People Get Ready...there's a Bus a coming!

The time is quickly approaching for our high school mission trip to New Orleans, LA.  I am so excited about the opportunities God will be presenting to us.

We leave Saturday (July 13th) between 6-6:30AM.  Please keep us in prayer as we travel.  We have chartered a bus and will be stopping in Birmingham, AL for the night.

I encourage you to follow the blog through out the week.  We will be posting about what God is doing in and through us.  Thank you so much for your encouragement and prayers!

Pressing On,

Dale

I thought that RN stood for “Real Nurse!

So Ashley wins the blog title for today. I think it’s pretty self-explanatory. I will take some time later to share some of the “honorable mention” quotes later.

So today we are home. We had a long, long travel day yesterday and after nearly of 14 hours of travel we landed in Dayton. We had a fairly long check in process in Port au Prince, but without any issue we made it. We landed early in Newark…which was a great thing because our connection time was going to be very short. We hustled to customs/immigration a little worried about the time. There have been many times that the line to get back into the States has been close to 2 hours long. And we had about that much time to make the connection. We arrived in that area to see that it was empty! Lots of prayers were answered. We blew through that, took that train to a different terminal, and went through security all with time to spare. When we arrived at the gate we were told that the flight was delayed. God answered our prayers that we would make it. We didn’t ask that it would be late. But we are grateful! Our flight that was to leave for Dayton was originally scheduled to leave at 8:29PM…we took off after 10PM. We arrived in Dayton around 11:30PM and were greeted by A LOT of loving friends and family. It was a beautiful sight!

So back to Haiti. There are a few days to make up. Soooo here goes.

TUESDAY

Monday after debrief I was going over the message I was preaching on Tuesday evening and the Lord moved me to do something else. I’ll get there in a few paragraphs.

The group left Tuesday morning at 7:30AM. Having one day under the belt, things moved a little smoother. We had just under 200 kids on day one and more and more kids came each day. There were kids not registered trying to sneak in. We weren’t trying to keep anyone away, but we had to have an order to what we were doing. I would venture to say that each day for the rest of the week we had well over 200 kids. The 5-6 yrs old group had about 70 kids. It was crazy…but awesome!

In the afternoon, we held the purity study with a group of students and the remaining part of our team went out on a prayer walk and others spent time hanging out and playing with village kids. Our time with the students in the purity team was really good. We were a few short during this time. Many of the teens were off taking a government test on Tuesday and Wednesday. But the time was great.

Around 5PM the sound system arrived for our evening worship service. Stephen had some guys in the area build a stage off the front of the clinic. That was a huge blessing. The stage overlooked the field that the recreation team was using. When the sound was ready to go we began blasting some Christian rap music. Music is huge in this community. And we found out that the large majority of the population loves rap. It may not be everyone’s style, but we were there for them. And if they liked it, we played it! One of the things that Stephen had mentioned is that these people like the “bad” kind of rap. In the last several years the Lord has used some great men of God to create some great music. The lyrics are Biblically centered and the music has a great beat. The music drew the people in.

Once the people came we were ready to go. There were about 300-400 people in the area. Some sat right in front. Others toward the sides and back. And then there were others who stayed out in the street and near their homes. A friend of Stephen’s named Maestro led a few songs as we kicked off. After he led, I went up to preach. This would be the first time that I have preached using an interpreter. As I said earlier, the Lord moved me to change the direction I was going to go. He led me to preach on the woman at the well. There is one well in this village. And I believe that people in this community could relate to what took place there, especially the woman. Woman are not looked at in a great way in this area. And I pray God used that story and the message to press on hearts that night.

We wrapped up the evening and loaded up on the bus. We headed to the hotel and had dinner. We ended with a share time of the day. It was awesome to hear how God was moving and using our students during the day.

I will add Wednesday through Friday soon!
 
Dale

The tan I thought I had is washing off!

Today’s blog title comes from Hannah, and it’s one that has been repeated over and over.

With all of the work that we are doing in the village, things are a little dusty and dirty. Let me rephrase that. Things ARE really dusty and dirty! So every day we return to the hotel and get cleaned up and ready for dinner. On one occasion a day or so ago, the girls in Hannah’s room were able to capture this quote. Obviously, the dirt that accumulates on the skin during the day resembles a nice tan. Upon taking a shower, one is merely dirty. After serving today, my tan washed off too.

Yesterday (Sunday) was a great day. We were able to attend 2 different services. The first service was a Haitian service. Although we could not understand what was being sung or said, it was a tremendous blessing. There was so much dancing…what? Dancing?!?! Yes dancing! As King David said, “I will become even more undignified than this!” I was in that boat. I let my inner-Haitian come out. My dancing was for the Lord and no one else! One of our translators, Jonas, said, “I worship God with all of my heart, soul, mind, strength, and especially my body!” There is quite a release when doing so. It reminded me of our time in Malawi last summer. God did allow one of the musicians to sing a song in English for us. It was, “This is the Air I Breathe.” It was great to sing with him and our team.

We had to leave service early in order to get to the missionary church. We were in the Haitian church for over an hour and a half and they hadn’t even got to the message. And nobody was worried about time. They were blessed to be in the house of the Lord. Such an amazing testimony and a lesson we all could learn.

At the missionary church, the music was led by Stephen and Autumn. They did some very familiar worship music. They included some of our team members to read Scripture and pray. The sermon was led by a missionary here. He focused on our hearts and how we handle circumstances in our lives.

We returned to Stephen and Autumn’s home to eat lunch. This was the first time the team had been there. God has provided them a great space. All of us were able to spread out and relax a bit. We return to the hotel for some free time. Sunday was our free day. Some went fishing in the Caribbean, other snorkeled, some swam in the pool, and others just rested and grabbed a nap…I was in that group.

We had dinner and spent a small amount of time debriefing about our day.

Today (Monday) was a long, but awesome day! Today we began doing VBS in the fishing village. We left the hotel about 7:30AM and arrived at the village shortly after. We set up our areas and started to receive the children into the school yard. The rec team headed to the open space next to the school and began to play with some of the kids. It was cool to watch those who made a connection on Friday pick up where they left off. At about 9:15AM we had most of the kids in their first station. We had a total of around 180 kids (5yrs-12yrs). We broke them up by ages. We had four different stations…Bible story, music, crafts, and recreation. Each group had no less than 40 kids. VBS lasted until around 12:45PM. Once we ended we served all of the kids, translators, and mission team rice and beans.

Once lunch was over we released the kids out of the school yard. The afternoon looked different than the morning. We are doing a four day session of walking teens and young adults through God’s standard of purity. Sexual immorality runs rampant in Haiti…much like many places in the world. So we are having the opportunity to pour into these students. While many of us teach and share, the remaining team members were playing with kids and prayer walking. This lasted for about 3 hours. There were so many questions about God, Jesus, Heaven and Hell, and even the tribulation following our time with them. Tomorrow we do this all again! Praise God!

Tomorrow we also have the first of our 2 revival/worship services. We are expecting hundreds of people. One of the locals will be having a Christian concert and worship music. Some from our team will share their testimonies. And I have the opportunity of preaching. Please pray that the Holy Spirit falls on the village and that many will come to know Him!

Well, I’m off to dinner. After dinner we will spend some time talking about our day. I’m sure many will be ready to sleep. Pray for rest. Pray for those not feeling the best, that God would give them strength (nothing major, so don’t worry). Pray that there would be continued unity among our team (it has been awesome thus far), and pray for a great day tomorrow. God is so good and we are so grateful to be serving here in Haiti.

Pressing On,

Dale

What Village?

So one of the things about our mission trips is that students…and adults say things that everyone tends to find funny. Yesterday was no exception. And every night of our trip we have a debrief time where we get together and share about what God has done throughout the day. I ask questions like, “what was your highlight?” “What was the hardest part?” “How did you see God work?” “How was your faith tested?” “What did God teach you?” “Who did you appreciate today?” and the final one, “Did anyone say anything quote-worthy today?”

I tend to use the “quote of the day” as blog titles. It is an inside joke that I can share with our family and friends. I have already heard some myself today. Well today’s quote comes from one of our students named Amy. Last night, as we were beginning our time together, I asked how their day in the village was. Amy turned to some of the other students and asked, “What village?” Now we were only in one today…and Amy was with us. It did make the top “quote of the day.”

So this morning we awoke, spent time with God, and then headed to New Vision Ministry. This is the mission/orphanage that Stephen and Autumn serve. We arrived shortly after 9AM. We were able to intro all of the kids in the orphanage to our team and Autumn shared a little of their stories of how they arrived at the orphanage. When Christa and I came in November, we were able to spend a lot of time with these kids. They are precious and many of their stories will break your heart. In some cases these kids were left at the mission because their parents did not want them or could not take care of them. Some kids had parents who died and others were just neglected or abandoned. 2+ years ago God gripped my heart towards my response to orphans. I knew that I had been adopted into His family as a result of Him saving me. But I never really thought that I could love a child the way I love Tyler and Taylor. But at a conference in Atlanta in October of 2009, God spoke directly to my heart and told me that I was to bring a child (or children) into my family by way of adoption. He told me that He has created a child just for our family. This was something that He revealed to Christa several years ago, but I wanted nothing to do with it then. Last November, God revealed to us that we would be adopting from Haiti. And perhaps it will be from the orphanage in which we have served in today.

One thing that is difficult is not knowing which child has been created for our family. Christa and I have felt a connection with a few kids in the orphanage and we have been praying hard for God to move. Our US home study is nearly complete and once we have approval it will move to the Haitian side of things. That is where things will be more difficult and we have no idea how long the process will take.  Christa and I will be creating another blog soon to keep you up-to-date on the process.

So back to our work there today. The mission houses 12 children. The youngest is almost 3 and the oldest is 18. All of these kids had so much attention today. Being that there is 35 of us, we were able to pour so much into these precious kids. They are full of energy and play hard. The girls love to be pampered. Painting nails and doing hair was fun to watch…even some of our guys left with braids. The boys in the orphanage play, and play, and play. They wore us out. We were able to share Jesus and pour so much love into these children that God created.

We arrived back at the hotel a few moments ago. All of our VBS teams (Teaching, Music, Crafts, and Rec) are all working with their translators preparing for Monday. We want to be sure that the translators understand what we are planning to do and be confident to communicate God’s Word. Once they are all finished we will have some down time. They will be able to hang out and get ready for dinner.

Tomorrow we get to go to 2 different church services. The early service is the Haitian Church and the second on is the American missionary church. I am so excited to worship with our Haitian brothers and sisters.

Please continue to pray! We need it. Today was incredibly hot. We have had a few students and adults become light headed. I thank God that we have 3 nurses on our team. God truly has blessed us. Everyone is seems to be feeling better now. Just pray that we are able to push through and that God would protect each one of us. Also pray for our time tomorrow as we do church a little differently than we are used too. And begin to pray for Monday-Thursday…those are the day we go back into the village to do VBS, train teens in God’s standard of purity, and have 2 worship gatherings for the entire village. I have the great opportunity to preach at both of those gatherings. May the Name of Jesus be lifted high and that He would draw people to Himself!

We love you all!

Pressing On,

Dale

Sak Pase’ (What’s up?)

Wow! What a day. God is absolutely amazing…but many of you reading this already know that. First off, we were all able to get a really good night’s rest leading up to today. We were all moving around by about 7AM. We were able to eat a little and get ready for our day.

I want to share this with you as we begin this blog. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. And the village we are in is an incredibly poor village. Those who fish are looked down upon in this society. It is a trade/skill that is not respected. That being said, we are working with “the least of these.”

At 8AM, we prayed over our day, loaded the bus, and headed to the fishing village. We spent the first part of our time there praying. We prayed over the Fish House (a house where Stephen and Autumn lead Bible studies and base much of their ministry out of). We prayed that it would be a lighthouse…a place of hope. We prayed for our translators Wesner, Franz, Colas, Naygo, Jonas, Baz, Simeon, Paul, and Kevins. We ask that as you pray for us, you pray for them. Pray that the message that we have been given to share would translate to the children, teens and adults in a mighty way.

We walked to the school and prayed over it and the Headmaster, Carrenard. We broke up into VBS teams and spent time praying over the space that each would use this next week. We then sent the students, adults and translators out to talk with people in the village, share the Gospel, and pray over their needs, both physical and spiritual.

Once we walked through the village, we had some lunch and played with kids in the village. There were a ton of kids! It was exciting to see such joy. I was reminded of the passage in Luke 18 when Jesus scolded the disciples and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” The children were coming from everywhere and were soaking in the love and attention of our team. It was awesome to watch!

After about 6 hours of praying, sharing, and playing we walked back to the Fish House. We were able to spend time with many of the ladies that Stephen and Autumn pour into. These women are relatively new believers. They have incredible struggles and are learning what it means to follow Jesus. I met most of these women when Christa and I came to Haiti in November of 2011. There is a change taking place in them. They are growing. It is awesome to see Matthew 28:19-20 being acted out. Stephen and Autumn are making disciples. Not just leaving these women to figure out this life on their own. We celebrated with them today. Many of our team members shared their story of how Christ has changed them and how He is working in their lives. And then many of them told stories of how God saved them and how they are learning to live like He desires. In November, these women would not share with Christa or I because of nerves. Today they professed Jesus boldly with nearly 50 people in their presence. Great things are happening!

We arrived back at the hotel around 3:15PM. As I am writing and working on some other things, our 4 VBS teams are continuing to prepare for what will take place Monday through Thursday. Seeing many of the faces they will see on Monday has given them a fire to be sure to be ready. They do not want to miss opportunities to share Christ the best they can.

In a little while we will get ready for dinner and then have our team share time. I’m sure that many stories will be told and that Jesus will be honored and glorified. I will be sure to update after hearing testimonies tonight.

Tomorrow we spend the day at the orphanage. It is the mission that Stephen and Autumn serve. It is the orphanage where Christa and I are praying about adopting through.

We love being in Haiti. We are excited for this opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We covet your prayers and ask that you continue to lift us up so that Jesus may be praised!



Pressing On,

Dale

Lots, Lots, LOTS Going On!


I know that it has been WAY too long since I last blogged. My life in the last several weeks has been so incredibly busy. But I wanted to take some time and bring you up to speed on what has been going on…and what’s to come.

Over the last month we have seen some really cool things take place at IMPACT. About a month ago was our Morphis weekend. The theme was “Rooted” and Justin Hanneken did an amazing job bringing the Word and the guys of Fever Fever led us to worship our Great God. The weekend was one of the best weekend retreats I’ve been a part of. There were many challenges issued throughout the weekend and we are asking the Lord to continue to move. If you were a part of Morphis…THANK YOU! Whether you were a student who took part in the weekend, a parent who allowed your student to come, an adult who came and served with us, you opened your home, or you spent time praying. THANK YOU.

We have also been getting prepared for our trip to Haiti. In a month and a week, 25 high school students and 10 adults will be serving alongside of FBCV missionaries, Stephen and Autumn Byxbe. We will be leading a 4 day VBS for children ages 5-12 in a local fishing village. We will also be working with Haitian teens and teaching them about how God has called us to be holy and to honor Him with our purity. We will lead 2 revival/worship services in the village. We will also be spending time with children in the orphanage that the Byxbe’s serve in. There is still so much to do as we prepare for this mission. Please continue to pray for us!

On a not-so-side note, there is a great opportunity for you to encourage those on the team. You can write an encouragement note/card to members of the team. Turn in your cards with the team members name on the envelope at the Haiti Missions table in the foyer no later than Sunday, June 24. There are 35 team members and we will be having “mail call” each of the 9 days we are in Haiti. If you have any questions please contact Christa Puckett 937-424-7675/ythwife@yahoo.com. Christa has led the charge in this endeavor for many of our trips and it is amazing to watch students faces light up when they get that special word of encouragement and to know someone is praying for them.

Yesterday was an exciting day as well. We had the opportunity to honor our high school seniors. They are a great group of young adults and I am excited to see how God will be using them in their next stage of life.

There are also some things I want you to be aware of.

This Sunday (May 27) is the last day to get your student registered for our Youth Summer camp at Seneca Lake. The deposit is $50 and the total cost is $160. Camp is July 16-20.

Last summer we gave our middle school students a chance to go on mission too. The dates and registration for MX78 (Mission Experience for 7th/8th Graders) will released in the next week. Be on the lookout for more information.

We are looking to re-schedule a summer picnic that was scheduled for June 2nd. We want to ensure that we can have it at a time that doesn’t conflict with grad parties or weddings. So once we get a date, we will let you know.

For Wednesday nights…Wednesday, May 30th will be our last Wednesday night Bible study until the fall. With everything we have going on during the summer, we are unable to be consistent on Wednesday nights. We may look to schedule Bible studies now and again during the summer. Once we have some dates in place we will let you know.

Keep praying for our ministry.

Pressing On,

Dale

It’s Monday!

Today has been an interesting day. It’s like our weather is a little bi-polar and can’t figure out what it wants to do. This weekend was beautiful and today starts off rainy and gloomy. However, the rain and clouds cannot foil my excitement from the last week and a half! God is so good!

 

I first just want to share about Morphis 2012. Morphis is a discipleship weekend for the IMPACT Student Ministries right here at FBCV. It is a weekend packed full of worship and Bible study. Yesterday opened our first day of registration for Morphis. Our theme this year is “ROOTED.” In Isaiah 61, the prophet is sharing what God has called him to do. He is doing all of these things so that God’s people will be "oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that HE may be glorified." That is what this weekend is about…preparing students to be oaks of righteousness, bringing glory to God.

 

The cost for Morphis is $40. Our speaker this year is Justin Hanneken, who is an incredible friend, and brother who desires to see students raised up and fulfilling the Will of God. Our worship will be led by the band Fever Fever. The lead singer for the band was in my first youth group a long time ago. They have a passion for music, ministry and missions. I believe that it will be an awesome weekend!  You can see our promo/teaser here - http://vimeo.com/37994941

 

You can get registered in the Hangar, in the main foyer, or by seeing me.

 

I also have some needs when it comes to the following areas: Offering to be a host home for a group of 6-8 students and 1 adult leader (we provide most of the food for them and can help with transporting them to and from your home), transportation throughout the weekend, and food prep. Please let me know if you are willing to help!

  

So what else has me pumped? Well in the last week I was able to take 30 students and adults to a conference called “Dare2Share.” It was incredible! During the weekend the folks from D2S were able to pour into us and share with us some great techniques for sharing the Gospel. They used the acronym GOSPEL in such a cool way. They shortened it so that students could grasp it.

 

GOD. OUR. SINS. PAYING. EVERYONE. LIFE.

 

• GOD created us to be with Him.
• OUR sins separate us from God.
• SINS cannot be removed by good deeds.
• PAYING the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again.
• EVERYONE who trusts in Him and Him alone will have eternal life.
• LIFE with Jesus starts now and lasts forever!

 

They gave time for students to text and call friends with this Good News! Many of them were incredibly nervous, but they were able to start some cool conversations with friends. Keep praying that God continues to use them as they share with their friends.

 

Our Sunday night message series has continued in the Fruit of the Spirit. Last night I talked through Goodness. I’m hoping that the audio will be up today or tomorrow at the latest. I’ll send a link once it is.

 

Here are some of the main points from last night’s message.

 

1. Goodness is doing the right thing for the right reason.

 

2. Jesus is our example of Goodness

 

• He was tempted to be selfish, to compromise, and to win popularity, but He ultimately chose goodness because He knew the Will of the Father.

 

3. Ways to Display Goodness

• By being FORGIVING
• By living a life of PURITY
• By being GRACIOUS
• By showing GENEROUSITY

 

Take time to listen and have conversations with your students about what they’ve learned!

 

Thanks for your prayers! I am so thankful that the Lord has called us here to serve. If there is anything that Christa and I can do, or ways to pray, please let us know!

 

Pressing On,

 

Dale