2009 Keystone

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!

Last day of Pictures at Strongsville

Sam washing tables.

Anna washing windows!

Suzie painting crosses at Village Grace.

Drew wiping off computers at Village Grace.

Kelley, Wade and Brenden hanging out on the bus on our last big bus ride together.

Alyssa, Katie, Mary and Hannah during the bus ride.

Daniel, Zac, Brenden, Suzie and Jenna on the bus.

Keystone Team on the bus to Columbus for debriefing.

Getting food at the picnic.

Thank You Very Much song at the church picnic.

Kelley connecting with some girls from the church.

Alyssa and Rachel W. connecting with some girls.

Melisa cleaning the windows at Village Grace.

Matt and Daniel cleaning up water at Village Grace.

Hannah washing the windows.

Mardell cleaning the tables.

Melissa, Kelley and Alyssa washing windows.

Kaitlyn painting crosses on the doors.

Last Day of Tour!

The day started with the students arriving at Southern Hills Community Church at 8 am. We loaded on the bus and headed to Village Grace in inner city Cleveland to do 2 hours of labor.

After working hard we came back to Southern Hills where we packed up the Penske for the last time and headed out to a picnic with the Southern Hills church.

As the team said bye to the last church of our tour they loaded on the bus and headed to debriefing. We stopped at the Polaris mall near the Worthington church and school to eat dinner and share Christ with people there. The students have grown so much in evangelism as God has opened their eyes to the needs of people around them for the gospel.

Now we are at Grace Church in Columbus sound checking the choir for the church service tomorrow morning. We are spending the night at Delaware GBC for all of debriefing. God is so good in how He has worked in and through these students this summer!

Our soul waits for the Lord, he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you. Ps. 33:20-22

All the leaders do is drive the bus.. a day in Rachel W. and Drew's life

The day began with a much needed laundry run and a refreshing hour with God. After a wonderful bagged lunch prepared by our awesome host parents (THANK YOU SO MUCH!) We were treated to a a question and answer session with our leaders. Some of the questions were pretty cool and ranged from personal ob experiences to controversial biblical subjects. This was really beneficial and allowed us to get some much needed incite. After question time, we prayed with the compassion team at Southern Hills for the ministry of their church.

The team was then split up between two ministry opportunities. One group went to Laura's Home, a shelter for abused women and their children, where they weeded the front fortress of weeds to make it presentable to the public. They then set up for a program there, where we had one of the most receptive and responsive crowds, despite their mandatory attendance. The other group dispersed to the homes of different church members, and completed manual labor tasks there. The groups then reunited back at Southern Hills for a pizza party a.k.a. dinner -yum.- with the youth group. We performed a quick program for them, but playing Duck Duck Goose definitely stole the night. The night then turned rambunctious when the youth group brought out Nerf Guns, and the entire team geared up for battle. The host parents soon arrived, and we set out for another wonderful night with our host families.

-Rachel W. and Drew J.

Pictures from July 24

Playing Duck Duck Goose with the Southern Hills youth group

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The unibrows embracing their accusations for the youth group

Rachel S. and Luke playing with legos

Showing Glee during the Laura's Home program

Luke, Mary, Branden, and Daniel pulling weeds

Melisa and Alyssa using their gardening skills

Southern Hills

The day started off with breakfast made for us by some of the body here at Southern Hills Community Church. After breakfast the team split into two groups, one stayed at the church and the other went to a pregnancy center and mulched like there was no tomorrow. The group that stayed at the church did various jobs to clean the church and be a blessing to the people.

After the labor we ate sandwiches for lunch and then split into two groups again and went to two retirement homes. At the homes we sang, one group did a program, hugged, held hands, and got kissed by old ladies. On our way home we stopped at a grocery store and gave each student a dollar. They had to come together as a team to buy dinner for themselves with only thirty dollars. So... it turned out to be PB&J, but it does the job.

After dinner we watched a Mark Driscol video on stewardship. He focused on our stewardship with money and it provoked good discussion after the video. We realized that everything we have belongs to god and we are just managers of our time, money, gifts, and our very lives.

After the Driscol video the team made another attempt at the pole game. Praise God! They finally got it!!! It was good times in the Southern Hills sanctuary when the team finally lowered the pole to the ground while everyone kept their index fingers on it.

The group is in host homes tonight and tomorrow is our last full day of tour! Wow! can't believe it is here already. Pray that they really push hard to love people tomorrow despite the fatigue and nearness to the end.