Trip recap and link to pics and video presentation

 

Newark mission trip video

Click on the above link to watch the video presentation that was shown at the worship services at BCC this past weekend.

You can also check out my facebook page for a 200 picture photo album of our trip compiled from 5 different cameras.

Our trip was a wonderful experience as 45 students and adults from 3 churches in Westchester County NY traveled down to Newark, NJ to bless that city.

We worked hard on big and small projects, visited people and churches, fed the homeless, ran sports outreaches in the community, shared God’s love with people in parks, organized a Vacation Bible Club at two locations, and did everything for the Love of God.

Some of the work seemed monotonous and times, but our students realized that everything we do matters to God and we are to work at every task as if we were doing it for Jesus. This mindset completely transformed our projects into worship experiences.  We did not need to know the outcome of our work or receive recognition for we knew that God was smiling upon us.

We did our best to bring joy, laughter, and hope to the people in this forgotten city.  We served wherever a need or opportunity came up and were willing to scrub pots if it helped make someones life easier. 

Our interactions and conversations with people were all Spirit driven and lead.   While we hoped to be a blessing, the people of Newark blessed us in so many ways.   

Of course we realized that “the harvest is full but the workers are few”.  There is so much to still be done in this city.  While we were able to finish some of the projects we worked on, others remained uncompleted for who knows how long.  In addition, it is not hard to look around the community and see hundreds of needs (physically, financially, emotionally, and spiritually).  Many of our students left wondering what an additional week could have accomplished.  Some left making a promised to return to continue the work we began.  

We hope that we left a lasting mark on the city of Newark, the missionaries of World Impact, and the people between Sussex and Orange Ave.  We also hope that this experience will challenge and inspire us to look around more closely in our home communities to find similar needs.  While Newark is fairly close geographically to all 3 churches, there are cities and communities in need much closer.  What will we do about those?

From a youth pastor perspective, it was amazing to watch 3 youth groups come together and work towards common goals.  We laughed, prayed, played, and sweat together for a week in Newark and I believe bonded beyond expectations.  John Bagwell of Ridgeway Alliance and Dave Stradling of Hillside Church lead their ministries with common ideologies and vision as I do.  I appreciate their friendship and fellowship and look forward to joining together more often and bring our groups together to make an impact and difference here in Westchester.

We had the privledge of seeing our students at their very best.  Their attitudes were great, displaying humility, servanthood,, compassion, and love.  They loved God and loved others by serving God and serving others.  They worked at whatever they were doing for the glory of God.  In many ways, our students inspired and challenged us to come back home and continue to live as missionaries; be the hands, feet, and mouth of Jesus.  

“Lord, may we continue to do that things we did down in Newark.  Give us a vision and passion for our home cities and communities and use us to bring hope, healing, and salvation here just as you did through us down there.”

In Jesus,

Dan Haugh, Pastor of Student Ministries  BCC Youth

Photo album Newark Mission trip 09

Turning black and white

Yesterday and today, our group worked in the Garage. The garage job is unbelievable to me because yesterday we were the first ones to start working in the garage so we had to move all the old items, or “treasures” as Mark liked to call them, because of all the stuff we uncovered (including old clothing, records, hats, fridges, sinks, and more). After moving all of the old furniture, I used a very shaky, old latter as others used a scaffolding to chip off the paint already on the ceiling while more people chipped off the paint on the walls. I had a lot of fun chipping the paint off the ceiling, even though its not a very exciting job I guess compared to VBS or something, but I guess no matter what I enjoy doing the Lord’s work =).

God really gave me the strength to keep going even when I was tired, and time really flew. Even though God made my hands strong enough to keep chipping away the paint, the downside was that I managed to get several (over 10) splinters in which the next day Lorin had to remove all of them (or most of them) with a needle and tweezers. In the end though I realized it was all worth it, I mean I don’t regret working in the garage. Today we did some more chipping, my hands bandaged for protection, and we started priming the room. In the process, people have loved to tease me about how dirty I got. Some say I changed nationalities, with black dirt/dust all over my face from the dust on the ceiling lights, and white priming paint all over my body and clothes. Good ting I don’t mind getting a little dirty! The reason why I enjoy the garage is because I can really see that all of my hard work pay off, even when our team wanted to give up we kept going and the garage looks great, and I then believe that it’s truly worth it. I’ve also had some great bonding time with our team with all the joking and fun that we make out of it. I’ve made some new friends, and connected more with previous ones, and am learning more and more every day and this experience is really awesome. My first missions trip is going well!

-Kayla Staubi

Working on the Stairwell

Hello,

My name is Dan Abramowitz and today my group spent the day fixing up the northwest stairwell at the World Impact building. I started off by scraping the gook off the stairs. As i began working my way down the steps I started talking to my friend Doug from Ridgeway Church. It made the work go faster, and we talked a lot throughout the project, i found out a lot about him, Alyssa, Suoz, and the other people in my group.

It was good because I’ve never talked to many of these people prior to the mission. John Munsinger was helpful too because he taught me what I was doing. My main motivations were slowly seeing how much the staircase improved and how I was serving the Kingdom of God in a small way, on the side knowing that if I got drafted I would probably need to know how not to be horrible at painting and mopping. At the end of the day I felt that we all got to know each other better, and it was a good start to the week, I hope i get to know the people in my group better as the week continues.