Friday

Hey all!
Its late and I have to get up early tomorrow morning and drive the crew back so unfortunately I have to make this quick.
Today went really well. It started off a bit frustrating as it was cloudy and rainy all day for our picnic with the kids. The team and the kids, however, made the best of it and ended up enjoying the rain. We went to the park at 11, then got the kids at 12. When Sophie, Joe Randall (HFIC's Bible Club intern) and I got to the apartments to pick up the kids, only 3 were there with their permission slips in hand. However, there were many other kids who wanted to come but just didnt have permission slips (ask one of our team members for details on that). So we decided to quick run back to HFIC, copy some more slips, and went back to the apartments and picked up 6 more kids that way (9 total). Thus, we had a good size crew for our grow group.
Grow group quite well, considering we had to shorten it due to getting the extra permission slips. All of our team members were able to talk about Jesus with the kids one on one, and some of their conversations went extremely well! You'll have to ask them for the details. Praise God! Thanks for the prayers!
After Grow group, we had a 1 1/2 hr powerful debriefing time with Paul Green, the HFIC Executive director. He asked the many ways we saw God working this week - and it was extremely moving and encouraging to hear everyones testimonies. He also challenged us to take the things we learned back to St Louis; so pray for that!
After debriefing, the team went out to eat downtown and walked along the riverfront, while I (Ross) went to a friends wedding. We're all cleaned up and packed up now and ready to go - please pray for our trip tomorrow!

Here's some pics from the grow group picnic day:

 The team with HFIC Director Paul Green after debriefing

One of the HFIC staff members surprised Hope with a pretty awesome birthday cake!

 The team out to eat

Standing on the walking bridge in Chattanooga

See you all Sunday Lord willing (and family tomorrow;))

Crossroads Chattanooga team!

Thursday

Hello again friends,
Today concluded our time on the job site as we will no longer be working at the house tomorrow. We got a lot done overall this week; we painted most of the the trim/crown molding/baseboards on the inside, we also painted the foundation on the outside, cleaned up the bushes in the front and back, tore down an old swing set, scraped lots of old paint off the floor, and many other odds and ends. HFIC seemed really pleased and thankful for the work we were able to do for this house. Please pray that they can sell it for a good price to fund their operations.
After the worksite we stopped at a local BBQ Joint that I frequented in college for a dessert called "Alabama Dirt." We all got a little bit and relaxed after completing our tasks for the week; it was a great feeling.
We had tonight off (see yesterday's post) so we stayed at HFIC's campus and hung out together and played games for a solid 3hrs. Some of the HFIC played with us as well, it was super fun!
Tomorrow is grow group. Grow group is a more intimate version of the Bible club we held on Tuesday and Wednesday. During the Bible club, each of our team members were asked to pursue one kid in particular to invite to the Friday grow group to more thoroughly discuss the gospel with the kids. Thus, the hope tomorrow is to have 13 kids come (correlating w/ the number of team members we have) to the grow group. We have two options of where to have grow group: at a downtown park, or, if it rains, back at HFIC. We worked hard tonight to plan two different grow groups that accomodate to the needs/resources of each place. At grow group, we will play lots of games, sing some songs, and then at lunch our team members will separate with our kids and talk with them for awhile about Jesus.

Please pray mainly right now for our grow group: that kids would follow up and come, that the program would go smoothly, and that the kids would be open to talking about Jesus.

Here's one pic from today (sorry, forgot to snap pics today)

We surprised Hope with a birthday cake;) (her birthday's tomorrow, but we celebrated it today bc we cant tomorrow) 

Hump Day

Hey all,
Another great day in Chattanooga is in the books!
Our time at the job site went overall well, we got a lot done while it wasn't raining. Unfortunately, many of the jobs we were assigned were outdoors, and around 12:00 it started raining quite a bit. So much of the afternoon we were both waiting out the rain, running out to do more work during the 10 minute pockets when it stopped, and scrambling to find more to do inside. The team was very flexible however with the rain hiccup - the girls especially made the time really fun with lots of singing and dancing. One story from the job site today was that we ran into a wasps nest. There were about six of us working in the back of the house, and while Malachi and Brian where prying an old piece of wood out of the ground that had previously served as a border of the patio, Malachi all of a sudden screamed "WASPS!!" and quickly backed away. Sure enough, a swarm of 7-8 wasps came out of the ground where he had been working. The situation was put under control quickly as we had wasp spray on the job that took care of most of the wasps; I was the only one who ended up getting stung.
We had our last Bible club tonight, which also went well. We felt as though we learned from our mistakes the previous night and had a much smoother show tonight. The kids seemed to really enjoy the time. Our next event with the kids is Friday where we will bring them to the park for a picnic and talk further about Jesus with them.

Prayer:
- Please continue to pray for flexibility for the group as things can quickly change on us (both from HFIC, and the weather this week)
- Also please pray for the kids who we gave the Bible club to, that the seed we sowed would have been on fertile soil and would take root
- We ask for prayer for our Friday picnic with the kids: pray that the kids who we invited would come, that it wouldnt rain, that everything would go safely, and that our team would boldly proclaim the gospel to each kid we invited.
- Prayer for continued energy as we finish out the week


More pics/vids

Electric slide during worship this morning

Painting the front of the house

 Lunch break

Melody enjoying the rain

This bottle of poison ivy soap has come in handy as we've encountered lots of poison ivy on the job. 

The team with Big Buff (see pic from yesterday) - he's 6'9''

Bible Club!

This is Super Sophie, our inspiring Bible Club teacher! She did a wonderful job teaching the kids the gospel with a super-hero theme. 

Sierra getting a free hairdo;)

Thanks again for the prayers! Keep em coming!

Crossroads Chattanooga Team

Tuesday

Hey all!
We had a great day today!
HFIC had us work on a house that was donated to them that they are trying to flip and sell for full profit. We painted the brick foundation of the house (about 5ft high all around the front), moved a large pile of trash that was in the driveway, and scraped paint off the floor. It was quite a bit warmer today so we were much more easily fatigued. We got a lot done though!
We also had our first book club tonight! It went really well! Sierra and Hannah Hollenbeck introduced some songs to the kids that they picked up on pretty quick. Then Malachi did a great job leading the kids in a memory verse (Ps 34:8), and Lydia and Sophie finished it off with a wonderful lesson time. The kids proved to be a tough crowd, however, as it was difficult to keep their attention, but considering those circumstances, the club went really well. Thanks for your prayers! A lot of us were able to invite kids to a Friday night picnic we are holding where we will much more intentionally ask the children about their spiritual life one on one.

Prayer:
- Please continue to pray for energy for our team as the weather is getting warmer
- Pray for open doors to talk about the gospel in our Bible clubs and Friday's picnic
- For us to develop hearts more on fire for missions back in St Louis from this trip
- For safety

Some more pics (and one video;))

Worship this morning (hope it works)

The men moving a pile of wood from the back of the driveway to the street where it is accessible to a truck. On the left, Hope and Noelle scraping moss of the driveway wall. 

A.J., our project supervisor, telling our team his testimony of coming to Christ. Very powerful!

So one of the ministries of HFIC is providing a space where inner-city up and coming entrepreneurs can "incubate" their new business' for cheap. So the current business is a BBQ Restaurant called Big Buffs 92 BBQ. Big Buff, the owner, is former NFL All-Pro Reggie White's cousin, so the restaurant is themed around him. Man O man, that BBQ was sooo good! Best I've ever had! Those of the team who tried some all loved it! His place is right on HFIC's campus.   

Hanging out at Big Buffs after we got back from the job site.

 Our dinner for tonight - all our dinners are home-cooked by Paul Green's (pictured) wife! Very good!

 The team setting up for the camp kids who will be coming in tomorrow morning.

Flexibility

Hello again Crossroads!

As the name of the posts suggests, today our team had a good experience of what it means to be flexible. The staff here at HFIC emphasized in our training that a key ingredient to inner city missions is flexibility, and they asked us to be flexible with them, and they would seek to do so with us as well. We had a job all ready to go yesterday that we were planning on doing this morning, then, right before we left for our job, our supervisor said we wouldnt be doing that anymore today, that we would have to wait for an hour while he went and worked something out with someone for a different job. He gave us a couple of tasks to do around the HFIC campus, but we had to be creative in order to put everyone to work - which by Gods grace we were. 

When we finally got to the job site, however, we had a great time working on a HFIC facility that they are trying to resurrect for further urban missions use. We cleaned up a couple of bathrooms, cut the grass and weeded, sweeped up lots of floors, and generally tidied the place up. 

After our worksite, we had a wonderful time going over to the Woodlawn Apartment complex where we canvassed for the Bible Club we will be putting on in their courtyard for the kids tomorrow and Wednesday. There were lots of kids running around at these apartments and they were incredibly warm and receptive of us. We are truly excited to go back tomorrow and present our Bible club. 

After canvassing, we went up to Covenant College for dinner and a tour - followed by a trip to a bluff near Covenants campus where we watched some hanggliders fly in the beautiful Georgia evening sky.

Great day!

Please pray for:

- Our Bible club tomorrow - for smoothness, boldness and clarity in presentation. And for kids to be receptive of our message

- For flexible attitudes to be able to adjust to the many curveballs we may still be thrown this week

- For energy as we have lots of work to do in the hot southern sun yet this week

Here's a few snapshots from the day:

Worship with James Ward and the New City Fellowship worship team in the HFIC gym this morning before we left for the job site - we worshiped with some inner-city teenagers who are attending a camp this week at HFIC.

The New City Worship team had us get down off the bleachers to do the electric slide to one of the songs :)

Melody and Hope cleaning some windows at the job site

Canvassing to the kids at the Woodlawn apartments

Some weirdos up at the scenic overlook on Covenant Colleges campus

Standing on a hangglide launch pad on a bluff on Lookout Mountain - Malachi scaring the girls by walking close to the edge;)

More bluff

Final Bible Club preparation

Thanks again for the thoughts and prayers!

Crossroads Chattanooga Mission Team

A Day of Training

Hey Crossroads,
So it was a long day today. It started off by being locked out of the main HFIC facility (my fault;)) for 35min this morning. We are sleeping in two trailers right next to the building, and all we have are bathrooms out there, the food, showers, and everything else is in the main building, so we got off to a late start having to wait for a staff person to let us in. After breakfast, we had a 2hr meeting that discussed our schedule for the week, and introduced us to the various ministries of HFIC; showing all the things they do for the area - very interesting.
We then enjoyed a wonderful service at New City Fellowship - their Pastor Kevin Smith had a stirring message on Phil 3:7, and it was a unique experience worshiping in a cross-cultural church.
In the afternoon we had three further training sessions. One was for the Bible Club we will be running. After briefing us on all the particulars for the club, the trainer had us perform the clubs we had prepared and gave us feedback on how we could polish them. From there we had a meeting about the work site we will be working on. It looks as though our main project will be helping refurbish a house that HFIC owns and will be trying to sell for prophet to help with the funding of their ministry - that is always subject to change however.
Our final training session was more of a spiritual training session to prepare our hearts for the week led by the head of HFIC Paul Green. Paul is a vibrant, animated, and passionate man of God who led us in a wonderful, yet challenging time of spiritual admonishment.
We then had some dinner, got together and worked on our Bible club, and finished the night with some free time.

Some prayer requests we thought of were:
- Self-less-ness: the ability to let-go of our comforts and truly give ourselves to the cause of Christ and HFIC
- Safety: as previously mentioned, we are serving in a rough neighborhood, so pray for God to protect us
- The Bible club: pray for kids to come, for us to passionately present the gospel, and for kid's hearts to be open to Jesus

We spent part of the night making pocket evangelism tools - colored booklets where each color corresponds to a part of the gospel message. 

Thanks all! 

Crossroads Chattanooga team

We're here!

Hey all!
We arrived safely at Hope for the Inner City in Chattanooga at 7:30 tonight, our travels went very smoothly! Once we arrived, we had an intern show us around the HFIC campus for awhile. Then, after unpacking, we finished the evening with a meeting where we both discussed logistics and had a time of worship and prayer. We're excited for the week!
Our team asks that you would pray for:
1. Energy for the week - there's a lot going on and it will begin to wear on us mentally, emotionally, and physically
2. Safety - theres a lot of opportunity for people to get hurt on the job site, but also we are staying in a relatively dangerous part of town.
3. Open hearts - pray that our hearts would be open to serve HFIC, Chattanooga, and love each other


Here's a couple of pics from the day:

Dan praying for the team before the trip

We used every last nook & cranny of space, but we fit everything!

Jeff & Ken figuring out the car-top carryer

Dinner at a rest stop along the way, sooooo much food! Thanks Crossroads Mission team for helping us out with some food!

Walking around at HFIC's campus - we found a snake, Malachi tried to catch it;)

Thanks for checking in! Have a great night!

Crossroads Short-term Mission team

Leaving Tomorrow

Hey Crossroads Family,
Thanks again for the incredible support we've received from you all! We leave tomorrow and are excited to represent our church, but more importantly our King, as we head to Chattanooga to help Hope For the Inner City for a week. If you think of us, please continue to pray for smoothness in our travels tomorrow, and overall for our hearts as we prepare to serve in this way.
We'll try and post something everyday so keep an eye on this blog throughout the week for continued updates and prayer requests! Thanks!