Our driving focus through missions is to fulfill the principles set out in Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
On Saturday morning, we had our final debrief in the hotel lobby of the Hampton Inn in Southfield, MI.
We answered 2 questions: "What was your highlight of the week and how did you see God work throughout the week" and then we closed our time praying, thanking God specifically for the ways he blessed us in Detroit.
Below is what each team member said:
Ben - There was a bunch of highlights. Monday the kids knocked me over it was funny. On Friday we had the whole cafeteria do the "breakdown" which is a cool hand pattern where we pound on the table.
Naomi - I had a great time ministering with the jr hi. I love going back to Detroit and reconnecting with people we met on previous trips. Seeing Anthony's transformation over the past 3 years since we lead him to Jesus was very impacting. Jaque on other team, with his disabilities, was always so happy and praising God.
Josh - I really liked the block party. I had the chance to talk with Camoni in our junior high day camp. Towards the end of the week he really listened and understood salvation. Camoni said, "I didn't know I had to ask Jesus, just thought I had to love him." I had the chance pray with him.
At beginning of week we went to Tony's church. Some guys were working on a lawn mower in the street. One guy, named "Iron Man" said to me If you are a real Christian, pray for me - so I did. I was really blessed by that time.
Allie - Every time I come to Detroit, I think this is my last time. Here I am 4 times later. I see why I love the people of the city. God loves his place. I saw God work through the jr hi. Every day God answered prayer after prayer. What broke the ice with the junior high students was when Robin said, "We don't have to be here." Then they listened. Everything fell into place. During the small group times, they were so receptive. If I come back, I'd work with jr hi again.
Kaity - My highlight of week was block party and seeing the kids again. They remember everything about me from the previous time I came to Detroit! I saw God working in how the 2 churches meshed really well in how we all got along.
Steve - The block party is always very powerful to see their thankful hearts for hot dog & chips. Meeting India, Anthony's wife and to see their apartment and the joy in their lives impacted me. See the blog from Tuesday night when Steve, Robin and Renee went to get dinner to see how Steve, Renee and Robin saw God at work.
Renee - (Added details to Tuesday night's blog) Kathy is the grandma & Deann is the granddaughter. Kathy, the grandma also lost a grandchild at age 2 five years ago who would have been 7 today. So this grandma had a lot of tragedy in her life. My highlight was how we bonded so well with HarvestBaptistChurch. Having my husband Chet here to experience Detroit with me for his first time was also a highlight for me.
Robin - God gave me a peace that we were to be here. Every role was fulfilled by each person in each way. Like Renee with the food, Chet with technology, Anthony and his relationship with Steve. I feel humbled by the whole trip.
Nate - This is my 1st mission trip. One highlight was winning euchre series with Michael as my partner against RJ & Josh. I saw God work by ministering to kids that really didn't misbehave. This trip also furthered my walk with God.
Michael - One of my highlights was winning the euchre series with Nate and the block party, talking to a lot of kids. I saw God working through the kids at day camp. Sometimes don't feel like they are listening, but when you talk to them, you see that they actually were listening.
Cody - My highlight was block party and the cheese fries I ate on Wednesday night at the wave pool. When I couldn't swim at the wave pool because of an incoming storm, I was disappointed, but I saw God's sovereignty in all of this. He showed me His supreme power over everything.
Elyse - My highlight was seeing the kids’ think I was Hayley & I was able to meet the kids Hayley impacted. I met the girl that my sister Hayley has same birthday that Hayley writes to every year. I wasn't expecting to connect with Harvest's student ministry. I was crying when Harvest left & when left CDC left.
I also was blessed when I pray with the gentleman on his doorstep during our canvassing on Monday night.
RJ - The whole week was one big high. I was talking with a kid, Omar, about the gospel. I never saw a lot of emotion from him. I asked him about this week. He said that this is the best week out of all of them. I asked him why. He said because "You are all fun, never boring." He noticed a difference in us. He noticed our group was different. We are here to impact.
How I saw God work - It's awesome to see people like Anthony years after walking with Jesus. It's so encouraging to see how God works years after year. It was great seeing our team just being willing to serve.
At the block party - we all had a passion to share the gospel. One guy, Michael, was smiling after Josh shared, giving the thumbs up. Preaching in that area is not easy. This is such an encouragement to see Michael man encouraged.
Kayla - There were so many highs & God things. I loved getting to talk to Anthony. I sat there with Sam & Jessica and talked 20 - 30 minutes. Our connection with Harvest was also a highlight.
The way I saw God work was in sharing gospel with Calyse and Cree and leading them to Jesus.
Every time I come to Detroit, God points out his plan more and more for me. 1st time He told me to be a teacher. 2nd time in Detroit, it was to serve Him in Detroit for a short time. This is the 3rd time I'm in Detroit and I believe God may want me to serve Him here long term.
Chet - My highlight was the block party in seeing the playground getting used by the kids and how everything worked out well. I was really afraid that things with Harvest might not gel.
Kayla - On Monday night I was canvassing and gave a girl a flyer but didn't know she was deaf - her mom told her, and then she was really smiling and happy, and she showed up at our block party.
Mario - On Saturday, RJ told me how he received a call to go into work to clean up flooding in Chicago, and that he could have made a lot of much needed money if he didn't go to Detroit, but RJ didn't regret serving in Detroit for one second. I also prayed and saw how God gave us perfect weather for the block party and then saw it rain a lot on and off over the next week. I really saw God working in the hearts of every one of our team members and was blessed. There was such a willing humble heart that can only come from the Lord!
Every morning we have personal Jesus time from 7 - 7:30 am and then we share with everyone what God spoke to us from His Word. Steve is sharing verses with Robin at the top of the steps at TriedStoneBaptistChurch. Allie Free is enjoying her Jesus time on the front porch. After our personal Jesus time, we meet together from 7:30 - 8 PM to pray and share how God spoke to us. Kaity Calhoun is reading to all of us from the Bible what God spoke to her in her quiet time.
On Thursday night, July 28, we had one more night of worship with HarvestBaptistChurch and Joel Lindman shared with us a message on hope from Matthew 6:25-33. Worry is the concern about something that is potential. He challenged us to consider the birds of the air (doctrine of God's divine providence) and to consider the lilies (doctrine of God's divine love). We need to make sure we talk to our heart and not let our heart talk to us. If we take care of God's business, He'll take care of our business (Matt. 6:33)
Anthony showed up to our block party 3 years ago and prayed with Steve in front of Tried Stone on the corner of Taylor and Woodrow Wilson. Steve has stayed in contact with Anthony ever since then.
On Thursday, Anthony showed up at day camp. He married his beautiful bride, India, in August 2010.
The CDC high school staff wanted to challenge us in a game of basketball, so we played them. Anthony jumped in and helped us out by referring our game.
Here is a picture of the CDC bus that Tony drives to pick up kids every day for day camp.
It rained pretty hard on early on Thursday morning. We woke up to water flooding the entryway and hallway of the basement, where the guys were sleeping. Here are some pics of us our team moping and using a wet dry vac to get rid of the water. D'Andre, who does the maintenance at Tried Stone, the church we were staying at, said that this is the worst flooding he has ever seen in the church. Tony McDuffy said that these "incidents" only happen to our group when we come, and it must be because God is at work in what we are doing.
Naomi helped grill 720 hot dogs for the block party. We had 2 grills going & a team serving hot dogs, chips and lemonade in the food line. We had over (?) people show up. It was our largest block party ever.
Above is a picture of Cody helping a boy use the monkey bars.
Our two churches, Harvest Baptist and Village really became one team by Tuesday night. We had a sweet time of worship & sharing. Below are some of the highlights from our sharing time with both teams:
Blanca - The greatest moment was the unity we had today. We knew what we were here for.
Sam - When I shared my testimony at the block party, I thought that no one was listening.
Rachel - I talked with Damion who was impacted by Sam's testimony and he trusted his life to Jesus.
Kayla - I was in the basement lunchroom of Blessed Sacrament Church and there's a statue of Jesus in Mary's arms after he was taken down from the cross. One of the girls asked why Jesus wasn't in a casket. So I started to share the gospel with her, but she said, "Wait!" And she grabbed her friend and so I shared the gospel with both of them and they both trusted in Jesus.
RJ - I've never seen such servant’s hearts of any team I've been on in the past. Everyone was mingling and interacting so well. We can do so much when we work as one. I shared the GOSPEL acronym with my group and then 2 of them were asking me to write it down on a piece of paper so that they could really know it!
We cooked and served 720 hot dogs, chips and lemonade and ran out before Steve, Robin and Renee were able to eat dinner. So after the block party was over, the 3 of us drove to grab dinner at McDonalds. On our way there, we saw Austin, one of our middle school students in our day camp. He attended the block party and was walking 20 blocks home. He had asked us for a ride home earlier because it's not safe to walk alone 20 blocks in the dark, but we were too busy trying to clean up and get our team back to the church we were staying at. We drove Austin home and dropped him off and then headed to McDonalds. We found ourselves driving slowly behind a car with a flat tire, but we thought it would be better to turn around. When we turned around, we saw that Austin didn't get in his house so we picked him up and drove him to his granddads home 5 blocks away and we saw him get in the house.
We continued on to McDonalds and while we were in line Steve was approached by an older lady and a 2 year old girl and they asked if he would buy a hamburger for her and her granddaughter. Then as he was in line buying the food, Renee and Robin met the grandma and found out that she just lost her daughter, the baby's mom, 4 months ago to pneumonia, and she also lost her mom within the year. She asked us why were there, and Robin & Renee told them about CDC (Central Detroit Christian). She said she was looking for a church, and Robin happened to pick up CDC flyers at the block party to bring home to Emily to help her with her ministry in Aurora at Wayside Cross.
We realize that God had a purpose for us not being able to eat at the block party. It wasn't for us, but it was to help get Austin, a junior high boy home safely and to feed a meal to a grandma and her granddaughter and point them in the direction of a solid church.
Every day at 6 PM the men of the community play basketball at Derek Coleman Park and some of our guys joined in. Above is A pic of RJ taking a shot as well as a pic of the playground.
Each night, we share our highs and lows of the day, especially in what God did in and through our team.
Day #4
In the morning, on Tuesday, July 26, we had our morning educational rotations from going on nature walks to visiting the science museum downtown.
In the afternoon, we continued with our VBS type ministry. About 40 of us serve with the kindergarten through 5th grade. We are teaching through the armor of God in Ephesian 6:10-18. Our Village team, made up of Chet & Renee Kuryliw, Michael Free, Cody Hallebach, Nate Underwood, Ben Justus, Kayla Thompson, Kaity Calhoun, and Elyse Roberts taught the lesson, led the games and the crafts on Monday and Tuesday with the 3rd - 5th graders. Harvest Bible Church's team teaches the lesson, leads the games and crafts for the kindergarten - 2nd graders all week and for the 3rd - 5th graders on Wednesday & Thursday. As shared in a previous blog, 10 of us serve with the middle school students (6 from Village and 4 from Harvest) where we teach the Bible lesson & lead the games and crafts each day.
Yesterday we taught everyone in a large group on friendship. The "3 essentials to great friends" (Acts 1:13-15) are that great friends love Jesus; great friends pray together; and great friends talk about Jesus. Today we split the middle school students up into small groups for the lesson time and we had an interactive discussion about who is Jesus which was much more effective and impacting for the middle school students.
Wednesday's game time was water balloons and water fun. Mario was having a picture taken with Tony when Elyse decided to throw a cup of water on Mario, but Tony also was hit with water. Big mistake! Tony then plotted with Jessica from Harvest and others to get Elyse back. Tony had his staff prepare two 5 gallon coolers of water which were poured on all over Elyse when she came outside at the end of day camp.
Kayla and Preston (from Harvest) are leading songs during our opening at the elementary day camp.
In the elementary day camp, the kids are broken up into two groups, for kindergarten to 2nd grade and 3rd - 5th grade for Bible, crafts and games. Here we are teaching a Bible lesson on the armor of God.
After Bible time we either have games in the gym or outside in the parking lot. Ben and Kayla are happy to be playing with the kids in Detroit.
Cody and Nate are carrying water out to the kids on our hot day. What great teamwork!
Every morning, after our Jesus time and group prayer and sharing time we serve the CDC kid’s breakfast, usually cereal and milk. Above are Michael and Kaity sitting around tables with the Harvest team and the CDC kids.
Next is a picture of Elyse with Danni and Brittany. We all became really close with everyone from HarvestBaptistChurch!
RJ is talking with some junior high guys before day camp starts.
A bunch of us are hanging out on the steps in the morning before day camp starts.
After our Bible lesson from Joel, we spent time as a team debriefing our day and talking about our highs and lows for the day and what God did during the day.
Below are a few of the comments from our team:
Ben Justus I've been struggling with my faith recently and today, God has strengthened my faith and I am growing in Christ again.
Elyse Roberts A little girl asked if I knew Hayley, and I said yes, I'm her sister. She said, that's so cool, now I know two sisters!
When I went up to a house to give invitations - Can't come - is there anything I can pray for you? Yes, pray for safety - Prayed - Just seeing high schoolers come witness to us is a real blessing! (The picture of Elyse outside the van window is Elyse beaming because she just finished praying with an older man).
Kids wrote on their belt of truths that they made in craft time, and we were touched by what they wrote below:
"God is my heavenly Father
When I die I'm gonna meet my daddy"
Today was eye opening. The place they worship doesn't matter so long as they have a place to worship God as we thought about and saw the plaster coming off the walls.
RJ Hallebach
- There is more genuine love here than back home - that's why I love this city. Also, when I canvassed I stopped by the house of a boy who remembered me from 5 years ago.
Kaity Calhoun
There were 3 guys working on car right in front of our church. One was a guy 6'7" and he intimidated me. - Michael walked up to him asked - "hey you wanna come to the block party?" And he said, "Sure, I'd love to come!" It was great seeing God at work through my fears.
Mario's long time friend, Joel Lindman, who is the senior pastor at Bell Creek Community church shared the Word of God with us after we havd a time of worship and prayer. Joel spoke from Mark 1:16-20 talking about "Going Fishing" We learned that Jesus called when the disciples were in the middle of fishing. Jesus often calls us to follow Him when we are in the middle of somthing. When Jesus asks us to follow, it has to be immediately. When Jesus asks us to follow, it's unconditional. We can't follow Him at a distance, but we have to stay close. Also, if we follow Jesus it will be costly (Mark 8:34). When Jesus calls us to fish, it's about opportunity, not perfection. Anytime you fish, you will get smelly (I Cor 9:22-23).
In the early evening of Monday, July 25, we divided up into teams, prayed in our groups and canvased the neighborhood with flyers inviting the people to our block party on Tuesday night, July 26 from 6-8 PM. We encourage students and leaders to not only invite the people to our block party, but also to engage in conversation with the peiple and ask how we can pray for them and then pray for and with them.
We have nine team members serving with grades 3-5 and six team members serving with the middle school students. In the afternoon, the middle school team played basketball with the guys while the girls made friendship bracelets. Then they taught a lesson on friendship. The photo with the students sitting down at tables is us teaching with blue shirts.
On Monday, July 25, we woke up at 6 am, had breakfast at 6:30, personal Jesus time at 7 and then group prayer, worship and daily prep at 7:30 and then left for day camp shortly after 8. That's our morning routine for the remainder of the week.
We took a group picture on the front stairs where we are staying. The picture with more people is our team along with the students and leaders from HarvestBaptistChurch. The picture with less people is just our team from Village.
Going into the trip, we thought we were just going to minister to the k-5 grades. At the beginning of last week, we were asked if we wanted to run the middle school day camp for 30 - 45 students, which we gladly said yes to. So where we had 3 months to prep lessons, games, and crafts for the k-5 grades, we had less than a week to prepare for Bible, games, arts and crafts. Six of our team members (Steve & Robin Steekel, RJ Hallebach, Josh Nilson, Naomi Haas and Allie Free) along with 4 students from Harvest Baptist are serving with the junior high.
In the morning, the middle school students and our middle school team worked at a ministry owned by CDC called Peaches and Greens, where they grow vegetables in a garden and sell fruits and vegetables in the store. See the above pics of the garden area and the store.
One thing we forgot to say in yesterday's blog post is that the original place that we were planning on having our solos (Henry Ford Estate) was closed to the public which we found out when we arrived there. (It was recently sold and closed as of July 1. So we had to find another park like area to have our solo times with Jesus. The next place we looked at, Elizabeth Park in Trenton had a festival called "Roar on the river", and since that park was buzzing with people, we had to look for a 3rd place, so we finally arrived at Bishop Park in Wyandotte, MI at 6:30 PM. It started sprinkling when we arrived there but then it stopped while we were having our solo Jesus time. We were to meet at the vehicles at 8 PM and as soon as we arrived at the vans, the rain started to down pour. It's great to see how God kept back the rain until we were finished with our solo time. God's timing is always perfect!
On Sunday, July 24, we went to Tony McDuffy's church, El Shaddai ministries. Tony is the Youth and Family Director of Central Detroit Christain (CDC).
After church, they fed us a delicious lunch consisting of fried chicken wings, mashed potatoes, gravy and meatballs, corn, bread and desert.
After church, we drove to TriedStoneBaptistChurch on Taylor street where we cleaned the church from top to bottom and spent time having final preparations for the week.
In the evening we had a time of prayer and worship and final challenges and instructions as we start our week.
On Saturday, July 23, we drove to the Detroit area. We had solo times for 90 minutes in Wyandotte, MI on the Detroit River where we all had our own bench or place where we spent time with Jesus preparing our hearts for the week. The first picture is the view we had and the land in the distance is Canada.
The second picture is us in our hotel room praying and worshipping God through song and sharing what God spoke to us. Below is what everyone sahred:
Michael Free - I was sitting on a bench reading my Bible near 2 young high school guys who were skateboarding. While I was reading my Bible, one of the guys asked me, "Is that a Bible?" I said "yes" and then I was able to share the gospel with both of them for the next 30 minutes. One guy was listening attentively to me and the other guy was an atheist.
Elyse Roberts - I was thinking about my drive to church (VBC) in the morning with my dad and he asked me a thought provoking question: "What do you want to get out of this trip?" I thought about that for a moment and then said, "I really want to get a lasting relationship with the kids." I also received an email from my sister Hayley who is on a mission trip in Uganda. I really look up to her. One thing that she shared with me that impacted me is to "cherish every moment Josh Nilson- I really enjoyed writing a letter to God, especially about my strengths and weaknesses asking God to help me in areas I am weak.
RJ Hallebach - I was reading in Proverbs about not relying on my own cleverness, that's something I do all of the time. I was humbled because I know I need to rely on God this week and not myself.
Nathan Underwood - As I read God's Word, I was reminded on how bad company corrupts good character. I was also able to share with a man in the park what we were going to be doing this week in Detroit.
Kaity Calhoun - It was hard sitting in the hot van with no air conditioning, so I prayed to God for peace, and He reminded me of all the things He is gonna do this week.
Renee Kuryliw - I prayed through Psalm 83, and I love the verse that says, "Oh God do not be silent."
Ben Justus - A verse from Proverbs 23 that really spoke to me says don't wear yourself out to get rich. And also the one in Psalm 53 which says, "The fool says in his heart, there is no God."
Cody Hallebach - I loved Joshua 1:9 which God says "I am with you always."
Allie Free - I was feeling emotionally and spiritually drained and the wind picked up & turned my Bible to 2 Samuel 22 and verses 2 & 3 really refreshed me "The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior."
Kayla Thompson - As we were waiting to leave Sugar Grove, I heard the VBC worship team sing "You are God of this city" and I was reminded that He is God of Detroit and He will work this week on our trip.
Naomi Haas - We had to memorize all of James 1 for our trip. My dad had it memorized and prayed the whole chapter for me all the way from my home until church.
