ELEVATE PARENTS. We are serving at God’s Table on Friday, April 20th. From 5:30-7:30. Of course we need some help with our menu. I’m ordering chicken from Shore Stop. You can contribute money for chicken or help with the following menu. 
4 Crockpot or pan of baked Mac n cheese-serves 10-12

2 Industrial size applesauce(104 oz) or enough to serve 40 l(serving size 1/2 cup)

40 dinner rolls

80 Cookies (serving size 2 per person)

Please let me know what you are willing to help with. Thank you. 

Barb Hudson

Today our students got to be college students for a day as we had a campus visit at Mount Vernon Nazarene University. We got to eat in the cafeteria, we got a campus tour, met with some college students to ask questions, and got to hang out on campus for a while. We also got to hang out with Caitie again (last summer’s intern) since she is a student here.

After dinner we went to our last service project called “Feed the Vern”. Feed the Vern is a non-profit that gives out food bags to elementary school kids on Fridays at schools so that they will have food over the weekend. These kids get meals throughout the week at school, but don’t have food for the weekends. This ministry helps make it possible for kids to have food all weekend as well. Our group packed over 400 bags which is enough for the rest of the school year.

Every night of the trip we have group time where we share stories and God Moments from the day, and then the students spend some quiet time journaling about their experiences. Tonight we had an extended time as we shared about the entire week, and ways that we can “Continue the Adventure” when we get home. I (Pastor Derek) encourage all parents to ask their teenagers about their experiences this week (although you may want to wait a day or two for them to rest before you barrage them with questions).

Tomorrow is a travel day, and so this will be the last daily recap. I (Pastor Derek) want to say before I wrap up that you should be very proud of our students. They all had such a sweet attitude and worked hard all week. This has been one of the best groups that I have ever had the privilege to lead on a Missions Road Trip.

We will be heading out early tomorrow morning and we plan on arriving back at LNC by 6:30pm.

Here are a few other pictures from today:

Every morning of this trip we start our day with reciting the “Prayer of St. Patrick”. This beautiful prayer is a commitment and a hope that Christ would be evident in every part of our lives and our day. It is the prayer that the song “Christ Be All Around Me” is based on. And throughout this week it has been amazing to see how our students have taken that prayer to heart and have been used by God to be examples of Christ’s love and attitude of service.

Today we once again worked at LifeCare Alliance. We delivered food to people’s homes, collected groceries for cancer patients, worked in the cafe serving hot food, and wrapped silverware for their catering business (this catering business helps keep their lights on as each year they get less and less grant money).

In the evening we worshipped with the Mount Vernon First Church of the Nazarene’s youth group, “Catalyst”. It was such a cool experience joining with their youth group and hearing some teaching from Pastor Brian on ways to share the gospel that actually works. The highlight was getting to see Caitie who was our summer intern last year.

We kicked off our rainy Tuesday today by serving at LifeCare Alliance in Columbus, OH. This non-profit organization focuses as serving the elderly in the greater Columbus area by delivering food with Meals on Wheels, an on-site cafe, food pantry, and varied medical assistance. This is a big operation that sends out 5,000 meals every day! It was such a great experience for our students to minister to the elderly and be an example for Christ to the workers and fellow volunteers. A few of our students went with Pastor Derek to deliver meals to people in their homes around Columbus. The other students worked with Lora back at the main building organizing food supplies, serving food at the cafe, preparing food, and folding silverware. The students worked hard and had such a positive and fun attitude all day. One of the people who help run LifeCare made a point to come up to Pastor Derek to say that she was VERY impressed with our students in how hard they worked and just how they acted while they were there. She went on to tell how that is often not the case with other groups who come to serve. We are so proud of our students!

After lunch we went to Franklinton Farms which is a network of urban gardens in the middle of the city of Columbus. These types of gardens help residents have access to fresh fruits and vegetables in parts of the inter city where access to these things are slim due to it being a “food desert” (food desert is a term for places in cities where there are no grocery stores or access to fresh foods). Our group had a tour of the farms, and then we helped pull woods in different green houses. It was a neat experience to work on a “farm” while surrounded by an urban environment. One of the gardens was built in what used to be a parking lot by taking a jackhammer to concrete to get to the earth below.

In the evening we went to Easton Mall for the students to get dinner and have some fun time out. Afterwards we ended our day as we always do on MRT’s with group time where we shared stories from the day, and God moments. Then the students had quiet time to journal about their day and experiences.

Here are some other pictures from today:

It has arrived: Missions Road Trip 2018!

Our theme for our trip this year is “Adventure Awaits”, and our theme verse comes from Romans 8:14-15 (THE MESSAGE):

God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go! This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?

We know that God has so much in store for our students on this Missions Road Trip, and we all going into this week with a holy expectation of what God wants to do in us and though us.

Day 1 of MRT 18 has been a day of travel. We traveled through 5 different states (Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio) on our trip today and after close to 12 hours of travel (including stops) we have arrived in Mount Vernon, Ohio at the church we are staying at for the week safe and sound. We have such a great group of students who are already bonding with each on the ride, and were all such good troopers on this lengthy trip. We took time to stop throughout the trip for us to eat and stretch our legs. One of those stops included some time at Cabela’s. You can see some of the fun pictures of that below. It is so cool to already see so many students stepping up to help and be leaders on this trip. Please be in prayer for us this week, and be sure to check back daily to read daily updates on the trip. Blessings!

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ELEVATE’S WINTER RETREAT 2018

This past weekend (February 9-11, 2018) 26 students, 7 adults, and 2 of my own small children traveled north to Black Rock nestled in the hills of Pennsylvania for our 4th annual Winter Retreat. This is one of our “big 3” events of the year, and so we put a lot into this weekend to make it the best experience for students to have fun, but most of all, make space for God to work in their lives in BIG ways. Although it was a rainy weekend, we all had a ton of fun, and most importantly God moved in the lives of our students and they responded. As I always say in these summaries, there is no way that I could fully capture the wonder of the weekend fully in this simple post. This is my humble attempt to give a overall summary of the weekend. I encourage all parents to ask their own teens specifics about the weekend.

The theme of the weekend was “True North”. This is a big topic because what you set as your “True North” affects every decision you make, the direction of your life, and it will determine the person you will become. On Friday evening we kicked things off talking about the “Compass of Your Life”, and what is drawing the needle of your life’s compass (God or worldly things). We also discussed the importance of using a map (God’s Word), and the North Star (obediently responding to God’s leading) in our lives. Students were then dismissed into small groups to discuss and wrestle with the message further.

On Saturday morning after breakfast the students spent time having their own personal quiet time with God. During this time they interacted with the devotional they were given on Friday night that specifically looks at Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. After quiet time we had Family Room. Family Room is a mix of small group, large group and personal reflection time. During this time we discussed what it means to be a “Static Jedi”. Static is anything that keeps you from hearing and responding to God’s calling in your life, and being a Jedi means that you master the “static” and cut through it to hear and respond to God. The students also took an assessment to see what ways they have an easier time connecting with God based on how they are wired. This led to some great discussions on their passions and uniqueness.

After lunch the students had some free time in the afternoon to hike, play in the gym, and play games in the hang out room (sadly, due to the weather we were unable to have a wagon ride this year). Later in the afternoon we kicked off our 4th Annual Rhino Games where students competed as a team in random silly games to earn the right to have their picture put on the Rhino Award and hung in the youth room for the next year.

After dinner we had our evening service where the students participated in a worship experience where we “Looked North”. This service was an experiential worship time where we spent time reflecting on “Experiencing the Creator”, “Experiencing God’s Love”, “Seeing with Jesus’ Eyes”, and “Serving with Jesus’ Hands”. After this service the student reflected and discussed in their small groups.

After small groups we had our Rhino Games Late Night Edition. This year we had a Lip Sync Contest: Disney Edition. It is always great to see the creativity and energy students bring to things like this. At the end we crowned this year’s winning team, “The White Rhinos”. Congrats to Sarah, Amelia, Natalie, Micah, Jack, Kaylee, Sam, Ivanna who won this year.

On Sunday we once again started our time with personal quiet time in God’s Word. For our last service together we talked about “Supplies for the Journey”. We kicked things off by having the students make their own trail mix for the car ride home, and then discussed how weekends like this is like feasting on a spiritual full course meal. However, we can’t stay at retreat feasting like this, we have to go home. So we need sustenance for the journey like our own “spiritual trail mix”. So we talked about what we should put in our “Spiritual Trail Mix” bag: Quiet Time reading God’s Word and Praying, Community, and looking for practical ways to serve. The students also received a card with the global coordinates of Black Rock as a reminder of what God did in their lives this weekend for when they get back into the daily grind of life back home. We ended our time by partaking in the Lord’s Supper together, and each student served the elements to the person behind them as a reminder that we are called to serve, not be served.

This was an incredibly fun and growing experience for students and adults alike. God spoke in powerful ways, and students responded. It was great to see them share their stories, and include each other in activities. Our group grew a lot closer to God, and to each other this weekend.

I want to give a huge thank you to our amazing group of adult sponsors who gave up time with their families, got little sleep, and probably lost a bit of their sanity to minister to our students this weekend. Thank you to Barb, Sarah, Wayne, and Kathy.  They served as small group leaders, drivers, behind the scene helpers, and were always ready to be there to support and listen to a student. I also want to specifically thank Ryan for coming to lead us in worship and also serving in many other ways throughout the weekend. This weekend would not have been possible without their help.

Blessings on you and your families!

Pastor Derek