WHO: Our mission team consists of 10 students currently in or just graduated from High School and 4 adult leaders. I have listed the team members by name below. I invite you to pray for 2 of them by name each day from now until we return from our trip (that way you can pray through the entire team each week). Pray that God would do His good work in and through them. Pray for protection and strength. Pray that His love would be shown, shared and received. Youth team members are: Kyle Ackeret, Amber Burnham, Brock Emmerich, Ian Ladwig, Katie Lemmenes, Lacey Meyer, Brendan Schwartz, Corey Shotliff, Dylan Thomas, and Bryan Thurmaier. Adult leaders are: Sara Chariton, Luke Hatfield, Dustin Rinehart, and Doug Thomas.

Another aspect of the who question is the organization we’ll be going with. As we have the past two summers, we are partnering with an organization called YouthWorks! that coordinates mission trips like ours all around North America every summer. There will be four college-age YouthWorks staff members at our site in Queens, and they partner with local ministries in the Queens area to coordinate our trip. They also take care of all the other arrangements, such as food, activities, showers, and lodging for the week we are in Queens.

WHAT: We will be at the site in Queens with groups from 3 other churches. Together with those churches, we will be broken up into teams, and these teams will mainly be running Kids’ Clubs for the children of the neighborhood. These Kids’ Clubs are like Vacation Bible Schools and are often run in partnership with area churches who may not have the resources to provide these great opportunities for kids of the neighborhood to learn about and experience the love of Jesus Christ. That’s right where we come in! Also, every evening (Monday through Thursday), we will have a different evening activity that we’ll be doing to help us get to know Queens and NY a bit more. One evening we’ll go on a Subway ride; another evening we’ll have a community cookout. These adventures help us learn a little bit more about how life in Queens, NY is both thoroughly unique and remarkably similar in some ways to life in Medford, WI.

WHEN: We leave Saturday morning, July 19 and will return Sunday afternoon, July 27.

WHERE: We will be staying at a church in Jamaica, NY in the Queens borough.

WHY: We are going to Queens, NY because we have a great God Who is worthy to be served and Who has called us to partner with Him in spreading the Gospel. The amazing thing about mission trips and about serving God in general is that as you serve and love in His name, He doesn’t just do amazing things through you, He does amazing things in you. This is a tremendous opportunity for students and adult leaders alike to grow in the relationship with Christ as they step out of their comfort zones and serve Him.

HOW: Moses was talking with God one time as He was leading the nation of Israel after their escape from Egypt, and I love what He said to God. He said in Exodus 33:15, “If Your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.” Moses was basically saying, “If You’re not going God, we’re not going!” And that is so true of this mission trip as well. Apart from God’s work, we may travel to Queens, NY, but we’ll ultimately be going nowhere. So please join with us in prayer. Pray that God would do what only He can do, and that we would trust and obey Him and not be obstacles to His work in our lives and the lives of the people we will meet. Pray also for our safety and the safety of all those who will be with us. Pray for our families while we’re gone. Thanks so much for partnering with us.

You, the Body of Christ here at First Baptist Church in Medford, WI, are a part of the how. We would not be able to go on this trip were it not for your love and support. Thanks for your generosity and kindness as we have fundraised. Thanks for being excited with us and for us! Thanks for just being with us, for being on our team. And even though you won’t be making the trip, you are a part of it by your support. So thank you, and please keep supporting us in prayer. We’re looking forward to celebrating with you what the Lord will do!