Pennsylvania Mission Trip 2011

July 25, 2011

On Monday morning at 6 AM, July 25 nine members of First Baptist Church left for Reading, Pennsylvania on a mission trip to work with Berks Bible Church to reach a public housing complex of nearly 600 families. The members are Duane Caldwell, Susan Hoyle, Nick Blackwelder, Nathan Smith, Cody Andrews, Kathryn Hoyle, Scott Gaffigan, Griffin Evans, and Tony Lanning. The trip up went quickly with the excitement of what God could do through the team during the week. After 10 1/2 hours, we arrived at Berks Bible Church where we were greeted by a group of very hospitable members. We were given a tour of the area in which we will be ministering this week. We were fed a delicious dinner and led back to our host homes. After a trip to WalMart, the guys found their way to their host home while the ladies we taken by their host family to the place they will call home for the next 5 days.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Nick and Cody were up early to go work on a roof for the day while rest of us slept in until 6:30 AM. The rest of the arrived at breakfast at 8 o'clock with Susan and Kathryn arriving about 45 minutes later. We had a devotion and made our final plans for what we thought we would doing for the morning. God's plans and our plans are sometimes not the same. This was one of those times. We were expecting at least 50 kids and hoping for many more. The Backyard Bible Club was scheduled from 10 AM until Noon. Ten o'clock arrived and one kid came with the start of the hour. We were busy setting up sound equipment, tables, tents, and water coolers. Children just were not coming. We opened the Sports Evangelism Trailer from the Pennsylvania State Convention and set up soccer station, giant basketball goals, and water ball barriers to attract kids attention. The Hispanic Pastor begin walk through the neighborhood knocking on doors to invite children, but found many parents still in the bed. Slowly some children were trickling in, but most were younger than we expected. We discovered many children were away a day camp and would not return until 4 PM. That was when we were planning to end for the day. A little after noon, we decided to eat in shifts and continue to make contact with children as they came and maybe build up for one big day on Friday. Just before the first group was going to leave we decided to do some activities with the children who were there. Nathan used his gift of balloon ministry to share the fact that God's truth will set us free. That was followed by a story by Duane that focused on the fact that we can always count on God truth. Susan and Kathryn led the children in a craft where they made Bible book marks. We really made some in roads with these children and their moms. We ate in shifts while we always keep a group at the playground where we were set up. We play basketball, soccer, frisbee, and other games with the children. Scott, Griffin, and Tony were busy sharing the gospel using the Evangecubes we brought with us. Griffin was able to lead a young girl to Christ with his Evangecube. As a final effort for the day, Nathan once again used his balloon ministry (which was the hit of the day) to bring the group of around 45 together to talk about Joy in Jesus. Scott used the giant Evangecube to share the gospel with the group and then he, Griffin, and Tony led them in some songs they learned at Centrifuge. As we were breaking down our setup for the day Nick and Cody arrived at the site after completing their roofing work. We begin to make plans for tomorrow and also deciding to go a profession soccer game we had been invited to after we ate supper. We watched the Reading United Soccer Team lose 1 to nothing which ended their season. We had a great time, but we are tired and ready to get some rest so we can go at it again tomorrow.

Wednesday, July 27

Today was backup and regroup day. We ate breakfast at 9 AM followed by devotions led by Nathan Smith. We then began to debrief from Tuesday make plans for the day. We decided to combine Backyard Bible Club activities with the Sports Clinics. We registered around 75 kids who played basketball and soccer, launched water balloons, put witnessing bracelets together, and listened to balloon stories. Scott and Griffin led two more kids to Christ and who knows how many more we don't know about yet. God is good and does wonderful things through when we follow His plan. As soon as we packed up from the activities with the kids we headed to watched the Reading Phillies play a baseball game where Duane threw out one of the first pitches. The Phillies lost 3-2. Maybe we are not such good luck for them. Everyone is still really pumped up and excited over what God is doing here. Tomorrow is another day the Lord has made and we will rejoice in it.

Thursday, July 28

Today everyone is getting tired, but still pumped. We refocused our plans once again to streamline everything to make sure we put the meat of the gospel in the activities. We began with letting the kids memorize John 3:16, balloon stories, singing, a story of forgiveness, and an overview of how the rest of the day would go. The kids were led by group leaders to activity stations who reemphasized what they had just learned in the opening activity. We brought them back together for a balloon story while we set up for a water war behind them. The kids are wild for the water balloons. After the water war, Cody shared his testimony which was very powerful and then we closed by giving them free gifts of frisbees, basketballs, soccer balls, tee shirts, and hats. We let them know God also has a free gift for them better than these. The day went smoother than the other days. We had over 60 kids register even though it was rainy and overcast the entire time. We had one more kid accept Christ today. That brings us to 4 we know of. We ended the day with a BBQ meal and a time of worship together. Susan and Kathryn moved to the same house the guys are in because their host families daughter was in the process of a miscarriage in New Jersey and left to be with her. Praise God she and the baby are OK for now. I think we finally are getting the hang of what we are doing, but tomorrow is the last ministry day (here). We are planning to see Amish country during the morning on Friday and back for another great time of evangelism in the hood.

Friday, July 29

What plans? On our way back from Amish country, we finalized our plans for today. It would be similar to Thursday since it worked so well. We arrived at the park area around 3:15 and set up. Some of the kids from the Oakbrook Development were there to greet us as we got off the bus. Our youth began to play with kids as they arrived. Our plans were to start at 4PM with about a 30 minute program of testimonies, scripture memorization, songs, and a gospel presentation with decision time. At 3:45, Scott came to the pastor with a young boy he had led to Christ. As that follow-up was taking place, Pastor Duane and Pastor Tim looked up and there were groups all over the play area listening to a gospel presentation by one or more of the youth. God took over, and before the day was over there were 13 professions of faith, one of which was a mom. Regardless to say, we just forgot about our plans and let God have control. His plans are higher and His ways are much greater than ours. I really believe God laughs at our plans. We are to prepare, but be willing to follow his plan. In a play area inside a public housing development that the parents told us was considered unsafe for their children because of past events, God made His stand. Children are now coming to an area God has put His hedge of protection around. Pastor Paz, the pastor of a Hispanic work beginning there, now has much follow-up work to do as we saw 17 professions of faith this week. God is good. We are tired, but spiritually pumped up. We had an opportunity on Friday evening to eat a meal with those involved in the new mission beginning here. We had a meal of authentic Puerto Rican food. it was really good. We then went up on a mountain overlooking Reading to see where God was working in a mighty way. We are going to an annual church picnic tomorrow with Berks Bible Church for a down day, and we are heading home Sunday. To God be the Glory for the great things He hath done.

Pennsylvania Mission Trip 2011 from Duane Caldwell on Vimeo.

For more pictures from the trip, go to www.facebook.com and search for Old Fort First Baptist Church Youth and view the pictures.