C.H.R.I.S.T. Choir Tour

Homecoming Tomorrow Yippee!

2009-06-07T00:06:00.005-05:00

As Saturday turns to Sunday I am so excited about tomorrow's homecoming because I know I am going to see God tomorrow oh I mean today! I will keep this short, which is unusual I know, but just a quick note to say come back to the blog I will post some pictures tomorrow. The best is yet to come in more ways than the blog!
Love,
Ms. Mary Lynn

We are MADE TO WORSHIP…and never forget that we must STAND AND SHOUT, WHERE (ever) JESUS IS!

2009-06-06T23:44:00.002-05:00

So I am on the bus in Richmond, Virginia…beginning the 12 hour bus ride home. Oh my goodness, what a ride this past week has been. This is my 6th and final choir tour that I have been on since the 7th grade. For the first time ever, I’m not ready to go home just yet. I feel like I still need this time to grow in my faith with God and just be at rest. However, I know that the “seeds we’ve sown” this week will be used for His works. I cannot believe that we have done so many of the things we have done this week. The services were SO powerful. Whenever we sang, I honestly felt like I was at Storehouse or at Wednesday Night Fathom, just worshipping my incredible, wonderful God! But, I realized that I do not give my God even a fourth of the worship, praise, and attention that He deserves. Yet, he still blesses me endlessly. What an amazing God!

Washington D.C. was our “main destination,” along with Baltimore, Maryland. D.C. has always been a love of mine. I love the city, and adore the history that comes with it. However, singing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial was incredible! It was such an unforgettable memory, and I will always cherish it. Visiting the Holocaust Museum provided me with an opportunity to be still, even in this crazy week. The memorials are always my favorite, because they honor all of the hard work that many people have produced to not only create our freedom, but to also protect it. Although we were only in Baltimore for a total of 7 hours, we were able to get a nice taste of the city at the Inner Harbor! And of course, the elderly at the retirement home in Virginia were lights of God during our concert. Their smiles, their tears, their laughs, and their memories helped bridge the gap between the old and the young. What an awesome opportunity we had!!

So, let me do a little bit of math here…I’ve been in the CHRIST Choir for 3 years. On each tour, we sing an average of 7 times, plus the 2 times we sing at the homecoming concert. That’s 27 concert performances that I have done! And believe it or not, but I remember each one. As a senior, it’s a bittersweet day…my last day of CHRIST Choir Tour…ever. Miss Susan and Miss Resha, words cannot express how thankful I am that God placed both of you in my life. Your love of God and music has inspired me in ways that you two cannot imagine. Thank you for all you do, and I know that God will continue to bless you both! Miss Susan: from Forever Polyester to Oz and to the Beatles, thank you for blessing me with ensemble opportunities, they have been so much fun! Thank you for your incredible leadership. I will dearly miss you next year! And Miss Resha: While it is incredibly sad that you were not able to join us on our last tour, I’m so thankful for all the memories we’ve shared with you, and I can’t wait to see you Sunday!

Here’s one last thing to remember…

God has created us, and we are MADE TO WORSHIP…and never forget that we must STAND AND SHOUT, WHERE (ever) JESUS IS!

God Bless!
Liesel Burks

The Prayer Team and other good stuff

2009-06-06T23:43:00.001-05:00

Here I am sitting on the bus getting ready to go home. What a Choir Tour it has been. I’ve been part of this choir for three years now and choir tour is always an incredible way to end the year. Being it is my senior year and my last tour this marks my last official event as part of the Asbury Youth group. That’s both sad and exciting but there is no better way to top it off than with choir tour. It’s been both a very quick yet dense choir tour marked with various memorable moments and glimpses of God doing large ministry. I know that God has chosen all 128+ of us specifically for this trip with a different reason behind it and I feel honored that He would use us as His hands and feet as He has done this week. We went from performing at fellow Methodist churches, shouting on the steps of the Lincoln memorial, worshiping with seniors at the retirement center, to sharing the word with a group of kids at the children’s home. At all of these places we sang God’s word in song form and shared His love with His children as He shared his love with us. Like I already said, it has been quite a week.
I’ve had the blessing this week of being a member of the 12 person prayer team. As soon as we arrived at a place where we would sing, the prayer team would gather up and pray together for the performance, the choir, the audience, and most importantly for God’s will. A group from the choir has been meeting since January to pray for God’s preparation in this trip and this group was merely a branch from that group. God began to show us the fruits of the prayer team before the trip embarked and this made us all the more excited. Mrs. Myrick was the best team leader we could have asked for on the prayer team as she kept us engaged with various forms of prayer: journaling, prayer walking, praying scripture, visualizing, repetition, name calling, and group prayer. It was a great way to get focused for the next performance and really invest ourselves in what we were doing. God’s word says that when two or more gather in his name that he is there and will hear us. This was the foundation for our prayer and we have security in knowing that he answered us in both ways seen and unseen.
It was also great to know that we were not the only ones praying whenever several members of the choir had time they would also gather to pray for the performance and other requests as well. It truly believe that prayer is powerful and because of the prayers of various people before and during the trip God prepared the places we were to go to be fertile soil for the word that he put in our musical to share with them.
More than ministry, this trip was sooo fun! We got to gallivant around Washington D.C, our nation’s capital, and see the millions of memorials, museums, and several landmarks that make this city special. We also didn’t just get to sing to the kids at the children’s home we got to play and spend time with them too. More than ministry, it was just plain fun. Finally yesterday we were at Kings Dominion. An awesome amusement park! There were like a million awesome roller coasters that by the time the day was over my head was spinning. Finally we got the top of the trip with the ever so famous Talent Night! A series of both impressive and hilarious acts that make you forget how late in the night it was. My personal favorites being the Jackson 5, Miss Universe Pageant, and the Chaperone Skit.
I just want to thank Mrs. Susan for being the best choir director anyone could ask for. You have been a blessing on my life and soo many others in this choir. Also, thank you to EVERYONE who either chaperoned on this trip, helped with the choir, or did something for desert night out. It blows my mind to think of everyone that has done something with this choir that is not actually in the choir. This is very cliché but Choir tour would not be the same success without what you do. Thank you for putting up with the teenagers of 2009 and for your patience and love for us. I’ve been so blessed and don’t want to leave this behind.

Thanks, David Olsen

The End of Tour 2009

2009-06-06T23:41:00.002-05:00

With all things you do there has to be a beginning and an end. Well, we’re on the bus now driving home. I truly wish I could make this tour last longer, because I love our music and our choir! J But I’m excited for the ministry that God has planned for me when I get back. Just because tour is ending doesn’t mean the mission is ending. The mission is every day, being the best Christian witness you can be.
Looking back on the tour, I really had a great time. This is my 5th tour, and God still surprised me in many ways like He does on every tour. My favorite mission opportunity would be working in the warehouse sorting through moldy potatoes and rutabagas. I also had the opportunity to be blessed by someone else’s life at the Children’s home. He witnessed to us about how he came to God, when we had come to witness to him. God works in funny ways!
I loved the retirement home, seeing the joy on the citizens’ faces, and talking with them. One lady told me that they always hear about the bad youth of our generation and how much it means to the citizens to see so many youth singing for Jesus. I felt the spirit the most when we circled around the residents and sang hymns to/with them. On Amazing Grace I felt the most joy on this tour.
Now of course there was a fun day, in which we had very little work: King’s Dominion and Talent Night! Woot! I had fun going on roller coasters, and felt great about singing to park goers. Talent Night was amazingly fun with NYSTINK, The Jackson5, Becca, and so many other great acts. I had the opportunity to play the keyboard (something I was told I wouldn’t be able to do) and play a piece that I had written. Thank you Jesus for that opportunity.
Riding home now, I have come to realize that although tour is over, the ministry continues. Now we go into the real world, and God will test our strength and our faith. I can’t wait to see God’s plans for all of us.
God Bless, xoxo
AAA

To be continued....

2009-06-06T23:40:00.000-05:00

OK, well here I go. We are sadly coming to the end of Choir tour 2009. I don’t really want it to be over yet. This choir has done so much for me this whole year. I really love to sing. And when I sing I try to sing my heart out. This year has been tough for me. I made some dumb mistakes over the summer with summer assignments. I lied to my parents and it threw up in my face. DUH, what else happens when you lie? Well, my parents eventually found out and it just HAD to be the week before B2SR-08, so of course my parents didn’t allow for me to go. It hurt me so bad. I watched the buses drive off from my bedroom window. At first I just kept saying, “O, no, God won’t let my parents not let me go.” I kept thinking that Friday that when I got home my dad would be there waiting to tell me I could go. Of course, that didn’t happen. I had really messed up. I started the class off with a terrible grade and I lost all the trust I had worked hard to earn for 16 years. For a very long time I did not feel loved by everyone. I grew bitter in my heart. But my release was always singing. I would listen to my iPod to be continued…..

My heart has been touched in many more ways than one

2009-06-06T23:36:00.001-05:00

It is Friday morning at 1:19 and in less than 7 hours we will all be on buses preparing for our long trek back to the South—home. In order to begin, I think that you all must understand that this was my first Church trip. I did not know what to expect, yet as I look back I know that I was hoping for something life-changing. Sure enough, I got it. So many awe-striking things occurred this past week that it still boggles my mind and maybe that is because I have not yet fully comprehended everything that has occurred. Regardless, I am going to blog because Mrs. Mary Lynn has entrusted me with her computer over night and I intend to take full advantage.
PS: Mrs. Mary Lynn thank you for making me PIMP (Pee in my pants) You are a remarkable woman who knows how to be the life of a party.
Mrs. LuAnn. You crack me up in the best ways possible. I love spending time with you. You are someone I look up to and admire greatly. I hope one day I can be half of the women that you two are.
This week has been filled with one amazing adventure after the other and my heart has been touched in many more ways than one. I would like to thank every single person who had anything remotely to do with this trip because every single person made this trip just a little bit more incredible. I do not doubt one bit that God was at work this week because I felt Him every step of the way.
Sarah Hernandez

The Last Night Hanging with the "Girls"

2009-06-06T23:35:00.000-05:00

The Last Night.
It was a dark and stormy night in the dark abyss. Mrs. Cruisan appeared from the elevator furtively and observed six bad girls sitting in the hall. The very first sentence she heard uttered was, “There is a difference between naked and nekkid.” Upon hearing this, the thought ran through her mind that this conversation was not one to be spoken on a church trip. The ironic thing is that these very words were spoken by Mrs. Fernigan, a church staff member. Mrs. Cruisan decided that she would wait and let the conversation continue and see where this was going.
“Well what is the difference in naked and nekkid?” questioned Hannie with an unsure tone.
“Well when someone is naked they are just naked but when someone is nekked that means that they are nekkid and up to no good,” replied Mrs. Fernigan.

-Mrs. Mary Lynn peeing on Mrs. Lu Ann from coughing and laughing
-“Are you gonna eat this or are you gonna marry it?”
-have a coke and a smile, take a break
-devil vs. angel= lu ann vs. mary lynn
-pip! Lol, omg

*Edited by Ms. Mary Lynn because remember I am the “Angel”

This year's choir tour has been better than I could have imagined. After hearing stories from previous years, I was excited to be a part of something bigger than me.
Emily Gaines

King’s Dominion

2009-06-06T23:34:00.001-05:00

Psalm 103:13-19

To know that we are loved from everlasting to everlasting is mind blowing. That from the time God was here to all of eternity, God will reign on high. According to Psalm 103 all we have to do is love one another as he first loved us. If we love as God loved us, then we will receive the grace and mercy and righteousness of the Lord.
In worship there is this idea of surrender. It is understood that when your hands are raised toward the sky, that this means you are offering your heart to the Lord allowing him to come in and change you from the inside out. The love of the Lord is so gracious and bountiful. He covers all sins and wipes your slate clean. We are recreated when he forgives us.
Vulnerability is also intertwined in the idea of surrender and worship. You are allowing yourself to be changed and transformed through God into a creature that deserves to be in the presence of the Lord. And to think that it is so simple… all we have to do is love and allow ourselves to be VULNERABLE.
So now the question remains: Are you going to offer yourself completely and allow God to move in and transform you or are you going to be remain separate and unattached from the living God and the grace he wants to give?

Timothy Walker

God Uses the Bad Things in our Lives to bring Healing

2009-06-04T15:05:00.001-05:00

Last night on the bus ride from The Children’s Home to our new hotel in Richmond, Virginia we were given the opportunity to share where we saw God this week. This is my first C.H.R.I.S.T Choir tour and I was super excited to be able to share this week with some of my closest friends. The very first performance on tour was in Roanoke. Everything was going great and I was having an amazing time, until I started to feel very sick. I had to run off of the stage during “The Word is Alive,” and I was so disappointed. I learned how much our choir cares about each one of their members. I was feeling better and performed for the second service. Then, we traveled to Centerville for an evening performance. I got off the bus feeling very ill and didn’t know if my stomach would be able to handle to wonderful taco bar that the church had prepared for us. So, I didn’t eat which led to Mrs. Susan not allowing me to perform in the service. By this time I was so upset with myself. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t get to feeling better. I was so excited the week before and felt that God was going to do something amazing. This was not what I had expected. I sat in the front row and watch the choir perform. I was so amazed by how wonderful our choir was. We had forgotten the normal attitude of a choir that everything must be perfect and uptight. Instead, the choir was moving, and some were even crying. I lost it. As soon as I saw tears in Julianne Knox’s eyes and heard Kayla Ketron sing “Your Name” I was done for. I began to cry and smile at the same time. I saw God in each one of the members of C.H.R.I.S.T Choir. It was then when I realized that God had done something amazing through my own friends. My feeling for worship was rejuvenated and I was reminded that sometimes God uses the bad things in our lives to bring healing. This week has been one of the most amazing weeks of this year, and I am so happy that each one of the members and chaperones that are on the trip have used their talents to reveal God, not only to the ones we have been singing to, but also to one of their own.
Valerie Cashin

Let's Get Dirty

2009-06-04T14:00:00.004-05:00

It seems everytime we look at something and say"I don't want to do that!" or "I'll do any job except that one!" That's what we end up doing, and one of two things come from it. One you complain the whole time and be upset and when you do it you see God through it.

Monday was service day and to be honest it was the day I had dreaded. I got assigned to Novaco which stands for Northern Virginia Coalition. It was a woman's shelter for women, suffering from domestic abuse. We were doing landscape and yard work around their safe house. We got there and start talking about who was going to do what. They explained about cleaning the windows, the porch, trimming the hedges and I was thinking I can do that! Even the thought of spreading mulch sounded great. But then there was the weedy thorny bit of bug infested and who knows what else in there, bit of land by the fence. First off I looked at it and thought"Ok Kate just make sure not to get that job." But.......did you guess it? I got that job.

I started thinking about the song by Audio Adrenaline. It talks about getting dirty for Jesus. And that is what we were there for. To get dirty and be the hands and feet of Jesus to who we were serving. So me this big girly girl, who screams "bloody murder" at the sight of a bug and freaks out over dirt was down cutting thorny vines and regular ones getting dirty for Jesus. And I found that I really loved it. To this day (Wednesday) my best memory from this trip is the Service Day. I found myself wishing it was longer. In challenges we grow stronger and see more and more of God's face.

Romans 5:3-5
"We can rejoice too, when we run into problems or trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance, and endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love."

Kate Hood

Tuesday...Another Great Day

2009-06-03T14:40:00.009-05:00

Another great day. Today we divided up and went to various museums; Holocaust, Newseum, Natural History, American History, National Gallery of Art, and the Archives. It was touch and go on whether we would be able to visit the Holocaust but because of the willingness of several chaperones who were willing to battle D.C. traffic and navigate the Metro all were able to attend. I heard great reports from many.

At two o’clock we gathered at the base of the Lincoln Memorial and 125 voices filled the air as the CHRIST choir performed four of their songs from their musical. We had several parents and family members in attendance. Then we rushed back to the hotel with only an hour for everyone to shower and get ready for our Kennedy Center theater performance of “Sheer Madness”. Everyone was dressed to the nines, the young men looked handsome and the ladies were all lovely. I met a lady originally from Montgomery that was now living in Washington she came up to Emily Edwards and asked where we were from. When Emily told her she said she knew we must be from the South because the girls were much prettier there.

“Sheer Madness” kept us laughing and involved us all in the solving of a mystery. It was great fun! Then we had to kill some time so we drove by the White House and the Capitol. Some of us even got to the see the Presidential motorcade as it zoomed by with all of its entourage.

Then to Silver Diner where we enjoyed great fellowship and food.

Sorry we have not been able to blog as much as years past it has been extremely busy and I am trying to be “Chill” with the kids about blogging.

I hope to post some pics and video of us singing tonight.
Mary Lynn

The meaning of the lyrics

2009-06-03T14:40:00.008-05:00

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Being on drama team is certainly a different perspective then singing with the choir. When we're in between skits behind the lattices, listenting to the songs, its much easier to think about the meaning of the lyrics. Certainly the music itself lends tremendously to the emotional interpretation of the songs, but being able to cogitate intellectually about what is honestly being stated as the truth in these songs is made easier to comprehend when one is not only able to sit and think, as in sunday morning services, but when one must sit and think. The lattices are thin, and it can be distracting to the audience if they glimpse dancing and jumping through the lattices.

Franklin Wetzel

Good Stewards

2009-06-03T14:32:00.003-05:00

I would like to add that not only was it a month's worth of work that the kids did. It was about 25,000 lbs of sweet potatoes and rutabagas that we sorted through. Also on of the coolest things was that when we went to lunch Jimmy Aycock suggested and Dr. Hatcher communicated to the kids that they might consider trying to be conservative with what they got to eat and that we had $400 available to spend on lunch for them but if any money was left over we would donate it to the Mid-Atlantic Gleaning Organization. The kids were great at the end of the meal we counted the money and were able to present to Pastor Hall $176!
Mary Lynn Botts

Service Day...to be continued

2009-06-03T14:31:00.000-05:00

Before today, I had never heard of gleaning. Going into service day I thought that we would be out in a field picking vegetables or something along those lines but little did I know that we would be sorting loads and loads and loads and loads and loads of sweet potatoes and rutabagas! I’m not really a fan of sweet potatoes as it is, but after today I can honestly say that I can live without seeing another sweet potato in my whole life. And as for rutabagas, I’ve never tried one and I never will because the loads and loads and loads and loads and loads of moldy rutabagas made me instantly have a hatred for them. But through all the smells and smooshy vegetables, this experience was wonderful because all the effort that was put into today is going to feed the less fortunate people in Washington. The five hours that we spent today are equivalent to a month’s work for the people at the warehouse and the presence of God
To be continued…..
Emily Gaines

Rutabaga Holocaust

2009-06-03T14:27:00.005-05:00

There we were, 50 strong, located before the rickety warehouse, awaiting our inevitable fate: the massacre and collection of disease infested rutabaga. A gruesome task but one we had all trained for…

Sorry… sometimes I wish that life could be told as an epic tale, making things such as this more worthy of rightful recognition. For what we did was amazing. It was for God, and though it was gross… it was incredible.
Now for what exactly I’m talking about. We walked into a rickety warehouse with the information that we would be “gleaning” (walking through a field picking up all the extra crops that harvesters left behind). Of course, nothing goes as planned. Instead of walking through beautiful fields outside picking fruit, we stayed inside and sorted through rotting and moldy vegetables. As revolting as this task sounds to someone on the outside, it was far more than worth it.
For you see, all of the full-time “employees” at the warehouse are doing something I’ve never seen before. They… aren’t personally making any money… Every dime they receive from outside donation goes to feeding the poor… And even greater, they all work around 6o hours a week. So, really, they are more like full-time volunteers than actual employees. That’s something you definitely don’t see every day. In fact, before going, I’d never seen it. Christ lives in that place. When we first arrived the main man in charge got a phone call. On answering he said something that blew me away. “Praise the Lord”. Who answers a phone like that? I certainly don’t! But in just this example it become SO clear as to just how much God is intertwined into that place. The men and women who work there FOR FREE love to do the work of the Lord. They give their all every day so that the poor, people they don’t even know, can have a decent meal. I envy their strength and love.
Working at the warehouse was in no way a bad experience. I am unexplainably happy I was fortunate to have such an eye-opening occurrence in my life. All I pray is that all 50 of my friends present would remember the day and never forget that sometimes it’s better to be rich in spirit then to be rich in money…

As the saying goes, “The love of money is the fruit of all evil. So, luckily there are people to give it to.” GOD BLESS!

Mountain of Mold

2009-06-02T07:24:00.001-05:00

God works in interesting ways. He gives you tasks you probably hadn’t thought of. Today, I had a service opportunity unlike any other. I like to call it Mold. We started off by picking out sweet potatoes. We gleaned (something I had never done before) them, meaning we separated the good potatoes from the bad. A few had mold on them, but the sweet potatoes were not too bad. Then came the rutabagas. Ah yes, the mountain of mold did indeed exist. You know that saying “I can move mountains with God’s help”? Well, I do believe we moved mountains of mold. Quite squishy too. But I never complained (well, the occasional “eww”) because I knew we were making a difference in many peoples’ lives. We were given the opportunity to help others, by giving them food that they wouldn’t be able to buy at a Publix or Kroger. I realize that we take a lot of things for granted, and maybe we could work on that. It’s moments like these that make me think “I do have a purpose, and God has amazing plans for all of us.”
God Bless
Ps. Peter is amazing.
Alexandra Anne

Memorials were Moving

2009-06-02T06:48:00.002-05:00

Thank you Dedra for posting. It has been an AWESOME trip. God is evident in all we do! The concerts at Cavespring UMC in Roanoke and the one in Centreville Sunday night were incredible. The Glory of God radiated from the choir's faces. They were truly worshipping.

Service day yesterday was another amazing day. I was at the Mid-Atlantic Gleaning in Maryland and we gleaned and sorted sweet potatoes and rutabagas. This organization is faith based and Pastor Hall inspired us all when he told us the importance of what we were doing. We all learned a new way to answer the phone when we heard Pastor Hall answer with "Praise the Lord".

Viewing the monuments was very moving. I especially was touched by a choir member that was kneeling and praying in front of the Vietnam Memorial. His deep understanding of the cost of war overwhelmed him and me.

God has been so Good. We are about to leave for the museum please continue to pray for us we are truly seeing prayers for us answered.

Mary Lynn

Stand & Shout - Christ Choir Tour 2009

2009-06-01T13:02:00.002-05:00

Hi All!

On behalf of the Christ Choir, I just wanted to update you and get something up here!

Mary Lynn just called me and said to tell you that they are all safe and having a great time.

The concerts are going so wonderfully! So much so, that Susan got pretty emotional watching them worship at Cave Spring UMC yesterday. She’s on top of it and was going to instruct them to stand up straight with arms to their sides until she noticed. She noticed that 75% of them were not even looking at her. They were looking up at God. They were worshiping Him. She didn’t say a word. She got choked up and kept worshiping along with them! Priceless. His Spirit is alive.

Mary Lynn shared that this has become like no other Choir Tour she has been on before. This choir is clearly deeply rooted in their faith, worshiping God, alive in the Spirit and strongly communicating that as they Stand & Shout.

Jimmy Aycock shared at the send off service that in order to stand and shout, you first must stand. Stand firmly in your faith, stand firmly in Christ alone. Only in Christ alone would they be able to truly live out the message of this week.

It’s sounds as if their hard work, their prayers, their faith, their call is being lived out. Keep them in your prayers this week… and they promise to get a post up here!

They simply have been too busy to blog! They have been worshiping God! Today is their service day and reports are even service experiences have been WOW experiences with God VERY present. They'll finish up at 3:30 today to head back to the hotel, get cleaned up and head out for dinner in Pentagon City and touring the Monuments by night.

I for one, wouldn’t mind it if they didn’t get a chance to blog, knowing that they are living it out this week!

God is Gracious!

Dedra Herod

Picture site

2008-06-09T00:13:00.002-05:00

This is the link to Mr. Jones and Mr. Wingos pictures

http://s280.photobucket.com/albums/kk161/christchoir/

Chaperone Parody Lyrics

2008-06-09T00:07:00.003-05:00

Your myspace is so dear to you
Your facebook tells us what you do
You're the cryberspace generation.

Your gum is smacking all day long,
Your Red Bull keeps you going strong
You're a sugar generation

It's to our dismay
That you've gone astray
Please do what we say
Our hearts cannot stay silent.

And we'll be the parent generation
Trying to live in your strange world OH LORD!!!
Your strange world OH LORD~
We're full of rules and regulations
Shouting about your revelations LORD
Your revelations LORD!

Cell phones take up all your time
Please teach me how to use mine
Your a texting generation

The way you sing to God above
Makes our hearts all swell with love
Your a Christian generation

It's so fun to play
On tour with you each day
That we just have to say
Our hearts cannot stay silent

And we'll be the parent generation
Trying to live in your strange world OH LORD!!!
Your strange world OH LORD~
We're full of rules and regulations
Shouting about your revelations LORD
Your revelations LORD!!!!

Chelsea and Elizabeth 6-6-08

2008-06-08T23:58:00.002-05:00

For us, choir tour was a week filled with Red Bull drinking late at night and running late in the morning. We were definately always the last ones on the bus. I guess you could say this was the first time we really got to hang out like this. It was definately worth it. While Alex and Joy were trying to catch some Z's were bouncing off the walls and hyper ventalating from laughter. Even though we had our bad moods we never let our differences get between us. God was evident on this trip. There was nothing that got in the way. Both of us were eager to get home but deep down inside would love to go back to where it's easy to be with God. Posey gave a homeless guy a cheeseburger, definately the good deed for the week. :) Even though he probably would have rather had some money. Through the heat and the sleepiness, we managed to get by, with Christ on our side! Even though Posey thought I was insane! I became convinced that I jsut had to be a whale trainer at Sea World! Where no dream is impossible! Shamu! Shamu! We're both seniors now and can't believer we only have one more tour to go! But we will definately make the best of what we've got! We met new people and made new friends. I had my choir tour romance and she just say there and laughed. We got some great farmers tans and ate some amazing cajun food! Posey had her first real cajun food and I had it for the millionth time! We don't regret this trip one bit. Not singing at the top of our lungs on the bus or anything. God blessed us and that ain't ever gonna stop!
Let the good times roll :)
-Chelsea Brock

Amanda's Great Adventure

2008-06-05T18:02:00.006-05:00

So we're coming to an end on choir tour, and I'm finally blogging. :) I'm not really sure what I should say, so here is a bunch of random stuff for you!

Many times it seems that whenever we go on a trip for Christ we have way too many lows as opposed to highs. For example: people getting sick; lost luggage; stinky bus lavatories; buses breaking down; singing in a 100 degrees gym with no air conditioning; concert time confusion; sore muscles from being cooped up on a bus for hours on end; leaving things at hotels; etc... At this point I think it's safe to say that we are pretty much all sick of traveling. However, we have not let the lows distract us from the highs. At St. Timothy on the Northshore UMC East Campus, we had our service day and we got so much work done that the lady in charge was in tears of amazement and appreciation. I was with the sanding crew, so I was in a dust mask around mold, dust, and mildew all morning and afternoon, but it was worth it. Another definite high was singing in concerts and just watching the audience smile and sing along with us at every single place we went. When we went to the Alamo and the Riverwalk Monday night, there were about four or five sightseeing groups walking together, and as we passed this one couple the man said we looked like a bunch of angels dressed in white (we were wearing our white choir polos). Tuesday we went to Sea World all day in 101 degree weather. We rode rides, saw shows, and interacted with the dolphins. :) Kelsey Bartlow and I have decided that we are the broken people on tour... Kelsey's iPod broke I think the first or second day we were traveling, and my camera broke at Sea World and deleted all of my pictures. =( We also bother get randomly hit in the head or where ever by ourselves or other people. Today we went to sing at Poydras Home (a retirement home). Then we got on a ferry to go to our "Mystery Destination." We ended up going to Mardi Gras World, which is where they design and make all of the props and floats for Mardi Gras. They gave us a tour, let us try on Mardi Gras costumes, and gave us King Cake. :) After that we got back on the ferry, got in our sightseeing groups, and walked around Jackson Square; then we sang on the steps in Jackson Square. Now we're about to go Rock'n'Bowl then come back for the talent show!! :)

P.S. Title by Morgan Taylor

God is Good All the Time!

2008-06-05T00:51:00.003-05:00

Hello friends, family, and all in between. We are currently departing St. Andrews UMC of Baton Rouge, LA and all I can say at the moment is that OUR GOD IS INCREDIBLE! Tonight has truly given us an amazing opportunity to fellowship and worship with an awesome group of Brothers and Sisters of all ages in Christ. After spending all day on the bus, we arrived at St. Andrews. I was amongst the first off the bus, for I am on the prayer team and we were circling up. Immediately, we were greated by an enthusiastic, extremely welcoming youth group. We were fed with Louisiana's finest cuisine...Jambalaya, green beans, rolls, salad, and an array of deliciously scrumptious desserts. Afterwards with rotund bellies and tight pants we performed for their congregation. It was undeniably our best performance EVER! Not only were we musically on target with our dynamic crecendos, flawless drama, and graceful dancing, but it is safe to say that the Holy Spirit's presence was felt by everyone. We battled sore throats and exhaustion but we sang our hearts out for HIM. I was so touched when I looked out into the audience and saw how many people had been moved to tears. There were quite a number of women dabbing their eyes, as well as a few older men, one teenage boy, and a stunned youth group. Upon reflection, I am reminded of a skit early in our musical. In it Breanna Thackerson and Morgan Taylor talk about worship tools. They name a Bible, a songbook, a prayer journal, a soup ladle, a paintbrush, a passport, and a cell phone and explain how they can all be acts of worship. Then Breanna explains how we can use our bodies as living sacrifices to God. And that's exactly what we did tonight. It was so indescribable. To be used by the Holy Spirit to fellowship, praise, and worship with believers in His presence is what we are put on earth to do. And doing the right thing is the best feeling ever!
God is Good All the Time!
Megan Hurley

It's the Overflow of our Forgiving Soul

2008-06-05T00:41:00.006-05:00

WOW GOD IS COMPLETELY AMAZING!

It is so crazy the power of a simple smile. From a random girl sitting in the front row to my best friend Emily, their smiles nearly brought me to tears, except I was about to go on stage for drama. This one girl kept smiling through our whole performance it was such a blessing. It reminded me how important this tour is. Lucky for me I get to go backstage during drama so I see everyone singing specifically, Emily Edwards caught my eye she had the biggest smile on her face, truly meaning every word that came out of her mouth. That about took me over the edge. It brought me back to the 8th grade when I first truly got to know Emily at the Back to School Retreat. She was a fear bounded girl who had just been set free by the Lord. Seeing her today revealed to me how much the two of us have grown in our Christian faith and with each other. If it wasn't for her I would not have some of the courage I do have today. I can't wait to see what God will do with us. Everyone really stepped it up tonight from Rachel Bond and Noah singing their hearts out during their solos to AJ letting God speak through him during his dramas. I can't explain how much this has moved me, but I'm just so thankful for everyone in this choir being filled with God's glory. Thank goodness for God's joy!

With Love,

Rachel Botts

The Prayer Team is my Favorite Part

2008-06-05T00:31:00.001-05:00

Four Days down and four to go! We have spent the last 2 ½ days in Texas and now here I am sitting in the lobby waiting for the busses and preparing to leave this state and head back to Louisiana so we can party it up in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. It’s been an interesting adventure for the C.H.R.I.S.T. Choir in Texas. It started as we made our way to the small (and flat) city of Beaumont, TX. Here we came to a very nice looking church. We sang to a couple of local youth groups and they fed us dinner. The people at the church said that they had never filled up their choir loft until we came. From that church we made our way from Beaumont to the city of Houston. (Another flat city) I must admit, this trip has us spending A LOT of our time in the bus. I truly feel like we have spent more time on the bus than anything else. We are quickly starting to run out of things to talk about and games to save us from boredom. But, I guess as long as we remember we are traveling for the sake of Christ than it is o.k. with me. Anyway, we spent the night in Houston and in the morning we went to a children’s home/ranch called Boys and Girls Country. We came to smuggle out polygamist kids and take them back to their families. Just Kidding. Although, as we entered the ranch we were closely followed by news and cameras because many of the kids from the polygamist raid were staying there and we arrived the same day that many were being taken back to their families. Anyway, our rail job was to do what we do best and sing. This was a very interesting performance for us. We started out like we always do with the prayer team. The twelve of us got off the bus and prayed together. To be honest, this is always my favorite part. All of us pray together for a single cause and we know that God is listening and answering us. It’s always neat to see afterward how God works through our performance after we pray because he ALWAYS does. Most of the time we don’t know if and how our musical is impacting people but with all of us gathered together for the sake of Christ we know that he is there and moving. This performance was especially special because as the kids knew every song we sang it didn’t feel like we were witnessing to them but rather that we were worshiping with them. It was suffocating hot and we were in a non air-conditioned gym that trapped in the heat which made it worse. But was we worshiped together all complaints about the heat went away and we were able to just sing, dance, and connect with the kids. After we sang we had the chance to talk and mingle with the kids there. After we finished we loaded up the bus and took another LONG bus ride to San Antonio (yes, it is flat too). This was a fun city as we saw the Alamo, walked the river walk, and even visited Sea World. It was especially neat since our bus driver lives in San Antonio and he was excited as he told us all about the city and the places around it. Now, as we leave San Antonio I am excited about what is in store for us in Louisiana.

>David<

Alamo and More

2008-06-05T00:22:00.001-05:00

Hey this is Brooke Burcham. I am typing to you from the Alamo Café. Yesterday, we as a choir got to go to the Alamo and the River Walk. There really isn’t much to the Alamo. Basically, it is a building that has been there for a really long time that modern day people decide not to destroy because it holds sentimental values to the people of Texas; in reality it was really interesting. We got to walk around and see the history of Texas. I am really happy we went even if it took like 5 minutes to walk though the whole thing; the Alamo is a sacred place for the Texans because it was the place were the Republic of Texas took a stand for their state. Another thing, I don’t think we were ever that quiet since this trip started that is saying something because we really can cause a scene with like 100 people all in white shirts coming off of two charter buses. All in all, I am happy to be able to see some of the history that makes not only Texas but also the United States, and at least I can say I have been there. The next thing we did was walk down the River Walk. That was pretty cool but mostly the River Walk was restaurants that we have been to before like the Hard Rock Café or the Rainforest Café. There were a few authentic Texan restaurant called The Republic of Texas and it was a good burger place. There are some shops but if you ever need to find a restaurant in San Antonio go to the River Walk and you have restaurant galore. The highlight of the evening had to be the boat ride around the River Walk. Think about this, three boats full of people all wearing white polo’s, waving and yelling at every person they see while you are trying to enjoy your dinner with the view. FUN RIGHT? Totally, the people eating were waving back, yelling and even asking us where we are from (so beware the Texans might storm Alabama. I can’t wait to see that. In one corner Texas Cowboys and in the other Alabama Hunters. I am joking) The people at the River Walk were really nice and rarely did I see a person stare at us like we were crazy. The atmosphere around there is totally laid back and people love to yell and wave at 100 people in white polo’s. (BOAT THREE IS THE BEST!!!)
Today, we went to Sea World and guess what? There are a total of 2 roller coasters, 1 rapids ride, and 2 log flumes. Amazing isn’t it. My group went to see two shows, the dolphin show, Viva, and the killer whale show, Shamu. Both were pretty cheesy, but they were amazing to teach these animals to do the jumping and flipping is pretty cool. Well, I have to go get on the bus. So this is Brooke Signing off, (I always wanted to do that). I will end with this. Peace Bye Holla Holla.
I’m Brooke Burcham

Day 4- He Never Lets Go

2008-06-03T00:04:00.001-05:00

This morning was pretty much amazing. We sang at Boys and Girls Country and I could not have been more excited. As the children poured into the gym where we were performing, I immediately felt that God gave us the opportunity to make a difference in their lives. Each person went through something that changed them forever and being in Boys and Girls Country is probably not where many of them pictured themselves growing up. I felt the presence of our Father and I wanted to let those kids know that He never lets go and whatever they were going through would eventually come to pass. I have my own personal experiences where I felt I was all alone and no one would understand what I was going through, but I was wrong because I found out that our God is always there and He will never leave our side.
I’ve had the best time on choir tour and I can’t wait for what else lies ahead. I’m going to continue praising God and spreading his word. I’ll blog some more later. :]
-Ashley Burrell

It is all worth it even if there is just one

2008-06-03T00:01:00.001-05:00

So. Were sitting here on the bus on our way to spend the night in Houston. Fun. We just sang to like 13 people but I guess its all worth it even if it’s just one. The other day was our service day. Tj martin and I pressure washed a ton yesterday. Like two sides of a building that had tons of mold on them, much of their playground equipment, some railings, part of a deck, their patio furniture, and a few other things. It was worth it when we stood back and looked at our clean stuff that was once mildewed and moldy. It was even better when our supervisors looked at it and just smiled and said ‘thank you.’ We’ve already ministered to so many people it’s unbelievable. This evening at Wesley umc a girl walked by the sanctuary out in the foyer, did a double-take, and sat down to listen. Its just stuff like that that makes us realize why we’re here. Well mrs. mary-lynn’s battery has like 30 seconds left on it so I’ll have to sign off of here. I’ll write later. Tyler nay

On the Road Again.....

2008-06-02T08:36:00.002-05:00

So right now I am on a bus in the middle of nowhere…just kidding! Actually we are just leaving Belmont, Texas and we are on our way to Houston. It is day 3 of our 8 day CHRIST Choir tour, and there has already been a lot of traveling and singing involved! It’s safe to say that we have already spent over 16 hours on a bus and have sung three concerts in 24 hours. For the rest of the trip, we’re not spending more than a day at a certain location. From Houston to San Antonio to Baton Rouge to finally reaching New Orleans, it is going to be quite a ride, and I’m excited to see what God has in store of us! He has already brought us safely this far and I know that He will guide us the rest of the way. Of course, God also has a sense of humor, and he usually reveals that side throughout the tour. The “busyness” of this tour has been incomparable to any other tour, but that just provides more opportunity to spread God’s word. On Saturday, we had our Service Day project, which was to help rebuild this church that had been falling apart the past couple of years. In six hours, we landscaped, painted, ripped carpet, scraped up old paint, swept walls (I know it sounds weird, but it was hard work!), washed windows, and moved furniture. We were all sore and (very) sweaty, but the look on the church owners’ faces when they saw all the hard work we accomplished was definitely worth the hard work. Right now it’s dark outside, and I can barely see the road, but I know that God has us in his hand and I can’t wait to see what is coming this week. J I’m now going to hand off the computer to Mrs. Mary Lynn, where she has a countless list of eager choir kids ready to blog! Keep us in your prayers, and see you all in a week! J

Amazing Service Day!

2008-05-31T23:15:00.001-05:00

5.31.08

What’s good? I love blogging. I’m such a stupid nerd. Anyhow, today was something I don’t think I was prepared for. It was definitely stinkin amazing because it was a service day that I would’ve never expected. From what good ole country boy pasta dutch had to say concerning the work that was ahead of us, I knew that there was no way we couldn’t get anything done unless we were completely focused on what we were doing and who we were doing it for. It really seemed like the focus was truly there this year with people never giving up after hours of sweat and hard, dedicated work. I loved the passion that everyone had to work with as well, awesome job choir!!! Dude it was so wild. The one thing that I remembered from today was when I was trying to shovel under this tree and I was leaning up against this window and it broke. Wonderful, right? Of course that happened to one of us, and it was just me today. Kelsey is forcing me off of this thing. Off for the night, keep it up gang!!!
Blessings,
Ahh Jota

Random Musings but more to come

2008-05-31T23:14:00.000-05:00

Well hello there everybody. This is Emilia Bedilia…or Emily Edwards. Anywho, I love choir tour so much. Like I can’t get over how much I love this youth group and these people. It’s basically the highlight of my summer! Today was work day and it was hardcore-lemme tell ya. I pressure washed walls after my super easy job of distributing water bottles. Ok so morgy- Morgan Taylor just walked up and is going to help me blog. So I don’t know what to blog about…um I really want everyone to get into singing. Like I really hope we can get into it in the choir loft so that the people in the audience can get something from it too. That has just been on my mind…we are practicing for our talent show skit right now and all the other people in the act are gonna be mad at me cuz im blogging instead. Sarah Sanger just walked up and she smells good. So im sure Jesus is gonna show up on this trip and I cant wait for him to work in huge and obvious ways! Im sorry this blog is kinda pointless but when something awesome happens I will for sure be blogging again to let you know about it J
Love ya
Emily

God Can Use a Monster Truck, bulldozer kind of guy

2008-05-31T23:13:00.000-05:00

What a day. WHAT! A! DAY! That would be today, um… May the thirty-first. Yes. That one. So, we basically tore up the yard of a church and rebuilt it. Here’s the story, the scoop, the WAY low down on the situation. When I awoke I was dragged forth from bed to take a short, cold shower and then almost instantly I was dragged into the mean, cruel world of gardening work. This whoever may be reading, is no manly task. None WHATSOEVER! I’m more of a monster truck, bulldozer kind of guy. But anyway, after spending… I’d say around A REALLY LONG TIME tearing the mean nature away so it didn’t choke the wanted nature, I got a five second meal to attempt to re-energize. I cannot honestly say it didn’t help. After a ham, turkey, and roast beef sandwich I was ready to go. And man did I go! Not potty mind you. I was a machine out there (along with all my yard-work buddies), as we killed ants, speedily spread these little brown twig things everywhere (it’s name escapes me), and went so far as to almost move bushes around in order to make room for this miniscule fountain. It was a BEAUTIMUS fountain though. I again cannot deny it. And finally, after many tears and joyful smiles, we were done. WHAT A DAY! *fwoof* That was a mouthful…

An unnamed individual

It Only Takes a Spark to Get a Fire Going

2008-05-31T23:12:00.000-05:00

5/31/08

As C.H.R.I.S.T. Choir set up for their first performance of the trip, I noticed that there weren’t many people in the congregation of the church we were singing at. As 5:30, and worship service time came around, there were less people in the audience then there were in our choir. I’m so used to Asbury’s huge congregation that this was a shock to me.
We began singing and a few members of the audience caught my eye. There was a woman and her family sitting in the middle of the sanctuary. The woman sang along with every single word to all of our songs. She smiled, and she looked truly happy to be in our presence. Her smile never faded, and she was even smiling as she walked out of the building. It was evident that Christ was working, or had already worked, in her life.
There was another little girl who caught my attention. She couldn’t have been more than 5. Her dad picked her up and held her above everyone else’s heads so that she could see our choir. She looked at us, and on the reprise of “Made To Worship” she began to wave her hand, like the adults do in contemporary worship. God is going to work through that girl in incredible ways, I can already tell. The few people of that small church were obviously strong in their faith. Hopefully the C.H.R.I.S.T. Choir lit a fire in someone’s heart of the congregation, even though many had already been lit.

- Elizabeth Larsen

How God Can Use a Simple Game

2008-05-31T23:10:00.001-05:00

5/31/08

As I sit here, the CHRIST Choir, all 95 of us, is playing “Never Have I Ever.” (Well, 92 are playing. I’m right here, obviously, and someone didn’t want to play. :P ) When I first learned of our game choice, I couldn’t help but think “How?!?”
I mean, there are 95 of us. And have you played “Never Have I Ever”? It involves running. A lot of running. As in, you barely have to catch your breath before you’re probably going to start running around again. And with 95 people, there are bound to be someone injured. (Don’t worry, parents, we’re not going to kill ourselves!) Surprisingly, after playing the game for 20 minutes, no one has been injured. Sure, there have been a few overzealous people who overshot their chair by a long shot, but other than that, I have to confess that I’m actually pretty confident that everyone in this room will walk out of here safe and out of breath from having a good time.
It’s odd. Something so simple can bring such an insight. Then again, I guess that’s why we go on choir tour isn’t it? To meet new people and let God work in ways we never imagined. To me, this game represents how despite all of our worries, things will work out. We will be able to pull up that stubborn carpet, we will be able pick that stubborn weed, no one will be injured during our trip, and we will reach someone in Christ, no matter how small we think our job is. It’s just a matter of how. It may be a smile; it may be a simple “Hi!”; it may be through one of the Drama Team’s skits. All we have to do is pray that God will work through us in ways we will never imagine. We may be just teenagers, but we can make a difference.

-Rachel Gosnell

Welcome to Tour 2008

2008-05-11T12:02:00.002-05:00

Can you believe it has been almost a year since C.H.R.I.S.T. choir went on the "Mystery Tour"? Well here we are again, finalizing plans, learning music, practicing drama, and getting excited about what God has in store for us on Tour 2008. Off to New Orleans and San Antonio our prayer is that no matter where God takes us that He will use us to Glorify Him! Please do pray for us....... pray that we will GET WHY we are going and that we will TRUST God to show us the way.

Don't forget to check in often as we will post while on tour. We would love comments back. To do so you must get a Goggle account. Here is the link for getting an account; https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount
Then you can go to the blog and sign in. You do not need to log in to see the blog only to leave comments.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, Happy Birthday to my daughter Rachel and Happy Blogging!

Mary Lynn

Peace Poem by Asbury CHRIST choir

2007-06-09T13:13:00.000-05:00

We have posted several blogs that were written on our return home. The blog will remain up indefinitely so spread the word. This post is the "Peace Poem" written by the members of CHRIST choir. The kids were asked to reflect on the word peace the day we visited the Cathedral and then at devotion they were asked to complete the sentence "Peace is..." We put all the answers together into one big poem. We hope you enjoy and discover peace for yourself.
Mary Lynn

Peace is……..
By Asbury CHRIST choir

knowing you will always be loved by God.
calming & soothing & spiritual
stepping out of my comfort zone to find God
slowing down enough to see God’s majesty and beauty
relaxing
being calm and in balance with one’s inner self and with one’s relationship with God
finding reassurance and stability in God
necessary
feeling of Jesus
a time when everything is calm and nothing else matters
solitary time alone with yourself in which no situations in life can interrupt you
finding that place where nothing else matters, beyond all distractions and obsessions
what I feel when a concert is over, and all of the stress is complete
when you pause for a moment, your anxiety fades into the air, giving you a sense of relaxation that can only be from the heavens
hard to find
knowing that someone who is very important loves you and would die for you
feeling the presence of the Lord in the midst of chaos
understanding that God is in control and there are no worries because God has a plan
fulfilling & life changing, amazing & delightful, awesome & outstanding, Peace is Peaceful
relaxing your mind, being at ease, and enjoying the quiet and stillness of your surroundings
a time when things are complete
awesome & uneventful
being content
time alone with God
the calm in a storm
seeking self serenity and unity among others
Peace is pretty
Recognizing that the world spins madly on and that that’s okay
A silent moment in the middle of a hectic day when time stops so that one can simply relax and
BREATHE!
Reviving
Having one on one time with God and Him being able to give you that, it’s a freedom
Quiet, relaxing and calm
A time of harmony when the world seems to slow down
A gift from God that allows us to refocus & recenter on Him and the amazing love He has for us
Being isolated yet surrounded at the same time
Necessary
Jesus
Being okay with everything just as it is
Calming, comforting, inspiring and encouraging
Taking the time to see God’s beautiful creation
A requirement and a reward for living a spiritual life
Walking off the football field after him
Quiet, confessing expressing yourself (to God), telling God like it is, coming clean
Breathe taking and Life giving
Calm, tranquil, and rare
Difficult to achieve, but worth the effort and sacrifice
Reliving
Abiding love, mercy, quiet, reflection, relaxing joy in the Lord

Peace is forgetting pain
peace is standing in the rain
peace is sleeping in the storm
peace is removed from the norm
peace is where you can begin to understand why when it’s so unsure
and against all reason you seemed doom to endure
Peace is sleeping through the pain
awakening from the dream
remembering the night’s troubles
yet awakening to a sunbeam

Peace is…..the silence after a thunderstorm
The creek flowing through a forest
The child’s quiet tears that cease
The village covered with a blanket of snow
The creator of the world saying “It is Finished”

The peace that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus

Peace is living water
When I am dry I am stressed, confused, and worried.
My shepherd leads me by quiet waters and I saturate
His divinity
Meets my depravity and
It is just Him and me

Peace is finding comfort and calm when surrounded by a chaotic world.
Peace is being in communion with God
Peace is knowing that everything is going to be all right
Because you’ve got a powerful God
Peace is being “full” inside
Peace is being consumed with the Love of the Lord

Peace is inner serenity in the midst of chaos
Peace is the most relieving feeling when you feel bogged down by the burdens of daily life
Peace is not something that is handed out in plenty, but rather something that is found inside the soul. The peace God gives us is indescribable, but easily attainable once we acknowledge the fact that without peace we cannot persevere on life's journey.

9 Girls at Genesis Home

2007-06-09T12:34:00.000-05:00

I learned on this trip that its not about ourselves (or grace- :) Katie) its about GOD!This trip was the best experience I ever had with a wonderful group of christian celebrating his word. This was my first choir tour. I wasn't in the Voices of Christ so I didn't know what to expect about this trip. I only heard stories about tours from my older sister and some tours my parents have been on. Our first stop at the Genesis Home really changed my perspective about our tour. When one of the adults told us we would be performing in front on about 9 girls I was disappointed and didn't care about performing. When we set up and the girls came in I was think to myself that this is so stupid why are we going to perform in front of 9 people. i will admit I didn't put my whole effort into the performance. After we were finished the musical, a girl in the audience wanted to know if she could come to the microphone and say something to our choir. I was wonder what she might say but when she said "Thank you for coming and performing i really feel that God is here for me and I'm never alone." Those words were like God hitting me in the head with a brick. He was telling me that this is what our tour is all about. If only one person on our tour understood the message and excepted Christ then our whole tour was worth it.

I also learned that God has a sense of humor.The drama did a wonderful job at every place we performed at. But there were sometimes when they messed up a little and I knew God was laughing with us.(Its not about grace and press the 10 key just to throw out a few) On Thursday we got the chance to go Kings Island. An amusement park. And god knows that I DO NOT like roller coasters. While everyone had a fun time on rides that made you throw up, i hung out with some people i haven't hung out with the whole trip. While some people went on roller coasters that had death written all over them Clay, Noah, Molly, Emily W. Curt and Andrew played a wonderful game of I Spy... so even though I didn't experience the thrill of rides i had a fun time just hanging out. And of course riding the scooby Doo ride 6 times was the highlight of my trip (it was a Scooby Doo ride where you and 2 other people get in "Mystery Machines" a shoot all the monsters to get points.) Each time a rode it i kept getting a lower score than before so i knew God was laughing at my monster shooting skills.
Sarah Jernigan

Where we found Jesus

2007-06-09T11:13:00.000-05:00

June 2:
At 2:00 we found Jesus with us and 9 girls at N36 43' 32.69", W88 44' 58.5" (if you copy and paste these numbers in Google Earth "Fly to" tab, you can find where Jesus was also)

We found Jesus watching over us while we slept at N38 42' 52.1", W90 26' 40.9"

June 3:
This morning we found Jesus in a Sanctuary at N38 38' 13.06", W90 24' 16.05"

This afternoon, we found Jesus and peace in a beautiful church built in his honor at N38 38' 33.21", W90 15' 15.55"

Tonight we found Jesus along with some wonderful friends at N38 34' 20.98", W89 58' 25.57"

June 4:

Today Jesus worked beside us moving and stacking 2000 tires at N38 44' 19.16", W90 19' 17.36" (the Google Earth image shows that the tires at one point had been at N38 44' 19.1605", W90 19' 23.63" before being moved and piled onto a mountain at our location; we stacked them in columns of 5 at N38 44' 18.05", W90 19' 16.83" and then we got hosed off and dressed into plastic bags at the fire station at N38 44' 14.17", W90 19' 26.95").

Today, Jesus spent time with us and some wonderful children at N38 44' 15.22", W90 19' 20.94" and walked beside us at the playground at N38 44' 03.84", W90 19' 12.91"

Today, Jesus sang with us on the steps of the Arch at N38 37' 27.88", W90 11' 03.73" and joined us for food and fellowship at N38 37' 39.33", W90 11' 29.14"

June 5:
Today, we found Jesus in the wrinkled elderly faces at N38 46' 37.34", W90 14' 47.83"

Today, we found Jesus playing basketball at N38 44' 21.94", W90 24' 7.81"

Today, we found Jesus sitting beside us cheering for the home team at N38 37' 22.51", W90 11' 31.66"

June 6:
Today, we found Jesus in the laughter at a church at N39 4' 16.37", W84 21' 1.33"

Tonight, we found Jesus watching over us while we slept at N39 16' 10.3", W84 26' 19.5"

June 6:
Today, Jesus laughed and screamed in joy beside us on the rides at N39 20' 54.5", W84 16' 14.7"

Tonight, we found Jesus giving us courage to perform for our friends.

June 7:
Today, we found Jesus in the wonder of nature at N37 6' 28.7", W86 3' 39.0"

We found Jesus in the joy and love of our family and friends at N34° 43' 46.89",
W86° 44' 30.63"

-- Mike Botts ---

2007-06-09T10:48:00.000-05:00

Wow, I'm speechless. What an amazing choir tour, full of experience and discipleship as a unit of Christ. I feel a spiritual high in my soul that I have never experienced with the Lord, so high that I feel I could never let go from this feeling, nor the relationship itself. I have realized many things on this trip that I felt i really needed to learn and that I don't know where and when I would ever live had I not gone on this trip. I am so blessed to be even able to go on this trip, all thanks to Resha. I hope and pray blessings are fulfilled in your life and that God will ease the struggles in your life as well as using me if that is what it takes to bring some sort of inspiration to your life Resha. Thank you so much once again for just opening up such a wonderful opportunity in my life that has changed me and helped me to realize some of the major distractions that are setting me away from God. It has helped me to realize how close I need to stay with him and be with him as distractions and temptations were jumping into my life during the course of this trip. My prayer is that it will continue to apply in my life, with the way I need to live my life under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
As far as the trip itself, i know it has taken an unbelievable amount of prayer and concern into the whole thing and with the outcome, I don't think I could have seen it any other way and I don't think it could have turned out better. All of the trust and faith concerning this trip all went to God, and every single one of us who went knew it. We never leaned on our own understanding of things but just let God handle it all, and God made everything fine. All we had to do was trust and have faith, as well as not argue against what God has decided for some things in this world, even if it is against our judgement and opinion of things. We don't want to be pharisees, right?
I had one of the greatest times of my life on this trip, no matter how much pain was caused and brought into it. The ministry was fulfilling, stays in the hotel room were a blast, the amusement park was full of intensity and excitement, and the talent show was absolutely hilarious. What a way to end a choir tour. It was so great just enjoying the friendships I had as well as strengthening the bonds between people I didn't even (expect to) know. Enjoying the beauty of God's creation was another great thing to enjoy on this trip. Going to St. Paul's Cathedral Basilica was absolutely one of the greatest ways to really take in a good look at God's beauty, and being aware that it was only a smidgen of God's creation was just mind-blowing to even think about. God's plan is unreal to have planned all of these experiences built into this one trip. Absolutely incredible.
I just want to say thanks to all of the chaperones, bus drivers, and everyone on the trip. We all experienced an abundant amount of things together with God as a body of Christ. Working together, being there for each other, and serving as a whole ministry to God was one special event in my life that God had placed that really made me feel thankful for everyone. Thanks for everybody's prayers for every single prayer request that was brought upon everyone's hearts brought up over the trip and for the ones that people brought into the trip, maybe not being prepared for what God had in store for this trip. It was awesome that we could pray and listen to each other to help out each other as a unit to help us carry on. This trip has truly been one of the greatest experiences of my life that could never be forgotten and has considerably helped me in my walk with the Lord. I'm in so much connection with Him that I could never fall away from his love for the world and myself. It makes me feel honored and loved to serve Him and I couldn't live, knowing that I'm not doing that in any point of my life.
And on a final note to seniors, it was great meeting every single one of you and bonding. You really have a lot in store for you in your future as the Lord prepares the way for you. Just trust and never give up, please. Whether I see you guys again or not, I really hope that all you do is live your life for Christ and do as he commands you with an open heart and mind and never hide or be ashamed. Keep in touch if you can and I'll be praying for all of you as you move on. May the Lord be with you in the best and worst, the bitter and sweet, as well as life's journey in general.
It still just blows my mind all of the opportunities that the Lord made on this trip and the ministry that we accomplished in his name. There was too much to be described that God worked in our lives while on this trip. Wow, so much to be thankful for, and all of the glory and thanks will go to Him. God is amazing. Amen.
A.J.

It doesn't matter where you're going, it matters why you are going.

2007-06-09T10:34:00.000-05:00

The best word I know to describe this trip can be inspiring. The title of our musical is called Where Jesus Is, and if there was any doubt what so ever about where Jesus was on this trip, I'm sure that was quickly answered. Jesus was everywhere, sounds simple, but as we sang all we heard about was how many people we were touched, even in the least likely places, like a restaurant called Swifty's. And when you thought there was no one to reach out or no one really listening, Mrs. Mary Lynn would say how she had someone on the phone listening to us sing under the St. Louis Arch. I saw Jesus the most in the new Catholic Church. We were told that this was our time of peace and we were told to be quiet, and the silence spoke to me. The church was an amazing masterpiece of God and I’ve never seen anything like it. That was a very special moment for me because I felt completely and utterly surrounded by God. A time I had great fun on this trip was when we worked in Kinloch, and I received the task of moving tires. Our group had so much fun helping out with stacking tires. This was a great way for God to show that you can use all gifts to serve the lord, along with others. This trip was inspiring to me because it really shows you never know who is watching you, or even that the little things that we do truly matter to those watching, or listening. I was glad I was able to be part of an opportunity where not only the listeners of this musical were touched, but so were to people singing it. I was one of the people in the began of the "choir season" who strongly thought about not going on tour because I didn't know where we were going, I know now that it doesn't matter where you're going, it matters why you are going.
-Laura Williams

Last Detour

2007-06-09T10:04:00.000-05:00

Choir Parents and Friends,

Wow. Choir tour came up quick. It seems like yesterday we just started learning the music and today we are on the road and nearly finished with tour. I don't even know where to begin. So I'll start with the more recent. Wednesday we traveled and sang at Anderson United Methodist Church. Before our concert we had dinner, and had (if you don't already know, we have had some form of Italian food ever day on tour. Between pizza, ziti, lasagna, and the spaghetti, we have dubbed this the 'Italian Tour') a delicious baked ziti. After we sang, we all headed back to the Drury Inn. I'm sad to report that that night 2 of our boys were caught breaking the rules and had to be sent home. We were all really sad and disappointed, but Ms. Susan had to stick to her rules and had to send the boys home. I believe that this is a tour about God's grace and mercy, and this has taught us a lesson about that. It brings into complete realization that no one is perfect, and everyone messes up. I hope and pray that the boys have learned from their mistake, and that the situation will teach a lesson to everyone else too. Yesterday, Thursday, we went to King's Island, where (did you know) Evil Knievel jumped 14 Grey Hound busses! Now it's an awesome theme park, where everyone had a great time. Today, Friday, the conclusion of our tour has come. As i type I am sitting at Diamond Caverns in Louisville, Kentucky. After walking 1/2 a mile and climbing 350 stairs, needless to say, I am slightly exhausted. It has been a full week! When Ms. Marylynn said that we had one more detour, someone shouted out "Is it Asbury? Can it please be Asbury?!" I guess you can probably guess that everyone is exhausted and we all miss our family and friends a lot. On that note, I will wrap this up. It's been an awesome tour, and I wouldn't trade my experiences for anything.

In Him,><>
Haley

Random Act of Kindness

2007-06-09T10:02:00.000-05:00

During the Cardinal's game on Tuesday, Laura, Sarah, Charley, and I had a chance to do a random act of kindness. While we were washing our hands, a lady came into the restroom and started to frantically dig through the trash can. I asked her if she had lost something, and she replied that she thought she had dropped a diamond ring in the trash. We then offered to help her look for it and spent the next fifteen minutes up to our elbows in beer-soaked paper towels. I would love to say that we finally found the ring after dumping out the entire trash can, but we didn't. We did get a chance to give her one of our smile cards, though, and hopefully the random kindness of four choir girls had a positive impact on the woman's life.
-Lauren Ketron

2007-06-08T07:09:00.002-05:00

2007-06-08T07:09:00.001-05:00

Photos and More to Come

2007-06-08T07:06:00.000-05:00

Please continue to check the blog in the next few days. I know we will be adding a Peace poem that is a collection of all the kids wrote about peace also many of the kids will be blogging on the way home. We do have a couple of new posts today.

God is on this Trip

2007-06-07T18:42:00.000-05:00

I think God is on this trip. I don't know why I would think that... Do you? This week has been amazing. I really didn't think I was going to survive not knowing where we we're going. I just don't do that kind of thing. I guess you could say I'm O.C.D and like to pack a little bit extra depending on where I am going. This week has brought me closer to people that I thought I wouldn't ever expect to. Some things that have happened have effected us and brought us closer as a family and as friends. I also think that God was telling me to chill out and not ride any rides today at King's Island. I passed out! It was not pretty. I hit my head and everything. It was like it was scripted in a movie. I feel a lot better and I'm not AS shaky. With one day to go I feel like things that have happened this week definately would not have made as big of a difference at home. People have gotten sick, sad, tired, and some are just plain worn out! Some people are still going but I am definately not one of them. Some are ready to go home, some are not ready to leave. The last children's home we went to killed me. I really felt like we didn't get through to them but I knew once I saw the smile on one girls face. I just knew we had planted a seed. I really can't tell if I am ready to come home or not. I think I'm not quite ready. This week has been a blessing to me, no matter how tired I am. I will see you all of you when I get home... Too bad I have to work Sunday. God Bless.
Chelsea

Absolutely Amazing!

2007-06-07T18:40:00.000-05:00

This choir tour is absolutely amazing!!! We have had so much fun this week it isn't even funny!! Mrs.Becky has given us some great clues for us to try to figure out where we were going!! The places that we have gone have been amazing. I can already tell that i know what the highlight of this trip is, I would have to definitely tell people that my absolute favorite thing from this trip is singing on the steps in front of the arch in St. Louis. People on this trip have been really impressed with us!! They will ask us where we are from, and with our true southern accents, we will quickly tell them that we are from Alabama!! People ask us why we are where we are, and all we can say is simply, "Where are we?" We have had a few little accidents, but it is just as some of the others have said that with God there are no accidents of coincidents but only connections!! We have all learned that God IS love and He will always offer us second chances!! One thing that we have said several times on this trip and I truly believe is "God is good, all the time, and all the time, God is good." I believe that all of us are on this tour for a reason, even if we don't figure out this week why we are here, we are here for a reason. I know that Mrs. Susan has said this many times, that even if one person has gotten touched by our musical, then we have accomplished something!! Believe me, someone has been touched by this... me! We have also had many other people come to us and tell us how much we had touched them. So all I can say about this trip is... MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!
-Jake Rippy

2007-06-07T07:16:00.001-05:00

2007-06-07T07:15:00.000-05:00

Where Jesus Wants Us to Be

2007-06-07T06:58:00.000-05:00

I truly believe that every young person on this trip is here because Jesus wants them to be here. I have no doubts that their presence is no mere concincidence. Please pray for the remainder of our trip. God works in mysterious ways. Help us to look for the blessings in every SINGLE thing that happens on this trip.

I am going to try and post a few photos but I am not an expert at this and the ones that are haven't had time to help me so we may have to wait for pictures until we return.

A girl named Sydney and God's Peace

2007-06-07T06:48:00.000-05:00

My Experience On Choir Tour (So Far)Liesel Burks
Wow!! What an amazing trip this has been! God has truly blessed us all with amazing people who have planned this trip carefully. God has been with us this entire trip, and everything has gone as planned! We've been to wonderful sites, met unforgettable people, and have experienced so many things! What a blessing!! But out of all the adventures we have been on (which are a lot!), two have stuck out in my mind. The first adventure was on Saturday afternoon. We sang at our first destination, The Genesis Children's Home in Kentucky. We had a pretty small crowd of only nine girls and a few of the faculty. As we did our performance, I was looking at the girls and silently praying that they would "get it". I was afraid that they would mock our performance. However, at the very end, a girl named Sydney came up to the microphone because there had been something she wanted to say. I wasn't sure what she was going to say, but I was incredibly blessed to hear what she said. "Thank you for performing for us. I now know that God is always on my side and I'm not alone." As she said those words, I knew that we had accomplished the goal that we came on this trip for: to spread God's love and his word. The second adventure that will always stick with me occurred on Sunday afternoon. We had visited the Saint Louis Zoo, and it had been a blast! We were all a little exhausted from the late night before and our two early performances, so most of us were wanting to rest up before singing later that night. However, we stopped at a cathedral in the middle of Saint Louis. This had been one of our "detours", according to Mary Lynn, and she believed that we would feel God's presence if we looked for it. As I walked into the cathedral, I was shocked at how vast (and beautiful) the cathedral was! Everywhere you looked, there were beautiful mosaics of Jesus and other important people in the Bible. It was silent in the cathedral, but that was the first time in a while that I experienced peace from God. The week before had been so hectic: Memorial day gatherings, getting all of my things ready for tour, everything was just crazy!! But as I sat in one of the many pews in the cathedral and began to pray, I could feel the Holy Spirit come over me and engulf me in peace. What a great feeling!! That peace has stuck with me throughout the tour and hopefully I will remember that moment to bring back the peace in my life when I need it the most! Of course, there are many other places that we have visited (the Arch, Busch Stadium, and Swifty's just to name a few) but it would take me forever to describe the impact this tour has had on me!! This tour has been an incredible blessing to me and I can't wait to see what God has in store for the rest of our tour!

Cardinal's Game

2007-06-07T06:46:00.000-05:00

On the road again... We're in Terre Haute, Indiana on our way to... good question. I think it's safe to say that most everyone on the bus has decided that we're on our way to Cincinnati, Ohio. The generation gap is very apparent here because with one of the clues we were able to use some one's wireless Internet on her phone and figure the location out (King's Island in Cincinnati!!!). A year or two ago, when my family was on the way to my grandma's house in Indiana, we stopped by King's Island for a day. Now, if that actually IS our destination then I'm really excited because that place is amazing! :] The Cardinal's game last night that we had NOOO idea that we were going to (note the hint of sarcasm) was awesome. The Card's and the Red's were tied throughout out the whole game and in the bottom of the 9th So Taguchi hit a pop fly in between the right fielder and center fielder. The crowd went wild. Really. But my favorite part had to have been the wave that went around the whole stadium about 5 times that our section started. It's an awesome experience getting to share God's love through one of my favorite past times. Seeing the looks on people's faces when they are struck by the drama or moved by our words is exhilarating. I get the chills every time we perform. I'm so glad I got to take part in this trip. See you all soon!
-Hannah Williams :]

Starting the Wave

2007-06-07T06:45:00.000-05:00

"START THE WAVE" is the text that comes up on the big screen at the St. Louis Cardinals game on Tuesday night. Standing out in the crowd, we in the green shirts decided to step up and make things happen. After about a dozen attempts to start the wave, we finally got the entire St. Louis crowd of 43,560 people to do the wave.It's amazing to see how a little ripple in an ocean of people can start something huge.That can be said for our Christian body too. All it takes is one person to do something sincere that may start a ripple effect, thereby possibly changing lives along the way. This has been an amazing tour so far, and I am very confident when I say I have learned some life lessons from the simplest things.Just something to keep in mind,Noah
After a long concert at an outdoor pavilion at Fee Fee Baptist Church, T.J., Brock, Stephanie and I decided to start a little pick-up game with some of the guys that were there. Though we might have played tough, it was a fun time to hang out with people that might not get as much attention as they did that day. We may have taken it to them in basketball, but you could tell that they were having fun. That may be one of the only things to turn to for them, so it was a cool blessing that we had a chance to share with them. It's not always about winning or losing, but it was about having fun with some fellow christians.God's so cool, showing himself through sports. I love this stuff.Noah

2007-06-06T07:50:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! So this week has been amazing so far! God has shown me through this trip that “coincidence” is not a word in his vocabulary! We traveled to the Christ United Methodist Church in Illinois on Sunday night. The church welcomed us with a greeting posted on their church sign, and many posters hung on their walls. I was also very impressed to find out that they were giving away two sets of 4 box seat tickets to a St. Louis Cardinals game (to help encourage attendance). I thought that was pretty nice of them to do for us, but I quickly forgot when it was time to set up.
I knew God was going to be at work in this place after hearing numerous “Amens” and “Hallelujahs” from the audience right after our first skit! =] I was so excited I could hardly wait to perform and see what God was going to do. The performance went wonderfully, even though I forgot yet again to exit off the correct side of the stage! :-p (sorry Laura=]). After we received a standing ovation from the congregation, the pastor came up to announce the raffle drawing for the tickets (which I had forgotten about ;)). The pastor explained the rules, and said he needed someone out of the choir to help him. He scanned the choir loft to look for someone to choose, and his eyes fell on me on the first row (I raised my hand of course ;)). I told him I was super shy, so I probably wasn’t the person for the job! =] (yeah right! I’m Donna Thackerson’s daughter… do you think I even know what the word shy means???)
When I got up on the stage, he asked me to pick a number 1-110. My favorite number has always been #10. I use it for all my sports numbers, and everything. So naturally, the first number that came to my mind was 10. I hesitated though. I don’t know if I should pick that number, because it’s so low, I thought¸ I don’t know God… For some reason, I still just had this feeling. So, I picked it! =] I heard clapping, and a little old lady timidly raise her hand on the third row. As she was hobbling up to collect the tickets I caught myself thinking, Well that was dumb Breanna, she probably doesn’t have the slightest clue about baseball. Those tickets are just going to go to waste! The pastor asked me to pick one more number, and I had already made up my mind to pick the most random number possible!!! Well, the first number that popped into my mind was 73. 73?? What kind of stupid number is that Breanna?? Way to go stupid…
Next thing I know, a super excited lady is walking down the aisle ranting about how excited she was because she has never won anything before. This of course put a smile to my face, and I went and sat back down on the pew. Noah turned to me and said, “You just had to pick 73 didn’t you?” I had no clue what he was talking about (as usual :-p) so I asked why. “Because it makes 10…. 7 plus 3 makes 10!” I thought it was a pretty funny coincidence how they both turned out to be my number, but I thought nothing of it.
When everyone was cleaning up, a lady came up to ask me all kinds of questions about our choir, and to tell me how great we were. I saw the old lady that won the tickets talking to Mrs. Susan out of the corner of my eye. Yet again, I was totally ignorant of what was going on, because I just thought she was doing the same thing the lady I was talking to was doing. A little while later Mrs. Susan came up to me a little teary eyed. She proceeded to tell me that the lady wanted her to make sure she told me her story….
The lady had decided earlier in the day that she was going to win the tickets. She just had to… “All you need is faith,” her friend told her. So she prayed, and put her faith in God. You see, she didn’t want the tickets for herself; she wanted to give them to her daughter, who was just diagnosed with cancer. She didn’t have long to live. All that the mother wanted was to be able to get tickets so that her daughter could spend precious quality time with her husband and children. After she heard the number 10 called, she sat in disbelief and slowly raised her hand. She finished her story with tears in her eyes, making sure Susan told her story to “that precious girl.”
God pretty much hit me in between the eyes with a 2x4 on that one… I never knew that God could use something as simple as my “lucky” number to touch an entire family with a dying mother. As for the #73… I also figured out God has a sense of humor…=]

I hope yalls week is as blessed as mine has been so far…

With love,
*breanna*

2007-06-05T17:53:00.000-05:00

Here we are, sitting on the bus in Who Knows Where, USA on Choir Tour. It’s only day four and so much has happened we don’t even know what few things to talk about! So we decided we would ramble about nothing instead…joke. Anyways, wow you guys do not know how hard it is to type this with punctuation and capital letters. Myspace has taken quite a toll on our generations typing skills! Haha Rachel is mad because that has nothing to do with Choir Tour and she is right. Now, seriously, so this trip is a complete mystery and amazingly, thanks to our awesome chaperones, everything has been fairly organized. But, surprisingly enough, the times we sing that are the least expected are the ones that turn out to be the most powerful and most influencing. For example, yesterday was our work day and the itinerary said nothing about any performances and yet we found ourselves singing in trash bags, on the 64 steps of the arch (yes I counted) and for the owner and employees of Swifty’s, the restaurant that opened exclusively for the C.H.R.I.S.T Choir.
Today, Mrs. Mary Lynn prepared all of us for a performance outside saying that it would probably be hot and to us that translated to an uncomfortable performance. Many people thought that this might be the least favorite performance, but with the breeze blowing minds quickly changed. Once the performance was over, we had chances to play basketball with some of the teens, spin obnoxiously on the carousel/merry-go-round thingy, and simply just fellowship and learn about their backgrounds and daily lives. After Kevin fell off the carousel/merry-go-round thingy, we were motioned back to the buses and now we are just chillaxin in the lobby, eating popcorn, and bloggin’ it up! Keep us all in your prayers and if you find out any hints on where we are heading next let us know ;) without Mrs. Mary Lynn or Mrs. Susan finding out please! Oh, and Meg, I’m thinking I might be able to score you a Cardinals t-shirt! The entire choir has decided that our next clue is telling us we are going to a baseball game…we’ll see!

Adios
Emily Edwards and Rachel Botts aka Raquel (ok, so I’m the only one who calls her that…)

2007-06-05T17:52:00.001-05:00

On Monday we were split into groups to work on service projects. At first we weren't all into picking up trash onthe side of the road. We were being lazy and just walking talking and picking up the random trash. We saw the mayorpull up who had talked to us eailer that day. We said hello and he said he was so happy about what we were doing forthe community. We continued to pick up trash when I ran across a ten dollar bill. The night before we had a devotionwhere mary lynn gave 3 people 50 dollars and for them to do with it what god led them to do with it. We earlier heard thatthe town was struggling finacally. We decied to go and give the mayor the ten dollars we found. It taught us that we didn't need 50 dollars to spread Gods love some times all it takes is 10. We then spent the rest of the afternoon pickingup trash.
Gray West & Hannah Williams

Pictures

2007-06-05T17:20:00.000-05:00

Here are a few pictures of our trip so far...(just for you Victor). I didn't upload any of the ones I took (the only ones I uploaded were taken by Rachel Botts...I think...Mr. Andrews took some too but I didn't see those. I'm going to upload more later but I have to get on the bus and go to the Cardinals game...except I don't know that. All I know is we're going to the bowling alley.

-Nathan

Service Day at Kinloch

2007-06-05T08:08:00.000-05:00

Wow! Today was an eventful day! Beginning the morning with eggs and sausage at the hotel, we embarked upon our journey in service. After sitting in the bus while waiting for proper preparation, we got instructions and began our work project located in Kinloch, Missouri. Kinloch is the poorest town in St. Louis County. The community of only 700 is working on developing land and cleaning up their social environment. We split into three groups. The first group went to a daycare and cleaned bathrooms, closets, classrooms, and toys upon toys. After completing the projects, we got a chance to play with some of the kids at the daycare. Boy, was it amazing! The kids were literally hanging off of us, and as we left, they asked "Are you coming back?" It was hard to say no! The second group traveled across town to the city playground. This playground was put together by thousands a few years ago. The local church, Kinloch Church of God, will be hosting Sunfest Summer Camp for the local children next week. At this playground, we got ready for the camp by picking up twigs, glass, and even pulling a trashcan out of the slide. After completing this, we delivered flyers announcing the camp to over 100 houses and apartment complexes. Many of the youth were nervous at first, because we were unfamiliar with the town and scared what the people would think of us; however, we met some very wonderful and thankful people and it went a lot better than we thought. The third group got the messiest job by far! This group was put in charge of stacking tires that had been dumped in a field by people not living in the community. After putting the tires in stacks of five, a company would be able to come pick up the tires and pay the city of Kinloch for them. Although we came back in garbage bags to cover up the dirt all over our bodies, we stacked over 2,000 tires! After completing our service projects, we traveled to the Kinloch Church of God, where the local ladies fed us! They prepared spaghetti, breadsticks, and salad for us. After finishing our meal, we performed an empromtu show for the ladies! We sang a few songs for them, said our goodbyes, and headed back to the hotel for some down time. After showering and scraping off mud, we got back on the buses and traveled to the arch! We took an hour to explore and view the Arch museum, then, after singing on the steps leading up to the arch, we once again got back on the buses and headed to SWifty's for another Italian meal-lasagna! Then we faced a "Roadblock," which entailed crafting beaded suncatchers in the shape of crosses to give out at a retirement home tomorrow. We definitely saw the impact a few awkward teenagers can make in a community that needs it so badly! Without a detailed intenerary, we can no longer fill you in on our adventurous tour, but we hope this has given you some clue as to what we're doing! Due to our wonderful tour planners and chaperones, many, if not all, have learned to have faith that whereever God takes us on this tour we have truly been able to see that EVERYWHERE is "WHERE JESUS IS!" With goodnight and "I love you's" from us all, we hope you have a wonderful, relaxing week, and we will see you on Friday!Love,Sarah Shea and Jennifer Olsen

Service Day and More

2007-06-05T08:06:00.000-05:00

i am ninja

I have no idea who typed that. Seriously.

Anyway, here we are now in Swifty's restaurant. The whole restaurant is closed just for us (it's not even supposed to be open at this time). This place is known for its milkshakes apparently. We've yet to get our milkshakes...but the available flavors are: chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, chocolate peanut-butter, The Elvis, cookies and cream, brown cow, strawberry banana, and orange dreamsicle. There's some other stuff on the board above the counter which has things like chewbacca, butterfinger, and root beer floats. Sounds good.
I forgot to mention that we're still in St. Louis. Today we went to Kinloch (K-town) to work for the Faith Beyond Walls organization. They work interfaith to offer service projects. We were split into groups and divided between three tasks: the park, tires, and daycare. The tire people had to stack and count trash tires in order for them to be taken away (more on that later). The daycare people helped watch kids and cleaning the daycare center. The park people (I was in that group) picked up around the park in preparation for the coming summer camp. We swept up glass and picked up trash all around (we even weed eated...weed ate? whichever one works...). One of the local kids, named Maurice, came and helped out. He was pretty awesome. He's got an unusual talent for playing slaps (he beat everyone he played), as well as having a thirty year old girlfriend named Shay Shay.
After we finished at the park, we walked back to the main center where we cleaned up and waited for the other groups to get back. We eventually left for lunch, when we saw the tire people being hosed off by a fire truck. Each and every person was COVERED in mud. LOADS of it. When they came to lunch, they were wearing trash bags over their pants. Hehe. We sung for the church afterwards.
Then we went to the St. Louis Arch. My group had already been there when we visited our host family. The museum was actually open this time though, so we went in. I'm sure history is important and all that good stuff...but wow. It's horrendously boring too. So...we took awesome pictures of ourselves holding the world and such. Awesome.
And now we're here...in Swifty's with our milkshakes (Strawberry for the win). Pure amazing. We're also playing the "Sugar/Salt" game. Here's how you play: Get a number of sugar packets equal to the number of players. Now get a salt packet. Empty one sugar packet and fill it with salt. Now each player chooses a number, and that number is counted from the left of the sugar packets (looping around if the number is bigger than the number of sugar packets) and given to the player. On three, each player dumps their packet into their mouth, and the players guess who has the salt. GREAT GAME! Lots of fun.
And that's where Jesus is today...playing the Salt/Sugar game in Swifty's in St. Louis. Jesus likes to have a lot of fun.
And yes Victor, I'm taking lots of pictures.
And yes Mother, I'm fine. Nothing's wrong, and I have PLENTY of clean clothes. And I’m totally not going to bed on time at night.

...

No one tell her I said that.
- Nathan Hilton

Roadblock

2007-06-05T07:58:00.000-05:00

We have been on the go so sorry we haven't had a chance to catch everyone up on our happenings. Back to the Roadblock the kids received during our devotion on the Parable of the Talents on Sunday night. A Roadblock is a challenge that requires patience and persistence. We asked the kids to offer themselves as a blessing just as the minister at Salem LaDue had preached about on Sunday morning. We asked them to look and listen and pray for opportunities to perform a Random Act of Kindness while on tour. They were told it could be to a stranger, or someone they don't know all that well or to someone on tour. We gave them SMILE cards that they are to pass onto to the person they do the act for asking them to Pay It Forward. Three of the group were chosen for a greater challenge. AJ, Sydney, and Clay were given each $50 and challenged to invest it in a project, a person, an idea that would mulitply in some way. Can't wait to see what God is going to do.
There's a great story about what happened at Christ Church in Illinois on Sunday night but I want one of the kids to tell you about it. So stay tuned for more.

Mary Lynn

Our first Detour and Roadblock

2007-06-04T07:47:00.000-05:00

Wow, yesterday was filled with God's blessings not just to the rim but overflowing. It is hard to know what to tell you about first. Salem Ladue UMC was a lovely church with warm hearted people. The kids sounded great in what was a different kind of choir loft. The minister preached a sermon that went right along with the Roadblock we gave the kids. The day was just beautiful and was perfect for a trip to the zoo. When we left the zoo we told the kids we had a detour. A detour is a chance to get off the beaten path to take a road less traveled. We took them to the beautiful and magnificent Cathedral Basilica. They were instructed to walk from the bus and into the Cathedral in silence and to remain silent while we were there. They were asked to reflect on the word "peace". Mike and I had visited this Cathedral back in April and we knew this had to be a stop on the tour. The kids were amazed with the beauty of the place and I believe they truly felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. Many knelt to pray while others lit candles. The mosiacs in this Cathedral were incredible but what took my breath away and was the most beautiful sight of all was when I looked throughout the Cathedral and our kids were scattered in various pews ALL praying! God is Good All The TIME!

I want to tell you about the Roadblock they were given at devotion but it will have to wait. Gotta go to Service Day. We board the bus in 20 minutes.

Love to All and Keep Praying God is working in Mighty Ways,

Mary Lynn

2007-06-04T07:45:00.000-05:00

Hello friends and family!
Tour is awesome! We miss y'all back home but we are having SO MUCH FUN being servants for God! I'm actually sitting here talking to some of the youth at Christ Church in (I Have No Clue), Illinois. It is so neat to meet Brothers and Sisters in Christ, both those within the choir and those who we meet!
I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank some fabulous friends. Without them, I would not be here right now! See, I just moved to Alabama in August of 2006. Many people had mentioned Christ Choir to me, and suggested that I join. I refused, saying, "Thanks, but I really cannot sing! It's just not my thing." One day in January, I was at Starbucks with Sydney Holtzclaw and Rachel Bond. They challenged me to come to just ONE choir rehearsal that next Sunday. After a while, I finally agreed-- to go to ONE choir rehearsal. The next Sunday, I went and enjoyed myself so much that I SIGNED UP for Christ Choir THAT NIGHT!!!
At the church here in Illinois, the pastor says, "God is good!" and the congregation responds, "All the time!" He really is. He has a plan for everyone, including those who think they can't sing. He provided me with 90 other people to disguise all the wrong notes I hit!
Can't wait to see you guys soon!
God Bless, Megan Hurley

Greetings from Sydney and Laura

2007-06-04T07:43:00.000-05:00

Hey guys! We are currently at Christ Church UMC in Fairview, IL. We just finished performing for the 4th time; we must say that this performance was our best yet--extremely EXCITING!!We just finished eating pizza with the youth from the church. Some people are playing ultimate, while others are just hanging out and enjoying the nice weather. Tonight we are heading back to St. Louiswhere we will have a devotion at 9:30 and then prepare for our service day tomorrow morning. We miss you and love you!Love always, Sydney Holtzclaw and Laura Jones

We have arrived!

2007-06-02T21:52:00.000-05:00

We have had an awesome day! Singing at the Genesis Children's home in Mayfield Kentucky was great. The drama really spoke to the teenage girls that were there and they seemed to appreciate us giving them a concert and bringing scrapbooking items and clothes to them. We had a great supper at Salem Ladue Methodist Church in St. Louis. I understand that Erin Sargent's grandmother goes to church there so looking forward to meeting her tomorrow.

Our kids were lots of fun today, making guesses, getting on the internet from their cell phones to figure out where we were going. They are just too smart. They think they know it all but there are lots of surprises still in store.

Well this chaperone is tired and it is time to get the kids to bed. Thanks for your prayers, oh I have to tell you the highlight of my day was looking out the bus window and seeing our prayer team in a circle praying for us. It warmed my heart.

Over and out for now,
Mary Lynn

2007-06-02T21:44:00.000-05:00

This is the BAND speaking. We're here -- wherever that is. The bus driver's tried to fool us. At one point, the front bus had it's right turn-signal on, the back bus had it's left-turn signal on, and both were going straight! It was wackey! OK, its time for MikeB and ChrisL to go to sleep, they are so tired. Good-night!

2007-06-02T21:20:00.000-05:00

hey everyone!!

We have arrived in St. Louis, finally!!!! Today was SO fun! We went to a children's home in Kentucky, which was amazing. There was a girl named Sydney at the home who said that our message really touched her. The girls there were so sweet. The bus-ride was also really cool because i had the opportunity to bond with a bunch of people I didn't know before. At the beginning of this trip i was sceptical about not knowing where we were going but now i realize how cool it is. Thank you mama & papi for making me go, i really appreciate it...haha.

Love,
Tatum <3

5 Hours till Send Off

2007-06-01T23:53:00.000-05:00

Well, I think I have packed everything?!?!? I have heard it is hard to pack when you don't know where you are going. I am excited about where we are going but I am more excited about what we are going to experience. I know God has lots in store for us! Thanks so much for entrusting us with the care of your children. We know they are precious and we look forward to getting to know each one of them during the "Mystery Tour"

Stay tuned and see Where in the World CHRIST ends up.

Blessings,
Mary Lynn

Where Jesus Is?

2007-04-29T13:46:00.000-05:00

We are preparing for our tour. Lots of plans to be made, lots of details. It has been amazing how God is in the details. So many pieces of tour have fallen into place. We may not understand why we are going to the places we are going to, or why we are singing where we are singing. but we must trust that God has a plan. We only have to show up and look for Jesus. Where is Jesus anyway? and Where are we going?

Mary Lynn Botts