So Long...Farewell...

After 44 days of training, equipping and ministry, Operation Barnabas 2009 is officially winding down.  For the next two days, ob students will spend time with their teams reflecting over the work that God has done in and through their lives this summer and preparing to return home.  It has been one incredible journey and words can not express the immense gratitude and overwhelming joy we have for our God and Savior.  We stand in awe at the magnitude of His unconditional love and faithful provision for us that was continuously evident as we served Him this summer.

For one last time, all three ob 09 teams joined together to worship along side the Worthington Grace Church on Sunday morning.  During the Sunday School hour, Keystone did a program for the children’s ministry complete with puppets, dancing and stories.  Team Central used pantomimes and skits to lead discussion groups in Jr. High while Tri-State did the same in High School.  As pastors and guests from all over the country were pouring into the church for the start of Equip 2009, ob students were quick to mingle and interact with everyone.  They have learned this summer that Barnabas was a greeter and it is clear that they have begun to develop this character trait in their own lives.  

For the combined Sunday Worship Service, the choir sang a plethora of songs in worship to the Lord...and it sounded absolutely beautiful!  When 90 voices are singing in harmony, worshipping at the foot of the cross and responding to the Almighty God...there is nothing quite like it...it is absolutely beautiful.  Students from each team shared the testimony of how God is refining their lives and guiding them to be more like Jesus.  We rejoiced with the congregation at the lives saved as a result of God working through the ob ministry around the country.  During one of the testimony times, Tri-State student Luke C. shared how God has been teaching him that he needs to be 100% reliant on the Lord in every aspect of his life...even when things get tough.  At Momentum, we were all in fervent prayer for his mom who was undergoing an operation.  In an answer to prayer, she was able to return home that same day and we rejoiced in that.  However, yesterday Luke discovered that she was back in the hospital battling the illness and he once again was reminded that God is sovereign and the only source of our peace, hope and healing.  All of the students gathered around Luke as prayers were lifted up asking that God heal Mrs. C. and bring her quickly home to her family.  May God be glorified...      

It was evident that God was moving in that place...His presence was felt and hearts were changed.  Many people committed to living their lives as a daily sacrifice to the Lord and stood to make that public profession as the ob choir sang “I Give You Me.”  We pray that the students will continue to give the entirety of who they are to the Lord even as they return home...all that they have, all that they are and all that they will become.  We pray that they will continue to seek out opportunities to love God and love others through servanthood.  We pray that they will never stop becoming more like Christ; developing a heart for God, a heart for the lost, a heart for encouraging believers and a heart for full time vocational ministry.  

The debriefing process is now underway...TK taught on the pitfalls of returning home and warned the students of obstacles they will likely face.  He encouraged them to remain steadfast in the word and fervent in prayer on a daily basis and to actively seek an older believer to be mentored by.  Teams will now continue meeting and debriefing and hanging out together before goodbyes on Wednesday morning.  

It’s hard to believe...but this will be the final blog for the Operation Barnabas 2009 tours.  From the bottom of our hearts we thank you, faithful blog readers, for supporting our ministry and being diligent prayer warriors.  We have experienced God’s answers to your prayers and we would not have been nearly as effective without your support.  Please continue to pray for the ob students as they travel home and jump back into their daily lives with a deeper passion for the Lord.

From Sara, Phil, Eric and all of our guest blog writers...thank you...thank you...thank you...and adios!