On July 7th -15th, I had the
great privilege of leading a team of students and adult leaders on a mission
trip to Chicago, IL. Many people in our
church and people from churches around the United States were financially
supporting and praying for our team as we prepared for and engaged in this
mission endeavor. The Mission
organization that our team partnered with is called Leader Treks. One
distinctive of this organization is that they focus on developing students into
Christian leaders to fulfill the Great Commission. As a result of this distinctive, our students
planned, prepared, led, and carried out both manual work projects as well as
relational ministry. |
Another unique aspect about this organization is that
they have long term partnerships with local churches. On our trip, the cement we laid, the garage
we restored, the landscaping we labored through, and the deck we repaired were
for non believers in the immediate neighborhood of the local church that we partnered
with. Our team was prepped and ready to
explain that everything we did was to point people to Christ as an extension of
the ministries of First Christian Church of Chicago. Because of this, our ministry both in work
projects, as well as the evening relational ministry that we led, has a lasting
impact, reaching far beyond our departure.
The people we served and shared the gospel with in that community are
now able to connect with FCC of Chicago and receive a deeper understanding of
the gospel, get discipled, enjoy fellowship and the support of the local church
body.
In my opinion,
the mission trip was extremely fruitful.
God worked both in our lives and in the lives of those we interacted
with. I was humbled and excited to watch
God work in such evident ways. Because
of this I want to share with you statements from our team as a response to the
concluding question of our trip, “What did you see God do this week?” Here they are:
-“God made it so I was able to get over my shyness of
talking to others”
-“God has taught me leadership, discipline, and has
given me trust again.”
-“God showed me how to serve and really helped me to
have a better perspective.”
-“God stretched and unified our group. Students took risks in His strength and
displayed His grace in both physical and spiritual ways.”
-“I built relationships and learned from examples of
the way others love and serve. I was
blessed to see others grow!”
- “God let us finish three houses because He gave us
energy to do it!”
-“God showed us to serve with humility and to love
each other, through our struggles.”
-“The Lord actually answered my prayer in the way I
asked and faster than I thought possible in the way He changed the hearts of
these students into leaders and stretched them to be vulnerable.”
-“God listened to our prayer and stopped the rain long
enough for us to get our work done and we all grew closer to Him.”
-“God pulled all of the adventures together and got us
through them successfully.”
-“God held off the rain just long enough for us to
finish the concrete. We finished the
garage and the stairs and the garden and we were successful at VBS and the
Grill-Out.”
-“It doesn’t matter who made the mistake just how we’re
going to fix it.”
-“God showed me how to serve and really helped me to
have a better perspective.”
-“God gave us all energy to work hard.”
-“God made me a servant and held me to my personal
goals.”
-“I’m not sad anymore.
Thank God! He made me want to
bring those I care about to Him.”
Thank you all for your prayer and support for us and
our students!
~Trev
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