Here are some photos on Flickr.

Here’s a wrap up from Robin about the Saturday Morning Spectacular on July 19, 2008:

Wow! Now that’s what I call a Saturday Morning Spectacular!

I have to say it wouldn’t have been possible without so many people contributing during the last few weeks and so many hands helping on Friday and Saturday. I think there were about 18 people from River of Life on site Saturday to help things go smoothly. I was very blessed by that fact in itself, and then to see how wonderfully things went was a double blessing. I believe there were about 40  from the neighborhood who came for part or all of the program. (We ate 14 pizzas!) Let’s pray together that the seeds that were planted yesterday will bear fruit in their lives.

I’ve heard a few stories so far from various people and I want to share one here. Cindy L. was outside welcoming people in. She saw a woman with two kids walking and noticed the woman was limping. It turns out the woman’s sandal had broken as she was bringing the kids and she had a long way to walk to go back home. Cindy helped her take the kids inside then gave her a ride to her house in the neighborhood and brought her back to the program with another pair of shoes. The lady stayed around and heard the message herself. Those are the kinds of loving acts that make an effect in people’s lives. Things that might seem little to you are opportunities for God to move in someone’s life. I hope we’ll have a chance to share other stories in the weeks to come about how God ministered during this time. Next week in church we plan to share some photos from the event.

There are so many special people to thank:

• Angela wrote or modified the puppet skits, taught us puppetry, planned the music and motions, created props and planned the program. (in addition to many other things)
• Jamie created props and came up with ideas of how to make them work.
• Jameson drew the coloring book and some of the background props.
• Consuela donated costumes, props, decorations and material for the stage curtains.
• Judy gave bags for the take home gifts.
• Richard, Mike L, Dan, and Jameson lent their voices and created new voices for the puppets.
• Chelsea, Chloe, Jameson learned to do puppets.
• Dan, Erin, Rachel, Michael, Brandon, Chelsea, Chloe and Jameson did worship along with Angela.
• Rachel and Erin lead our scripture memory portions as well as song motions.
• Dan spent and enormous amount of time recording, editing and remixing the sound tracks.
• Renee helped from the very beginning with getting the puppets and stage,planning, calling people, shopping for stuff, and decorating.
• Bill, Cindy, Chelsea, Chloe, Dan, Renee, Mike, Michael, Brandon and Sandy blitzed the neighborhood with fliers and drove through in a decorated pickup truck to let people know about the event.
• Tony Boaz came up with a solution for how to put up our big sign at the church.
• Bobbie, Sylvia and Sandy provided much needed child care through out the practices, and event and helped with set up and clean up.
• Tom Denny did set up, clean up and the high ladder work in getting those streamers up. They were so nice the church said to leave them up!!
• Then on the big day we had great help setting up, decorating and cleaning up and I can’t even say what everyone did but I am very grateful.
• And I can’t forget the people who anonymously gave loads of bubble gum to bless the people in the community and those who prayed fervently for God to move!

Thank you all for your hard work and willing attitudes. I think we set a record for fastest cleanup time after an event!!

You guys are a wonderful team!

I want to remind you of the scripture theme of the event because I think each of you fulfilled it.

“Store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matthew 6:20-21

Many thanks, Robin

Tonight we prayed and walked the Danville Estates neighborhood and handed out fliers advertising the Saturday Morning Spectacular featuring the PuppetTeller Theatre Company.  That’s the official name for our puppets outreach at Melville Ave. Baptist Church. 

Nice neighbors rock! There were at least three very nice neighbors who kindly offered to give us rides when this incredible storm came up.

Saturday Morning Spectacular Flier

On Saturday July 19, 2008 we’ll hold a one day Bible School Day at Melville Ave. Baptist Church in Danville, VA. We’ll have puppets telling modern day parables and stories that teach valuable life lessons & Bible stories. There will be singing and food for the kids too.

Things are coming together very nicely for this outreach but it will still take some dedicated volunteers to pull it all off. The evening of July 9, 2008 we’ll meet at Sandy & Robin’s house to pray and hand out fliers in the neighborhood.

Sandy made a list of good things to pray for:

1. The Holy Spirit would be working in the children’s lives & hearts.
2. The children God is drawing would come to this event.
3. Parents would be glad/motivated to help get the children up that morning, fed, dressed & off to church.
4. The program-skits-songs-talks would be anointed.
5. Hearts would respond to the Salvation message.(positively)
6. The salvation message would be clear and given by the person(s) God wants to do it.
7. Church attendance & training would be available for the children who receive Christ as Saviour.
8. Melville Ave. Baptist Church would have a thriving children’s church with many new children.
9. God would grant us energy, enough volunteers, and anointing as we prepare for this outreach.
10. God in Christ would be glorified because of the results.

I’ll have the audio tracks for the puppet skits up soon too!

One of the primary callings of Christian people is to tell other people about the hope that they have discovered in Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 3:15. There are different ways of doing this. Perhaps most commonly it is exemplified in the way we live our lives. 1 Peter 2:12. But there are also times where those who trust in Christ purposefully set out to share the faith that has saved us. This weekend we’ll go to Danville’s Festival in the Park with the purpose of actively looking for opportunities to talk about Jesus, who He is, and what He’s done.

We met a couple weeks ago for prayer at the park leading up to this weekend. So please keep praying that God would lead us to the conversations and encounters that will bring others closer to Him.

Hand’s and Feet has been much busier than this blog would lead one to believe. Here’s the low-down on what’s been going on.

We made over 700 Salvation Bracelets to be given out to Honduran children. Tom arrived in Honduras last night and they’ll start their medical missionary work tomorrow.

For the week of Valentine’s Day we made and gave out little bags of candy to people. Each bag had a heart shaped flyer attached which simply said “God Love’s You”. Just a little token to remind people of a life changing truth that is so easily forgotten. Robin has some good stories of experiences with giving these away. Perhaps she’ll share about it in the comments?

Last month at Easter we made those red and white ribbons with the “3″ on them. These were worn during Holy week leading up to Resurrection Sunday(aka Easter Sunday). They were to remind us about the sacrifice Jesus made for us all. How he was (1) Crucified, (2) Buried, and (3) Raised back to life. The red was symbolic of the terrible death He died, and the white was symbolic of the pure heart that we, His followers, now have since we asked Him to save us. They were a great help to start conversations about the hope that we have in Jesus.

So what’s next? Come on out to Dan & Renee’s house this Wednesday and “let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” Hebrews 10:24.

We’ll get together at church on Friday February 1, 2008 to make approximately 700 salvation bracelets.  The bracelets will be given to children when Tom D. goes on his mission trip with the Friends of Barnabas to Honduras later this Spring.  Tom will supply the supplies but we’ll be his “hands and feet” to help put them together. Well… I guess we’ll be the hands that make the bracelets and Tom will be the feet that take them to the mountains of Honduras!

Even if you don’t think you can help with making bracelets, come out out and hang out with the rest of us at church that night.  I hear Mike L. is brewing some good coffee!

Well we didn’t get together tonight because the Lord has already led some of our group towards an idea for our next outreach.  We’ll help the Friends of Barnabas with one of their mission trips to Honduras later this Spring.  They need 800 Salvation Bracelets to use on their trip.  It’s a very good organization.   Renee’s dad went with them to the jungles of Honduras last Spring which I wrote about last year on the Piedmont Credit Union blog.

Salvation Bracelets are little made of a leather strap with multi-colored beads on it.  Each color represents something about Christ.  For instance the white is for purity, red is for the blood Christ shed on our behalf, black is for sin, green is for new life, blue is for Heaven. At least I think, I’m not sure of the colors we’ll be using yet.  But when they are all put together they tell the Salvation story.  We haven’t decided when we’ll get together to make the bracelets yet.  We’ll announce at church and here as soon as we have a date.

Another event coming up is a Missions Cafe to raise money for the trip to Honduras.  It is primarily a medical mission and they will need money to purchase medicine and supplies.  A Missions Cafe is when we’ll have an after church lunch except if you want to eat you have to donate something towards the missions event.  More details to come…

It worked out well that there were three different groups who came out to sing carols at Abingdon Place tonight! We teamed up with a group of choir members from The Tabernacle. Their strong voices coupled with our thoughtful Christmas Cards and Candy Canes were a sure blessing to the residents there tonight. Check out the latest photos on our flickr page here.

Have a Merry Christmas! Next month we’ll plan on getting together at our house on the evening of Wednesday, January 9, 2008 to plan our next outreach. Pray before then and ask the Lord to show us the outreach opportunities that He has planned already. Hope to see everyone then. If you have an idea in the meantime or you can’t make it to the meeting, feel free to leave it in the comments below.

Come on it’s lovely weather to … come over to Abingdon Place for a Christmas Carol Sing-A-Thon! That’s where we’ll be on Wednesday, December 19, 2007. We’ll bless the retired residents there with an evening of singing favorite Christmas Carols of yesterday and today. Kid’s of all ages are welcome and encouraged to come.

We’ll also make Christmas cards for everyone and give them a little gift to share the light of this Christmas season. So mark your busy holiday calendars now and bring your strong voices and happy smiles out to Abingdon Place on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 at 7:00 PM!

More details to come…

Tonight we spent some time in prayer for our local Danville Homeless Shelter before taking dinner over for tonight’s residents. We prayed that people would find hope instead of hopelessness and that God would provide them with a home both in this world as well as in the next with Him. Prayer was also offered for Cindy Hill, the director of the Danville Homeless Shelter, that she would be guided by God’s wisdom and that her efforts to share the truth and hope of Jesus would be blessed.

There was quite a nice spread of food. Tonight’s menu consisted of ham, deviled eggs, green beans, corn, home-made yeast rolls, and the best German wedding cookies ever! Thanks to everyone who helped out with making food and also those who prayed for the outreach.

The Homeless Shelter usually needs some extra financial help during the winter months. Utility bills are always higher in the colder season. If you are interested in helping them out you may contact Cindy Hill at (434)799-3671. There are many other ways to help out other than bringing dinner. Personal hygiene items, cleaning supplies, frozen food, and other general household items are always welcome. Here is a link to a recent newsletter which has more details. Homeless Shelter August 2007 Newsletter.