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The Wall


Welcome to "The Wall" . . . here you'll find current information about Grace Point happenings.

 

To the left you will see key weekly activities at Grace Point and below you can check out our blog "in other words."  Read it, interact with it, subscribe to it & let us know what you think! 

In Other Words

A Weekend Away

This past weekend the The Factory Youth Center along with Cross Connection Youth Center in New Holland and our own Backstage Student ministry of GPC traveled to Camp Orchard Hill in Dallas, PA for a winter retreat.  The 70 of us were part of a bigger group of almost 250 students.

It was a weekend of very difficult yet rewarding ministry.  Let me explain...

The weekend started off as usual.  What I mean by usual is the normal culture clash that one would go through in taking a group of unbelieving students to a Christian camp.  The teens from The Factory struggled with the rules.  "Why can't we go into the guys/girls cabin?".  "Why can't I smoke whenever I want to?".   "Why do we have to be in our cabins at midnight?" .   "Are you serious that we cannot stay outside and hang out all night long?".   "Why are we singing about "eating the word" or "I just wanna be a sheep"?  "Why are these people weird"?  "Why are these sessions so long?"

While the guys were having fun being up all Friday night and enjoying getting to know the youth center from New Holland and the guys from Grace Point Church of Paradise (all the guys from our three groups stayed in one big lodge),  the girls were having a very difficult night.  Our female leaders had quite a time trying to deal with bad attitudes and a few very disruptive girls.  The next morning we were able to calm the girls down.  We anticipated that the weekend was going to be extremely difficult.   On Saturday, things were going along well until we had a guy break our smoking policy.  The teens thought we were going to send him home and drama broke out.  They were upset at us.  One teen told me that if we send one of them home then they all will go home.  Well, we were not going to send him home anyway but it was stressful.  As the afternoon went on some of them were bored and restless. The girls were cold and wanted to just hang out with the guys in the guys lodge.  By dinner time, I was stressed and starting to doubt this whole idea.

During the Saturday evening session I began to have a conversation with God (or was it the devil having a conversation with me?).  I began to wonder why I do this.  Maybe it was not a good idea to bring troubled teenagers who have no boundaries in life to a winter christian camp for the weekend.  I had all but decided that the stress was not worth it.  I began to dialogue with God and felt bad for my lack of faith.  The speaker was right on all weekend and I knew that if they were listening that God could speak. The problem was that it didn't appear that they were listening.  The speaker then gave the students a chance to respond to the love of God.  He asked them all to bow their heads and raise their hands if they wanted  to experience the amazing love of God.

I began to cry as I looked and saw 14 of our students raise their hands.  In one second, I confessed the lack of my faith, began to cry, and watched with skepticism.  I thanked God but wondered if it was all fake or not.  What I saw next truly amazed me.  I began to notice that some students  began to cry, some crying uncontrollably.  Truly God's Spirit was working in a mighty way.  One by one, the staff began to reach out to these teens and hold them, love on them, and listen.  As we listened, we began to hear things like this:

"I never realized God loves me this much.  All he wants from me is to love him back and I can't do that."  This teen kept repeating this over and over.  He was so struck by God's love and his lack of ability to love him back. He said "I want to love him like he loves me."  

"I miss my dad so much" - this girl's father died last year.

"I have so much crap in my life and I know God loves me now"  This teen has been really struggling but now wants to meet with me and talk with me about his pain

"I want to let God love me but the thought of him never leaving me is too hard to believe.  Everyone in my life has left me"  This girls situation would make any of us cry.  She wants to love God but is scared he will leave her

"I felt something tonight that I never felt before.  I don't know but it was weird.  Whatever it is, I want it.  I want to feel God's love in my life"  

There were many other conversations that night that I have not even had a chance to debrief with the staff on.   The staff and students truly believed that something weird but amazing began to happen. As I said, it was as if God took his life rotor tiller and began to really soften the soil.  PLEASE PLEASE PRAY FOR THESE TEENS AND THE DOZENS OF OTHERS AT THE FACTORY.  

While the weekend was unfolding, the teens from Grace Point watched what was taking place.  In their own hears, God was also working.  Several decided to live more the way God wants them to.  One of the GPC teens commented that they felt God speaking to them about being more proactive in building relationships with the Factory teens.  A few others echoed.  The staff feels it was very moving for them to see God work in the lives of the Factory teens.  We will be helping our teens discover ways they can connect with teens they go to school with who need Christ.

Pray for the ministry of The Factory.  Also, pray for the Backstage student ministry as it seeks to build a bridge of hope and trust with the students in our community.

 

Chuck

4 comments (Add your own)

1. Greg Petersheim wrote:
God, may my goosebumps never leave!

Our God is mighty to save, alive and moving.

Thanks Chuck and staff for investing the energys to prepare the soil in these lives and encouraging all of us to partner with you.

February 18, 2010 @ 11:11 AM

2. Lynette Eby wrote:
Our God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing our God cannot do!

Thanks for sharing this testimony...I've got the goosebumps too!

February 18, 2010 @ 11:50 AM

3. Laurie Hoover wrote:
Praise the Lord! Thanks Chuck for sharing your experience. Those of us who have known the love of God our whole lives need to be reminded how beyond amazing it really is and how much people around us need to know that.

I wish we would have known about this weekend ahead of time so we could have surrounded you with prayer but now that I know I will take the opportunity to be in prayer for the awesome things God has coming next!

February 18, 2010 @ 1:09 PM

4. Chuck wrote:
Thanks to the so many who paid the scholarship and provided the funds to make this trip possible. You may never know the difference this weekend made and will make in the lives of teens who are struggling with no hope! Praise God for the faithfulness of His saints!!

February 19, 2010 @ 8:59 AM

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You don't have to live life very long on this planet to realize that life is full of complexities.  From the challenge of relationship issues to the unknowns of financial planning.  From the ethics of business practices to the ever-changing landscape of raising kids.  From understanding who you are to understanding who God is... life is full of complexities.

But as we face so many difficulties that we do, is it God's desire that we feel lost in how to face them?  Does He desire us to worry like we do?  Or feel so helpless to unravel the challenges of what we face?  Have you ever said, "I just wish God would tell me which direction to go!"  

Rather than feeling lost, we believe God has another plan for us - the way of wisdom.  

Join us for our summer series at GPC entitled "Street Smarts: Taking God's wisdom where the rubber meets the road."  We're going to be looking at the book of Proverbs and seeing what God has to say about facing the complexities of life with the wisdom that He wants us to have.  

We look forward to having the conversation with you.  

VBS 2010

Weekly Activities

For the Week of August 1


Monday, August 2

Softball game at Paradise Park - GPC vs. St. Johns, 7:45 pm

 

Wednesday, August 4

Sewing Circle

7 pm - Prayer Meeting with PBFC at GPC