Middle School Camp, 1st night

So we have arrived at the Blue Ridge Assembly last night around 4 PM. students did great on the ride up, with only one stop for lunch. we got situated into our rooms, had our 1st rec group meeting and headed to dinner. The excitement was big. The doors opened for our 1st night session at 7:25. We are literally jam packed in the Chapel. God has really taken us by surprise with the amount of student that joined us at camp this year. Over 40 more compared to last year!!! Being in a room that seats 200 with almost 200 people here feels amazing.

We started off with some weird game time followed by some super

worship brought to us by the Tyler Gardner Band. The kids jumped right in and the atmosphere was electric. Songs like Go, Take it All, Came to my rescue and Your Love never fails brought our students and leaders fully in. Some of us sang so hard, our voices are kinda gone :)

Pastor Dwayne smith brought a message on the CHOICES made in Middle School and challenged our student to choose Christ, as the only and the best choice. Our students were invited into a life of UNASHAMED WORSHIP to the One who died and rose again for us - JESUS CHRIST. By the end of the night 8 students made decisions for Christ. God is moving big already in our group and we are only one night in.

Worship was followed by family group times where students got to share what God has spoken into their hearts and where He is at work in them right now.

At 10 PM it was our LATE NIGHT event. We were going to take students on a walk to the lake where s'mores by the bonfire were going to be on the menu. The rain came down pretty strong starting at 10:00, the fire would not catch… So we had a choice to make, WE HAD TO have the s'mores, so we asked the YMCA staff if we could use their fireplace in the lobby. It was done. We stayed in and enjoyed some yummy s'mores. Closed the night with a cute little line some of our leaders made: “come get your s'more then get in groups of three or more, head out to your room and snore.”

11:30 PM, our students went to their rooms and we called it a night. A great sweet and awesome night. I imagine everyone is asleep right now and soon will be waking up and head to breakfast.

Pray with me for our group this weekend. Pray for a great day today and tomorrow. Pray for good weather as they had rain here this week. Kids are having fun and loving it here already. Pray above all that God continues to open hearts and change lives more and more as we go thru our camp.

I can't wait to see what happens today!

Blessings,

Flav and the HSM staff

MS 2012 SUMMER CAMP REC TEAMS

Red		Purple
FLIP JOHNSON		BRIAN METZDORF
Ahern	Katelyn	Seagraves	Valerie
Bridger	Sara	Tidwell	Kayla
Brown	Abby	Whitwell	Riley
Cooksey	Mary Katherine	Moye	Jonathan
Bennett	Sophie	Sammons	Nick
Bradberry	Maci	Spain	Andy
Coffield	Noah	Norton	Marshall
Edwards	Mark	Oluwadare	Tope
Bailey	Jesse	Pritchett	Tyler
Brumbelow	Brady	Rodriguez	Jordan
Bullock	Nash	Rogers	Jamie
Beasley	Alex	Stokes	Graham
		Davlin	Lauren
Najjar	Sarah	Wesley Smith
Pink		White
JAKE GLOVER		MIKE DICKINSON
Donatucci	Ashley	Turner	Hallie
Evers	Amy	Vande	Rachael
Dickinson	Lilly	Strickland	Allen
Dills	Jodi	Strickland	Luke
Brisby	Morgan	Thompson	David
Coffield	Sarah	Valenzuela	Fabio
Fabricant	Wyatt	Vance	Christian
Gedgoudas	John	White	Joel
Charron	Caleb	Walker	Nicholas
Dubose	Jake	Birkbeck	Cole
Dickinson	Jacob	Stewart	David
Forrester	Caleb	Golden	John
Brandon Pedraza  Raphael Latimore		Dajuste    Rebecca
Blue		Teal
CHRIS HOLLAND		JIM PEEVY
Foskey	Avery	Woodward	Grace
Fanczi	Sarah	McDaniel	J. Connor
Goodman	Rebecca	Reid	Gabrielle
Grove	Brooklyn	Saunders	Jordan
Crabtree	Brooklyn	Taylor	Miranda
Foskey	Lauren	Terry	Jessica
Glover	Joe	Provence	John
Gutierrez	Miguel	Riddett	Jackson
Etheridge	Elijah	McGee	Chase
Evans	Eli	Mikle	Chase
Glover	Ben	White	Jacob (Jake)
Henderson	Nash	Wiggs	Taylor
Maxwell	Lawson	Rank	Andrew
Pedro Monterosa
Green		Yellow
DEREK SPAIN		KARL RIDDETT
Gedgoudas	Maddy	Sammons	Madison
Henderson	Lauren	Williams	Virginia
Howard	Lauren	Moye	Rebecca
Korbien	Jasmin	Palmer	Jillian
Gibson	Alyssa	Mezzles	Hannah
Haverty	Kaitlyn	Provence	Mary Rose
Hutchison	Christopher	Palmer	Bryant
Hymes	Joe	Peevy	Carter
Fabricant	Marshall	Johnson	Sutton
Franklin	Joseph	Lawson	Daniel
Hubbard	Joseph	Penn	Leo
Kellum	Will	Taffar	Silas
Vargas	Mateo	Bailey	Anderson
Cassidy Irizarry		Jennifer Lopez
Black		Orange
JOHN MCGEE		JIM GLOVER
Holland	Olivia	Oluwadare	Yetunde
King	Emily	Rodriguez	Jackie
Martinez	Aylin	Miller	Becca
Merrill	Brittany	Mills	Samantha
Headley	Meredith	Killian	Jena
Holland	Carson	Manus	Jordan
Kennedy	Logan	Moyers	Michael
Metzdorf	Trevor	Oliver	Daniel
Goodman	Daniel	Holliday	Ryan
Hedgepeth	Andrew	Johnson	Slone
McDaniel	Austin	McMann	Nick
McMann	J.C.	Oliver	Drew
Dajuste	Ketsia	Clayton Hopkins

Ally Findlay

Middle School Camp 2012 is tomorrow!!!

It's packing time!!! :) Camp is here. Tomorrow morning, over 180 of us are heading to the YMCA Blue Ridge Assemby in Black Mountain, North Carolina for the #WeirdMSCamp2012. Check in will be in the Hebron Chapel at 10:30 AM. Can't wait to see everyone in the morning! :)

UK Mission Update 7 (the last one...)

Howdy!
(apparently this is how all English students think Americans say hello...)

We've had a great final day here in Middlesbrough, UK! We were back at The King's Academy bright and early this morning. Today we had years 10 and 12 in a morning assembly. The message was the same as yesterday, "Aim Higher" from Isaiah 40. After the assembly we rushed into our second day of classes.

Teams presented to a wide range of ages. Some classes were with 12 and 13 year olds. Others were 17 and 18 year olds. These were a separate set of students from those who we presented to yesterday. Students hit our team with a lot of tough questions today. Some examples include:

Why do Christians believe in a six-day creation given the scientific evidence to suggest otherwise?

Do you have to do certain things and live in a certain way to be a Christian?

Who or what is the Anti-Christ?

Do Christians believe Jesus is coming back? When?

Why did God command the killing of people in the Old Teatament?

Do you have to be baptized to receive salvation in the Christian faith?

(and soooo many more)

Our teams did great under pressure and gave a reasoned and scriptural answer to the questions presented. In total, through these presentations we have been able to share the Gospel with hundreds of students. The vast majority are not believers. On fact, as our team totaled up the number of Christian students we encountered during our time here, the number must be less than 10 (excluding those we met at church on Sundy). Hopefully God will take the seeds we have planted and draw these students to Himself!

Afterward class time, we ate lunch in the cafeteria and hung out at the play yard with the students during free time. Our accents and life in another country make us a spectacle. We were swarmed by students. They asked us dozens of questions and wanted us to repeat words in our accents. Taylor even took song requests... Look for the video on Facebook soon.

We left The King's Academy and headed back to downtown Middlesbrough. We were scheduled to help with some games in the park, but we got rained out this afternoon. Instead, we went to Starbucks (we needed some America in our lives) and did a team debrief. It was incredible to hear our team talk about serving God in this difficult environment and all that God had taught them through it. I know they can't wait to tell you all about it when they get home!

Speaking of home, we are coming back to Atlanta, USA tomorrow! While everyone on the team agrees the trip should be a couple of days longer next year, they are looking forward to getting back tomorrow. We'll make sure to call once we get to Boston if we hit any delays along the way.

Pray for safe travels as we return. Pray for Middlesbrough and the whole Teeside region of England. Pray that God would draw these people and this nation to Himself. Pray for the students we have shared the Gospel with. Pray that God would radically save them and change their lives.

See y'all soon!

Steve

UK Mission Update 6

Hello Again!

We have had the best day yet on our trip to the UK. Today we were in "The King's Academy". This is a charter school that was founded upon a Christian ethos 60 years ago, though they are quick to say that they are not a Christian school. We met up with Mike Taylor, the head of UK/USA Ministries, and went straight to work. The morning started with a large group assembly. I spoke to the "Year 8 and 9" group and Mike spoke to the "Year 7" group. The theme of the assembly was "Aim Higher". We were able to share explicitly from God's Word why students needed a relationship with Jesus Christ in order to "Aim Higher".

At The King's Academy we had been given permission to share anything about Christianity and God's Word that we wanted. The only thing we were asked not to do is give an altar call or evangelize (help students to make faith decisions). After the assemblies, we were off to classes. In England, Religious Education is mandatory in all schools. This is mainly to promote pluralism and inclusion, though it provides an awesome platform to talk about having faith in Jesus Christ.

Our team was split into three groups to go into classes. Teams led a brief quiz about Christianity in the 21st Century (this was our assigned topic). Afterward, our students were able to share their testimony about becoming a Christian. Then we broke into small groups and led discussions about the most difficult questions Christianity faces in couture today. Students were allowed to ask any questions they wanted about Christians. Here are some that they asked:

Why does God allow bad things to happen?

Is it ever right to take a life? Is capital punishment okay?

Does God approve of war?

How can you believe in a God you have never seen, touched, or actually heard?

How do you hear from God?

What do Christians think about gun control?

Is premarital sex okay for Christians? Why not?

How do you become a Christian?

And many, many, many more questions...

Many of these questions were covered in our pre-trip training and we were able to answer intelligibly from the scriptures. Even more important, most teams were able to turn the conversation toward the Gospel. As I wrote earlier, The King's Academy is not a Christian school. Most students were wide open in telling us they do not believe in Jesus. Many others shared that they are from another faith (Islam, etc.) This is a dark place spiritually, but the truth is getting through! Several teams were able to make Gospel presentations in each class period. While we cannot call for a decision, many of these students now have the knowledge they need to know how to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ. With UK/USA Ministries partnerships Youth for Christ and many local churches, we hope that these students will soon cross the line of faith and become followers of Jesus Christ!


We'll have one more day at The King's Academy tomorrow. Pray for the new groups of students that we will be with tomorrow. Pray that they would come with open hearts and curious minds. Pray that our team finishes this trip strong tomorrow. Pray that the Gospel would flourish here in Middlesbrough, UK!

Steve

ps - Sorry, no pictures today. We cannot take cameras into the school.

UK Mission Update Four

Hello from the Tees Valley! It has been a long, but fun day here in the UK. We started early this morning walking to Beech Grove Primary School. This school recently received a name change and some renovations in an attempt to beat the school's poor reputation here in Middlesbrough. As we walked toward the school our team passed dozens of homes that have been condemned by the local government in an attempt to rid the community from some of its worst citizens. Honestly, we didn't know what to expect. Our goal in going to the school was to host a program called, "The Games". With the Olympics being in London this year, this program is designed to take students through a full day of activities and subtlety insert Christian themes. We had all the school's "Year 4" students for the day. They were divided into host countries like China, Brazil, and Canada to represent the countries that participate in the Olympics. We were divided into three zones. There was a Discovery Zone in which students could had a series of different experiences including hearing the story of Zacchaeus. There was another zone dedicated to creativity in which students had to come up with the beat of a rap song using the lyrics of the Bible's creation account. In the sport zone, we interacted with the students a played a number of olymipic-style games. During the closing ceremony we taught the children, "He's Got The Whole World in His Hands" and "This Little Light of Mine". We recapped the story of Zacchaeus and reminded them that Jeus loves them whether they are big or small or wherever they find themselves in life.

(Sorry there are not more pictures. Strict school rules prohibit us from photographing children.) It was a full day, but a great one. We were able to plant several seeds in these students hearts about God's love and hope that can be found in Jesus Christ. Tomorrow we head over to the The King's Academy. We are told that we can do everything short of actually presenting an altar call. Pray for open doors, open hearts, and God's favor as we go. We'll be doing assemblies and teaching in classrooms. Pray for the students that will be sharing their testimonies. Pray for lives to be changes through the power of the Gospel here in Middlesbrough! Steve

UK Mission Update Four

Hello Again Everybody!

Today was a cultural experience as our team attended Sunday morning worship at St. Barnabas Anglican Church.  You may have heard that most churches in England are nearly empty on Sunday mornings, but St. Barnabas had a packed house in two services today.  We came for coffee between the first and the second services in the fellowship hall.

It was "Scout Sunday" in which the church recognizes the Explorer Scouts (like our Boy and Girl Scouts).  In an earlier service the church commissioned a team made up of scouts and doctors on mission to Ghana later this month.  The Fellowship Hall was buzzing with people talking about the trip and the scouts.  We had some great opportunities to meet people and talk about church-life at St. Barnabas.  Then we were off to the second service.

The second service of the morning was a monthly service dedicated to families.  It was a lot like a Vacation Bible School in atmosphere.  There were puppets, skits, flags, dancing, and hand actions (not to be mistaken for motions which refer to bowel movements here in England... another team made that mistake here in Teeside).  At the beginning of the service the church called our team to the front and prayed over us.  Later on, Bryson and I had the privilege (and embarrassment) of being called out to lead worship with the children doing hand actions with flags.  We did get to sing a few Chris Tomlin songs and worship God in the same way many of us would have in back home.

(The man in black has been dubbed the British Duke Forster)

We have come to understand that one of our roles here is to encourage those ministering here.  This is a tough field to win people to Christ.  We've been told numerous times that our presence and partnership mean a lot to those serving in Middlesbrough.  

After a great service and fellowship we met up with another team serving here from Southcrest Church in Newnan, GA and went to Whitby, UK.  Among other things Whitby is known as the place Captain James Cook set sail from when he discovered Australia, the place where the official date for Easter was set by the church, and the place where some of the English claim Dracula is buried.  We walked the streets of this historic town and got to experience some of the ancient ruins of a monastery.  It was in the shadow of the town's Abbey, overlooking the coast that we participated in the Lord's Supper.

We finally got a chance to try one of the local delicacies... Fish and chips.  Pretty impressive...

Finally, we wrapped up the day by loading back onto the buses and meeting in our teams on the drive back.  We had a lot to game plan for.  For the next three days we will be in schools!

Pray that as we head to the schools, students would be curious about God and open to the truth.  Pray that students would ask questions about faith.  Pray that God would allow us to plant seeds for the Gospel in students lives.

Steve