Evangelism/Mission
Alternative Gift Market 2011
More information coming soon!
Members of the Missions Team recently emptied the "Change for the World" collection jugs. A total of $207.81 was collected toward the Missions budget. Thank you to everyone who contributed! We'll be continuing this effort, so keep saving you pocket change to "change the world"!
New ministry!
Prayer shawl ministry is beginning at LUMC. Contact Sharon Groff if you crochet, knit or would like to make a donation for this ministry. A prayer shawl is lovingly hand knitted or crocheted out of a soft comforting yarn, blessed by the one who had made it, and wrapped around the shoulders of someone who needs the sort of comfort only the love and caring friend can provide.
2011 Summer Mission Trips
Four short term missions trips took place this summer. Read about their experiences below.
West Virginia - July 17- July 23
Coordinator: Mary Ann Asghar
Habitat for Humanity work camp in Pendleton County, West Virginia
Dates: Sun July 17, through Sat July 23
This is why we’ll we going back” stated Lisa Moore “On Friday we worked on getting a site prepped for a blitz build next week (July 25-29) for the Tingler family. They have some water and electric running from their parents' trailer, but essentially are without running water. Boys are 6 and 4. The father just received his logging license... having maybe an 8th grade education...just can't make enough money to provide a decent home for his family. With Almost Heaven Habitat and volunteers like our West Virginia team—the Tingler family will be able to celebrate Christmas in a warm modest modern home built with love and care. Our WV 2011 team prepped the foundation for the blitz build.
The West Virginia trip is not about what we can build or how talented our people are—it is truly about providing physical needs in the form of shelter for people right here in our own country. It is about blessing other people because we are so blessed. It is about allowing God to change hearts and values as we reach out to strangers. It is about short term mission that can accommodate all ages—from 10—80, and a great trip for families to experience mission together.
“Just do It” was the 2011 theme “And do everything in Love” The team pulled away Friday, July 23 with a love in their heart for the Tingler family; they so wanted to be involved in building their home—however God’s plan was different. These few hours inspired the team with a vision for next year. Ready to see where God leads them.
“Just Do It and God Did!”
Austria
Coordinator: Genevieve Grubb
Teaching English as a Second Language
Dates: Thurs June 30, through Mon July 11
Austria mission trip members are back and over the jet lag by now but we hope that the impact we had in Austria will continue on. A team of nine from American, seven from our church and two from other congregations, left at the end of June to hold an English Day Camp with an Evangelical Church in Stockerau. This is the second year we have collaborated with this church to reach their community. The goal of the camp is to expose children and families to the church both as a physical structure and as a body of believers. We prayed often throughout the week that God's love would flow through us to the children. Our hope is that through interacting with Christians at the camp the children and their families would feel the love of God.
It is a challenging and exhausting week. The most tiring part is the constant struggle for both us and the children to communicate as our primary language is English and theirs is German. We have some truly wonderful language assistants who help us out when we need them to, but the goal is to communicate without them and to encourage the children to improve their English skills. We have the children from 9 am to 4 pm but many arrive early. Our days are filled with English lesson, crafts, music, dancing, and games. During the week we have a movie night where we invite the children and their families and anyone else we can find to come see an English movie. This year we watched Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the most recent movie based on the Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. This movie also fit well with our theme for the week of Treasure Cove. Many of the children brought friends and enjoyed the popcorn during the movie and the coke floats afterward.
At the end of the week filled with water balloons, zumba, "buying" treats at the tiki hut, and treasure hunts, we had a program for the parents where the children sang songs and performed skits and puppets shows in English. On a very hot afternoon the meeting room of the church was filled with 42 children, well over 80 parents, and all of the helpers and workers from the camp. We heard several times that day and throughout the week how much the children enjoyed camp. One mother was speaking to a church member and asked why this was so different from any other experience her children had had before. This opened the door for her to share about Christ's love.
Honduras (Youth)
Coordinator: Mike Yowler
Dates: Fri June 24, through Sat July 2
Let’s start off with a visual. Imagine holding the beginning of a rope in your hand and the rest of it went on forever. The part you’re holding is about 12 inches of rope which represents earth and the rest which stretches for miles and never ends is eternity. It’s sad that most of us are consumed with those 12 inches. How can we be? Honduras was breathtaking and left us with a hunger for God. His love was evident in every action taken. Our team cared for Honduran needs and provided them with medical needs and with love from Jesus Christ. We learned to express our faith in radical ways. I honestly can say if I could bring back only one piece of information to you, it would be that we need to fight for God. We need to stop being just Christians, doing good works and start being Christ followers. We had the opportunity to evangelize and some wouldn’t allow these Hondurans to leave without knowing they were going to be in Heaven with us someday. How can you allow your brother or sister in Christ to just walk away not knowing God? I share the rope visual because it brings tears to my eyes. How can you be satisfied with living a normal life that’s only, 12 inches long lasting? Look at the rest of the rope in your visual picture. It goes on forever and we still cannot let go of these earthly pleasures.
God’s love is so big that I cannot even express it. The part of the rope that shows eternity is living life with God forever. This life is so short and it makes me sad that we are so unwilling to change our ways for this place here on earth. Honduras helped my team and I to realize that we are in a constant battle for Christ. Satan is trying to win us over daily and he sure tried in Honduras but Christ kept us strong. Not a single person the day I evangelized denied Christ, which was a blessing but most importantly they chose God. It wasn’t because of me; I cannot make these people love Christ but the more seeds we plant in others lives, the more they can choose to love Christ. Hondurans chose Christ during our week there and although the shopping, food and playing with kids hair was a blast, feeling Jesus Christ working in people lives and experiencing it first hand was amazing. If you would ask me if the trip was fun, I would say, not so much fun, but amazing. It was firey and draining because of our constant battle everyday fighting for God. He tells us that we will be persecuted by our neighbor because we are fighting for him, but our reward is eternity with him. Job, Jeremiah and many others fought for God and were broken but still loved their Savior. I thank God for our team and for giving us life with him forever. I encourage you to fight for God and stop holding so tightly to the 12 inches of the rope. Let go and allow yourself to see the bigger picture. Why is this so hard? Let the rope go, seek eternity and love God. Fight for God.
The Team: Jackie Brubaker, Brandon Dull, Matt Godfrey, Tina Godfrey, Ty Godfrey, Crystal Jenkins, Julianne Kuzma, Tyler Lutz, Peter Rowe, Joey Sinopoli, Shannon Wittlinger, Mike Yowler
Philadelphia (Youth)
Coordinator: Mike Yowler
Reaching the homeless on the streets of Philadelphia
Dates: Leaving Sat July 23, returning Sat July 30
The focus of the week, July 23—30 will be to understand God's Kingdom values and compare them to the way the world is now. When the practices of this world do not meet god's standard of love and truth, we want to ask, why not and how can we change that, with God's help. We will be serving the needs of the homeless community in Philadelphia. We will do that by partnering with organizations and ministries already making wonderful efforts to help the poorest families succeed in life. We are looking to God to broaden our worldviews and perspective of life. We are motivated by the love Christ has shown us and want to learn how to love better through our actions. There is still time and room to join this team. For more details, please contact Mike Yowler. mdyowler@comcast.net
