Here's the team in action!

I write this post from the Happy Church sanctuary, where Timmy C and Olivia M are currently organizing the Happy Church students to perform a skit. Timmy is dressed as a King & Olivia is shouting director's orders. It's VBS Day 3.

Unfortunately, we haven't had more children show up to our VBS. Of course, their is a positive side to this. It enables our students to give more special attention to certain kids. I think just about every team member has a Happy Church kid that they have taken a special liking to. I have a friend Dillen who refuses to leave my side. He gives me hugs about every minute and calls me his 'special buddy'.

Like all of us, kids here at the Happy Church are desperate for love and attention. We are priveleged to lavish it upon them for one week!

A few highlights from the past 24 hours:

• Around 35 kids have been attending our VBS each day. Our team has done a great time leading crafts, games, skits, music, snacks, etc.
• We put an extra amount of responsibility and accountability upon our High School student leaders this year. They have done a really good job leading the Jr. High students. Last night, a Jr. High student called out the HS leaders for the fantastic job they are doing leading and modeling.
• We had a woman from the Happy Church share her testimony with our group last night. She was a 15 year drug addict who came to Christ a year and a half ago. God has rescued her from her addiction. She has been sober for 14 months and has led 9 people to Christ since her conversion.
• We participated in more service projects this morning. Jr. High students got to paint. As you can imagine, that is always memorable.
• Pastor Brian got our rental van stuck in a muddy ditch on the side of the road. A stranger w/ a pick up truck came along and towed him out.

We still haven't had any significant illness or injury. Weather has been great. The days have been sunny - the nights have put on some great Lightning displays! From what I can tell, unity is extremely strong. Some of our veterans even commented that this year's team seems to have a special bond that hasn't been a part of previous trips.

After our VBS today, our team plans to go on a special outing. We will travel up the mountain and enjoy some time taking in the view and feeding some wild horses!

Today is Shannon Hart's b-day (one of our HS leaders). Be sure to wish her well!

We are looking forward to seeing you soon.

Gratitude, Security, and VBS part 2

As I write, the team is outside in the hot weather digging out drainage ditches, sorting clothing, mowing the lawn, installing insulation, - I must admit I am fighting a little guilt. Here I sit in the air conditioned sanctuary writing a blog post! It's difficult being a wordsmith :-).

Our team had a special time last night debriefing yesterday's events. We made some changes and additions to our VBS and anticipate an even better day today. We are praying some of the Happy Church kids will bring friends today.

Shannon Hart (one of our HS leaders) shared a devotional w/ the team on gratitude. In the devotional, she took time to challenge our team to be thankful for friends and family in our lives. So, we took a moment and went around the circle - each person saying someone they are really thankful for. A few students, who shall remain nameless, began to cry as they mentioned a mom, dad, grandpa, brother, sister, or friend who means a lot to them. Some of you got mentioned ;-). It was a special time of realizing how important relationships are in our lives.

This morning, as mentioned, we have been hard at work on campus here at the Happy Church. There were lots of odd jobs for our team to help out with. In about a half hour the shuttles will leave to go pick up children in community. If you find a moment, pray for energy, love, and wisdom to flow from our team.

Mike & Connie Tabor celbrate their wedding anniversary today. If you are friends with them - be sure to send them a congrats.

It might be helpful for you to know that all of the male leaders (Adults, HS, & Tabor Men) did have a security meeting last night. We deduced that the perimeter is very safe and our team is well protected (all of that is code language for: we ate oreos, milk, and had a toast to 5 years of security meetings at the Happy Church). This is a yearly tradition for the male leaders and is always a memory.

The team is all doing well. Spirits are high. Unity is strong. Health is good. Armpits smell.

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement.

Today we got dirty... literally!

We begin by begging your forgiveness for our lack of updates. It can be a challenge to find the time to write a post. We determined today that we will try to avoid big, long recaps of our days - and instead, offer you quick, short posts along the way (a subliminal message to advertise Brian Mease's blog). But, since you have missed a lot - consider this the last lengthy post. Here are some highlights from our time so far:

1. In spite of our late departure, we arrived in time to make the Happy Church service. We walked in the front door and several of our students were met with immediate hugs. I was reminded of Hope Church's heart for 'relational missions'. The kids of the Happy Church remember our students and love to see them return year after year.


2. On Sunday Night we put on a youth service. Our students hung out with Happy Church students. Timmy & Austin led worship. Joseph Metzger got tricked into sitting on a wet sponge. The Happy Church teens surprised our students w/ water balloons. It was a great time of laughing and learning. We closed the night out by learning the story of Ehud. Read it for yourself for a great time.


3. Monday morning we got our VBS set up. Everything made it. No broken pieces.


4. Project 5-2 arrived on Monday afternoon with 35 people from Cincinnati. We weren't anticipating such a large group joining us. It was organized chaos. But, very cool to see so many Christ followers reaching out to this community. Our students had opportunity to deliver food boxes to homes in the community. While at doorsteps, many of our students prayed w/ members of the community. As always, it was a sobering for our team to see the living conditions in Jackson.


5. We have had really neat times at team debfriefs in the evenings. Students have been eager to share their experiences. We tend to follow a format that includes positives (words of encouragment to one another), victories/defeats, what we learned about God, what we learned about mission, Bible study, prayer. Last night we got into an awesome discussion on Ephesians 4. What did Paul mean by 'prisoner for the Lord'? Hmmmm....


6. The Happy Church has a growing relationship with a local Christian School. Yesterday, the Christian school flooded w/ all of the rain. We went mud-tropping this morning to help clean up the mess. We mopped a flooded basement and removed debris from the school yard.


7. We rushed home to jump straight into our first VBS! The day was fantastic. We had 35 Happy Church kids come for our first day. This is a bit less than we were expecting. Of course, we were showing up very early in the morning - so many of them were still sleeping (it was 11:30am). Yes, in Jackson, that's early. Wait, that's early in Mason during the summer!

The team is currently cleaning up from the VBS. They now have some free time to get ready for tomorrow's VBS, take a nap, or relax. The team is pumped for Tacos tonight. One quick note, today's VBS was on the subject of 'Gratitude'. At the conclusion of the day, Happy Church kids were invited to write something they are 'thankful for' on a sticky note. They then took the sticky notes and placed them the cross that sits on the stage.

The Happy Church students wrote down some things that are very encouraging to our team (and hopefully to you): They said they were thankful for: 'The Hope Church'. 'My group'. 'Olivia'. 'Timmy'. 'Todd.' 'Joe'. 'Everyone.' 'Power Rangers.' 'The Ohio Peoples.'

On a sad note: Pray for a girl named Haley. She wasn't in the van for 5 minutes before she had me crying. She is nine years old. Her sister "wasn't coming today because she is in a hospital for cutting.' Her dad died a few weeks ago in a mining accident. Her mom is a drug addict. Haley is responsible to take her brothers and sisters out of the house when her mom is 'snorting.' I end on this note to remind you of the gravity of the situation here in Jackson. These kids are in desperate need of love, hope, and salvation.

Our team is humbled to be here doing our best to "tear a little edge of the corner of darkness." Please pray for Haley. Please pray for the Happy Church. Please pray for our team.

Okay - our book is done. We are going to post some pictures too. From this point forward, quick posts - more often. Thanks for your patience.

Love - the Team.

Day 2

You would think finding 5 minutes to do this would be easy... well it is proving to be quite the struggle! It is actually someting we will try harder to get it moved up the priority list but in the grand scheme it gets lost.

I am going to have the kids add some short blasts throughout the day instead of doing one big recap. Please stay tuned.

Todd

1st Day Highlights...

Rain is good. It offers a cleansing of sorts to roads and makes for a fresh start. We by the time we got to Jackson we were pretty fresh! We rode a storm the entire way but it let up as we arrived. It was great to see our friends at Happy Church and quick recognition led to warm embraces. A great start!

After lunch Pastor Tabor had an orientation for the kids to help them better understand the mission of The Happy Church.

Evening water balloon games served as icebreakers for the High School Youth gathering. Austin and Timmy led worship and Brian delivered an exciting Super-Hero filled recount of Ehud and his adventures!

As the evening ended with our first team meeting, the entire crew was ready for some much needed rest. Let me say there was never a complaint or grumble. This is truly a blessed team. Keep the prayers coming.


HC2011 Team

Todd

Happy Project 2011

Happy Project 2011 is scheduled to depart for Jackson, Kentucky Sunday at 7:00am! Come to the Hope Parking lot for the big send off and have plenty of time to get to your favorite coffee shop or Bob Evans before first service.