The Potomac Team

Today the OB students and the Calvert County GBC family gathered together for breakfast. After some good food and fellowship, together they blitzed the community. A few groups handed out fliers for an upcoming VBS, some of the groups went on prayer walks, and the rest handed out bottled water near the local beach.

Upon arriving back at the church the students listened in as Matt W. shared from Revelation 14.
Next was lunch and mid-tour evaluations. We greatly appreciate the prayer because God, without a doubt, blessed each meeting with the students. Our prayer now is that the students positively respond to their evaluation so that they may grow to be better Christ followers.

Then after lunch and evaluations the team headed back to the church and had about 4 hours of teaching times. First was Matt W. and Jenny J. about 'worship as a lifestyle'. Next was a Moody 100 video about stepping out of your comfort zone to serve Jesus. Lastly was Mike and Connie P. discussing what it means to be a godly couple serving Him in full time ministry.

For dinner the students had some team time and even prepared their own dinner. Spaghetti was the dish of choice and after eating the students had some hang out time in order to build deeper relationships as a ministry team.

Please be in prayer tomorrow as we have 3 programs that we are doing; two here in Calvert and one more in the evening at our next stop in Richmond, VA. Ask God to use us to encourage spiritual growth and fellowship here at these two churches and that during our programs these students would have a heart of worship as they act out dramas in attempt to creatively teach spiritual truths to God's Church.







Breakfast with the church family.











Ben A. and Jen A. during the prayer walk on the boardwalk.













Sam H. and Monique A. pray for people who do not know Christ.




















Mike P. and Johnny S. pray together.















Bri D., Beth F., Elizabeth G., and Annie M. walk and pray.













Some of the OB'ers and church family members hang out after their time in prayer.












Students hand out free water to people who pass by them.












Dinner preparation by Hannah B. and Ashton R.

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Today the students ate breakfast and headed off to Washington DC to serve in a ministry called D.O.C. (Disciples of Christ). This is a church plant in the inner city targeting children and families for the gospel.

The D.O.C. during the summer functions like a summer day camp for kids. We spent a majority of our day here just hanging out with these kids. The team helped show God's love by giving lots of hugs, piggy back rides, and playing games with the children. We also did two programs in an attempt to act out spiritual truths that can be easily understood.

In the evening we made our way back to Calvert County GBC for dinner. After dinner the team had some teaching time led by Stacie Fay about 'stewardship'. She spoke about being a good steward of all the things God gives us, including this summer and the relationships around us.

At 8 pm the host families were here at the church to pick up the students and take them home for the night.

You can be praying for the leaders and students as tomorrow they will be engaging in a long day of mid-tour evaluations. Please pray that the students would be sharpened and encouraged by these evaluations. Also, the evening will be filled with lots of teaching times, so please ask God to be speaking through the leaders who would be speaking and the students who will be learning.

This will be a long day so please ask God to give us strength.








Johnny gives orders during the game "the captain is coming."
















Josh K. shows the Cross Illustration to some boys.












Leaders are learners -- asking questions of Pastor Kevin.














Samantha M. plays games with some kids.













New hair styles for the girls!












Kristen A. meets some girls.












Kimmie L. and her new friend.
















Daniel D. becomes a human jungle gym.

















Two boys get to "hang out" with Ben A.












Annie M. and Josh K. meet some students.

















Joe H. gives piggy-back rides.

















Jackie L. finds a buddy.


















Elizabeth G. sits with the kids during the program.

















Singing about our awesome God!















Heather S. during her hour with God.


















Erica S. spending time in the Word.

















Discussing stewardship in small groups.

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Today was an amazing day of ministry!

The Team woke up at 8 am, ate breakfast, and headed out to the bus.

We traveled about 45 minutes or so until we arrived in Washington D.C. There the team met up with Pastor Steven. Pastor Steven is the pastor of 'About my Father's Business' church. This is a church that is heavily focused on evangelism (and the phrase 'heavily focused' is an understatement).

Pastor Steven shared with us his passion for reaching lost people. I think I speak for everyone when I say that we certainly felt inspired by his stories and heart for evangelism.

Next we ate a short lunch, then got all prayed up and headed out. While out, we engaged in worshiping Jesus by feeding the poor, sharing our faith, and lots of prayer for the people and city of D.C. During 5 hours of ministry we handed out about 200 packed lunches and even more bottled water as we followed the example of Jesus by hanging out with the lost and lonely here in Washington.

The evening ended with dinner, a teaching time, and 'Way of the Master' DVD.

The students headed off to host homes at 8pm.

Please ask the Lord of the Harvest to raise up churches on fire for reaching the lost here in DC. Also, please be in the prayer for the growth of the many, many seeds planted and cultivated by our ministry here.

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I would just like to take this time to inform all my bloggers out there that the Potomac Team is the most patriotic Operation Barnabas team, ever. Want proof?

The morning began at 7:30 and unlike the other two mornings which began with a hose shower, this morning was off to the right start(well if you discount all the new bug bites for the guys who slept outside the night before). The Winchester GBC family showed their hospitality by welcoming us into their homes for showers. They also surprised us with pancakes and fruit for breakfast! What a morning!

After packing up, the Potomac Team said their good bye's and headed out for the next church- Calvert County GBC, MD.

A few hours later the team was greeted by Pastor Steve Howell and the youth group. Once arriving the team spent the next few hours listening to some great teaching times: 'Encouragement' by Jenny J., and 'Spiritual Gifts' by Mike P., and a Moody 100 video challenging everyone to live life in absolute submission and radical obedience because of the cost of being a disciple of Jesus.

Next would be something to remember for each student. Everyone loaded up the big blue bus and headed out to. . . you guessed it. . . fireworks at the Nation's Capital! While half of the trip was spent on the bus, the students were also exposed to their first Subway ride of the summer. On the subway, as usual, the team was intentional about starting spiritual conversations in an attempt to share their faith with the local subway riders.

Once arriving in Washington D.C. the Ob'ers walked over to the Washington Monument and waited for the Fireworks to begin. (Thus proving that the Potomac team is by far the most Patriotic team; I mean come on, how much more American can you get than watching fireworks in DC?). While waiting for the fireworks show to begin, the students were again very intentional and on mission about sharing their faith with people. (And if you're still debating whether we are the most patriotic Ob team, let me add that next to us was a concert by none other than John Cougar Melloncamp himself.)

The fireworks were awesome! They were definitely the grand finale of my day! (sorry, i couldn't resist).

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Today the Potomac Team had a cool opportunity. In the afternoon, the Ob'ers headed out to a local Nursing Home. Here the students were intentional in building relationships, initiating prayer, being an encouragement, and last but not least: being a good listener. O, and they put on a program too.

The morning began with a refreshing hose shower, followed by a few hours of manual labor. The Ob'ers helped be an encouragement to the church here in Winchester by: pulling weeds, cleaning the church, making props for the upcoming VBS, and washing vans (after which we decided to wash our bus as well! What can i say- the bus needed it, and students had free time!)

After the nursing home visit, the team had a pizza with the church and put on a program. This was out first outdoor program, so it was cool to see the students have to adjust to the different conditions (i.e., the puppet stage almost falling down due to the wind-whoops!)

(pictures for this day are on a separate post)

Finally, the team had some hang time around a bon fire in the backyard of the Winchester GBC. So we took advantage of it fully by making lots and lots of s'mores!

The guys also took advantage of the beautiful weather and outdoors by sleeping outside under the moonlight.

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Last night, our Senior Leader, Mike Pumphrey spoke to us from God's Word.

The passage was First Corinthians 10. His main point was that our heart is like an 'Idol Factory'. God really moved in such a way through this message that when it came time to respond to Him in worship I was amazed to find most students worshiping, not in words and song, but worshiping by falling on their knees and crying out to Jesus for forgiveness. After a few songs, symbolizing repentance, the students rose to their feet and sang with all their might, thanking God for His grace and forgiveness.

After spending some time singing and dancing (yes we were literally dancing for joy) the leaders decided that it would be a great idea to celebrate what God had done. And after some discussion we decided that there would be no better way to celebrate than to celebrate with food! So the team loaded up on the bus and headed out at about 11 P.M. for Sheetz.

With all this said, yesterday was an amazing day.

The morning began with some manual labor. Then after working up a sweat pulling weeds and washing the bus, the students had their first experience with showering with a hose.

The evening consisted of several teaching times, dinner, and a much needed Wal-Mart run.

Finally, after the celebration stop at Sheetz, the students quickly headed off to bed here at the church.

Please pray for grace as the students continue to live lives of service to Jesus. After last night, a lot of decisions have been made as barriers of the heart were broken down. So please ask God to enable idol-free lives here on the Potomac Team.

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Today Potomac had a second consecutive Sunday of three programs. The students surely will sleep well tonight as they spent most of their Sunday doing programs and building relationships with people from the Palmyra GBC(PA) and the Winchester GBC(VA).

The morning began with two programs at the Palmyra GBC in Pennsylvania; one program for the main session and one for the children's ministry.

After the programs the students did some mingling and said their good-byes and headed south for the Mason Dickson Line. We drove for a few hours then finally arrived at our destination: Winchester, VA.

On arrival, the students did their third program of the day here for the youth and adults at the church. Next, we ate dinner with the church family here. Finally, after dinner the team took part in a local tradition here in VA. The neighborhood has a tradition of gathering early and having a pre Fourth of July celebration with a carnival and fireworks that our students also took part in. The team was encouraged to mingle with people and to have a mindset of sharing their faith. The results were a lot of great conversations and God even saved someone tonight through one of our students, Praise the Lord!

Please ask God to use us to be an encouragement to the people here, as we will be here for a few more days.

(Due to circumstances, pictures will be posted in a few days or asap).

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