Site Updates

I've actually had a week to mess around with technology a little bit, so you'll notice we've got some new pictures up from this summer as well as a comedic selection from our soon to be released Dolfin Cabin Video that we like to call Andy and his Smelly Socks. This was a totally spur of the moment thing that happened on the middle school retreat, and it still makes me laugh. We'll try to get the full version of the retreat video up in the next week or so. We've also done some major overhauling to the HRC site's section on Youth Ministry (www.hinghamchurch.org/youth). We're done not with everything yet, but it's better then having two year old information up. Our goal is to keep the blog site as a continually updated source of information on all things HRC Youth Ministry for those involved in our ministry (as well as a place for me to vent about other things), while the more official HRC site is designed to convey basic information about the program for those shopping for a church/youth group home. Again, please send us any pictures you have from this summer and we'll try to get them up here and in our slideshow. We now have almost 250 up on this site, and many more that we're going through for the slideshow. While we have a ton of pictures they're from about 5-6 cameras at this point, meaning those people are in basically every picture and some of you are hardly in any. If you want to appear in the slideshow please get us pictures this week.

Mission Trip Mussings

Now that we have been back a few days I wanted to blog just a little more about our life changing trip to Louisiana.

Houma, LA is a community quite different then ours. For starters, the average family there makes about $14,000 less then the average family in the Oostburg area. When I think of trying to cut our family budget down $14,000 to the level they make in Houma it makes me want to cry. I don't know how we'd ever do it. Houma also had a very have and have not feel to it. There were certainly many new glitzy homes that have sprung up since the hurricanes (it was hit by both Katrina and then it's already stressed levees overwhelmed by Rita), likely those who had good insurance and strong savings accounts. They stand relatively close to many homes that are in sad shape. While many of these, such as the home my crew worked on, are good on the inside they are lacking on the outside. Those without means are also still not prepared for another Hurricane. The house I worked on is built about 3-4 feet off the ground, but to do any renovations to it the house would have to be raised 10 feet off the ground. Talk about massive expense. That places a family in a tough situation. You want to improve your house, but can't because you can't afford to raise it. You do want to raise it to be safe AND to be able to renovate, but it's simply out of reach financially.

Oh, and did I mention the economy in the area has been hard hit as its traditional fishing centered industry has fallen due to competition from overseas producers who can charge way less for seafood? With the economy weak many have taken to illegal activities to stay afloat, with drug dealing and prostitution fairly wide spread. Fortunately there is a fantastic ministry called Hope Extreme that is doing a great job battling the drug trade and trying to protect children from being lured into it. This shows that there are some great people in Houma trying to make it a better place again. To further show you the degree of poverty we encountered one girl in the day camp we assisted at told us she had not eaten in 2 days. Tough stuff for teens from our area to encounter.

If we got even just one thing out of this trip it was that their are a ton of people at need in this world and God is calling on us all to tend to them with love and humility. One of our goals as a ministry is to be much more aware of the needs in our own area and strive diligently to meet them in Christian love.

If you would like to learn more about some what is going on in Houma check out these two great non-profit groups we worked with: www.hopeextreme.org and www.bayougrace.org.

Houma Worship

From talking to many students our worship services in Houma were one of the highlights of the trip, and it was certainly awesome watching basically every student singing, and many of them jumping, clapping, and really giving God their all through worship. Many of you have been asking for music from the week, so here is to the best of my memory the songs we sang and the artists who made them famous. Most should be available from Itunes or other major music sources. If their are songs you really loved please let me know so we can learn them for August 3rd and for our new once a month super-contemporary evening service (coming September 21st).

The Time has Come: Hillsong United
One Way: Hillsong United
Mighty to Save: Hillsong United
Fire Fall Down: Hillsong United
Every Move I Make: Fusebox
There is no one like you: David Crowder Band (DCB)
I Saw the Light (DCB remake of Hank Williams Jr. classic)
Undignified (DCB)
Did you feel the mountains tremble (Delirious)
God of the City: Chris Tomlin
Not to Us: Chris Tomlin

Pictures

I've started putting photos from the mission trip up, but I need your help to have a nice and full collection of the trip both for this site and for our slideshow in worship. Please email photos to andyhinghamrca@yahoo.com soon so we can start compiling. You can also bring your camera, a disc, or your memory card into my office during the afternoon this week. Thanks for your help!

It's too cold!

Yes, those were actual words spoken when we got off the bus last night around 11:35pm. Of course it was still 70 degrees out, but compared to 105 that is pretty darn chilly. Our week concluded in a pretty amazing way. On Wednesday my group flipped from working on a home damaged by both Katrina and Rita and moved to working at Kid's Club. It is nothing for kids at Kids Club to be coming from homes where parents are in jail, on drugs, drug dealers, or prostitutes. While our work there may have seemed insignificant to many, playing games, running around for hours with kids on our shoulders/backs (they ALWAYS wanted to be doing that) singing a few songs, making crafts, and doing a skit with a meaning, I think we were making a pretty big difference with God's help. If it was not for Youth Works and offering this program 3 hours a day 4 days a week most of the summer many of these kids would have few positive role models and would not hear about Christ, right and wrong, or be shown constant love and attention. I know this was a really eye opening experience for most of our students, seeing poverty first hand and really bringing the gospel to those who needed it. You will no doubt here some powerful stories about Kids Club from our students in the coming days and weeks.

Thursday night was a real emotional night as we were led in a footwashing service. Jennifer told us that we all need to be willing to descend as Jesus did, lowering ourselves and serving Christ in humility with a God first, others second, me last attitude. This was a real emotional and challenging service for me personally, and many students said it was for them as well. This night also saw our group really come together and love and unity in a way that I can only describe as amazing and miraculous. God is certainly working in our youth in great ways!

Friday saw us say goodbye to the youthworks staff and to the many friends made throughout the week. How funny that we went from the #1 fear of the trip being having to be with other people to many students planning trips to VISIT other people. Thanks to the Internet I have a feeling many of these new friendships will continue for awhile. Our group then loaded the bus around 8am and headed for Gulf Port/Biloxi Mississippi for a day at the beach and malls. The ocean water was bath tub temperature, so yeah pretty much like Lake Michigan. The day concluded with pictures and devotions done overlooking the ocean at sunset.

As many of us were changed by God this week, and as the ocean water washes away so much, we are all now challenged to return home and descend on behalf of God. God washed away much this week, now its our time to live new lives that our focused on God.

Update from Houma

Hey all! Was able to quick hop on the Internet and just wanted to update everyone on what's been going on since we left. On Saturday we were able to stop in St. Louis to take in the Arch, which the students seemed to appreciate. Saturday night we stayed at a mega church in Missouri and worshiped at their very contemporary service. They were great hosts and their facility was amazing, complete with a Disney-like children's center called the rain forest. Sunday we made the rest of our journey, albeit with a slight malfunction of our door that set us back about 45mins. We were also able to drive through Memphis, stopping to see where Martin Luther King was shot, as well as driving by Graceland and many other cool sights. When we finally arrived in crazily warm Houma I saw quite possibly the greatest sight I've ever seen. Greater then Mount Rushmore, the New York Skyline, or even an original Vang Gogh. The sweet cold sight of air conditioning in our sleep rooms! Oh the excitement!
Houma is certainly a depressed area, which you'll see from pictures when we return. We've been splitting our time between working with children at a govt. housing project and doing painting at homes out on the Bayou. The children we work with come from a tough area and very mixed family lives. We literally go out into the projects each day to encourage them to come out, and most of them are very excited to come play, sing songs, and hear about God.
As far as the home work goes, the home my team worked on was pretty hard hit by the hurricanes, but the people have an amazing ability to keep positive and bounce back. As far as the students they have been wonderful. They've handled being with other groups well and have worked crazy hard, even in the 103 degree heat of yesterday. Tonight we will have a worship band come in and go out for ice cream, so I should probably go get ready for that. We appreciate your continued prayers as we continue to serve the people of Houma in Christ's name.

Youth group happenings

We've had a number of things going on this week. We had about 12 high school students over to our house Tuesday night to grill out, which was a great time to hang out, make fun of each other (read: Alysa), and speak longingly about the mission trip. Last night our middle school group went to Plymouth for a $5 receipt challenge and finished with a trip to Chester's. We also wrapped up our Play It! series from the retreat by talking about Perfection. We talked about how the world wants us to be perfect, but we simply can never live up to that. Surprisingly, God also wants us to be perfect, but instead of watching us fail he perfects us when we die. God also helps make certain things we do in life perfect (like helping others or being a good friend) if we ask God to help. The biggest item on everyone's radar now is the high school mission trip to Houma, LA. We leave Saturday at 7:00am from the church parking lot. We will spend the week in Houma, a city damaged by two hurricanes, doing some repair work as well as ministering to children at a day camp program. Our group will conclude a hard week of working in extreme heat with a day at the beach in Gulfport, MS. Please pray that God will really use our group and help us all to grow spiritually throughout the week. Keep checking here for updates from LA (if possible) and for many entries and pictures once we return.

The Riches in life...

There are many things I've had to learn to deal with since moving to Wisconsin. People wrongly using the term fry when they are truly grilling something, bubbler, winters I thought were reserved for Antarctica, saying you're by someone's house when you are actually inside of it, and of course ruining chili by placing spaghetti in it. Oh, silly Wisconsin. Perhaps the biggest struggle has been dealing with Brewer fans. You see I am, and always will be, a northsider, a cubbie, a loveable loser, whatever you wish to call us Cubs fans. And so for about 24 hours ALL I heard was C.C. Sabathia this and that. You would have thought Cy Young, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Nolan Ryan, and Roger Clemens' steroids had all just joined the Brew Crew. And so I let the Brewers fans have their moment, knowing it would soon pass, and of course it now has. The Cubs have answered with Rich Harden, who has the second best ERA in all of baseball. Oh, and then Chicago won AND Milwaukee lost last night. And surprisingly no one has been talking to me about baseball today...

Fishing and such

I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July weekend. One would think a holiday weekend would be a big down time for our youth program, but as those of you who are really familiar with our ministry know there is no such thing as down time. We therefore had a number of things going on this past weekend, starting on the 4th itself. A big thanks to Ben for taking some of our youth charter boat fishing on lake Michigan that morning (and by morning I mean they went out at 5am). As you can tell they not only had fun, but caught quite the haul of fish. Also a big thanks to the eight students who volunteered to give up part of their holiday to help the Oostburg Optimist Club with a game stand at the Oostburg 4th celebration. Finally, the weekend concluded with our outdoor worship service at church, with many of our students in the praise band (which did a fantastic job).

As for me we had Andrea's family in town this weekend, so it was quite crazy, but I was still able to enjoy myself. That was probably helped by prepping for the weekend by eating 2 1/2 racks of ribs Thursday night at Jerry's Oldtown, the best ribs ever. Sheboygan's 4th celebration and fireworks really impressed me for a smaller city. Other then that I actually did get to rest a little and gear up for our big high school mission trip to Houma, LA that leaves on Saturday.

What's Up for our ministry this week

A couple of reminders of things happening over the next week:

4th of July: If you are helping the Optimist Club in Oostburg please remember to go at your time, and thanks a ton for your help.

Sunday July 6th: We will have our final mission trip meeting at 5:30 in the youth room for parents and students. Please bring your forms, $50 final payment, and any questions you still have.

Wed July 9th: Middle School Youth Group: please note we are still on Wed at our normal time despite a version of the schedule saying July 10th. We will be going to Plymouth for a scavenger hunt and finish at Chester's, so please bring money if you would like to purchase anything.

Say July 12th: Mission trip meets at 6:40am and leaves at 7:00am from the HRC parking lot.

Dolfin cabin day 3

Needless to say day 3 started with most of our students wanting nothing to do with getting out of bed. I of course had to get up supper early to help with the making of pancakes and bacon (thanks to Taylor for being my co-Baconator for the morning). After breakfast everyone was forced into cleanup duty at gun point (well, water gun point at least), and they actually did a pretty good job. As bad as we made the Dolfin's property look (and we did make it look like a hoard of children raised in a pasture had come through) I have to say the students cleaned up fairly well. Students then had a chance to prove their memorization of scripture, which was the final part of our competition. Our group memorized something like 225 Bible verses, which comes out to about 10 per student. Not only did they have to memorize them, but also state what that verse meant to them. It was awesome to see so many students passionately speaking about verses they selected. Our time at the cabin concluded with our final worship session, and despite it being early the students again danced and sang with all their energy. I'm writing this three days later and some students still don't have their voices back. We went ahead and skipped the message because, frankly, what needed to be said and heard had been done by the Spirit the night before, so it was no time for me to muddle with God's work. The bus was then packed and headed for Fazolli's, where the results were given. Dan's team ended up with an incredibly thin margin of victory, and earned the right to split $100. Thanks again to all the leaders, the Dolfin's, the bus company, and everyone else for a amazing weekend. Thanks especially to the students for giving new things a try and really opening themselves up to God. I'd say next year can't come quickly enough, but we've got two more trips to Silver Birch to get excited about before that!

Dolfin cabin day 2

Day 2 kicked off with something like 10lbs of greasy sausage being consumed, which is about as good as one can start a day. The morning featured time for the students to spend alone with God, as well as discussing the previous night's topic with their small groups. The morning then proceeded into a fierce game of water fight capture the flag. Instead of tagging someone to get them out you had to use a water gun or a water balloon to soak the alka seltzer tablet of your opponent (which was taped to their arm). I personally loved this game because I was the anti-Switzerland: against everyone but no one was against me. So yeah, I got most people out.

We had another great day on the lake, doing tubing, jet ski, wakeboarding, water trampoline, and more. The afternoon also featured a game of thawing T-shirts that had been frozen overnight. We also played a massive game of ultimate Frisbee in the lake.

After dinner everyone had a chance to hangout before we proceeded to worship. Once again everyone danced and sang their hearts out before we got to the message. This time we focused on Operation. I started by saying we all need to take an X-ray of our life to see what sin is in it that needs to be operated on (taken out), all which is based on Jesus' teaching in Mark 9:43-47. We then heard from one of our high school student's who had once had a lot of sin in their life, but had asked God for forgiveness and allowed God to help them change their ways. This testimony was very powerful and helped many students take a strong X-ray of their lives. I don't know that I've ever seen the Holy Spirit move so much in a room as I did that night. Everyone then wrote down the sins they had to remove and went outside to throw those sins into a fire. Moving back inside we passionately sang some more before heading for smore making. The night ending with a long singing session and everyone hanging out together outside. I think it's safe to say this was a day in which many of us were changed in a very significant way, which I certainly praise God for.

MS Retreat: Day 1

We're going to spend a couple of days recapping our middle school retreat. This year's theme was Play It! 3 Strategies for the Game of Life. Keeping with the theme our middle school small groups played a ton of games throughout the weekend, all in an attempt to split $100 among their group members. Our first game was puddin head, in which a team member had to fish letters our of a pie tin loaded with pudding and spell out a word. While incredibly fun to watch the game helped set the stage for our first session, based on the game Scrabble. We talked about how words are meaningful, memorable, and powerful, and that God calls us to use up words. Our scripture for the day was James 3:3-12, which teaches us that God means words for good, despite the fact we so often use them for destructive purposes. Some other highlights from day one were Dye Wars (think paint ball only with water guns loaded with food coloring) and the many lake activities the students took in. A highlight for the day for me was definitely watching the passion the students had for praising God through worship. They sang, screamed, and danced throughout the night, which was awe inspiring to witness.