Living Sacrifices

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of traveling to Tampa, FL with our high school youth group (clarification: I went as a sponsor....not as someone who wishes to re-live my high school years!!) We knew we would be "doing inner city mission work" but beyond that we had few details.

Our challenge to the youth was this: to be living sacrifices & to honor one another above yourself.

Common Ground Christian Church is a new church plant in the heart of Tampa. They minister to a very diverse community (roughly 1/3 white, 1/3 hispanic and 1/3 african american). We were blessed to call their building "home" for the week (complete with a shower trailer in the parking lot!).

Our mission was 2-fold.
1.) Work project: Home repair for Cheryl (paint house, repair gutters, landscape, etc.) during the days
2.) Community outreach: Vacation Bible School in a low-income apartment complex in the evenings

The week was AWESOME!
Our group of kids worked very hard on the home repair, and it turned out great!!
They stepped right into their roles for the VBS and had a great time ministering to the children (40 some of them on one evening) who came.

As you will see on the video (we put this together to share with our home congregation), we took in some of the local fun, too. A trip to the beach for ice cream, dinner on the "Taco Bus" , and our big outing to a theme park.

This was an especially fun trip for me BECAUSE BROCK WENT, TOO!! I have been on 6 other mission trips. (Chad and I went together on 2 of them) but this was the FIRST one that I had the opportunity to share with one of my own kids!! I am convinced, now more than ever, that we should plan some family mission trips in the future! Any ideas?

Enjoy the video. You may not know the kids in it, but hopefully you will appreciate their heart and their willingness to serve. One quick explanation: As part of our "cultural" experience, the pastor of Common Ground took us to a Sunday evening worship service at CrossOver Community Church ( a hip-hop church nearby). The worship was so fun. And I can honestly say that I have never felt so welcomed into a church that I have visited! Our kids were most fascinated, though, with the spontaneous session of breakdancing after church let out for the evening. You'll see what I mean!