Be the Church

by: Jonathon Mitchell

A few weeks back I had the privilege to take 6 of our high school students to CIY MOVE in Holland, MI. If I'm honest, I was looking forward to this trip, but with little hope of there being any change in our group - much less any change in our church. The year before, we were scheduled to go it was only 2 weeks from my daughter being born and we only had 2 students signed up, so we cancelled. I didn't have a lot of expectations going into this year's trip.
On top of that, I spent very little time praying for the students that were going on this trip. I would pray from time to time about the trip, but not near what I needed to have spent. But one thing I did do, and so glad I did, was hand out some prayer sheets that CIY provided for specific ways that the people here could pray for the students going. Probably the best piece of planning I did going into the trip. Six different people praying specific things for these girls during their trip, and 5 days after the trip.

Throughout the week at CIY the students were challenged to become a Kingdom Worker. They were challenged to see needs, and meet needs. To see where God's heart was, and MOVE towards it. They are doing that.

Here's what that trip did for those students - and I believe is a direct result of the prayers that were prayed for the students during and after their conference experience. In just a little over week, these 6 teens are hosting a rummage sale here at the church that will go towards Active Water, a non-profit organization that helps to put bio-sand filters in the homes of people dealing with the water crisis going on in Africa.

These 6 students are being the church, and leading our church in an effort to do something about a problem that they know God wants us to do something about. I'm extremely proud of these students. I'm also extremely humbled to see what God is doing in their lives.

If you want details about the Rummage Sale, here they are: http://www.facebook.com/connectatgrace?v=app_2344061033&ref=ts#!/event.php?eid=122178511162434&index=1