Half Way...

It has been a whirlwind couple of days for Team Central...we have been all over the place in Ohio...from Wooster, to Camp Bethany, to Lexington and everywhere in between...through humid sunshine and freak thunder storms.

Yesterday morning we were blessed with some team time after a hectic few days with the Wooster GBC. We were grateful to have been a part of their park ministry and were a little sad we couldn't participate on the last day. The students spent an hour with God to start the day off and then learned about encouragement from Jeremy.

We traveled to the Lexington area and met up with the pastor at Camp Bethany. It was the final day of the Jr. High camp and coincidentally, the final day of their summer ministry at the camp. Team Central jumped in to help finish up various projects before the doors closed for the summer. We painted, mulched (basically pros now), stained wood, pulled weeds and mingled with the students. We demonstrated the Gospel and God's love for us through the use of three pantomimes and lead the Jr. High students through some discussion time. Team Central did an awesome job mingling with the youngsters and having spiritual conversations with them. The night ended with a dance party complete with all 30 students performing "Don't Stop Believing". It was hilarious and the Jr. High students loved it.

Throughout the day the students were given their mid-tour evaluations by their Discipleship Group leader. They discussed areas in which they have been doing well and areas in which they can continue to grow and develop. The hope is that by setting goals at the half way point, students will be able to become more like Christ and better equipped to head home at the end of the summer. They were each encouraged by their leader and given specific areas in which they can still have growth.

After a sleepless night for the girls due to ridiculously loud creaky bunk beds, we enjoyed brunch and headed off to Lexington where we learned an important lesson in flexibility and the sovereignty of God. Not only did our original plans fall through...but the backup plans fell through hours before arrival as well. We finished up some manual labor (Yes...that most definitely included some more mulching.) and came up with plan #3. We made makeshift flyers and blitzed the neighborhood looking for kids to invite to a parking lot program an hour later. For reasons out of our control, our plans were being changed by the minute...we prayed that God would bring families to the church parking lot and that the rain would be held off.

Jordan excitedly put on the Quimper head and danced on the street corner with Drew, Kelly, Hannah and Amanda who held signs and drew attention to our program. Several families from the community came as a result of our flyers and showed interest in attending the service tomorrow morning. Another few other families stopped after seeing Quimper while driving down the street and also stayed for quite a while after wards to talk and ask questions about the church. We pray that the seed of the Gospel fell on good soil and we hope to see these families in the morning.

The students are now all in host homes for the last time before Momentum...crazy!

Thanks for your continued support and prayers!

From Lexington, Ohio...Goodnight!