Mission Serve Blog
Latest Updates from Mission ServeJeffersonville – Sunday
Happy Sunday!
The Jeffersonville project has officially begun! Today, churches rolled into Indiana from Texas, Illinois, and Alabama, joining a church from North Carolina that arrived early, along with the students of FBC Jeffersonville-our host church! From the moment these churches gathered together, you could see a connection already forming and you could feel the excitement for the week radiating off of them. It’s such a sweet sight to look at these participants and see how much they love Jesus and serving others!
Tonight, we had a short worship service before our participants met their squads for the week. The worship was powerful, and the message simple. Our speaker, Tony, who is also our awesome PC, spoke on following Jesus and realizing that there is nothing we can do to make ourselves right in any way. He had everyone repeat, “I’m a mess.”, until it echoed in the sanctuary. He stated, “I’m a mess, you’re a mess, everyone’s a mess.” He said this to point out the simple fact that we’re dirty and we can’t clean ourselves up, we can’t fix ourselves–only Jesus can. So why not accept His free gift of salvation, which will wipe away all the dirtiness and messiness as if they were never there to begin with, and follow Him? Tony dared us to leave behind the grime of sin and start a new life of following Jesus, allowing Him to remake us and lead us through life.
After worship, our participants broke off into their separate youth groups for a short devotion time before gathering together again to meet their squads. The excitement in the room was palpable as everyone sat down to meet each other and learn about their work site. I can already tell that this is going to be such a great week! I can’t wait to see what God does in and through these participants!
Please pray for these sweet people as they start their week tomorrow! This week will be full of hard work, but I know it will be such a rewarding experience for them all! There is nothing like sacrificing your time to see the lives of others changed in the name of Christ!
Don’t forget to send your friends and family attending the project here in Jeffersonville a word of prayer or encouragement through ServeMail!
Your Summer Staff,
Madi & Chad
Puerto Rico Week 2 – Saturday
Bueno from Saturday in Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico!
All of our groups arrived and checked in today to start their week. We are so happy that every church safely got here and is excited to be here! We are so thrilled to see what this week holds in store of each one of us and Puerto Rico.
Tonight, Project Coordinator Steve lead us in an opening orientation before the band lead us in worship. After worshiping together, speaker, Coach Rusty, dared us to leave the stuff we brought with us at home. He encouraged us to recognize whatever hinders us from experiencing this week and God’s love and leave it behind. He wants us to also recognize that we are all messed up and everyone has garbage, but nothing is too big for Christ. Christ took all of our garbage on the cross!
This week is already off to a great start! Tomorrow we will worship at our local church Iglesia Bautista El Mesias. After worship we will all join together for lunch. It will be such an awesome experience to worship in Spanish and English. It is so crazy how connected we are and that God is God of all!
After lunch, our youth will also split into squads and get to know one another better. It will be a jammed packed day of meeting new people and making new friends. It is just another awesome perk of a Mission Serve project!
Please keep our participants and the city of Juana Díaz in your prayers. Also, show your love and support through sending ServeMail which will go straight to our participants Mission Serve mail box!
We hope you all have had a blessed Saturday!
Your Summer Staff,
Olivia and Claire
Puerto Rico Week 1 – Friday
Hello from Juana Díaz!
Today was the very last day of the work week. It was a satisfying day of finishing worksites but everyone was so sad having to say goodbye to their homeowners. Squads made friends with not just their homeowner, but their neighbors. They have made so many new friends within and outside of their squads. The relationships made here will never be forgotten!
Tonight, was our closing celebration. We recognized everyone who helped make this week possible such as cooking team, band, coordinators, runners, construction captains, squad leaders, and volunteer staff. Without them we could not have completed this project! Jared also gave a message about caring what you have learned and felt here back home with you. He wanted to remind everyone that they do not have to be on a mission trip in order to spread the gospel and be one with the body of Christ. Every day should be an opportunity to serve others!
We are preparing for the bittersweet goodbyes that tomorrow brings as everyone heads home. This is week has been one that no one will forget. We are so grateful for all of the prayers that you all have sent our way. Please continue to keep Juana Díaz in your prayers as well.
We hope everyone had a fantastic Friday!
Your Serve Staff,
Olivia and Justin
Walterboro – Friday
It’s Finally Friday from Walterboro!
Today was the last day of our work week. All of our worksites were completed today and we are so proud of the hard work that each of our participants were able to accomplish this week! This evening, a large number of our homeowners joined us for supper and worship. It was so nice seeing them off of the worksite and each squad was super excited to be able to break bread and worship the Lord with their new friends.
Tonight, we recognized all of the people who helped make this project happen. We are so very appreciative to our Coordinators, Cooking Team, Supervisors, Volunteers, Construction Captains, Squad Leaders, Runners, Speaker, and Band! After recognize our awesome team, Speaker Trey spoke about carrying our love and service home with us. He wanted us to remember to constantly keep God in our hearts and actions. It was a great message!
We said our goodbyes and shed a few tears tonight as we pack up to leave tomorrow. We pray that each youth group had a great time and safe travels. Thank you so much for keeping our participants in your prayers this week. We truly could not have done this without all of your support!
Have a blessed summer!
Signing Off,
Jenna and Sam
Washington, DC – Friday
IT’S FINALLY FRIDAY HERE IN WASHINGTON, D.C.!
Today was our final work day on the jobsites and everyone has done a fantastic job! All of our squads were able to finish their projects and we are super proud of all our participants.
After everyone returned to the church for the evening, we had our final dinner together and began our closing celebration! We recognized our coordinators, construction captains, squad leaders, cooking team, the band, volunteers & supervisors! We are so thankful for all our adults who have taken on leadership roles this week, they are a big help when it comes to making all this possible.
This evening many of our homeowners joined us for dinner and worship. It was extremely nice to see them off the worksites and each squad was very excited to worship the Lord with new friends. During worship, our speaker, finished off the week by daring us to go home and live like Christ.
As everyone one packed up, goodbyes were said and hugs were received. We are all so sad to leave tomorrow morning but all of our participants cannot wait to go home and tell about their week here in Washington, DC.
Thank you so much for keeping this project and everyone here in your prayers this week. This would not be possible without all your support. God truly did amazing things in our students lives this week and we hope they hold on to them forever.
Signing off from Washington, DC…
Your Summer Staff,
Jack & Jordan
Birmingham – Friday
Fri-YAY!
Today was the last day of working and our squads KILLED it! The squads that didn’t finish yesterday afternoon finished late this morning! Everyone worked so hard this week, and since they all finished early, each squad treated themselves to lunch out and an afternoon of rest and hanging out around the church!
It was so great to spend this week hanging out and getting to know these awesome people here at the Birmingham project! This project was special to me because I was a participant at the Birmingham project in 2017. I loved getting to see it from the other side and getting to spend time with the coordinators I had at that project two years ago. This week was such a blessing!
Tonight, worship was no exception from every other night. The presence of God was clearly felt, and I thank Him for using our band and speaker the way He did this week. We were so blessed by the messages brought to us this week, by both band and speaker. Tonight, Justin spoke on the “tiny”, as he put it, little man-Zacchaeus. He read Luke 19:11-10. What stuck out to me the most was what he said about verse 10, which says, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost.” Jesus came through town, and though he saw many people he sought out Zacchaeus, just like He does with those that are lost. He sees everyone but seeks out those who don’t know to seek Him back. That is such a beautiful reminder of how amazing Jesus is and how much He loves us. Not only does He do that for those that are lost now, but He did that for you and me, too. Isn’t He wonderful?
To close out the week, Justin dared us to go home and live like Jesus, to seek out the people in our lives that are not saved. He dared everyone to go home and live in such a weird way that the world will not understand why they do what they do. He said, “Following Jesus is simple to understand, but it isn’t easy to execute.” How true that is. I pray this week helped everyone at this project find the courage in Christ to follow Him with everything they have, even when it seems impossible to do.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers this week! God heard them and we felt them. He blessed this project and every person that was a part of it! Please pray for safe travels as our groups head home tonight and tomorrow morning!
Your Summer Staff,
Madi & Chad
Walterboro – Thursday
Happy, happy Thursday!
Today, our squads headed back out to sites after a restful and fun afternoon off. The weather was pretty hot today with the sun shining down, but everyone drank water, stayed hydrated, and kept up a positive attitude.
Tonight, the band and speaker lead a powerful and emotional Concert of Prayer. This service is a time of prayer, worship, and inward reflection of the week and one’s walk with Christ. This service is a beautiful time where God’s presence is truly felt and the atmosphere is totally focused on God. It’s amazing to what God has put on the hearts and minds of participants during this time. We also collected offering tonight, in which we received over $1,800 to put towards Hurricane Relief in Puerto Rico. We praise God for this amazing amount to be put to His work.
Tomorrow, the squads head out for their last day of work and to finish up their projects. It’s amazing to see the work that God has done this week! Be sure to send a final word of encouragement to your participants through ServeMail!
Always thankful,
Jenna and Sam
Birmingham – Thursday
Washington, DC – Thursday
All of our squads are close to being done with their projects! A few squads will finish early tomorrow morning and then head over to the other worksites to help finish others. Everyone is making GREAT progress. All of our squads got a lot of work done right before the rain storm hit this afternoon. We are looking forward to finishing up all the projects tomorrow!
Later this afternoon, we had our final group leader and construction captain meeting. We are SO THANKFUL for all the adults how have taken on a leadership role this week as a squad leader or construction captain. They are awesome!
Tonight was the Concert of Prayer, and it was a powerful moment of seeing God’s hand at work. Various songs and scriptures from throughout the week converged into one dare for the night: to accept God’s commission, or call, on your life. God moved in the lives of many of our participants tonight, and watching Him work was so powerful.
Tomorrow is going to be a GREAT day, we cannot wait to finish out our projects in the afternoon and close out with our closing celebration in the evening. Bittersweet goodbyes to come, so many new relationships were formed this week!
Please continue to support our students through prayers and sending us ServeMail! Thank you so much for all your encouragement this week! Come back tomorrow for our final post!
Your Summer Staff,
Jack & Jordan
Rockingham Co. – Thursday
Hello, hello! It’s Thursday here in lovely Rockingham County, NC and so much is happening. Upon jumping back into work, several squads were able to finish their projects yesterday. As a result of this hard work, we are now able to complete two additional houses this week. In total we will be repairing 20 individual houses, most of which have at least two jobs at each site. Isn’t that incredible?
We have heard so many stories about just how fantastic worksite devotions have been this week. The students have really opened up in their time together and have formed tight knit relationships within their squads. Both homeowners and the generous people within the community who are serving lunches have even joined in on the fun and have shared their stories as well!
In addition to this good news, several students have heard the call, and made the decision to give their lives to Christ! As a result, we will be having a special time of baptism so that these individuals can publicly profess their newfound faith. We anticipate this being an exciting time of celebration, and we look forward to sharing the photos and videos after.
In the evening, Brandon spoke on how there are four chairs that represent a place where each person in their relationship with the Lord. He explicitly articulated the gospel and challenged every individual in the room to evaluate which theoretical chair they are sitting in. It was a great time of reflection and response.
Following our time or worship, we were fortunate enough to receive a sweet treat from our local churches. We had a luau and the churches brought several flavors of homemade ice cream for us all to enjoy. We have had 18 different churches who have served us so well as we serve within this community!
It has been an incredible week, but there is still more that God wants to do with the coming day. Thank you for your ongoing prayers, please continue to do so as we finish strong and continue to carry out God’s commission on our lives.
Be sure to send your last bit of ServeMail!
Check in tomorrow, you won’t want to miss it!
Your Summer Staffers,
Jackson & Alexis
