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

"We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us." -2 Corinthians 5:20

It is exciting to watch our church family get involved in practical ministry and outreaches of various sorts outside the walls of our building. This coming summer things are ramping up all the more. This is definitely an adventure!

In just a few short weeks we'll begin sending out three teams to be a part of the Lord's harvest field. We have an adult team returning to Alaska to continue to do outreach at the Tanalian Bible Camp in Port Alsworth and a senior high team heading to inner-city Detroit where our students will help with a day camp and some service projects. A junior high team will also be ministering at a day camp with the Salvation Army on the south side of Chicago.

As you probably know, we also had a trip planned to southern Mexico. Due to safety concerns surrounding the swine flu, we have decided to cancel this trip. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a notice on April 27 recommending that American citizens avoid all nonessential travel to Mexico at this time. This Travel Alert is in effct until July 27." As it says in Proverbs 16:9, "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." Safety is always at the forefront of our planning, and at this juncture, the elders concur that the wisest decision is to cancel the trip and to ask those on the Mexico team to consider serving instead on the Detroit team this summer.

It's NOT too late to be a part of what God is planning to do through these teams. We need prayer and financial supporters to get behind these efforts to share the love of Jesus!

Unfortunately, in order to receive the best airfare, we purchased nonrefundable plane tickets to Mexico. The Mexico team has already raised around $2,500 through fundraisers we've hosted such as the pancake breakfast, the 5B's dinner, and other meals and services. At this point, we still need $5,000 to cover the cost of those tickets. A portion of any money you give will also help to defray the expense of the unused air tickets to Mexico City.