Mighty to Save

The final night of our time in Kure Beach was one fabulous night of worship and the honoring of our great country. This night was a bit different than the others simply because we gave out more free popcorn along with thoroughly advertising the balloon animals causing children to come to us in flocks asking for flowers, dogs, swords, and animals we were not capable of creating with a single balloon. As the first program was about to start we had two people but as the Vincent, the puppet, came up to make announcements people began to make their way to the our gravel parking lot as it became a place of worship. As the night went on around 200 people stopped for longer than just a moment to listen. These people covered numerous nationalities and they all passed in less than an hour.

One of the songs we listen to was “Mighty to Save,” which grabbed our attention and we all began to sing along. As we sang we all began to reflect how mighty and awesome our God truly is and how we have seen Him work in the past week. All the struggles of our day seemed to melt away and all that was left were our hearts open to whatever God wanted to do in and through us as we ministered to the vacationers on this July 4,2008.

"So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:11

Are You Free?

“I am free to run…I am free to dance…I am free to live for you…I AM FREE!”

This Fourth of July has been thoroughly different than any of us have ever experienced and it is not over yet. Our day began at 11am when we prayer walked from the church to the Kure Beach Pier and back, simply praying for those we saw and all those that would be on the island for this Independence Day. But it seems that even though it is a day to celebrate independence and freedom, people are still living in the bondage of their bitterness, pain and so much more. Following lunch we went back out to the Bowman Reality lot to pass out free popcorn, water, freeze pops, and packets for the children and adults. This began around 1pm and ended about 4pm where we passed out around 200 bottles of water and the countless other things we had to distribute. Though we have been out on the beach plenty this week, the amount of people on the beach today exceeded any previous day and some. It was amazing to see the looks on children and adults faces as we told them we had free water and food to give them, for they seemed to be longing for something to sustain their thirst. But that thirst, whether they expected it or not, was hopefully nurtured in two ways: through the water they were given and the receiving a $1,000,000,000 track and a smile. We may not necessarily find out the end result of our ministry, we planted seeds for the Lord and we pray that someone will come along in their lives and water them with the love and truth of Christ so that they might bloom.

Celebrating the Fourth of July

Today is our last full day at Kure Beach, and it's going to be a great one! It's the Fourth of July, and people from all over are converging on the coast for vacation time, celebrating Independence Day in the USA.

Our team will be prayerwalking the "main street" area of Kure Beach by the pier this morning, then we will set up with the church here (Missionaries Nathan and Allen) tents on the lot where we have our evening programs, right by the pier. We'll be talking with folks, giving water, sharing ice pops, treating kids with toys and bracelets, and having a great time doing it. God is at work here these days, and we're thankful to be part of His agenda today!

Our day ends with our final two programs tonight at the lot at 8 and 8:30 pm. Thanks for your prayers! We'll share what we saw God do after the day is through.

Thursday Report

Today our pattern for the week of missions ministry emerged clearly. We had printed on our shirts for the trip "Prayer-Care-Share Team" and we realized today that what we've been doing fits that pattern.

In the mornings, we have spent time praying - prayerwalking, prayer-driving, praying with those who have needs, and more. Prayer has become our morning focus.

In the afternoons, we have spent our time caring - handing out bottles of cold water, with Scripture and church information printed on a label on each bottle, giving balloons to kids on the beach, and more. Care has been our afternoon goal - caring as Jesus cared - unconditionally, with an eternal goal in mind always, helping people know the Lord who loves them more than any other ever could.

Then, in the evenings, we have presented programs which share the Gospel: the hope and saving power of Jesus Christ. So, sharing has been our evening focus.

Now, for today:

This morning our team divided into two groups. Half the group was dropped off at the southern end of Kure Beach, and began prayerwalking up Fort Fisher Boulevard toward the pier. The rest of the team was delivered to the town limits of Kure Beach on the north side, next to Carolina Beach, and they began prayerwalking south on Fort Fisher Boulevard toward the pier. Thus, the team covered completely with strategic intercession the main street of Kure Beach from top to bottom this morning. We met back at the church to report and have lunch.

This afternoon, we delivered cold, Scripture labeled bottles of water to vacationers on Kure Beach, and down at the Fort Fisher Recreation Area. Since it was hot this afternoon, the water went quickly! As of this afternoon, we have handed out over 700bottles of water in Jesus' name this week.

This evening, our two programs at the lot by the Kure Beach Pier went very well, especially the first one at 8 pm. We had several good opportunities to connect with those who attended - praying with them, talking about needs they face, sharing tracts and Scripture portions with them.

Tomorrow we anticipate our busiest day, since it will be the Fourth of July, and more folks will be coming to the beach to celebrate. We will be set up on the lot by the pier in the afternoon to give away water, frozen pops, bracelets for girls and gliders for boys, and as usual, plenty of balloons. We'll also have our prayer station set up, along with the blow-up play zone Midwood allowed us to bring and use with preschoolers.

Thank you for praying with us as we trust God to impact lives for now and for eternity at Kure Beach! We'll have more pictures and more stories to share here as soon as we can get them online.

Watering the Dry Beaches of Pleasure Island

On this dry Wednesday afternoon our group went out to the beach to continue distributing water. This day was much hotter than the previous days and we thought that more people would take water due to the heat; thankfully, we were right! Our groups went out with water and within 15 minutes we all came back to refill. When my group (Rachel) came back, the girl we ministered to for the last 2 days ran up to us wanting to play or help in any way she could (she is only 5 years old). The excitement and tenacity she had was so great that people glowed after she gave them a bottle of ice, cold water. She also handed younger children rocket balloons and began to tell them how much fun they are and why she loved playing with them. It was truly an encouragement and a conviction to see an innocent child possess such joy and wonder when giving people water and rocket balloons though she could not understand why anyone would say "No."

Along with passing out water on Kure Beach, a team drove down to Fort Fisher to hand out the rest of the water we had. There people seemed much more receptive and took the water immediately. It was amazing to watch people's faces as they asked "What's the catch?" or "Why are you doing this?" giving us a clear opportunity to share our purpose and the gospel with those we came in contact with.

Later on that day we found out from Pastor Joey of KBFBC that someone from Virginia had e-mailed the church thanking them for the water they had received earlier on this week. It is wonderful to see how the Lord works in people's hearts by a simple gesture of God's love for them: a water bottle.

Wednesday Morning Update

Our mission team is doing well at the halfway mark of our trip to Kure Beach. We went out last night and enjoyed some local seafood.

Our morning schedule has been to do a Bible Club with children on the beach by the pier. However, all summer this project has not been fruitful - so, yesterday, we talked with the summer missionaries here and decided to adjust the schedule to focus on prayerwalking in the mornings. Today will be our first day to pursue the prayerwalking with the whole team. That will be from 10 am to 12 noon. Our afternoon schedule will continue to be passing out Scripture-labeled bottles of water, talking with vacationers, sharing tracts, connecting as God opens doors with conversation. And, for the next three nights (Wednesday-Friday) we will do two programs each night at the lot by the pier, using puppets, music, humor, and a Gospel presentation. These programs are 20 minutes each (8 and 8:30 pm).

Thank you for your prayerful support as we continue this resort missions project! God is giving us opportunities to connect, minister, and share Jesus' love with people here.

Impacting One Life at a Time

10:15am. Monday, June 30th

The group meet out on the beach to set up for a morning outreach. We were unsure and somewhat wavering in the thought of children participating in the bible study and craft, but we went out anyway. There were very few families out and about but we invited all those we saw to the 30 minute Bible study. After we invited all the children we saw, we all came back to the tent empty handed. Since there were currently no children, we changed our plans and began to pass out waters to the vacationers and play frisbee. Unknown to us we had touched the hearts of a few people, for a mother and daughter came to our tent and asked to take part in whatever we had planed. As the daughter decorated her visor and learned about being the "Light of the World," we learned the family had gone through the loss of their father in November of 2007 and the mother said they were just being "carried in the arms of Jesus." Oh how the Lord surprises us when we least expect it.

Following their departure we went back out giving away water and Kool-Aid. On this trip we met a man and his daughter who were playing in the sand. When she heard we were making visors, she jumped away from her sand spinner, grabbed my hand and began to walk towards the tent with us collecting seashells as she went. The excitement in her face as she completed her visor was one I (Rachel) had never seen before, she was so proud of her creation and immediately placed it on her head to show the world. When we walked her back we asked her father if they had any prayer requests, the response blew us away. He told us that his wife was battling clinical depression but followed that by saying that "the Lord never gives us more than we can handle." As we stood there speechless, I realized that only the Lord could have led us to these families on this day to bring them encouragement and love from a fellow Christian.

I realized sometimes we seem to forget that we have come to share the good news and to minister to those who need the love and support from their family of believers. Too often do I forget the needs of the Christians around me and try to simply "save the lost;" when we, as brothers and sisters in Christ, need other's helping hand and encouragement just as much as the lost person needs to be saved. But the truth of the matter is that everything that we did today and all that we will do in this week boils down to love.

"'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.'" Matthew 22:36-40