Slide Show from Chicago!

Spring Break Trip:

Above is a picture of our students that went on our Spring Break Trip to Chicago!

Overall...
Overall, I would say I came back really encouraged from this trip! There were many praises, many new experiences, and I felt closer to this group of students that any other time! We praised God for the awesome weather we experienced and safety while we traveled! Thanks for your prayers in that!

Serving...
We got the opportunity to serve with several different ministries during in Chicago and I wanted to share a few of those experiences with you. The 1st night I went with a group of students to serve a meal to some of the homeless in Chicago. It was a pretty cool setup in that we would serve the food to those that came instead of having them serve themselves. So we spent the afternoon preparing the food and then served them at their individual tables. We also tried to sit down with some of them and listen to their stories and share about Christ.

I would have to say that the most memorable moments from that night was watching our students serve the homeless and sit down and talk with them. I felt like a proud parent watching their kids. Our students worked so hard to cook the food and then did such a great job of sitting down and talking to the homeless. I was very proud of them and seeing Christ in them! A lot of them stepped out of their comfort zones!

Larry's Story...














Above and on the right is the picture of a guy named Larry Hope. Larry shared his story with us for 3 hours the first night we were in Chicago. Larry is now on staff with the Navigators, but before that was homeless for a couple years and a drug addict for a period of more than 10 years!

Larry shared an awesome story of how God has been healing him and freeing him from all the brokenness that had been a part of his life for so many years. Coming from a broken home, jail, and life on the streets he shared the story of how a young teenage girl was out on the street with her youth group handing out gospel bracelets and invited him to church. That started his journey in which he was able to recover from his dependency on drugs and surrender his life to Jesus. Since then, Larry spends most of his time ministering to homeless people on the streets. He also ministered to male prostitutes (this is a needed ministry in Chicago) for 6 years. It was an awesome testimony of how God can renew and restore lives that of people that have been in some serious bondage!

Most Challenging
I would say the most challenging part of this whole experience was that I let business keep me from meeting with God. Sometimes we would wake up and go from 6:30 in the morning till 11 at night! That is one regret I have from the trip: not taking time to get away from the business of the day and talk to Jesus.

Jacob, one of our student, saw snow for the 1s time! He wasn't the only one on the trip!



















Below is a picture of a warehouse that we helped clean out. One day it will be a community center for one of the most violent streets in Chicago!