Ministry Team

Ministry Team Updates

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June 22
Missionary Home

We woke up this morning and found out that the Perrie's weren't done spoiling us. They took us to Cracker Barrel for breakfast! We can't say thank you enough for their generosity and we really enjoyed spending time with them!

After breakfast we left for New Jersey and Cedar Park Missionary Homes. We were able to get some work done for them while we were there in the afternoon. In the evening we got to attend their church's men's cookout. You just can't beat good food and fellowship in Jesus Christ!

June 21
First two concerts

On Sunday we were fortunate enough to be accompanied by Nate's parents to both of our churches! In the morning we sang at Spruce Street Baptist Church and enjoyed lunch afterwards with several of the youth group and a group of people going to serve at a retirement home. That afternoon we got to go back to Nate's friends' house and relax and nap for a little while before we left for First Baptist Church of Ogden. First Baptist Church of Ogden just so happens to be (the newly married) Jon and Julie Hicks home church as well as Jen Walls! We really enjoyed seeing them again and ministering in their church!

After we got back to the house from the evening service, Mr. and Mrs. Perrie cooked us an incredible steak dinner. His steaks rival any restaurant we've ever been to!

June 20
Reunited!

This morning we each left from a refreshing two week break to meet back up in Philly. We met up with Dr. Stratton around noon and left to go to some friends of Nate that were housing us on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday evening we had a youth activity with the youth group from Spruce Street Baptist Church. We really enjoyed spending time getting to know them and sharing with them Complete In Thee.

May 20
Ultimate Frisbee Champs!

We woke up excited this morning because we knew that Wes had set up a game of Ultimate Frisbee for us this afternoon at Granite Baptist School. After chapel that morning their principal affectionately referred to as "Big Joe" took us to Five Guys to fatten us up before the game. When we got back we waited patiently for their study hall hour to come so we could go play. Of course when it did we decided to take on all 18 people that came out to play. It was the 5 of us against their 18; first team to 5 points wins. We won 5 - 0. Sorry Granite :).

Soon we took off for Church of the Open Door in Westminster, Maryland. We had a lot of fun with their youth group and they seemed to really enjoy having us there.

May 19
Leesburg Christian School

We had another early morning chapel at Leesburg Christian School, but again the students were very receptive of our message and of the school in general. We are very excited to see how God is working in each of the chapel services that we have been able to do. It is exciting to see young people - our peers, get excited about God's Word and get excited about being complete in Christ. We stayed for a while after chapel to have lunch with the students, then drove back out to Glen Burnie, Maryland and stayed with Mrs. Hunter (a member of our board). She spoiled us! We had a great time with her!

May 18
Farewell to our fearless leader

After an awesome first week, Dr. Stratton left us to go back to sunny, warm Florida.

We had an early morning chapel at Frederick Christian Academy. Praise the Lord for the energy he gave each of us. We were able to spend the day with the students at FCA then we drove back to Leesburg, Virginia and watched some of a girls soccer game.

May 17
Laura Mason!

We spent Sunday morning at Faith Baptist Church in Williamsburg, Virginia with Pastor Mike Privett which just so happens to be Laura Mason's church! It was really exciting to see a very familiar face after our first week out. We split up in the college and career class and the teen's class for Sunday school then sang for the morning service. After going to an incredible Chinese/Japanese/Thai buffet for lunch we headed for Harvester Baptist Church in Ellicott City, Maryland for our evening service.

May 16
Youth Group Activity!

Friday night we stayed in a hotel so we got to sleep in. In the evening we had our first youth group activity with the youth group from Faith Baptist Church in Williamsburg, Virginia. In Josh's absence Wes and Nate headed up the activity. We had a lot of fun and the teens really enjoyed our presentation of Complete in Thee. The pastor and his family hosted the four of us that night and we got to know his two daughters Jenna and Joy and his son Josh.

May 15
Greenbrier High School (for real this time) & Drew and Sarah Bates!

After checking the GPS twice to make sure we were headed in the right direction, we set out for Greenbrier High School. We had back to back chapels in the morning: high school followed by middle school. We got to spend three class periods with the seniors and a few juniors talking about Clearwater and giving them some general advice about what to expect from college. Josh had to leave midway through the middle school chapel to catch a flight up to Michigan for Jon Hicks wedding (congrats Jon and Julie!).

We drove back to our hotel and changed and relaxed for a while, then took off to meet up with some more CCC alumni. We had a great time of fellowship (with food of course) with Drew and Sarah Bates, and enjoyed an evening of relaxation and SportsCenter.

May 14
Denbigh Christian High School and You're a Good Man Charlie Brown

This morning we learned how to take flexibility to a new level! Long story short, when we left this morning we entered the address for Friday's school in the GPS. We arrived at Greenbrier High School at 8:15 ready to go and realized we were supposed to be at Denbigh at 8:15 for their chapel that started at 9:15. We arrived at Denbigh at about 9:10; walked in the door, and walked on stage for chapel. Regardless of our tardiness it was a very good chapel. We were again allowed to spend some time with the students in classes talking about Clearwater and just talking with them about college life in general. Mack and Ryan spent most of the class time in the music room (no surprises there I'm sure) talking with their choirs and the piano lab class. Wes and Nate hung out with students in P.E. classes (again: no surprise.) Josh reconnected with a CCC grad that was a good friend of his.

Wes found out that Denbigh was putting on a production of the musical; You're a Good Man Charlie Brown and set it up so that we could go see it. Their students did a fantastic job and we enjoyed the show immensely.

May 13
Bethel Christian School and Good News Baptist Church

Today we got to have chapel with the students at Bethel Christian School then we got to hang out a little bit in their classes and go to lunch with them. Nate went with two of the students and helped them learn In Christ Alone on guitar. Then we went to a senior Bible class where their teacher allowed us to share a brief salvation testimony and then talk about how we each came to Clearwater and talk a little about the school.

In the evening we had an evening service at Good News Baptist Church. The pastor allowed us to have almost the entire service. We sang several pieces and Dr. Stratton gave a challenge from Isaiah 52. It was a very uplifting service, and we believe that God was glorified above all!

May 12
Day Three

This morning we had our second chapel at Sweethaven Christian Academy. God is continuing to bless our efforts and give a good response from all the students and make strong contacts, but most importantly be a blessing to each of them spiritually!

In the evening we had the opportunity to go do a concert for a local retirement community as an outreach with Grace Baptist Church in Hampton, Virginia. We sang for almost an hour and they still wanted to hear more! Praise the Lord that He gave us the opportunity to be a blessing to our senior saints!

We split up and went to various church members homes from Grace Baptist. Mack was able to connect with friends from many years ago who are finishing deputation and on their way to Cambodia!

May 11
First Chapel

This morning we had our first chapel of the summer! We have a lot of new ideas and plans for our chapels this summer and we are very excited for the potential we see. The students were very energetic and responded very well to our message!

May 10
Travel Day!

Our morning started out very early. For four of us it started at about 6:30 a.m. when we had planned on leaving the school. Nate got some extra sleep because of a convenient alarm "malfunction." We arrived safely at Dr. Stratton's hotel around 4 p.m. in Sumter, South Carolina.

Praise the Lord we had a fantastic service in Sumter Bible Church. God provided where we lacked and gave us energy to minister to the people. May our great God be praised!