An Awesome Team

Josh and I went down to the Eastern Iowa Airport this afternoon to help send off the Poland Team. There was a good turn out with over 40 friends and family present. The team consists of Kitty Cahill, Anna Rustebakke, Lindsey Paulson, Mark and Lexi Forstrom, Austin Spooner, Cailey Kettelkamp, Amber Allan and Garrett Purdy.

Their flight was delay four hours but the airline was able to get them on another flight out of Cedar Rapids that actually left a few minutes earlier than scheduled. You can email Gina Kaufman at Gina.Kaufman@newcovenantbible.org if you would like to receive email updates from the team. You can also see pictures from the trip by going to their flickr account.

Pray that God would use our team to demonstrate and communicate the love of Christ to those attend the winter English Camp. And pray that each person on the team would grow in their dependency and trust in Christ.

We are sending an awesome team. We serve an awesome God. We are trusting God for awesome things!

Two Thumbs Up!

John Shadle, our Youth Intern, left today to return to Indiana. His internship is over but the impact of his life and ministry to the students at New Covenant live on. John is an awesome young man who God will certainly use. Here are some words and phrases that come to mind as I think about John - humble, transparent, servant, fun, easy to have around, loves sports, heart for God, genuine and a man of character.

Thank you John for investing in the lives of students at New Covenant during the past six months. And thank you for your involvement with Josh and Jon. We will pray for God's leading as you trust Him for the next phase of your journey. I know that you will be a blessing wherever you go.

John,we appreciate and love you. In the Pagel book, you are a "two thumbs up" kind of guy!

Building Homes and Enjoying Life Together

A New Home

Our youth group returned last evening from their missions trip to Mexico. 47 students and 13 adult sponsors spent the last ten days, 60 hours of which was spent riding in an unairconditioned bus, on a trip to Mexico to build houses for needy families. We partnered with Casas por Cristo to build three homes in Juarez.

Josh's team is pictured above in front of the three room house that they built in three days for a family of eleven! You can click on the picture above to see a short slide show of the team as they returned. You can also go to New Covenants website to see additional pictures of the mission trip.

The debriefing time last evening was powerful, as our teens shared from their hearts regarding the impact this trip had on their lives. The mother at Josh's work site made the entire team a meal cooked on a skillet over a fire made from the leftover scrap lumber. Tears were shed as the keys to the new home were turned over to the families during the dedication ceremonies.

How do you measure the value of a missions trip? By the dollars that it cost to send the team? By the number of houses built or people who come to Christ? Or by the lives transformed?

The futures of three families in Jaurez, Mexico were forever changed by a team from Cedar Rapids, Iowa who before last week, they had never met. The families faith was strengthened and given new hope by a gift they didn't deserve and could never repay.

60 teens and adults returned with hearts that were pierced by the goodness of God, thankful for His many blessings. Blessings they didn't deserve and could never repay. Hearts full of appreciation for shelter, food, clothing, family, and the new level of community they developed with one another. New relationships that grew out of building homes and enjoying life together!

Shamrock Around The Clock

Who are these people and what are they doing? It's scary when you begin to meet people at church that make Bernice look normal! With all the green they are wearing I guess they must be associated with Shamrock Around The Clock.

Shamrock is our Sr. High Youth Group's St. Patricks Scavenger Hunt. This year's event is Friday, March 17. There are a lot of opportunities to help out with this outreach. Elves, drivers, gophers, chaperones, and green food preparers are all needed!

Contact Pastor Mark Forstrom if you would like to volunteer. And by the way, if you see Bernice and her two wacky friends around the church, tell them about Shamrock Around The Clock.

27 Students, Three Sponsors, Two Pastors and One Heart

SEMP Team

Our SEMP Team returned today and shared what God had done in their lives this past week. The Students Equipped To Minister to Peers conference is held annually at Wheaton College and teaches students how to share their faith. During this past week our teens experienced God through worship, serving, listening, writing letters to their friends, sharing and loving.

Our students returned better equipped to share their faith, but God did much more. God not only broke their hearts for the lost, but He also knit their hearts to one another. A transformed heart is a remarkable thing. Words weren't needed to describe what these students and adults experienced this past week. The looks on their faces, the tears in their eyes, and their expressions of affection for one another said it all.

I watched and listened this afternoon as the SEMP Team shared from their hearts. On Saturday, one week ago, they left as friends and acquaintances; today they returned as family. They left as 27 students, three sponsors, and two pastors, and they returned with one heart. Jesus give us your heart for people.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the worker are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Matthew 9:36-38