Village Bible Church || Aurora | Indian Creek | Sugar Grove | IL

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It had to end at some point. I suppose it is the logical flow of things. The things is, we really think our week on the South Side of Chicago--although it ended--was actually just the beginning of something quite massive. Overall, it was an A+ trip. Mario and I, and the rest of the leaders were really impressed with how smooth everything went. That doesn't mean there weren't any difficulties or challenging situations. But the Lord really overwhelmed us with His care and faithfulness! I am so proud of our students, all of them! We would be missing the point if we said that they 'worked hard.' The most important aspect is that this week they lived out their faith.

They were immersed in a scenario in which they had many choices, and chose to show Jesus through their actions and words and intentions. By the end of the week, nobody wanted to leave. We all wanted to stay for the second week of camp! On Thursday evening, we were scheduled to go downtown to eat and hang out in the ritzy part of the city. But that morning we all realized that no one actually wanted to do that. We wanted to stay in the community we were in and continue spending time with our friends there. We ended up just going to a local Portillo's and enjoying a great time with our Salvation Army hosts. Then we went to a nearby park to have fun in the playground, get soaked by the sprinklers (perfect weather for that), and play some tennis. On Wednesday night, Topaz and I taught for youth group. She taught for kids 10 and younger and she did a phenomenal job on an object lesson with folding papers; super creative. Thanks for praying for her on that. I taught for the other group (10 and older) from Jeremiah 1. It was great to see that our own students were praying for me as I taught. Again thanks for praying for us on that. Saying goodbye on Friday afternoon was tough for everyone. We made lots of awesome friends who kept asking us not to leave and to come back soon. The truth is that we have SO much to thank God for, because He really provided us with a gorgeous ministry partnership that will now be ongoing. David is taking his group from Grace this Monday. Please be praying for him and his group. There is very little doubt that, God willing, we will be back over there soon. There are so many ministry projects that Mario and I were dreaming about with Major Harvey and his team. And if God hadn't spoiled us enough during the week, even when we drove back right smack in the middle of rush hour, we didn't run into any traffic! We got back to church in less than an hour. As I keep telling everyone, this week was really about details...details that embellish the doctrine, as Paul talks about in Thessalonians...details that make Jesus shine to those around us. The details the Salvation Army had with us and in every aspect of their ministry undoubtedly made Jesus shine to us and to the community very, very brightly. His Name was exalted this week, absolutely!