Thanks for Following and Show & Tell!

Thanks for following the 2019 Ohio Impact/High School Ministries GO Team blog. We appreciate your support and prayers! If you’d like to hear more stories, you’re invited to our Show & Tell at Blackhawk Church (Brader Way) this Sunday, July 28th at 11:00am. We hope to see you there! Stay tuned for more information about future GO Teams.

Crew 1 – Pavillion

Hello ladies and gentlemen, tis I, Kaleb, here with a tale of strength, heroism and God’s almighty power. I am a part of the crew working on the pavilion this week that has included lots and lots of hole digging. Yesterday, we had finally reached our final hole, which unfortunately had been previously filled with cement when the hole wasn’t yet deep enough. So, three of us were tasked with getting the hole deep enough to allow room for the post. One of the Next Step interns had the idea of sledgehammering a spud bar deep into the cement with the hope of cracking it up so we could just pull out the broken pieces. Great idea, right? Wrong. Nick, one of our fearless leaders, hammered the bar deep into the cement and we were feeling good about our plan until we tried to take the spud bar out. Believe it or not, trying to yank a spud bar out of 4 inches of hardened cement is not as easy as it may seem. I’m talking sword-in-the-stone Excalibur stuck, that boy wasn’t coming out. We set out to try and remove the bar and almost everyone in the worksite gave it a try but to no avail. By now, lunch was growing nearer, it was getting hotter and hotter outside and it seemed all hope was lost. Then, out of nowhere came a cloud and we were blessed with some shade. A feeling came over all of us and we knew the time had come to remove the sword from the stone. Will started going at it, yanking and pulling and twisting the bar all around with the rest of us yelling encouragement for him. Then, the bar came up and we all lost it. Our mission was completed. Now, I tell you that to tell you this, God was very present at our worksite in that moment. Philippians 4:13 says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” and you best believe the Joplin story of King Arthur (Will) and Excalibur (the spud bar) shows his mighty power and glory.

Live From The Field

(Crew 7 Leaders: Dan and Heather Watts, Members: Grace, Aziah, Tim, Kevin, Matt, Jaden, Kaleb, Josie, Payton, Isabelle)
 This week has been one of the greatest and most life changing weeks of my life, not only in terms of friendship, but also in my faith. Our week of service kicked off on day one when we arrived at Dorothy’s house. We found out when we got there that we would be installing a privacy fence around their home. Sounds simple enough right? Wrong! We thought we would just be pounding them into the ground but we found out right away we would have to dig 3 feet into the ground, and if that wasn’t hard enough many holes were infested with roots and rocks. We initially thought we may be done digging by the end of day one, but it was not to be. Digging actually was finished towards the end of day four. On day two the friendships amongst the group were growing much stronger and progress was being made. We began placing poles in the ground and trust me it is a lot easier than digging the holes. This is what 1/2 of the group did for days 2 and 3. During our lunch devotions each day we were able to talk about all sorts of different t
This week has been one of the greatest and most life changing weeks of my life, not only in terms of friendship, but also in my faith. Our week of service kicked off on day one when we arrived at Dorothy’s house. We found out when we got there that we would be installing a privacy fence around their home. Sounds simple enough right? Wrong! We thought we would just be pounding them into the ground but we found out right away we would have to dig 3 feet into the ground, and if that wasn’t hard enough many holes were infested with roots and rocks. We initially thought we may be done digging by the end of day one, but it was not to be. Digging actually was finished towards the end of day four. On day two the friendships amongst the group were growing much stronger and progress was being made. We began placing poles in the ground and trust me it is a lot easier than digging the holes. This is what 1/2 of the group did for days 2 and 3. During our lunch devotions each day we were able to talk about all sorts of different things including God and our faith Journies. On Day 3 the crew began to share their own testimonials and I thought it was incredible how vulnerable everyone was with each other. The crew continued their hard work throughout the week and everyone worked until the last possible minute. The work ethic and fellowship built amongst the group this week blew my mind. The way God worked through all of us was the likes of what I have never seen before. It was such an awesome week to be the hands and feet of God. That’s all from the week of Crew 7.
Aziah B. 
P.S. Please leave comments we love to hear from you guys.

A day in the life if Team 6

Today was Day 3 of our Joplin trip and Crew 6 (Evan, Sam, Ross, Hans, Paige, Zoe, Chloe, Anna, Elliot, Katie, Sydney) had a really productive DAY. Our group is working in a church which has only been around a short while and they need help rebuilding the interior of the building. The name of the church is "The Way" and their mission is to help introduce Jesus to people that have broken lives and need him to help them. Our projects today included mudding the bathroom, painting the walls a blue-grey color, as well as building a wall that will be used as an entryway to the church. Our leaders brought us snacks and people from Journey Church ( the church we are staying at) brought us popsicles to help cool us off a little bit 🙂 We had a great lunch devotion time because the questions really prompted us to share some of our stories and helped us connect better with each other. God stories from the Bible were also shared. We have had an amazing week so far and are so blessed to be on this trip. We hope that all of you at home are doing amazing as well 🙂 
From Crew 6, fondly known as the Avacados

Live From The Field

Today was day 1 of Joplin! Journey Church is the church that we are staying at this week. The church has an initiative called 2 in 5. With this initiative, the church wants to build relationships with every family within a 2 mile radius in the span of 5 years. Most of our projects that we are doing are in this 2 mile radius. These projects include building fences, decks, and so much more! It was hot and sweaty but everyone pushed through for a great first day of work. We are excited to keep developing relationships with those we serve this week! 
Love,
Crew 1- Da Bruddas
Leah, Elise, Mariana, Luke, Kip, Jenna, Sophia, Cade, Jillian, Jay, Daniell

Post from Paige and Hans

Paige here. We arrived to the church, Johnston Evangelical Free Church, around 8:00pm, where we were welcomed with air conditioning and a relaxing commons area to chat and throw around a ball. You’d be surprised what teenagers can find to do with little resources after a day of traveling! We set up our air mattresses and other sleeping devices and headed to bed around 11pm. The girls awoke to singing and dancing from the lovely leader, Rose Pendleton! The boys were awakened by the signature Jake Hollman, "Morning everyone!" After a breakfast of bagels and bananas, we headed into the 9 o’ clock church service. We sat in the auditorium, very similar to the Blackhawk venues at Brader Way, and listened to a speaker talk about the Kingdom of God. Powerful stuff! Shortly after the service, we packed our belongings and headed onto the bus where I sit now. 
I’m Hans. I am going to be a senior at Waunakee High School in the fall. My hobbies include golfing and playing golf and then also playing golf sometimes. Yeah I play golf. I could probably talk about it forever. I chose to go on this trip because I enjoy going on adventures and learning about different cultures. Honestly I’m not sure what to expect in Joplin. I hope that I’m able to connect with new people and learn about myself. Last year in Rosedale, WV. I met some friends that I still talk with. 
I pray that on this trip I can connect with God in a way that I’ve never seen him before. 
Please be praying for our awesome bus driver, Randy. Please pray for our overall safe travels to and from Joplin and within the city. Please pray for all the students on the trip and that each student will personally grow closer to Christ in a new profound way. 
Thanks for reading along.
Hans and Paige
P.S. feel free to leave comments below – we love to hear from you!

Welcome to our Blog

Hey all, blog master Amy here welcoming our readers to the Joplin-trip 2017 blog! This week you will get a chance to hear from various students (and leaders) on the trip about our adventures in Joplin, MO. We’ll share with you what we experience in our daily lives for the next week as we serve in the community of Joplin. Whether it’s God-sightings, daily recaps, funny experiences, or random ramblings about who knows what, you can be sure that it will be worth the read. So strap in and get ready for the ride – all 54 of us (don’t worry, Leah and I counted twice) cannot thank you enough for your prayers, love, and support as we undertake this journey together. So without further ado, long live the Oxford comma and I will turn it over to our first bloggers, Paige and Hans!