Outreach

From Benji Baker (Youth Pastor):

The Honduras Mission Trip was amazing! Ephesians 2:10 was the theme of the week—God gave us a good work to walk in and our team stepped into it with grace, humility, unity, and dependence on God. We experienced the compassion and the redemptive power of God as he restored the broken-hearted. He answered the prayer of an orphaned girl—gave her healing, hope, a family, and we got join in the process of building her dream—a home for her and her husband to raise their daughter! Below are few other highlights: 

• In the midst of all the busyness in my life today, it was so refreshing to take a step back and get out of the bubble of the US for a while. That is why I wanted to go on this trip: to renew my mind and to see God at work in all nations. I needed this trip. - Ralph

• We got to have coffee with the ladies of Family Life Mission. What a blessing to hear their stories and know God is at work in all our lives. - Elizabeth

• You all greatly blessed Belkis and her family with a new home and made her dream come true. But you also left a lasting impression on our FLM staff. They were blessed by your love, your work ethic, and your faith. Thank you for giving to the people of Honduras. God was lifted up and his love was shown through your actions. Many seeds were planted! - Lisa

Visit Realm to see pictures from this trip!

From Heather Harris:

Hi, everyone! I just wanted to give you a quick update about the Backyard Bible Club last week. It was great! We were so pleased with each part of it, and God blessed us with the helpers, curriculum, kids and weather! Thank you for your prayers!

In case anyone is interested in numbers: 16 kids attended (ages 4-11). That's kids representing 10 different families! We also had a sweet little group of 5 toddlers who belonged to the helpers and played together well!

If you’re willing to keep praying, please be in prayer for some people we met while going door-to-door with Bible Club invitations:

• a man suffering with chronic neck pain and unable to work
• a man who lost a foot and whose wife recently broke a hip...they are mourning not being able to care for a property they have loved for 30 years
• an older man who seemed to be an unbeliever but seeking with a story to share
• a woman whose 9-year-old granddaughter has leukemia and cares for her three times a week
• and, of course, the kids who attended, including one whose family is not in church but memorized our key verse (2 Cor. 5:17)!

Thank you again!

From Connor Shoup (Student Pastor):

We got the chance to take 22 teenagers and leaders to Memphis for a mission trip. We partnered with Street Reach which is a ministry that has been on mission in Memphis for over 30 years! 

Every day we walked around neighborhoods inviting kids to our backyard Bible Club and praying for people. It was challenging and awkward to walk up to peoples' houses and ask them if we could take their kids, but it was so worth it and we saw God move in big ways!

We saw around 40 kids come to our Bible Club where we were able to play games, sing songs, make crafts, and teach them about how the Lord is our Shepherd from Psalm 23! The kids we met didn't come from a lot and had very little, but it was so evident that Jesus was there and working and it was the most beautiful thing to see some of these kids give their hearts to Jesus!!

One of those kids was William. William is a 10-year-old boy who loves playing basketball. When I asked him if he played anywhere he said no with a sad face and said that his mom didn't have time or money to take him somewhere to play. He told me that he gets mad at his mom for not letting him play basketball, but then he feels bad because he knows she's trying her best. William doesn't come from a lot, but is a sweet kid who had a bunch of questions about the Shepherd! The last day he was asking about what it means to follow Jesus and I had the opportunity to share the Gospel with him and he chose to give his heart to Jesus in that moment!! We have a week full of beautiful stories just like William's and it's all because of Jesus!

In the afternoons we did outreach projects, except for Wednesday which was our team outing. We went to a laundry mat and connected with the people there and got to bless them by paying for their laundry. We had an indoor Bible Club in the gym of Street Reach for the local kids. And we went around to different Bible Club sites Street Reach had and prayed for the kids and community in that area!

One story from these afternoon projects was from when we got to go to the laundry mat. The whole time we where there we got to love on those people and share Jesus, and just before we left this guy and two girls came with a truck load of laundry and said they we're doing laundry for multiple houses! The two girls were both recovering from a meth addiction, one of them was two years clean and the other was just three days. The second girl was wanting to relapse that whole day and was being tempted like crazy, and the first girl just kept saying to her "just come to the laundry mat with me," that's it. So when they came to the laundry mat and we where able to love on them, pray for them, and pay for their truckload of laundry which they weren't even sure how they were going to pay for, it was just what the girl who was wanting to relapse needed not to! She was able to see God's love and faithfulness through her act of obedience!

When we're obedient to God's call on our life to go and share the Gospel, He is faithful, and we saw that on this trip! We absolutely loved our time in Memphis and we would appreciate if you would join us in praying for that community, and that the seeds we planted would continue to grow! 

From Tevin Peterson:

Sharing this with TREMENDOUS gratitude today!!!

Transformation is a regular occurrence on Valor Ridge—Glory to God!! But over 4 days we devoted an entire mission trip effort to transforming the landscape of our beautiful campus in Antioch into something even better than what it's been! If you love Men of Valor, please read the details below! By the numbers:  

Upper 90's-100 were our day-time temps. But 26 Men of Valor men combined with 24 Fellowship Bible Church people to get some big-time work done: TOGETHER. Below is a small sampling of what occurred between Thursday & Sunday:

• - 10 powerful testimonies of how "Faith Works". 
• - 9 three-pointers nailed by our 3-point shooting champion: Kevin. He drilled 9 out of 10 in the finals!
• - 8 Team Leads that spent much time preparing before this event ever began. Thank you all so much!
• - 7 wild innings of softball (Church & Alumni vs. The Ridge. The home team of Ridge men prevailed).
• - 6 awesome meals (Fri. & Sat) that kept us fueled up.
• - 5 tee boxes made for our new disc golf course.
• - 4 brand new basketballs for the Ridge. 
• - 3 softball bats donated for future games.
• - 2 new outdoor storage containers for athletic equipment.
• - 1 awesome walking trail that is truly a great addition.

Also, 1 spirit-led sermon that challenged us all, 1 new volleyball court, 1 ping-pong table, 1 amazing dart board, 1 new video game system with a mounted TV, 1 "pop a shot" basketball hoop, 1 horse shoe pit and 1 AMAZING night of worship led by Marcus D Martin!

Through it all—ONE TRUE GOD reigning over it all who continued to show us just how AWESOME He is and how much He loves each of these M.O.V men, and all of us. WOW. Blessings y'all. What a Mighty God we serve!!!!!!!

Visit Realm to see pictures from this trip!

From Melissa Riggs (Children's Ministry Pastor):

You have no doubt already heard how amazing Worship Arts Camp was! To sum it up, it was an awesome week full of dedicated volunteers, intentional conversations and teaching in every area (Connect, Visual Arts, Dramatic Arts, and Rec), fun-loving kids, meaningful worship, and lots of laughter! Out of our sixty campers, ten were visitors, so we know that there is potential for an even greater reach next summer.

And speaking of next summer, we are already thinking about what summer camp should look like next year! As soon as we have dates nailed down, we'll let you know so you can mark your calendars. In the mean time, visit Realm to check out this super fun "sights and sounds" recap, courtesy of Elizabeth Wyndham and her photo/video team!

From Benji Baker (Youth Pastor):

The Slovenia Mission Team partnered with two local churches in the cities of Ptuj and Koper to lead English Camps to help reach their cities with the good news of Jesus! Slovenia is a post-Christian culture that is in a state of spiritual poverty with less than 1% of the population following Jesus. But the gospel is changing lives and we got to join in the movement of God on this mission trip!

The goal of each camp was to help kids learn English and to build relational community with the hopes of launching English clubs and youth groups in the fall. Over 100 campers attended these camps! Based off the response at the end of camp, many of the kids are interested in joining the English clubs! It’s amazing what can happen when a gospel centered community makes kids feel known and loved!!!

I’m convinced laughter is the universal language that has the power to break down cultural barriers. We had a blast loving on these campers. Each day was filled with laughter… we played fun games together, sang silly songs, taught English lessons, taught skills-based workshops, tried to learn Slovene, and lead discussions about Jesus. The days were long, and the work was difficult, but our team was filled with great joy as we stepped into friendship and witnessed kids connecting and smiling more and more each day. Parents even commented on how different their kids were at the end of camp and how much joy and life they had in them!

We were so sad to say our goodbyes. The Lord was so kind to give our team sweet friendships in Slovenia that will continue. We are so encouraged by the church in Ptuj and Koper. They are committed to reaching their city for the glory of God. Please pray for them. Both are a church of only about 20. Please pray that the Lord would raise up more workers for the harvest that is plentiful there.

There are so many other stories to share! Please reach out to anyone on the team if you would like to hear more! Thank you for praying for our team and for the kids at our camp. Prayer is such a huge part of mission work and we are grateful for every prayer you’ve prayed on our behalf.

From Monty Waldron (Teaching Pastor/Elder):

It's sobering to spend time in a country, face-to-face with the people of a culture who have essentially pushed faith to the margins. It's all the more unsettling to know that this same country has been a place of great biblical vibrancy in previous eras.

Genuine spiritual life must be cultivated and preserved in a culture if it is to withstand the erosion of the world's values and practices. Where that life is not carefully guarded and passed down from one generation to the next, it gradually drifts into obscurity; truth exchanged for lies and worship given to creatures rather than to the Creator.

The Scotland team witnessed this firsthand. We saw the spiritual vacancy that was left by past generations who failed to deliver their faith in Christ to those who would come behind them.

We also saw glimmers of hope! Over thirty young people came to camp each day, looking for genuine connection, open to the idea that God may very well be the One who could give them the life they longed for.
In partnership with Young Life Scotland, we engaged every kid who attended with silly games and skits, super fun sports and crafts, singing, dancing and a daily message introducing them to the person of Jesus.

Each day, children of Tayport, Scotland were able to hear a story about Jesus from one of the gospels, have opportunities to "come and see" the Savior, and receive invitations to join the countless people who have entrusted their lives to Him for the last 2000 years.

We saw a couple of kids trust in Christ, and several others who want to have a follow-up conversation with a staff person. The Young Life staff and area committee were thrilled with the turnout! Their ministry suffered a lot of loss during the Pandemic, but was renewed and positioned again to make Jesus known in that country.

Members of our mission trip team took wonderful steps of faith each day, deeply encouraged and emboldened by the prayer and funding they received from several Fellowship Bible Church ministry partners. We were grateful beyond words to have the support of our church family and know that you would be greatly encouraged by the seeds that were sown by our team in Tayport.

Thank you for helping ensure that a new generation of children in Scotland - most of whom have been walking in darkness - would be given fresh opportunities to walk in the light with Jesus and His people!

From Emily Mullins:

Hey everyone!! I just wanted to give a quick update for the backyard bible club that took place in the Liberty Heights neighborhood this week! We had a fantastic 3 days full of laughter, singing, fellowship, and kids who were truly so excited to learn more about Jesus.

Over the 3 days we had 19 kids, with 12 families represented!!!

Our team of 5 people from our fellowship family was blessed with great weather, the sweetest kids, and we were able to form many new relationships with families in our neighborhood.

Our verse for the week was John 8:12, which 9 kids memorized!!! After hearing about God’s love for each of them, His plan of rescue, and how to follow Jesus, our light, we were blown away by the questions asked and answered in our time with the kids. It was so evident the Spirit was moving and stirring in their hearts.

Our final day we had kids saying they wanted to start bible clubs in their yards!!

I couldn’t be more encouraged by what the Lord did this week, and I’m looking forward to seeing what he will continue doing in our community!

We appreciate your prayers more than you know!!! We definitely felt covered in prayer over a great couple of days! THANK YOU!!

Visit Realm for a glimpse into what took place!