THE PASTOR

Hey Bloggers, It’s Mike. We just finished off an amazing 1^st week with the kids here at bridges and now we are excitedly anticipating the arrival of the kids from the Sweet Home Township for our weekend OVC Bible Camp! Yesterday the most amazing thing happened to me. God revealed himself to me in a way I have never experienced before in my life. Leading up to the trip I was having a rough time because I began to question if I was really meant to go on the trip. At times I was feeling sad and discouraged and began to become overwhelmed with thoughts of worthlessness and just plain did not feel good enough to be going on this trip. After our first day we all met up to debrief and Claire asked us if any of us had discovered our purpose on this trip. I remember thinking that I might never find a purpose for why God called me to this trip. So all week each of us were chosen to teach a topic to the different grades of kids here at Bridges in order to prepare them for their upcoming school year and give them tools for life. Chelsea and myself were chosen to teach leadership and more specifically the topics of goal setting and Spiritual Gifts. Wednesday we began teaching on the topic of Spiritual gifts. This consisted of us explaining Spiritual Gifts to the kids, reading to them 1 Corinthians Chapter 12, and having them take a spiritual gifts test to figure out what personal spiritual gifts God had blessed them with. The first grade we began to teach to was the 11^th and 12^th graders. As the lesson was drawing to a close a thought popped into my head (later I knew it was from God), but I thought what good is it to teach these kids about spiritual gifts and helping them figure out their gifts, if we don’t explain to them the importance of using these gifts to serve God and do his will. I remembered the Parable of The Talents in Matthew Chapter 25, where Jesus told the story of a master and the talents he gives to his three servants. After that class, we began teaching the importance of using the talents God has given us to serve him by utilizing the parable from Matthew to every class. The week had been going great, but we both had been wondering if anything we had been teaching the kids had been getting through or effecting them in anyway. So, Thursday night one of the kids Ayanda, who found out one of his talents was preaching, felt called by God to speak in front of the kids. Chelsea and I were both astonished as he began preaching because he chose to make his first sermon about the Parable of the Talents from Matthew. As he exercised his preaching talent and the passion that emanated from his lips and the way God spoke through him to his peers and classmates, was enough to put the whole room on the verge of tears and excitement. By the time he was done the whole room was cheering. I became overwhelmed with pure joy that God had used me to change Ayandas life and now he was encouraging his classmates to use the Talents God had given them as well and not to waste them as so many Christians often do. I finally realized Gods purpose for me being on this trip and I immediately ran outside to the Soccer field fell to my knees and worshiped my Father! This has been the best experience of my life and to know that we are actually making a difference in these kid’s lives has opened my heart and filled me with an ineffable amount of joy! If you could pray that we continue to make a difference in the next week and that God fills us up with the power and the energy of the Holy Spirit that would be Amazing! We have all been stretched very thin with the long days and we would really appreciate as much love and support as possible. Also, if you could thank God for all the great things and blessings he has poured down on us throughout this trip, that would also be amazing!

Love, Mike