Final Thoughts...after two weeks of being back!

Well, it's been about two weeks since we got back from our trip to Seattle. There have been a lot of things that have been racing through my mind about what our group learned and what we took away from the mission trip this year.

I think one of the biggest things that we learned this year was that there is a need for service across the country, but more importantly there is a need here locally. Many of the students left Seattle with a renewed passion to serve and help and share Christ by their actions. But they came back with a desire to not only do that on a week long mission trip but to do that in their own communities and neighborhoods.

I was blown away by the response of one of our students from this one week in Seattle. He was so impacted by what the guy at the homeless shelter said that he has brought this ministry back to New Albany. Tonight, actually, he and his small group are going to serve at the Dwelling Place in New Albany, IN. It's so awesome to see our students bringing the heart of serving back to their own hometown.

We did see a lot of our students grow in their spirituality as well on this trip. I think the daily devotional and the download time at the end of the night helped this a lot as well. We did get to share with a lot of people why we were there and what we were doing which led into some of them getting to share the Gospel! It was eye opening for them to see a different way to do ministry as well. Churches in the western part of the US do things a lot differently than we do here. I think it's awesome that they get to see that at their age and get to experience the fact that there isn't just one way to do ministry or one way to share the Gospel with people.

All in all this trip was an amazing time for our students to see and show Christ in their lives. I pray and ask you to join me in praying that God would continue to move through our high school students and continue to challenge them with what they are going to do with their lives! Thank you all for your prayer support while we were gone and before we left! I can't tell you enough about what that means for the overall trip. To have a solid foundation before we even leave is just unmatched by anything else in this world. God is truly good and blesses us beyond our worth!! Thanks!!

Much Love,

Jameson