Saw this awhile ago but saw it on a friends twitter and it’s relevant to what we are talking about this weekend in Fusion.  Enjoy!!

“Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.” Hebrews 6:12 (NLT)

“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. ²⁴ Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.” Collosians 3:23-24 (NLT)

What a day!!!!  The Construction Team finished the fence, and stayed late to remove an old door and replaced it with a piece of plywood.

VBS Team saw 1 kid accept Christ and then did demolition work in the afternoon.  There is a story behind this that includes a stolen phone, and a talk about forgiveness!

The Facilities team, cleaned the showers and bathrooms then were sent to Demolish a house.

Every Student worked hard yesterday. The group really enjoyed tearing stuff up!!!!

Last night seemed to be cry night in our Worship Time.  These times have been amazing with leaders sharing a word of the day and then a time singing to the Lord.

Here are some pics from Todays’ Construction Team:

“Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.” Luke 16:9 (NLT)

“If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” Matthew 10:39 (NLT)

We have had a great week with a lot of sun and great worship times at night.  Today we had our teams in three locations, here at Alamo, VBS, and Construction.

At the construction site we got all of our supplies after Lowes made us wait for 4 hours because of lack of communication.  This caused us to only get half of the fence done.  But the good news is we should have it completed on Thursday.  Just a note, almost every girl that has come to the construction site, has worked harder than most of the boys!!!

At VBS we had a low number again and have learned a lot. Trying to use this as a teaching tool for the adults and students there and relating how you have great plans and to see great things happen and when they don’t happen that way how to not give up and persevere through the challenge.

At Alamo, some of our students cleaned toilets for the first time.  Their objective was to work on the needs here that sometimes get overlooked because all of the construction guys/gals go to work sites.  They were also supposed to help unload all the new supplies that have been ordered but not yet arrive.

It’s been a good week.  We topped off the midway with a meal at a local food place called The Spot!  Great food, lots of it!  Here are some of the pics from today:

“I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters,^[e] that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles. ¹⁴ For I have a great sense of obligation to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world,^[f] to the educated and uneducated alike. ¹⁵ So I am eager to come to you in Rome, too, to preach the Good News.

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.^[g]17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, ‘It is through faith that a righteous person has life.’” Romans 12:13-16 (NLT)

Today we took most of the group to the construction site and sent the rest to VBS. At the site, half of the group worked on painting the house while the other half worked on the fence.   However, we didn’t get the all clear for digging until late afternoon.  We took a volunteer team and worked until 8:45 to dig holes and set post so we could finish the fence Wednesday and Thursday.
At VBS they doubled their number of kids, which created some excitement.  After VBS that crew worked with the University Baptist Church and cleaned a yard in the community.

Here are some pictures from the Construction site:

“About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?’

² Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. ³ Then he said, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. ⁴ So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

⁵ And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf^[a] is welcoming me. ⁶ But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.’” Matthew 18:1-6 (NLT)

Today was our first day on the work-site and doing VBS in the park.  Both places had challenges.  At VBS, the students and leaders only had 3 kids show up.  This is much different than the VBS we were able to do in Mexico and it left some of the team feeling discouraged.  In that came the question, “Why go if no-one is going to show up?”  Great question!  I think it is easy sometimes to want to pull out of something when it doesn’t go the way we thought it should, or if kids don’t show up.  But we lead by example, if we pull out after 1 day, disgaurding all the work we did to pass out fliers, and talk it up with our students, I think we teach them that when things don;t go the way we thought, or when things get hard, its ok to give up.  There’s a word that I am sure will surface this week as a word called perseverance!  Maybe the lesson was never meant to be for anyone other than our group and our students to learn that sometimes when you work for the Lord you don’t see the results immediately, but you serve out of obedience, sacrifice, and perseverance.

We had some challenges at the work-site also. We arrived and demolished the rest of the fence to get ready to put the new one up in the next 2 days.  We will dig 28 holes for new fence posts to a 8ft privacy fence.  While several crews do that we will have another crew stripping/scrapping the trim and soffets as well as the front entry so it can be repainted.  The homeowner is a widowed lady’s who’s husband died 5 years ago.

In our worship time, Penelope shared the word of the day HUMBLE, and Josh led us in musical worship.  What a sweet time we had, the Spirit moved in a mighty way breaking students and adults challenging us to surrender all of us for all of Him.

It’s been a good trip!  We have had some challenges, 1 sick, 2 students stepped on nails, and 1 students stepped on a rock
and caused her foot to swell and toe to feel numb, and lots of sunburns!  Please continue to pray for our group!

Here are some pics from today!

“This is the message we heard from Jesus^[c] and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. ⁶ So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. ⁷ But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.” v. 5-7 (NLT)

Today you have several choices to make, and the question remains, will you be in the light or in the darkness? Now know that we all try to put on a front and try to look good.  We may be able to fool many people but we can’t fool God.  He knows the condition of our heart and if its desire is to live in the light (publicly and privately) or if it hides in darkness.  Every decision you make forces this reality.

Today, lets choose to walk in the light, so we can begin to step out of darkness (the things we hide and think no-one will find out about I call it secret sin), and live the life Jesus calls us to live.  He is the light of the world and he shines though us illuminating the path for others.

“‘So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. ¹⁴ So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. ¹⁵ But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. ¹⁶ For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.’[c]” v. 13-16

Today was very busy, Church, VBS and Work-site planning, the beach, and a lot of people moving in. The space has become very crowded and someone tried to break into our trailer. They put a hole in it and broke all the lights. God is going to do some awesome things this week because Satan is doing so much to distract us.

On a side note, the Internet isn’t the greatest here, so it’s really hard to blog! Please make sure to follow the twitters for the best updates. Our group is going to crash early! Got a big day tomorrow! Pray with us!

This morning, Day 3, we will challenge our students with yesterdays word – Self-Control.  We will typically do this in the evening from 8-9.  At this time we will worship through song, Bible Study (word for the day) and prayer.  Please pray for these times as we share with each other the things God is doing in us and through us!

Here are some pics from yesterday:

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“‘So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. ¹⁴ So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. ¹⁵ But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. ¹⁶ For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.’[c]” v. 13-16

Are you a person of self-control?  Many of us would probably say that we were so lets just take a little test to see how well we do in this area:

1. Can you sort between needs and wants, when buying things?
2. Do you find yourself getting caught in the moment?
3. When you are tired, do you say things without thinking or worrying about how they sound or come across?
4. Do you have a short fuse?
5. Are you the same person in public as you are in private?

I m sure the list goes on, but the Bible says to think clearly and use self-control.  A person with Self-Control thinks before they buy, speak, act or re-act.  A person with Self-Control is a person who can be used by God in great ways.

Could you be described as a person of Self-Control?

Today, lets THINK before we do that thing we are thinking about doing and lets show some Self-Control!

“Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.” 1st Timothy 4:12

We have arrived in Galveston. Alamo Elementary is a great facility that we are lucky to be able to stay in. The showers are small, but we are thankful for them. I believe that this week is going to be very impactful for our group. Each night we will be meeting from 8:00-9:00 to sing, learn, and pray. Each night a different student will share a word and a verse that encourages or challenges us in our walk. Tonight, our word was EXAMPLE. We were challenged to BE AN EXAMPLE. Everywhere we go people are watching. Let’s stop making excuses and start living like we Jesus called us to live. It’s a challenge for all of us, young and old. What a great reminder and Challenge as we begin this week! Let be examples in the words we use, in our action, in our love, in our faith, and by our PURE lives!

Pics from today

Posted in Church Stuff, Dan Gould, Missions, Student Ministry Tagged: Dan Gould, Fusion Student MInistry, Galveston Mission Trip 09, Galveston TX, Grace Community Church Plano ]]> http://dangould.wordpress.com/2009/06/13/galveston-mission-trip-day-1-be-an-example/feed/ 1 dangould http://dangould.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/galveston-mission-trip-post-1/ http://dangould.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/galveston-mission-trip-post-1/#comments Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:53:52 +0000 dangould http://dangould.wordpress.com/?p=2755 ]]>

Well, in less than 24 hours Fusion Students and Leaders will load some vans and head to Galveston TX.  We are working with Good News Galveston helping the community rebuild from hurricane Ike.  We will be one of the first teams reaching out to the children through VBS/Back Yard Bible Clubs.  Along with this we will have some of our team members doing construction projects.  As we have prayed and planned, we have purposely left some open spaces so we could be flexible and meet a need as a need comes up. Sometimes we schedule so much that we schedule out the opportunity to meet needs on the fly.  As you pray, would you remember our students, and leaders as we embark on this mission tomorrow.  Here is what I would ask that you would pray for:

* Pray for Safety
* Pray for Brokenness
* Pray for Salvation’s
* Pray for Repentance
* Pray for Spiritual Growth
* Pray for Unity
* Pray for Attitudes
* Pray for Surrendered Hearts

I believe God is going to use this team greatly.  I know personally for me, mission trip is always a impactful and a highlight to see students do things they don’t normally do and experience God in ways they don’t normally allow themselves to experience Him.

If you want to follow the latest and greatest details, I will be twittering the trip and posting updates daily to the blog.  You can follow me on twitter here:

www.twitter.com/dgould77