Seniors in Seattle

I'm sure that my attempt to make every post have a movie reference will get old quick, but it happens. Yesterday was a really good day. We went to Roy's Place, the recording studio/music hall, that Connect Church rents out for their worship services. We cleaned the entire place. This helps with the relationship between Connect and Roy's. So many churches, particularly church plants, in the Seattle area run into the problem of being without a location to worship simply because the business they rent kick them out. Most of the time for no reason. Connect desires to keep a strong relationship with Roy's by doing everything they can to help out. Thus, we cleaned!

After cleaning Roy's we headed to the Lynnwood Senior Center. They have NEVER allowed a church group to come and serve as a group. There are about 75 volunteers that come through the doors, but a church has never been given permission to enter as a whole. Wow! Maybe just a little pressure. Our job at the senior center. CLEAN! The economy and budget cuts have forced the senior center to be creative when it comes to maintaining their facility. Maryann was our contact for the day. She assigned us jobs and I'm not quite sure what she expected to get out of us.

When we arrived, we were handed cleaning supplies and tasks to do. The encouragement for the day was to go above and beyond. To walk that second mile. To serve Jesus. Several of our team were assigned to go and clean the 3 mini-buses and a 15 passenger van. Detailing every nook and cranny was a must. The remaining students had the awesome job of scrubbing baseboards, washing windows, dusting blinds, and a on and on and on. We had about 4 hours to complete the job. I honestly do not think Maryann thought it was going to get done. How could a group of teenagers work together, not goof around, and think of others rather than themselves? It's not modeled well sometimes, inside or outside of the church. But I want you to know...Our students (and adults) kicked it up a notch. They cleaned and scrubbed and had joy doing it. It was neat to see the seniors faces. They were confused at why a group of students from Ohio would want to come to the Lynnwood Senior Center and serve. The only thing we could say...JESUS!

Some of our students and adults were called crazy. Some thought we were stupid. But the bottom line was...we were here to show Jesus to them.

At the end of our 4 hours, we completed every task on every list Maryann gave to us. She could not believe it. She was so impressed by the hard work that we offered to them. Your students served the senior center well. Your students served Jesus!

The cleaning got us in the door. I encouraged our students not to be so focused on cleaning that they missed opportunities to tell about Jesus. They didn't. Many were thankful. Some confused. The Gospel was presented in word and deed. Our prayer is that Connect Church will continue to have opportunities to serve there so that people will come to Christ.

Thank you again for your prayers. Today is our "touristy" day. We are going into downtown Seattle to hang out and enjoy our time together. One of the things that I encouraged our students to do today was this...Don't miss opportunities to share just because it's our day "off." Our mission to tell about the love of Christ never should get put on hold. Pray that we have a great time together. Pray for beautiful weather. Pray for opportunities for us to share Jesus.

Pressing On,
Dale