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ON OUR WAY

Just a quick update that we had a good travel day today. 630 miles down, about 275 to go! I was ready to press on but the kiddos begged to stop at a hotel with a pool that was still open. So, here we are, outside of Bakersfield at a pretty nice Best Western.

They even decided to delay dinner so they could get about an hour and a half of pool time. After swimming, we walked across the parking lot to an IHOP that's open till midnight.

Well, guess what?!?!? The IHOP that Google told us was open till midnight closed at 10! Some of the kiddos were set on pancakes so the Jack in the Box nearby wasn't good enough. Being the good youth pastor that I am they twisted my arm to drive about 20 minutes to Denny's.

It was worth it!

There's breakfast at the hotel in the morning that ends at 9:30am. We plan on getting there just a bit before that then leaving here by about 10 or 10:30. With a lunch stop that should put us home late afternoon on Sunday.

There was smoke in the air the entire drive today. Southern Oregon and Northern California are getting hit HARD with fires. It's really sad. We are praying for these tough situations!

Thanks again all, cya soon!!

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THAT'S A WRAP!

What a great closing day! The wildfire smoke was pretty heavy today for sure. It has had its good and bad moments throughout the week. Many of us have coughs or are losing our voices. My voice is just about gone! Those aren't clouds in these pictures, very smokey!

This week has really been such a blast. The locals are so appreciative of what we're doing here and the goodbyes were tough today. Quite a few tears for sure!

Andrew did an amazing job with the Sports Camp lesson this morning telling about Jesus feeding the 5,000. Once again, we ended the final sports session with a massive game of tails. Then, of course, we had a great dance party at the end.

BARF Nights was the most well attended of the week with lots of great interactions going on. Great chats among the teens, the leaders, the parents - everyone! This crew has really bonded. We played Rabbit Sticks and Plungerball which left everyone pretty dang tired!

Isaac was the lucky one tonight. Students don't ever know when they will be called on to share their testimony but he was the only one left who hadn't shared. He was well prepared and did a great job. The kids here really look up to Isaac, and he has some great leadership qualities. It's been super cool seeing him mature.

After BARF Night, we were invited along with a bunch of others to swim over at David and Cassie's house. They are the ones who work with the youth at the Baptist church in Glendale. It was so fun! He has a sweet family and it's been inspiring to witness how they are impacting their community for Jesus. Please keep the prayers coming!!

We're heading to bed soon as we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. A long two days, really. In the morning we're gonna clean the church, eat breakfast, pack up and head south! We will be home on Sunday.

One of the things I've noticed about this team is that the whole week they've been drama free. That's a big deal on a missions trip! God is good and has unified this team and called them to a special purpose. I think that they will be having withdrawals from each other after they get home! The photo above is of our encouragement bags that Maci set up for us. It's an opportunity to write a note of encouragement for your team members. It's pretty great!

Thanks so much to everyone who followed along and prayed with us. Keep checking back as I'm sure we'll be posting again soon. Love y'all!!

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5 SECOND COOL DOWN

As I'm writing this, we've just finished playing "Murder in the Dark" with Pastor Fred's kids at the church. It was pretty intense and it is approaching 11:30. We had a very fun day, one of the more memorable days on these trips. 

Sports Camp was even more fun today than previous days for two reasons - 

We played an epic game of tails during the last sports session. Even some of the moms joined in! Everyone was laughing like crazy, even through a few minor collisions!

At the end of camp we usually close with one song and then if we have time we do one more. The campers kept begging for specific songs and we finished with four! It turned into more of a dance off as there really wasn't a stage area any longer, it was more like a party. These kids are having so much fun and we are also loving it!!

Between our events the ladies drive with Cindy and some of the kids to Myrtle Creek and picked blackberries. They came back with several grocery bags full and they are so tasty! 

BARF Nights grew again tonight, I think there were about 35 in attendance total! That's a really great turnout! Sarah and Phin did marvelous jobs sharing their stories. It's been super cool watching Sarah relate with one of the local girls here. She is ministering to her in a very loving way and it's beautiful. 

Phin has also been a great presence here this week. He's that guy that everybody loves - he's always working hard when things need to be done and is also absolutely hilarious. He brings a lot to the team.

We're pretty tired and only have one more day here! This post is a little short because of that. We want to be as rested as possible for a big day tomorrow. Goodnight and love y'all!!

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NEW GENERATIONS

Sometimes we say things about the future that we really don't know for sure are going to happen. For example, there have been times when parents of little babies in the church have made comments about when that little baby will be in the youth group as a teenager. That's a tough thing to predict, none of us know exactly where we'll be in 15 years or so. Nicole and I have talked for the last couple years on these trips about what a blessing it is to now have some of these babies serving God with us on Mission Ventures!

Today our Sports Camp Bible lesson was taught by two of these "babies", Martina and Sarah. They did a great job sharing about Jesus calming the storm. My wife and I remember when these girls were born, and are so proud of them! That goes for so many of the other ones we've had on these trips over the last 5 years too.

It reminds us of our PVCC Vision Statement:

"Raising up new generations of both physical and spiritual descendants who are strong, bold, and fruitful in the love and mission of our Lord Jesus Christ".

We are witnessing this vision being lived out before us! Not just with those physical descendants who we have literally known since they were born, but also with spiritual descendants like Andrew who came to Christ later in his life and began attending PVCC just two and a half years ago. God is so faithful! We've been through many different phases as a church over the years, but God has continued to provide in miraculous ways. To Him be the glory!

We had three or four new ones at sports camp this morning. They had a great time. Phin shared the sports story and it was a really good one about "The Freezer Bowl", an NFL playoff game in the early 80s that the Chargers unfortunately lost. It set the stage for our Bible lesson as we talked today about Jesus being able to calm the storms in our lives.

Between sports camp and BARF, Pastor Fred set up a viewing party at the church for the US versus France Olympic soccer match. Unfortunately the US came up short but it was fun to watch together. After the match the ladies went with Fred's wife Cindy to pick up their daughter and other son who have been serving at a local Christian camp. We're excited to have them back with us!

BARF Night continues to grow each night. We were told by a man who lives in the neighborhood close to the park that he can tell from his house that we're having a lot of fun over there. Tonight was no exception! With our largest crowd of the week we played The Captain is Coming and Plunger Ball. We also heard testimonies from two young men who shared boldly - Andrew from Pine Valley and Danner from Arago. The first couple nights girls shared, and it was nice to have two guys tonight because the majority of the new people who came were teenage guys.

We all hung out after BARF Night for about 30 more minutes and people were just getting to know each other. Sarah was walking the field with a local girl trying to get to know her a little more, then a few more of us joined and we had a great conversation about Jesus and about some tough things in her family right now. Broken families seem to be the norm around here. Please pray for all the different churches in this area to be able to reach these families with the gospel! It is such a huge need!

Glendale in particular seems to be a pretty tough place. Our theme for Sports Camp this week is "Undefeated". Our theme verse is Romans 8:37:

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

Pastor Fred told us that he was glad that our theme is undefeated. He said that Glendale could be more fittingly characterized by the word "defeated". We see this everyday as we drive through town to our events. Pretty early in the day there are people hanging outside the local bar, there is a bit of a homeless population and various people that seem to have a history of all kinds of abuse. Yet the kids here are so energetic and sweet and are enjoying their time with us so much. Please pray that some of these things that have been going on for generations here would change by the power that only the gospel can bring!

The first night we were in Glendale we shopped at the local Dollar General. We actually witness a couple young people trying to steal alcohol from the store. The cashier saw them running towards the door and just body checked them with all her might! The boxes came opened and cans flew everywhere and the shop lifters ran off. It was super intense, and something we certainly don't see in California! We've developed a bit of a relationship with this cashier as we go to that store at least once each day. We have no idea of her background but would love for God to open doors for us to share with her as well. Please keep that in your prayers!

I'm heading to bed with a huge smile on my face and just feeling totally blessed. This team has been wonderful and God is working in and through them. They are awesome! Goodnight everyone and thanks so much for your support!

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JUST GETTING STARTED

Another wonderful day in Oregon!  Our day started off with the breakfast of champions - spam and eggs!!

The wind seems to have shifted a bit and the wildfire smoke was pretty heavy today.  It didn't stop the campers from having an excellent time at sports camp! It was interesting though, they were complaining about the heat today.  To us, the weather was perfect!!  Around here, if the temperature hovers near 80 degrees it is too hot.  Quite different from the destinations we usually travel to for these trips!  We are used to triple digits so this weather is quite pleasant for our team.  

Axel taught the lesson today and it was about Jesus healing the paralyzed man.  The kids seemed pretty engaged.  We are praying that the lessons will sink in and that the kids will remember them and be able to apply them to their lives.  We are also praying for any of them who do not know Jesus - that they would come to know him in a real and personal way!  

At BARF Night, we played a new game.  Pastor Fred's son Josiah had a birthday today and he wanted play wiffle Ball tonight.  We ended up playing "Extreme Ultimate Wiffle Ball" and it was a blast.  It seemed to be just as fun for those watching us play, they were quite entertained. 

We also played Rabbit Sticks and it was a very tiring, competitive, even match.  Axel ended up winning for his team with a dive across the line that left him bruised, cut, and with dirt all over himself.  Keep in mind that this was after he slid into home plate during the wiffle ball game and blood was drawn.  He's a beast!

Martina is such a great young woman of God.  She shared her testimony tonight and it had an impact.  Her story resonated with many in the crowd.  Even the parents came over to hear her share and they were very impressed that someone her age would be so brave to share in front of a crowd like this.  Nicole and I are certainly proud of her, but we are not surprised.  Martina has come on our Intergenerational Mission Venture for years and has even shared her testimony on that trip.  Way to go Nina! 

After BARF Night, we went over to Pastor Andrew's house.  He is the pastor of the Baptist church I mentioned previously.  He and his wife Tonya served us ice cream and we played games and hung out with their family and David's family and a couple of the local teens.  It is pretty cool to see them invest in their community.  David and his wife actually grew up in Glendale and have been serving in local youth ministry pretty much since they graduated from the local high school.  It's been over 20 years!!! Praise the Lord for their long term commitment!  

I also want to share how pleased I am with the unity of our team.  We have never combined with another mission team and it's pretty amazing how they have merged together so well.  Part of it is that some of our students grew up with Phin for a few years while he lived in Pine Valley, but I think it is also a testament to their upbringing and their relationship with Jesus and their desire to serve him and share the gospel with others.  This is the smallest team we've ever had at PVCC, and some of our biggest years our teams had over 20 students.  I am noticing this year that a small team that is so "locked in" can have incredible impact in a place like this.  We are praising God that He knew who would be here this week and that he is using us to accomplish His mission!  

Please continue to pray.  We know that you are because God is working!  There were a few great conversations at BARF Night with some teens and we are hoping this continues to develop.  Tonight at Family Time we talked about how we can take longer breaks between games to allow for more opportunities to chat with people.  I am not going to share a lot of details about these conversations but please know that they are happening!      

We are looking forward to another great Wednesday!  If you haven't already, scroll back and check out our video from our rafting trip on Sunday!  Thanks everyone!

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Check out our adventure on the river from Sunday!

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A GREAT FIT

It is safe to say that God brought us to a place that is a good fit for our team! We have felt so welcome, and we have had some great opportunities already. Connections have been made and our prayer is that they will continue to grow as the week moves on. Will you pray along with us? Yes........I MEAN YOU!!

We got to the park this morning to set up for camp and I had to run down the street to get some ice. When I left, no campers had arrived yet. When I came back, the area was packed with kids getting signed up. We ended up with 17 campers! They all had a blast! They had energy right off the bat and really enjoyed their time. After camp was over, the kids were smiling and hugging us and asking when we'd see them again. It was amazing.

The other blessing about camp today was that a bunch of the moms and grandmothers hung out and watched the kids play and had some great fellowship with each other. A few dads were in and out too. Pastor Fred stuck around and it was cool to see that he is well respected here and loves to connect.

We also received a great surprise visit as Sports Camp was wrapping up. Pastor Joe and Jenny Murrell stopped by! They were on their way to see their son Josh and his family in Salem and Jenny texted me while they were in the road. I told her the name of the park and they showed up about 45 minutes later. It was a great visit, we love them so much!

I've also noticed there's actually a pretty cool network going on here between some of the churches in the area. The events we're doing this week are in a neighboring town of Azalea called Glendale. There are a couple churches in Glendale that Pastor Fred knows pretty well. He's been plugging our events to these other churches. Fred mentioned that he desires what is best for the Kingdom of God this week, and that may not mean that everyone we come into contact with will end up going to Azalea Community Church. He picked Glendale Park because it was a central location with a lot of kids and teens. It is also a town with great need for the gospel. It's great to see that kind of unity in God's people from different congregations!

BARF Night was also amazing and full of energy tonight! The pastor and youth pastor from the Baptist Church in Glendale showed up tonight with their families and it was obvious that they are connected to the local teens. We did a little canvassing before our event and a few guys we passed out fliers to ended up coming.

The games were great and pretty intense at times - in a good way. We also had a few little kids that we had to dodge while playing. We aren't really strict on the ages for Mission Venture BARF Nights and it can get a little scary when the older kids are flying all over the place. Please pray for safety!

I'm not sure how many showed up to BARF but it was probably about as many as came to Sports Camp. One teen said that he is going to invite his whole track team tomorrow. A couple others said they will spread the word too! We're looking forward to a bigger crowd tomorrow.

My lovely daughter Ellie shared her testimony tonight and she did an excellent job. It's crazy to think that she is on her last Mission Venture as a student. I'm super proud of her and she's been a great leader on this trip. She really brings the energy and loves all her "besties" here on the team.

Right now all the Pine Valley students are sitting around chatting in the sanctuary with Maci and Axel. They're having a blast sharing some stories of some embarrassing experiences in their lives. They are quite the unified team!

We would love for you to pray for great opportunities for gospel conversations this week. Some locals have shared with us about the sad situations that many of the kids in Glendale are experiencing in their lives right now. It's all pretty heartbreaking. Pray that these teens that are coming to BARF Night will commit to Jesus! Our team is looking for chances to go deeper with these kids, and are confident that God will provide!

Thanks so much everyone!!

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SUNDAY SERVICE, POTLUCK, AND RAPIDS!

Our Sunday was packed full of amazing!

First off, we're in a beautiful place. Since church wasn't till 11, I got a chance to go for a run this morning. Here are some of the sites:

Azalea Community Church is a wonderful, welcoming church and Pastor Fred and his family are doing an excellent job here. I hope to be able to write a little more about them later in the week.

The service was great, Pastor Fred gave a great sermon on Joshua 11. God fights our battles, and we are His ambassadors!

We also enjoyed a potluck with everyone after church. It was a great way to get to know some people. They are very thankful that we are here and are excited for the week ahead.

And WOW! Speaking of exciting stuff - after the potluck we headed down to the Rogue River and met Pastor Noble and Megan Weeks of Arago Church. They took us on a river rafting adventure! It was SO FUN. It was an activity that our team will never forget!

I got some good footage of us on the river, the few times it was safe enough to use my phone. Well, I think I used my phone when it wasn't safe either. It definitely took on some water! I will work on a video to post later this week.

Pastor Noble and Megan headed back to Arago and we are now here at Azalea putting together some last minute things for our Sports Camp tomorrow. We are so excited to see how God is going to work this week through Sports Camp and BARF Nights. Please pray a long with us!!

After the river run, which took about 4 hours and included several rapids, we were HUNGRY! Fortunately for us, right where we ended our run there was a little store with live music and a food truck. Yes please!! Awesome views, and fabulous food. We had a great time.

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Fun in the storm!

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AZALEA!

We have arrived in Azalea and things are going AWESOME! Pastor Fred and his wife Cindy are so great. Tonight they had a birthday party for their son who is turning 12 on Tuesday and we were invited. We went to a local lake and went swimming and had burgers and met a lot of people. There is a bit of a buzz about the events that we will be hosting next week and we see a lot of opportunities ahead. Please pray!

To rewind a bit - our stay in Elk Creek was fabulous, Pastor Joe and Anna are such great people and we're blessed to have met them and that the relationship has carried on.

The drive to Azalea was pretty smooth but unfortunately there was a lot smoke in the air from several fires burning in Northern California and much of the state of Oregon.

In fact, as I'm writing this, lightning is flashing outside and many of the current fires in Oregon were started by lightning. Please be in prayer that there will also be some rain and for no new fires, and for the firefighters and everyone involved in putting them out.

We're excited for church in the morning, and we're also excited that church doesn't start till 11am! After church there will be a potluck so it'll give us a great chance to get to know people.

One thing I haven't mentioned in the blog yet - we are merging mission teams with Arago Community Church! Axel, their youth director, is here with two other students - Danner and Phineas. Phin is the son of the pastor at Arago - Noble Weeks. Pastor Noble was the pastor at Pine Valley Community Church a while back. It's pretty cool to now be partnering with their church in this way!!

As you can see, Axel and I are pretty similar. Axel came with us on our Mission Venture to Mayer, AZ a couple summers ago to see what these trips are all about. It's super cool that they can do their own now, and that they're doing it with us!!

Really cool answer to prayer - IT'S NOW RAINING! pray that it will continue!!

I look forward to sharing more cool stuff with y'all, we got some other fun things coming tomorrow. In the meantime, here are some pics from the day today:

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2024 YOUTH MISSION VENTURE!

We left Pine Valley this morning around 7:30am and have made it to our first stop on the way to our Mission Venture in Azalea, Oregon. We are staying one night at Elk Creek Community Bible Church, which is the place we went for last year's Mission Venture. Thanks so much to Pastor Joe and the elders at Elk Creek for letting us crash here tonight!

Crash is exactly what we're doing! We got in around 9:30 and everyone was definitely ready for bed. Today the drive was pretty smooth but it was a long day. I'm glad we got this much done today because we're only about 4 1/2 hours from Azalea. We're going to sleep in and plan on leaving here around 9:30 tomorrow.

We'd love for you to keep us in your prayers this week and to keep checking in when you think of us. There will be lots going on and I plan on sharing at least every night. You can click the "subscribe" button at the top of this page to receive notifications each morning when a new post was created the previous day.

Anyways, thanks again for your support and here are a few more pics from our travel day!

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Here are some more pics from the last couple days of our trip!

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FINAL DAY!

It's hard to believe our time here is coming to an end! It was a shorter trip than usual, but definitely fruitful. Many of our team members were able to continue to connect relationally with some of the great people in this town. It is amazing to think that we've developed friendships here that seem like they'll last a lifetime!

Our deepest desire is for these friends of ours to come to a knowledge of the one true Savior, Jesus Christ. Our hearts ache when we think of the great need for the gospel here. Our hearts also rejoice when we think of what God has done over the last eleven trips here. We look forward to many years to come!!

By the way, check out the progress on the new church building! It is absolutely beautiful, and they have a goal to open in October! Road trip, anyone??

Please continue to pray for the people we've connected with. Pray also for those that will remain here after we leave - Brody and Liz Gareth and Kristen, and Josh and Sydney. They are the ones who will be here all year continuing to invest in this community. I consider them modern day heroes of the faith!!

Today we spent the morning reorganizing things at the church that we used yesterday. We spent a lot of time together as a team just hanging out the rest of the day. Some of us did get to connect again with some local friends, and made our rounds to say goodbye tonight.

Mike, Sarah, Tom, and Nancy took a hike tonight in beautiful water canyon. The rest of us had a nice time eating ice cream on the deck at Bee's. They had live music and the sunset view was spectacular! What a great God we serve!!

We are looking forward to our traditional send off breakfast in the morning. Liz makes homemade cinnamon rolls and Kristen makes a breakfast casserole. It is outstanding!

Thanks so much for reading and praying along with us, we love y'all and will be home soon!

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FREEDOM DAY

Well, this has been quite the day! A little toasty for sure!

I really don't know where to start other than saying that it is such an honor to serve here at the crick. We have an all star team and they worked super hard today. I would say that we are drained, but at the same time are filled!

We also had some amazing volunteers from the other mission teams that joined us out here. The carnival games, bounce houses, face painting booth, craft booth, and photo booth were all busy the whole day!

The parade was also great, with so much energy and excitement everywhere. We've been blessed to be here as ambassadors for Jesus.

Tonight, there was a town dance that was an absolute blast. Hundreds of people just dancing, singing, and hanging out with smiles all over the place. I couldn't help but wonder what Warren Jeffs would think if he witnessed all of this. The town has radically changed over that last decade.

And it wouldn't be the fourth without an unbelievable firework show! I am being completely serious - the best firework shows I've ever seen in my life have been here in Short Creek. They really know how to do it!

Tomorrow we have some organizing to do at the church, just putting away all the game stuff from today. Some of us are also going to be touring The Dream Center in the morning. Other than those things, our day is pretty open. There are several locals asking if we're available to hang out tomorrow and I hope we can. The relational ministry opportunities have been powerful this year. Please pray for that to continue on Friday!

All in all, this trip has been outstanding and we are looking forward to many more years to come!!

Thanks y'all for reading and praying, it means a lot!

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HAPPY 4TH EVERYONE!