Day 2 VBS God as Protector, Chapel Service, and Dunkel Donuts

Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”



My heart felt fully content as the children arrived at the First Baptist Church with smiles, and eager anticipation.  While a few of the children were ready to jump in with the activities others were quite shy. Soon we were singing along with our youth worship team, and Pastor Richard taught lessons of how we may seek out God's protection in life. Storms do come our way, but the Lord is our help during times of trouble. 

Sidney revealed her special guests and one of God's most beautiful creations including several monarch butterflies, caterpillars and chrysalises to share with everyone brought tenderly and carefully from Rochester.

We had another tremendous puppet performance by Jim and Kim and the children are eagerly awaiting what tomorrow will bring!

As the morning progressed, children received animal balloons, and had the opportunity to tie dye their t-shirts with Charlotte Dance. When I stepped inside from the outside activities, the air was buzzing with eager intent children gathered around the tables with Dave Allen orchestrating the children and teens in creating and designing colorful boomerangs

Lunch arrived quickly and Kim and Jim served delicious grilled cheese sandwiches and fruit followed by Freezees for our church family.

Early afternoon brought a creativity class of journaling and drawing conducted by Elizabeth Nida Obert. 

On Tuesday, the children created delightful cards for the elders at the living center and today, we had the opportunity to visit a Chapel Service at Tekakwitha Living Center and greet and visit with several people during the afternoon. A few of the youth from VBS were able to join us, worship along with us, greet, and listen to many stories throughout the afternoon.


Family supper arrived quickly and the Chris and Jessica Williams family served delicious walking tacos!

Lastly, our Sisseton Church family campfire tonight was a huge hit with more Jiffy Pop Popcorn and delicious Dunkel Donuts!

There are many stories to share, but again the time is after midnight and we anticipate another full day tomorrow as the children will be delighted and thrilled to receive their school supplies donated from our CCC VBS! 

Tomorrow's Schedule

Day 3:  Friday, August 1

God as Redeemer

Verse:

Romans 3:23-24

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”

Story: Parable of the Lost Sheep

Read Luke 15:3-7, John 3:16 and John 1:12

Sand Art Cross 

Afternoon:  Women's Fellowship Spa Day! 

Prayer requests:

Please pray for all the children attending Friday’s VBS, and for a successful and enriching Saturday afternoon VBS, dinner and movie at the park.

Pray for the team to remain strong and healthy.

Blessed first day in Sisseton SD. Had fun capturing some events! Dana and Grace Duffney

VBS Day 1 Dakota Alliance VBS at First Baptist Church Pictures to follow soon

God is good all the time and today the sun provided us comfort, joy and lots of giggling children at VBS as we held our first day of the Dakota Alliance VBS at First Baptist Church.

Dakota Alliance Church had a water problem in the basement on Monday morning and we had a quick change in plans as to where the VBS would be held as we arrived on Tuesday.

Thankfully Pastor Richard and Sharon were instrumental in coordinating a new site for VBS which is very near the Dakota Church. We are very blessed to be at First Baptist Church to host VBS. Today we had songs, puppets, creation stories, tie dye, games, corn dogs, afternoon art and journal lessons.

Additionally, in the afternoon, many team members went over to help clean up the basement at the Dakota Alliance Church and complete landscaping projects.

The team met together to pray and have an evening meal tonight and we had plenty of opportunities to hold and hug sweet babies and visit with parents.

We are excited to share many vivid photos very soon with everyone including puppet skits and tie dye, but our day has been tremendously full and joyful and time for sharing is short tonight.

Our campfire concluded at around 9:30pm tonight right after a jiffy pop popcorn competition won by Jullian!

Plans have changed a bit this year as far as the site, but when we are able to see sweet smiling faces arrive for VBS, all seems complete and the joy far exceeds any of our expectations that we could have ever imagined!  

Truly, our Sisseton team put in a full day and we are looking forward to sharing the day tomorrow with our Sisseton Church family.

Traveling from Rochester to Sisseton, South Dakota

Our team members traveled today from Rochester to Sisseton and we feel extremely blessed to be here and we are ready to begin our week.

We were able to unload all the supplies at our new site. We are all thrilled to be here with our Sisseton Church family.

We are looking forward to seeing the children and parents tomorrow and we can hardly wait!

Thank you for your prayers for health and safety for all the children and for a beautiful first day of VBS.

Our schedule tomorrow begins early with team prayer and devotions at 8am 

VBS begins around 10 am!

Day 1: Wednesday, July 30God is Creator

Job 33:4
Verse
"The Spirit off God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”

Story:  Creation Story Adam and Eve
             Genesis 2

Cleveland MS - Day 4/5

Today, as I type this, there is a VBS taking place at two different locations on the west side of Cleveland: Metro Alliance Church, and the Family Ministry Center. Today is our last day, and potentially the most important day of the VBS. The kids we've had with us this week will have a chance to hear and respond to the gospel. Please pray that many of them respond favorably as it is the most important decision they will ever make!

Last night we joined the prayer group from Metro Alliance Church for about an hour worth of praying for their church and the city of Cleveland. I was so impressed with how our kids prayed because THAT IS A LONG TIME TO PRAY! But they were wonderful!

This morning we began our day with breakfast and a tour of Cleveland. We went by the Cleveland Clinic - which is world-renown just like Mayo Clinic. We also drove by the Browns, Cavaliers, and Indians athletic stadiums... we didn't see Lebron or Johnny Football :( However, we did have Gypsy bean coffee which made everything better.

Then we spent a little time at Edgewater Park right on lake Erie. The lake was as violent as I have ever seen it, but it was a fun time to spend outside enjoying God's creation.

Tonight we will go to a special place for supper, Chik-Fil-A, which will be simply wonderful. Then we will pack up, clean up, debrief a little bit, and go to sleep so we can get up and head to Cedar Point Amusement Park in the morning. What a great way to unwind!

Thanks for all your prayer; we covet them!

Cleveland MS - Day 2/3

Hey CCC, we're having a great VBS so far at two sites: Metro Alliance Church and the Family Ministry Center on the west side of Cleveland. God has brought us over 50 kids who are hearing Bible stories every day, learning how to pray, worship and have a TON OF FUN!

Our own team is doing very well. Our students haven been serving without complaint and hanging out with these Cleveland kids and they all love it! We have an amazing team this year. Our leaders are great too! Even in the heat today they went out prayer walking and had a good time.

Tonight (and last night) we go to people's homes for dessert. This is always a rich time getting to hear amazing God-sized stories of how he is working in and through them. It is truly inspiring for us to hear!

We all miss our CCC church family dearly, but we're having a great time in Cleveland! Thanks for praying!

Pastor Josh

Cleveland Middle School - Day One

Greetings CCC! We had a less adventurous day today after a far too adventurous day yesterday. If you didn't hear, going through Chicago one of our vans was rear ended. Apparently the driver of the car who rear ended the van fell asleep at the wheel. No one was injured at all because it was stop and go traffic, the van was in fine shape (just the bumper was bent a bit) and it was still drive-able. We arrived in Cleveland about midnight...it was a long day.

Sunday started better. We were allowed to sleep in a bit and go to the second service at Metro Alliance where we heard a great message on making wise choices. The speaker used 1 Samuel 8 where Israel was choosing to serve a king because they felt serving God could be more costly. It was a great message and EVERYONE was challenged. 

The rest of the day went about as planned. We ate lunch at Happy Dog, a local favorite, did some neighborhood canvassing, and did a cookout. Now it is time to relax. Some of us are sitting in the living singing while Zach McKenzie plays his guitar. Some are playing cribbage. Some of the ladies are grocery shopping. We will go to bed at a good time tonight and get up ready for prayer walking and VBS-Day 1. 

Can't wait to see what God will do. Blessing!

Josh and the crew! 

Cleveland 2014

Hey CCC! In three days our high school and middle school missions team will be headed to Cleveland, OH for a week of ministry in the inner city. For middle school, this is the seventh year we've gone there to partner with Metro Alliance Church. For high school, this is the first year and we will be partnering with Parma Heights Baptist Church. We're very excited about the doors God has opened up for us to serve with these two churches!

We wanted to give a little information about where we are staying while we're there. 

Middle School will be staying at the Family Ministry Center Saturday night through Thursday night. Here is their contact info.
Family Ministry Center
3389 Fulton Rd
Cleveland, OH 44109 
216-398-8420 

The high school will be staying at Parma Heights Baptist Church in a suburb called Parma Saturday night through Thursday night. Here is their contact info. 
8971 W. Ridgewood Dr
Cleveland, OH 44130
440-886-6100

Finally, on Friday evening we will all be staying at the Breakers Express Hotel in Sandusky, after our day at Cedar Point. Here is that contact info. 
Breakers Express Hotel
1201 Cedar Point Dr
Sandusky, OH 44870
419-609-3800

Thank you all for partnering with us financially, and through prayer. We love you all and are looking for to what God will do in and through each one of us!