of them have
visited out Bible Study since then!
They also helped us host a Taco Night at our home followed
by a Bible study. Our home was busting at the seams with people. What a blessing!
We managed to sneak in a trip to San Diego this summer to
celebrate one of our best friend’s Dan Webb getting married. It was such a
blast catching up with all of our college buddies while of course being in the
beautiful land of San Diego! Definitely a city worth all the hype it has and a
wonderful time with friends!
Upon our return, we had a group from Richardson Baptist
Church in Texas. I must say after hosting this team of over 70 youth, I do
truly believe everything is bigger in Texas! We were not only blessed with
their help to pull off a great Arts and Crafts Camp, but we were also blessed
with a HUGE block party including 400 attendees from our community! Whoa our
God is amazing!
Next we had a team from both Shelbina and Atlanta Baptist Churches.
We had a blast with these two teams from Missouri. They helped us pull off a
soccer camp, mini block party with a 200 attendee turn out, and paint a trailer
home for a local resident. The teams were led by Jon Macky one of Tony’s
friends from his days in the youth group. We had a blast with these guys while
hearing great stories from Tony’s good old days.
Speaking of
Tony’s friends, our next Group was from First Baptist Church Powell in Powell
Tennessee which one of our college buddies Chris Garner grew up in. We had a
great time with them helping out at our community garden and handing out flyers
for our upcoming Game Days. They were a huge help and refreshing encouragement!
We then had 2 back to back weeks of World Changers and P2
teams. One day Tony was juggling 3 teams at once. Two of which were at 2
different construction sites and one team that helped at the Garden and Rec
Center for Game Days. We look back and laugh that it was only by God’s great
might Tony pulled off coordinating all three teams and getting them lunch. But
thanks to all these teams’ help, several home owners have homes that are now up
to building code and we have made countless relationships.
Our last mission team of the summer was from Louisa Baptist Church in West Virginia. This was to be honest the oldest group that we had of the summer, but you would have never known it by the work they did, energy they had, and encouragement they gave. They did a great job assisting us with our last Game Day at our local Rec Center. The Center is always busting at the seams with people and we don’t always have enough of our own people to engage everyone. What a great help to have the team play basketball with the guys, games with the girls, or just be there to chat!
There are a million stories I could share of the summer. Some good, some not as planned, and some just plain funny. But the biggest story of this summer is the Lord’s grace and strength. He gave us strength to make it through all the planning and coordinating of the teams. He gave us strength to pull off all the events despite items not going along with our plans. He has given us grace that has changed our lives and graced us with opportunities to join in the mission of sharing that same Good News of Jesus with our community!
Thanks to everyone that served with us this summer. It was
such a blessing to see the Church body from all around our nation reach out to
our community making kingdom impact.
