overME

i just got back from my annual spring break mission experience with middle schoolers. this year we spent 3 days with elm street mission in santa cruz. this year it was called overME. and as always, i’m so glad that we went. i want to expose as many people as i can to the faith-filled people that oversee the mission. they never cease to amaze me with the way that they can accomplish so much for the kingdom with so little.


there is this verse in acts 4 that reminds me of the crew at elm street: “when they saw the courage of peter and john and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with jesus.”


so it wasn’t the hardest trip that i ever went on, but it was a little uncomfortable. we really wanted to give the students an experience, so there was no showers, and we slept on the floor. ouch! the highlights far outshined the backaches. here are a few:


:: the students stepped up. big time. they worked so hard that the mission ran out of things for us to do a few times. the students responded to every challenge that i gave them. they worked hard, they started conversations with the homeless, stayed quiet at night, prayed out loud and shared openly. great job!


:: they use the hymnals in the services at elm st. the students had never used one of these before. but there was this one moment when we were singing ‘how great thou art’ out loud along with this old piano. God was in the house, and i couldn’t even say the words to the song, they were so powerful. i looked around the room and the adults in my team we all wiping away tears from their own eyes as well.


:: since we worked so fast, we took a long lunch and then played at the beach. josh the intern owned beach-games and had the students thoroughly entertained. he pretty much kept us all thoroughly entertained whenever he could. he is a real leader- with a bright future in ministry.


:: another leader, mike, invited a homeless man to eat at his table at pizza my heart. it was beautiful.


:: several students shared that it was time to get over their prejudices, their materialism, their selfishness, their greed, their complaining, and their ingratitude. can't beat that.


:: one of our students, sarah gave a testimony in front of a congregation of homeless men about how jesus had freed her from depression. she nailed it.


:: we were going to go to the boardwalk after serving on friday night, but it was closed because of the rain. so we went to marianne’s instead. yum!


:: there was this moment when it occurred to me that the mission pretty much sticks to the basics when it comes to teaching. a lot of believers would go nuts in a church like that. and it dawned on me that so many people out there don’t even know the basics- that God is real and He is seeking out His lost sheep.


:: it also dawned on me that in a town built on rebellion and on being different, there are no rebels bigger than the guys at elm street. in a town that says rebel, their message is submit.


they are bringing it strong again tonight- and every week. if you’re the praying-kind, send up a word on behalf of my friends that they’ll continue to do a good work for a long time to come.


“…and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hades will not overcome it…”