GO BIG... for God!

We are excited to announce that we have opened up our application process for the 2012 Middle School Missions trip with students from Glen Ellyn Bible Church and Bible Fellowship Church partnering together to serve those in and around Rapid City, South Dakota.  This will be the third year that we have partnered together and we are always looking to make the trip a little bigger and a little better each time around.  This year, our theme is GO Big... for God, and we have a surprise guest that will be joining us the final day of our trip for a big Rapid City outreach event.  For more info on our trip, you can check out this video from last year's MSMT by clicking HERE.

If you want to find out more information about our special guests, you can click HERE to watch a video about who they are and what they do...

This site will bring your updates about our trip and what God has been teaching our students throughout the week.  Check back in with us again in June!

Life on the Rez...

Wow.  Word's can't even begin to describe the things that we have seen and heard over our two days serving on the Pine Ridge Reservation.  Poverty is an understatement.  Hopelessness, pain, drunkenness, abuse, tears, and hatred are all words that can only begin to scratch the surface of what people have expressed.  Wednesday night one of the missionaries that we served with (Curtis Hoyt) gave a presentation and shared with us about the stats and what life is like on Pine Ridge.  One of our students broke down in tears.  It was beautiful to see that through the stories of life on the Rez, God was working in her life and challenging her to pray for these people.  Other students shared with me the feeling of brokenness and hurt for the Native Americans later as we sat around the campfire for fellowship and worship.

The next morning was equally impacting as a few of us leaders and students sat with Floyd, an older gentlemen who runs the soup kitchen at 555 White Clay share about his life and experience with these people.  Floyd expressed that he was in a tough place, wondering if serving in White Clay was where God still wanted him.  Day after day after day he deals with intoxicated Natives who live from one can of beer to the next.  They rely on alcohol to dull the pain, shame, and hopelessness that they feel.  Seeing this depressed state regularly has a way of getting to you, and as Floyd shared and became more emotional, it was apparent that the ministry was taking a toll on him.  He opened up more and shared that he wasn't even able to take care of his own home and clean as was needed, because there are many days he comes home and doesn't want to eat or clean because he is discouraged as well.  Funny how God changes our plans in an instant.  After hearing his story, Sarah, Bill, and I decided that if Floyd would permit us, we wanted to spend as much time on Thursday as was possible to help clean up his home!  The students jumped right in and the team working together made a world of difference.  It was extra special as Floyd shared that his wife he had been separated from for the past 15 years was coming to visit and spend time with him in July!  We are praying for restoration there as well, as God has been drawing them back together in the past few months.  Hopefully our service will encourage both Floyd and his wife- and that God would restore their marriage!

Our service work in Pine Ridge on Wednesday consisted of cleaning up two parks (The same two we cleaned up and repaired last year), clearing brush and a chopped up tree, and log splitting for winter firewood. On Thursday, after serving Floyd, we took a drive through the Pine Ridge community and headed to Wounded Knee.  Wounded Knee is often taught to our students as a battle that took place between the Natives and American's.  Rather than call it a battle (which it wasn't) the reality is that it was a Massacre resulting in hundreds of innocent Native Americans being mowed down by American Gatling guns.  Women and children were among those slain- and they were laid to rest in a mass grave upon the hill where the American opened fire.  Understanding this gives us a little perspective into the generational pain that these Natives hold onto. 

Today, our last full day in Rapid City is a more relaxed fun day for the students to enjoy- that being said, please pray that the things that our students have seen and heard will have a profound effect on how they will live, and allow God to mold them going forward.  We have already heard conversation about how some are really thinking about how to carry what they have learned to "Make a Difference" when they come home.  A few of us spent time in prayer this morning for all of us, that as we go home, wherever that may be, we would all seek to serve others in order that God would add daily to those being saved! (Acts 2:47)

Team Update 6/29

Hello all!  It has been a long few days, so we apologize for the delay in posts.  Let me begin by saying that VBS was an absolute success.  It was so fun to see our students in character and interacting with the children over the weekend.  We even saw at least one family (mom with 5 of her own children and 2 friends of the family) show up for the VBS program that we had met and invited while in downtown Rapid City!  We pray that the seed of the Gospel was planted and that God will use Bible Fellowship Church to minister to all those families who may still be curious about Jesus and his message.
Both Monday and Tuesday consisted of work projects in and around the Northern part of Rapid City.  On Monday, we sent 10 of our team to work with Habitat for Humanity's local chapter doing some landscaping.  The other team worked with Neighborhood Works (local humanitarian organization) to begin a two day project painting the exterior of a local home.  Both teams worked hard and after Tuesday evening we saw the completed home.  It was encouraging for all to see the fruit of our labor.  On Tuesday I (Dan) took a small team consisting of Bill, Jordan K., Jonah (from RC), and Justin down a few blocks from the home we were painting to build a fence around a community garden.  We labored with the hot sun and an Auger that had a mind of its own at times, but we got one whole side of the garden fenced.  It didn't look pretty in the end- but it was built with love and plenty sturdy! 
The highlight for me, after building the fence was talking with John, a man who lived in the neighborhood and had been offering his professional advice and tools to help us get the job done.  John was 66 years old and had seen it all.  He served in Vietnam and had 2 purple hearts to show for it.  He had such a servant's heart and a welcome sense of humor.  To see a 66 year old man come alongside some students (and two amateur leaders) and want to help them learn some building skills was fun.  He'd make a great JH leader!  As we sat for a few minutes and listened to him, it was apparent that he cared for people in need and did what he could to serve.  It was a blessing for that neighborhood to have him there!  Bill and I initiated and asked if we could pray for him before we left.  Only after we asked to do so, did he reveal that he had Leukemia.  We each prayed for him and for God's work in his life.  As we finished praying and shook his hand we saw tears in the mans eyes.  Please pray for John as you read this- that the Holy Spirit would churn in him a desire to turn to Jesus!  We bid him adieu and shared about Bible Fellowship Church.  Hopefully he will pop in one Sunday soon and find a community that will lead him to God!
This morning we will be heading out to Pine Ridge Reservation.  We have a 2 hour drive and two long work days ahead of us.  The weather is supposed to be nice, but warm so we will be working extra hard to keep the team hydrated and upbeat.  I trust that the next two days will be powerful for our students as they see and hear life that is drastically different than what they see and know on a daily basis.  This can be a life changing experience and we pray that God will use it in a rich way.  Please join us in prayer for our travels and for the work ahead of us.
Most of the recent pictures I have are on my iPhone and so I cannot load them into blogger, but will post on Facebook.  Feel free to take a look and see some picture updates there!
Signing off for now...

Here we go...

After a long day of travels, Thursday morning we got into 2 SUV's in Denver and headed for Rapid City.  The drive took a little over 6 hours, and was a great time to talk and enjoy music together.  I truly believe that God was using that time in the cars to grow the relationships of the students on our team. 

Upon arriving in Rapid City, we jumped right in and started to connect and work with our teammates here in South Dakota.  We dropped our stuff off in the rooms we were living in for the week and got to work!  The VBS theme for the week is Hometown Nazareth, so families will walk through a makeshift marketplace exploring what life was like when Jesus grew up.  We helped put the finishing touches on the set-up and then broke into groups to begin operation invite!  Two groups of students went with me to the "Thursday nights" event (similar to Taste of Glen Ellyn, but it happens every Thursday night in the Summer) and we passed out fliers inviting people to join us for the VBS program.  It was encouraging to see students out of their comfort zone going up and inviting people and their families to come!

Friday afternoon we began our teaching on our "Make A Difference" theme.  We talked about how God can use our gifts, abilities, passions, and talents to change the world!  He wants to use us to serve those in need and ultimately to share the truth of Jesus.  We took some time and traveled to Mt. Rushmore and to a local tourist city called Keystone.  When we returned to the church in the late afternoon, we began to prepare for the VBS program.  Some students assisted in the marketplace shops, some were assistant tribe leaders, others helped Bill lead games. 

As VBS began it was great to see all the students engaging with other children, helping lead worship (full with motions) and assisting other adult leaders.  We had quite the storm roll through during VBS, and the lights flickered a bit- but the show went on and it didn't hurt the program at all.  We saw some significant hail that the students were amazed by.  Even though the trip started a little rough- it has been a great time and we look forward to see how God will continue to shape this group as the week goes on.  We felt it appropriate to take some time last night for a Dairy Queen run... The kids all enjoyed that!

Day 1 travels... not what we expected- but we are on our way!

We began our trip on a positive note, leaving GEBC after we gathered and prayed together with plenty of time to get to O'Hare.  Unfortunately, the severe weather we had in Chicago last night had effects on our travel today.  We found out after arriving at the airport that our flight was cancelled due to "plane damage" from the storm.  That was just the beginning of our long journey that spanned almost 18 hours and took us all through a few different cities!  Here is Tom Kouwe's account of how the day played out:

We started our day on, as Dan said, a positive note. We set out for O'Hare at about 6:45 and arrived at at 7:15. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 9:30, getting us to South Dakota at 10:45 Mountain time or 11:45 Central. Our first problem came when we were told that there were no flights to South Dakota today and no available flights tomorrow. Most of our team ( Emma, Laura, Amy, Emmi, Olivia, Katy, Jessica, Jordan K., Jordan H, Matt, Jonah, Randy, Mr. Black, and me) waited outside the airport while Dan began a long battle with the airlines to get us to South Dakota. After many hours of Dan trying to sort things out with the airport and the rest of sitting outside playing cards, talking, and yes, praying, Dan came out and gave us the flight situation. Five of us (Randy, Jonah, Jordan K., Mr. Black, and Olivia) would stay at the airport until 8:45 when we would be directed to Denver. The remaining ten of us would be sent to Minneapolis at about 1:30 then to Denver. We were planning to all stay the night in a hotel in Denver and then the drive together to Rapid City the next morning. My group (the group going to Minneapolis) had our flight delayed until around 2:00. Our flight from Minnesota to Colorado was on time. The other group's flight was on time, but got in very late at night. While our first day didn't go quite as planned, we prayed beforehand that we could adjust to whatever God's plan might be. It was a long and tiring day for all, but we are all thankful that we were able to get out of Chicago today, something that wasn't originally a given. Tomorrow we begin the last leg of our journey, a six hour drive to Rapid City, South Dakota.

1 more week...

It seems like eternity since we assembled our team and first began to prepare for this trip, but here we are- one week away from beginning our mission.  Both teams from Glen Ellyn Bible Church, and Bible Fellowship church will be partnering together and working to help support a community wide VBS program (Hometown Nazareth theme), working in and around the Rapid City community, and serving with Hands of Faith Ministries on the Pine Ridge Native American Reservation.  

Our theme for the week is "Make a Difference" as we challenge all participating to use their talents, passions,and spiritual gifts to serve the Lord!  We believe that it is important to not just claim that we have a faith in Jesus Christ, but to bear fruit and to demonstrate by our actions that we really are His followers.  Please pray for us as we seek God's direction this week and that all would come away challenged to live out their faith daily in a new and fresh way!

South Dakota Missions Trip 2011!

We are so excited about the opportunity to partner together again this year in an effort to serve the least and lost in and around Rapid City, South Dakota.  We are going to be hosting a Vacation Bible School program, serving with some local ministries, and spending a few days serving on the Pine Ridge Native American reservation.  We would ask that you begin to pray now that this will be a moving experience in the lives of our students, and that we would make ourselves available to be used by God to serve the people of South Dakota.  Our theme for the week will be "Make a Difference" as we challenge our participants to use the gifts, abilities, and talents that God has crafted with them to serve Him in a way that impacts the lives of others for His Kingdom!