Here's the journal about the YWAM trip to Key West the last week of our outreach
Friday, August 05, 2005
Journal for Cycle 6 Key West Trip with Calvary Chapel of Boca Raton
Friday
Megan got us to Glad Tidings church in record time- 9 hours from Orlando to Key West. We even made it in time to attend their Friday night youth service. The Calvary Chapel youth performed "Tourniquet" for the Glad Tidings youth. After lots of praise and worship we played a really cool game called Commando. With "Mission Impossible" playing in the background, we broke up into teams to smuggle candy in the dark from the front of the sanctuary to the back. Pastor Kent "PK" stood up front with the flashlight. Anyone who got caught in the spotlight was out. It was a cool game!
After the fun and games were over we went to Dairy Queen next door for some ice cream, and that's when I found out the youth group from Calvary Chapel was serious about evangelizing to Key West. Jyothis on her own initiative approached a gentleman with a really cute pitbull and started sharing with him about Jesus. The two Britney's also handed Bible tracts to the guys working the storefront. Miss Deb also met a woman from Israel as well and chatted with her about her faith.
It was evident in the youths' actions that Ms Deb and Pastor Greg had put time into their evangelism training back home in Boca Raton.
Saturday, July 30, 2005
PK gave the team our intro to Key West Saturday morning:
Cayo Hueso - "Island of Dead Bones" Key West started off as a pirates haven. They would make the lighthouse deceptive. Boats would crash against the shores and the pirates would kill all those who survived the crash and steal their stuff. Key West hasn't change much. It remains a place where people come to sin. Availability to sin is extremely high. Fantasy Fest is one week where they don't enforce laws. People walk around naked. People drink whereever and however. Gay churches teach homosexuality is condoned by the Bible that Jesus may have had a homosexual relationship with some of his disciples. Most of the income of Key West is based on tourism, sex, alcohol, and drug use. PK doesn't get a whole lot of support from other churches. He's more or less the only youth pastor in the Keys. There are many churches that don't bother having a youth program so his outreach encompasses a couple of the Keys.
Saturday morning we went to each of the schools on Key West and Stock Island and prayed around their flag pole, prayerfully preparing for Rush Week.
Saturday afternoon we practiced our dramas and skits, and then we went to Mallory Square for some shopping, in theory. In reality we spent most of the time finding people to talk to about Jesus. Once again Calvary Chapel showed me how ready they were to approach people about their faith. Britney Stethakis was a natural at it, approaching people with nothing more than a smile and some Bible tracts. Jefferson encouraged me to do the same and we approached a guy with some Alaskan huskies and had deep conversation him about the nature of God's forgiveness. I don't have any stories of on-the-spot conversions that night, but over all the group planted seed in some 10 to 15 conversations that night with people we met on the boardwalk of Mallory Square.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Sunday was church all day and feeding the homeless. Maybe forty homeless came through the bread line, and about 10 of them stayed around to watch our dramas and hear our message. Again 5 or 10 quality conversations encouraging homeless many of which already were some form of Christian.
Monday, Rush Week begins.
Monday morning we start off with some more practice of our dramas and dance. Going into the afternoon we head into some local neighborhoods going door to door to invite the teenagers to our first night of Rush Week games. Following that we head to the Key West community pool and share our dramas with a group of 10 teenagers smoking "something" under the pavilion. After the dramas Britney from Orlando shared her testimony and how similar her life was to the drama "Tourniquet". The kids were receptive and Britney from Boca Raton followed up with convincing the teenagers they needed the mercy of Christ too. Pastor Kent continued with inviting them to the games they were going to play and then started a game of basketball with them. Monday night our first Rush Week event is a scavenger hunt throughout Key West using vans. Every time we find the specially marked spoon we come back to the church to perform some crazy stunt to get our next clue: building a human pyramid, downing a bag of apples, then a box of twinkies, doing some free throws, and then running suicides up and down a flight of stairs. It was really silly and really cool. During the scavenger hunt two kids that we hadn't even met earlier saw one of the teams driving around town looking for clues, decided it looked fun and jumped in the van. That's the power of crazy games! After a final relay race to finish off a gallon of ice cream and bottle of root bear, a visiting youth pastor from Tampa, Pastor Dave gave us a powerful message calling us to go the extra mile to serve Christ. Some 60 teenagers in attendance it was a great time of praying for one another.
Tuesday morning we feed the homeless again.
About the same number 5 to 10 hung out to see the dramas and converse with us. One guy got really upset when Pastor Greg talked with him how God's mercy works. It was refreshing to see Calvary Chapel youth group remain bold with sharing the Gospel even when it offended some people. Tuesday afternoon we head out to canvas more neighborhoods to invite the teenagers to "Slip and Slide Kick Ball" that night. After more door-to-door we head to a local gym where we find 60-80 kids playing basketball, skipping rope, etc. They love our dramas and afterwards we play some basketball with them. While most of us were playing ball, getting our butts kicked by a 4 foot tall kid with an amazing jump shot, Britney from Boca Raton was talking with the kids about the dramas and 7 of them received Christ right there in the bleachers of the gym!
Tuesday night was another awesome night of playing crazy games: slip and slide kickball followed by more rootbeer this time through a dirty sock, and to top it off another Fear Factor style eating relay: squid, bloody sausage, chocolate milk with cottage cheese in the bottom, more Twinkies, Italian dressing, V8, and my personal demise: a bottle of chopped garlic. (Three days later I still smell like garlic.) The group was a good 30 people larger than Monday. The kids in the youth group were getting the message to invite their friends to Rush Week. After the final relay of drinking soda through a dirty sock, Pastor Dave from Tampa, shared a powerful message to seize the day when God puts it on your heart to share your faith with your friends. This year they are ready to be Key West youth with a mission.
Crazy games; bad breath; great meals prepared by Jessica Paxton; youth leaders passionate about reaching the lost; teenagers turned to hard-core fun-loving evangelists. Our trip to Key West had it all.
Friday, August 05, 2005
Journal for Cycle 6 Key West Trip with Calvary Chapel of Boca Raton
Friday
Megan got us to Glad Tidings church in record time- 9 hours from Orlando to Key West. We even made it in time to attend their Friday night youth service. The Calvary Chapel youth performed "Tourniquet" for the Glad Tidings youth. After lots of praise and worship we played a really cool game called Commando. With "Mission Impossible" playing in the background, we broke up into teams to smuggle candy in the dark from the front of the sanctuary to the back. Pastor Kent "PK" stood up front with the flashlight. Anyone who got caught in the spotlight was out. It was a cool game!
After the fun and games were over we went to Dairy Queen next door for some ice cream, and that's when I found out the youth group from Calvary Chapel was serious about evangelizing to Key West. Jyothis on her own initiative approached a gentleman with a really cute pitbull and started sharing with him about Jesus. The two Britney's also handed Bible tracts to the guys working the storefront. Miss Deb also met a woman from Israel as well and chatted with her about her faith.
It was evident in the youths' actions that Ms Deb and Pastor Greg had put time into their evangelism training back home in Boca Raton.
Saturday, July 30, 2005
PK gave the team our intro to Key West Saturday morning:
Cayo Hueso - "Island of Dead Bones" Key West started off as a pirates haven. They would make the lighthouse deceptive. Boats would crash against the shores and the pirates would kill all those who survived the crash and steal their stuff. Key West hasn't change much. It remains a place where people come to sin. Availability to sin is extremely high. Fantasy Fest is one week where they don't enforce laws. People walk around naked. People drink whereever and however. Gay churches teach homosexuality is condoned by the Bible that Jesus may have had a homosexual relationship with some of his disciples. Most of the income of Key West is based on tourism, sex, alcohol, and drug use. PK doesn't get a whole lot of support from other churches. He's more or less the only youth pastor in the Keys. There are many churches that don't bother having a youth program so his outreach encompasses a couple of the Keys.
Saturday morning we went to each of the schools on Key West and Stock Island and prayed around their flag pole, prayerfully preparing for Rush Week.
Saturday afternoon we practiced our dramas and skits, and then we went to Mallory Square for some shopping, in theory. In reality we spent most of the time finding people to talk to about Jesus. Once again Calvary Chapel showed me how ready they were to approach people about their faith. Britney Stethakis was a natural at it, approaching people with nothing more than a smile and some Bible tracts. Jefferson encouraged me to do the same and we approached a guy with some Alaskan huskies and had deep conversation him about the nature of God's forgiveness. I don't have any stories of on-the-spot conversions that night, but over all the group planted seed in some 10 to 15 conversations that night with people we met on the boardwalk of Mallory Square.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Sunday was church all day and feeding the homeless. Maybe forty homeless came through the bread line, and about 10 of them stayed around to watch our dramas and hear our message. Again 5 or 10 quality conversations encouraging homeless many of which already were some form of Christian.
Monday, Rush Week begins.
Monday morning we start off with some more practice of our dramas and dance. Going into the afternoon we head into some local neighborhoods going door to door to invite the teenagers to our first night of Rush Week games. Following that we head to the Key West community pool and share our dramas with a group of 10 teenagers smoking "something" under the pavilion. After the dramas Britney from Orlando shared her testimony and how similar her life was to the drama "Tourniquet". The kids were receptive and Britney from Boca Raton followed up with convincing the teenagers they needed the mercy of Christ too. Pastor Kent continued with inviting them to the games they were going to play and then started a game of basketball with them. Monday night our first Rush Week event is a scavenger hunt throughout Key West using vans. Every time we find the specially marked spoon we come back to the church to perform some crazy stunt to get our next clue: building a human pyramid, downing a bag of apples, then a box of twinkies, doing some free throws, and then running suicides up and down a flight of stairs. It was really silly and really cool. During the scavenger hunt two kids that we hadn't even met earlier saw one of the teams driving around town looking for clues, decided it looked fun and jumped in the van. That's the power of crazy games! After a final relay race to finish off a gallon of ice cream and bottle of root bear, a visiting youth pastor from Tampa, Pastor Dave gave us a powerful message calling us to go the extra mile to serve Christ. Some 60 teenagers in attendance it was a great time of praying for one another.
Tuesday morning we feed the homeless again.
About the same number 5 to 10 hung out to see the dramas and converse with us. One guy got really upset when Pastor Greg talked with him how God's mercy works. It was refreshing to see Calvary Chapel youth group remain bold with sharing the Gospel even when it offended some people. Tuesday afternoon we head out to canvas more neighborhoods to invite the teenagers to "Slip and Slide Kick Ball" that night. After more door-to-door we head to a local gym where we find 60-80 kids playing basketball, skipping rope, etc. They love our dramas and afterwards we play some basketball with them. While most of us were playing ball, getting our butts kicked by a 4 foot tall kid with an amazing jump shot, Britney from Boca Raton was talking with the kids about the dramas and 7 of them received Christ right there in the bleachers of the gym!
Tuesday night was another awesome night of playing crazy games: slip and slide kickball followed by more rootbeer this time through a dirty sock, and to top it off another Fear Factor style eating relay: squid, bloody sausage, chocolate milk with cottage cheese in the bottom, more Twinkies, Italian dressing, V8, and my personal demise: a bottle of chopped garlic. (Three days later I still smell like garlic.) The group was a good 30 people larger than Monday. The kids in the youth group were getting the message to invite their friends to Rush Week. After the final relay of drinking soda through a dirty sock, Pastor Dave from Tampa, shared a powerful message to seize the day when God puts it on your heart to share your faith with your friends. This year they are ready to be Key West youth with a mission.
Crazy games; bad breath; great meals prepared by Jessica Paxton; youth leaders passionate about reaching the lost; teenagers turned to hard-core fun-loving evangelists. Our trip to Key West had it all.
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