Disguised Christ - Outreach Camp 2014

There are times in life that you are privileged to do one thing or another, and once the privileged time is over you're sad to see it gone, yet thankful that you were able to be a part of it.  Being Camp Pastor for Outreach Camp was an awesome experience for Pamela and I.  We spent most of the week, day and night, with a group of eight to twelve year olds who can't usually afford to go to a  week long camp.  Some of them come with only the clothes on their backs.  Some of them come bearing their parents', or grandparents', shame that they've placed on them on a daily basis.

Being ridiculed by those who are supposed to love them, it's rare they see adults who dote on them the love Christ has for them.  They stand amazed that these "cool" adults would take time out for them, and make them laugh, pray for them and give them encouraging words all week long.  We take so much for granted sometimes.  I have it so well, and my kids have it so well.  It was such a stark contrast to see kids that people don't love selflessly.

There's a whole population of children out there in the world who don't have that same safe refuge that most of us grew up with, knowing those who are in charge of us had our backs.  Some of these kids have to create their own safe places.  Places of hard living where no other person is going to intimidate them. Places where that little child is going to be harder, tougher and meaner than his or her surroundings.  It's a tough thing to see a ten year old with a hard heart because they've grown up in harsh environments.

There was a morning, where after breakfast the deans of the camp told every camper, in fun, that they couldn't leave the mess hall until they smiled at the Camp Pastor with their biggest, cheesiest grins.  Pamela  and I sat at the end table and smiled big goofy smiles at the campers as they were leaving to go to devotion time.  We had our biggest cheesiest grins we could muster at such an early morning.  Each one that went by flashing their best snaggle-toothed grins, I complimented each of them on how beautiful their smiles were.  There were several though, of these tough-skinned kids that weren't going to smile if the world's security depended upon it.  I chased one little girl out of the mess hall teasing her that she was going to smile at me whether she liked it or not!  She liked the attention, because as we walked out and I'm smiling so big my face was cramping, a grin began to creep across her stone-walled face.  Her eyes lit up, and for the rest of the week that little girl couldn't help but smile at me when I saw her.

A smile is such a simple thing, but when given to a child who has lived a pretty hard life it becomes priceless.  It becomes a bridge from your happy world into theirs.  Many such bridges were engineered and constructed this week at Outreach Camp.  Many of these children would come to us after our nightly worship services and would want us to pray for them.  One little boy came straight up to me and asked me if I would pray for him to be "bold and courageous for Jesus."  The kid was about eight years old.  I prayed for him, not sure of the world he would return to once the smoke and mirrors of our happy little camp seemed to him to be a desert mirage.  After praying for him, when he walked away, I prayed too that Jesus would help me to also be bold and courageous and not live this life for myself, but for Christ and for pouring out His love to those who need it most.

All the staff prayed that this week of Outreach Camp would change these children, change their destiny.  But I have a sneaking suspicion that the destinies changed might not just be those of the children, but ours. Mine.

One little girl that we prayed with, her name was Destiny.  I told her that she had a beautiful name, and that Jesus loved little girls named Destiny because that's what He likes to give them... a great, big destiny.  My mind wondered what her life will be like in ten years as a  young lady.  Will her destiny be swallowed up by the life and poverty she's surrounded by?  Or is there someway, somehow that the Christ she met this week disguised in camp staff clothes, tennis shoes, and devotionals be seed enough for the Holy Spirit to change her stars, so-to-speak?  I believe so.  I believe that the love of Christ is the most powerful seed that can be planted in young fertile hearts.  I believe that the apostle Paul was correct when he said, "Love conquers all."  I believe that God is bigger than all of our problems and bigger than all of our fears.  I believe that God is bigger than any mountain that these little kids will ever face.  I believe that God is faithful to His word and to the work that His servants perform.  I believe the disguised Christ will continue to show up in these kids' lives from now on because He loves them more than I ever could imagine.  Kind of like the way He loves me.

The Leading Tracks

The tracks that lead us home, or away, some place
we've never been or seen,
or perhaps we have,
where my heart can finally rest in place.
Passing back through this place, perhaps,
only if it be my lot.

To travel where my heart is no more weary,
is to travel home
on these leading tracks,
all the way back to where my heart calls home.
Back to the place where leading tracks
lead me there to your heart's home.

New Orleans Mission Trip Day: 6

Day 6 seemed to be the hardest, or at least bitter sweet.  It was sweet because, for me, the promise of seeing my three children that we left behind at home pushed me onward to be at home.  It was bitter because we would be leaving the wonderful children, director, staff and the people, sights and smells of New Orleans that had become, in a weird temporary way, home.

Our day was not very busy.  We had completed most of the tasks we'd been assigned to do already in the week thanks to the hard work of the teens Pamela, Aaron and I were over.  They were troopers!  We knew we'd be leaving First Pilgrim after lunch, but this lunch was going to be particularly special.  Cedric, the maintenance director, had been a chef for 21 years in the French Quarter and around New Orleans.  He explained to us that after Katrina he found so many other talents and gifts that he didn't know he had.  He found himself fixing, repairing and doing all types of maintenance work that he had never done before.  Necessity breeds invention.  Luckily for our crew, however, one of his gifts was cooking.  Cedric fixed for us a special lunch of homemade jambalaya, some of the best fried chicken I've ever eaten, with all the fixings.  It was out of this world great!  We were so thankful for his hospitality!

After lunch, we gathered our things, did some final cleaning and said goodbye to our new found friends of First Pilgrim Summer Day Camp.  Having half a day still left before us we wanted to make the most out of our mission, so we headed back down to the French Quarter.  We wanted to give out the Gospel to as many people as we could, so we decided that we'd spend another couple of hours walking the streets and trying to hand out the Gospel.  This was a whole different experience than handing out the Gospel in the ninth ward.  There everyone was uncannily receptive to what we had to give them, even receiving hugs and thank yous from the various people we were able to reach.  In the French Quarter, though, we were met with tons of "le resistance".  We had more rejection than we had success.  Mainly the streets were full of tourists like ourselves.  Most were there to party, and we found ourselves in the middle of Pride Week.  I will have to say, however, that the locals were easy to pick out from the tourist and they were very warm and receptive to us from my experience.  I could walk up to any local and ask them if I could give them something to read and they'd say, "Sure you can," and then have a conversation with them.

We all felt very foolish being out there peddling our fliers, but Aaron Griffin -- our worship leader back home -- was the man.  He was the first to admit what we were all feeling, but he said, "I don't care, I'm pushing through this feeling and giving them the Good News."  I think that was the spark we all needed, and an awesome reminder that Peter said we "are a peculiar people" (1 Peter 2:9).  We're not supposed to fit in to the culture around us because we're no longer living for our selves nor our own purposes.  We belong to a new city not built with human hands.  It also reminded me that it was God's choosing and His will that mankind wouldn't know Him through human wisdom, but that He would use the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe (1 Corinthians 1:21).

After much foolishness, we planned a stop at Cafe du Monde to fill ourselves with beignets and cafe au lait before leaving this smelly city I now love.  We then  returned back to our base church for evening service and then a late night 5 hour car ride home.  We arrived around 4am to our familiar surroundings of Birmingham/Tuscaloosa, Alabama, crawled into bed and dreamed of jazz music, Jesus and jambalaya.

As a side note, that morning when I awoke, I lumbered into the bathroom ready to take my first warm shower in six-plus days.  I stared at the knob in the shower for quite some time before twisting it to the cold position instead of warm, and began washing in the chilly, breath-taking waters of home not yet ready to make the trek back to normal living. In a certain sense, I hope I never do.

New Orleans Mission Trip Day: 5

After our half day of fun, food and finding our way around New Orleans, it was back to work and serving.

Our team was back at First Pilgrim in the upper ninth ward. We were the envy of all the mission teams because on this day we got to accompany the children and teachers to the New Orleans Zoo. Yes, we were really suffering for the cause of Christ. After cleaning the kitchen from their breakfast, we busied ourselves with making badges for all the children to help identify their group if they were lost. The budget constraints on what First Pilgrim was able to do was noticed in the making of the badges. We salvaged the plastic place card holders and pins from previous trips and made new ones for those badges who hadn't survived the previous First Pilgrim campers. Mrs. Juluke, the camp director, talked to us about the limited funds and how they made the most of what they had and that God made up the difference. First Pilgrim was able to do the summer camp, feeding the kids two meals a day, plus pay a small salary to the teachers, helpers and maintenance staff. Pamela and I were amazed that all this was provided for $65/child for the entire summer!

After lunch we cleaned the kitchen again, and then began boarding the buses to head to the zoo. Our team was pretty excited. Pamela and I had volunteered to watch one kid who had been misbehaving. His name was Alton. Mrs. Juluke was not going to allow him to go on the trip unless a family member attended with him. Hearing the news, he hanged his head. He knew it wasn't likely that he would be able to go with that particular requirement. Having a Messiah complex, I threw myself on the grenade and stepped up volunteering to Mrs. Juluke to watch after Alton. The wise, old sage tilted her head down, peered over her thin rimmed glasses, drew a sly smile across her face and said in a tone that surmised the failure of the future well in advance, "Alright by me."

In addition to Alton, we inherited eight other similar "problem children" that otherwise would not have been able to attend.  We loaded the buses and with glee headed to our envied mission field. After arriving, filing through the front gate, and checking in we were on our own. It was like herding cats! Those boys were climbing every fence, running in every direction, screaming, crying, fighting each other, and complaining about every aspect of what were doing. They wanted to go see this animal, or that animal, then while seeing said animal they complained that they weren't seeing another animal. At one point I noticed all the animals lining up to watch us! Our crew counted down the minutes to 2:30 when we'd be loading the buses again. I can't honestly remember if the New Orleans Zoo actually contained any animals! But thankfully we lost no one, and Alton and all the misfit toys got to enjoy the zoo.

Never had I been so eager to get back on a bus in all my life, but truthfully though they were rowdy, we had the time of our life with those children. They were great fun!

The heat of the New Orleans Zoo never made a cold shower and nap seem so great. We had a fun, exhausting Thursday on mission. Never would I have imagined our mission trip taking such turns as wrangling a bunch of boys through the zoo that needed some time and attention from someone who loved them. We were thankful to Christ for the time spent with these wonderful little guys.

New Orleans Mission Trip Day: 4

Day four was our half work day and half free day to see the city of New Orleans with our youth groups individually.

My team started our work site day back at First Pilgrim in the Upper Ninth Ward. We had arranged the day before to be able to go to each of the classes and do a couple of songs then I would lead them in a story of the Gospel. Aaron Griffin brought his guitar and sang "Every Move I Make/Waves of Mercy" (or better known as the "Nanana Nananana" song... there was some controversy within our group as to the actual name of the song), and the teens taught them the motions to it. Then He led the class in the worship song, "Freedom Reigns". All of those little kids closed their eyes and raised their hands with us and worshipped Jesus. Even the teachers joined us in worship.It was amazing.  After those singing, I led them in the true story of Shrek the Sheep who got lost from his shepherd in New Zealand (which I kept saying Scotland...) and grew a coast of will that weighed over 60 pounds. Then I read them the parable of Jesus and the shepherd who went searching for His one lost sheep and leaving the ninety-nine to find it. What an awesome day. The kids really enjoyed the story and songs, and our teens loved ministering to the children.

After our service day we went back to the base church to get ready for our day on the town.

Our first stop was Bourbon Street and the French Quarter. What an eclectic group of people. From street performers, to artist, full jazz bands, and a mixture of aromas that ranged from putrid to delicious, this place was fascinating and sad ask in one colorful brush stroke. The locals were easily distinguishable from the tourists. Oddly, the locals were friendly and receptive to receiving our Gospel tracts, the tourists.... not so much. We then made our way around Jackson Square and the fortune tellers to Cafe du Monde where we enjoyed the most delicious beignets and Café au lait. There was so much confectioners sugar on these little French fritters from heaven that we each looked as though we had just finished baking for days in the kitchen. The contrast of beauty and artistry to the sin-devastated humanity we witnessed seemed surreal at times. Men passed out drunk on doorsteps, just laying there in a stupor and women working the streets to turn tricks for the god of Mammon they easily worshipped, punctuated the battle for humanity that Christ came win. It reminded me that this world is not our home and the purpose we followers of Christ have been born into.

From there we went to Mahony's in the Garden District for dinner (yes, we had dessert before dinner... that's how we roll on a REVOLVE! trip!). Pamela, my wife,  had seen Mahony's featured on an episode of Guy Fieri's "Dinners, Drive-Ins and Dives" on the Food Network. It did not disappoint! The fried oyster po-boy and fried green tomatoes were out of this world good! We left there and walked for blocks and blocks through the Garden District. This was the uppity party place of New Orleans, and it was packed with extremely beautiful homes and shops. As a side note, author Anne Rice has a home in this neighborhood I found out from a friend later that evening. We stopped for ice cream and drinks and then headed back to our bar church.

The break in the middle of the week was much needed and appreciated. It rejuvenated us to finish the week strong, and helped us to connect more deeply to the community and culture of New Orleans.  By this point in the week, we had all pretty much fallen in love with the people, the city and the smells of New Orleans.

New Orleans Mission Trip Day: 3

On our second full day we had tremendous opportunities to help serve the First Pilgrim Day Camp in the upper Ninth Ward. We started by cleaning the kitchen after breakfast. The kids swept the floors, wiped down tables and gathered up all trash. After breakfast we moved old furniture out of the classrooms and moved them to the dumpsters near the street. Once we had all the furniture out there many of the residents began to go through everything to get what they could use. As they began to go through everything, this gave us an opportunity to assist them so we could share the Gospel with them.

The first two Aaron Griffin and I were able to help were two prostitutes. One was an African-American lady named Bob. The second, her "girlfriend", was named Philia -- I think. She had a pink and blue looking barbed-wire tattoo across her face. We loaded furniture onto my truck and drove the furniture ten blocks to their house. Once we unloaded it on the sidewalk, I gave them each a tract and began stumbling through witnessing to them. I really flubbed it up being so nervous. We got in the truck and left. Feeling dejected, I stopped the truck, jumped out and went back to them. I told them that I had been nervous trying to tell them about Jesus and I wanted to be more clear that Christ can transform any life. They thanked me, and Bob said that her life was messed up, and thanked us for sharing.

Afterwards, we walked through the neighborhood and left tracts in various locations, as well as handing them to all the people we met. One thing that struck me is how receptive people are to taking them. The people of New Orleans are extremely friendly from our team's observation. Even with the two prostitutes, when we talked about Jesus, the one, Philia, let me know real quick that she didn't believe in Jesus "like that" but told that me that she was all about community and appreciated what we were doing. Unfortunately, for her, appreciating Christ doesn't save anyone, but with her open heart to what we were presenting her perhaps she will allow the Holy Spirit to penetrate her heart and open her eyes that Satan has blinded.

I pray for our two friends and hope they will read the tract and come to know Christ. Keep praying for us, and for all the others working all throughout the world to advance God's kingdom. They are on the field constantly while we are weekend warriors, of sorts. They need our prayer support.

New Orleans Mission Trip Day: 2

One of the trials of being on an urban mission, at least here this week in New Orleans, is that the guys' shower trailer has no hot water. I don't mean this in a metaphorical, figurative way like, "I can never get to the showers in time to grab be any hot water." I mean that there's no working water heater at all, and the showers spew nothing but bone chilling, my-breath-is-gone ice cold water. Oh the trials of life! :)

We had a great second day. There were a lot of challenges presented, but all in all we're having a great time learning to follow Jesus and trying to make disciples for His kingdom.

Our guys and gals from REVOLVE! are doing really well. They're doing what is asked of them, they're keeping good spirits and excited of the potential opportunities they'll possibly get to share the Gospel. It's only our second full day of actually being on our work sites. Will they have this same resolve on days three, four or five? That remains to be seen. My wife Pamela and I are going to do our best to mix in enough fun, rest and free time to keep their spirits high.

One of the groups our teens are in canvassed a neighborhood to invite children to come to a mini-one-day-VBS. They went door to door handing out fliers. Some had the door slammed in their faces, and then no one showed up for the event. This was a blow to their emotions. Wanting to feel apart of something great, their hopes for the day were dashed. How many foreign missionaries have worked and given their entire lives in a nation not their own and never see a single convert?

The prize has to be Jesus and not results.
Lastly, my group helped out at an inner city day camp. We got to spend the day trying to be useful to the workers. Pamela and I cleaned the dinning room for the workers. Aaron, Corey, Caleb and myself moved tables down a flight of steps down,  the street and then back up two flights of winding stairs, across the gym and up on the stage. It took several hours, and I'm sure we burned a thousand calories for Jesus!

For some reason there were people sitting in their vehicles up and down the street where we were working. I think they might have been waiting for a clinic visit of some type. Aaron and I grabbed tracts and walked up and down the street handing them out for people to read.

Several of the others worked with children, painted an inner city gym and various other work projects. God is blessing our efforts, we're drawing closer to Him and closer to each other. We thank Christ for opportunity to serve.

New Orleans Mission Trip Day: 1

Our first day on our REVOLVE! Student Ministry trip went off without a hitch... well almost.

One of the vehicles that we had planned on taking had some technical difficulties. We were in a dilemma. I was trying to think of how we were going to make up the seats and luggage space. We were at church, and the plan was to stay through worship -- since the worship leader was going to New Orleans with us -- then head out to the Big Easy. I began to pray telling God how we needed transportation, etc. I like informing Him of things going on in the earth, as if He want aware. I asked to borrow Blake Gilham's extra vehicle, which he obliged. We were in the sanctuary, worship service was finished and Pastor Roger Daniel was having prayer for our group. Kenny Hand, a member of our church, and Blake's father-in-law, followed us out and offered his Nissan Titan. Prayer answered!

We drove for hours, God's hand of protection was upon us. On the outskirts of New Orleans, near Lake Pontchatrain, I saw an alligator on the side of the interstate. Day.  Was.  Made!

The teens that are with us are having a great time so far. We drove through a homeless, tent city, type of area and we were all surprised at how people live in our country. It was sobering and a stark reminder that our problems are sometimes not problems, but more like inconveniences. It made me pray immediately and be thankful to God for all our blessings.

Well we begin day two this morning and we all go out to our work or ministry sites. I'll post more later on how that went. Thanks so much for your prayers!