Today was our free day so after devotions at 7:30am and breakfast at 8am, we loaded the bus at 9am and drove about 45 minutes to go zip-lining. Everyone did it and we had a great time. Afterward we went for lunch overlooking a lake. Just after we finished eating and as we were about to take a group picture we saw a storm approaching over the lake. We took our picture then ran for the bus as the downpour began. We then drove to the market where we did our souvenir shopping. We got back to the Villa at 4:30pm. We have dinner at 6pm then at 7pm we will be having an evening of fun interactions with the girls. 
Nicaragua Mission Day 2
This morning we had devotions at 7:30am followed by breakfast at 8:30am. At 10:15am we met the girls from Villa Esperanza for the first time, and we were all partnered up with one of them whom we sat next to during the ride to church, conversing with them so they could work on their English and for us to work on our Spanish. At church we enjoyed some great worship followed by a message by an American interpreted into Spanish.
Insert Crazy Story Here: As the preacher was delivering his message I kept thinking he had a similar accent to where I grew up. After church I went over and introduced myself. He said he was from upstate New York, not far from where I grew up. I asked him if he knew of Elim, the Bible college Ady and I attended. He did and said he knew some people from there from way back. He asked if I knew the Larkins. I assured him that I did. (Keep reading!) He said he was friends with David Larkin and also knew his brother Dan, and that many years ago he and his wife had adopted Dan Larkin’s daughter Carmen’s daughter. “You are not going to believe this,” I told him, “But I am Dan Larkin’s eldest grandson. Your daughter Jena is my cousin!” It was just a few years ago when Jena and our family were reunited. I am friends with her on Facebook but have not met her in person yet. In fact, right now she is just across town here in Nicaragua on a separate mission trip. How crazy is that!
After a picture of our family with Ted Sandquist (Jena’s dad), our team headed back to Villa Esperanza and had lunch with the girls and the staff. We then had a tour of the facilities and heard the history and vision of the ministry. We then spent a few hours playing basketball and soccer with the girls. A lot of fun!
After dinner this evening we practiced some songs for our outreach tomorrow then watched A movie with the girls. We have an early start tomorrow. Thanks for keeping up with us and keeping us in your prayers. 
Nicaragua Mission Day 1
This morning everyone got to the airport on time. After getting checked in, we prayed together and gave lots of hugs to parents, then we had lunch and went through security. Everything went well. We only two security check incidents. One leader (who shall remain nameless) had a can of mosquito repellent in their carryon. After Mike Fenimore had his bug spray thrown away we only one student who brought a full water bottle through and had to go back again. He said his mom packed it for him. (He is laughing as I write this. Parents, you can guess if the culprit was your son. lol!) We had a nice flight to Miami, grabbed dinner, and boarded our next flight to Managua. Another uneventful flight. We landed, went through Immigration, got all of our luggage, and met our Forward Edge trip coordinators, loaded the bus, and drove to Villa Esperanza. We got settled in and had a beief orientation, then we did group devos. We are about to turn in for the night. Unfortunately my computer decided to crash, so I am typing this on my phone. I have FFS (Fat Finger Syndrom), so please excuse any tuyops (typos).
A Picture of The Answer in Baltimore … And The World!
This is a picture of beauty in the midst of ugliness, healing in the midst pain. I saw this picture on the news last night and it gripped me. THIS is the solution to the problems, not only in Baltimore, but around our world. The Bible shows us the way through times like these …
“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.
On the contrary:
‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:17-21).
Violence will never end violence. Overcome evil with good!
Love Long Island 2015: Day 2
Yesterday we headed back out to Love Long Island with the kindness of Jesus. Before breaking into our 4 teams, we had everyone go over to my elderly neighbor Susan’s house where we did an “Extreme Makeover” door knock. Susan had no idea I had been doing some kindness-conspiring! When she opened the door, behind me were 50 young people. I told her that I had noticed her fence was in pretty bad shape, and that we were there to give her a new fence. “O, OK, I pay for it,” she said in her broken English. “No,” I replied, “it’s already paid for. We’re doing this for you for free.” “OK, I make a donation,” she quickly responded. “No, we don’t want any donation. We just want you to receive this as a gift from God. We want you to know that He loves you and is thinking about you today.” She hugged me tightly and expressed her gratitude. Leaving Group 1 there to work on the fence, our other three groups headed out to our ministry sites.
Group 2 headed over to the home of a couple with great physical limitations, who, as I understand it, are getting ready to move to Florida so the husband can receive cancer treatment. Our team helped them clean around the house and get organized for the move.
Group 3 went to serve at Hope for the Future in Farmingdale. They helped prepare food for distribution to the homeless and needy. We also worked in the warehouse unloading a food truck, crating food, and organizing the warehouse.
Group 4 went to Helping Hands Rescue Mission in Huntington Station. They helped clean and organize their donations in the thrift store.
Of all of the things I am privileged to do in youth ministry, taking students out to serve is by far my favorite! I am so proud of all of our students who sacrificed two days of their spring break to go out and serve others!
Love Long Island 2015: Day 1
Today we took 50 Shelter Rock Church students out for day 1 of 2 of serving our community over Spring Break for our 3rd Annual Love Long Island!
Team 1 served at Shelter Rock Church‘s food pantry in Manhasset. They helped clean and painted a room.
Team 2 served at Guardian Angel, a ministry in Sea Cliff which ministers to women and their children in crisis. They cleaned the garage and basement and sorted and cleaned donated toys for children, and organized clothes for their boutique.
Team 3 served a family in King’s Park. The wife has cerebral palsy and is also recovering from shoulder surgery. The husband has just finished battling bladder cancer. We rejoice that he is currently cancer-free, and we are praying for that to be a permanent diagnosis! Our team did some much-needed spring cleaning for the family.
Team 4 also served in King’s Park. They did spring cleaning for my long-time friend, and former volunteer youth worker, the legendary 93-year old Granny Franny (She said she’s 93, but she was apparently 90 when I met her about 8 years ago, lol!). Granny lives alone and except for the senior citizen bus which comes once a week to take her shopping, and Meals-On-Wheels, she doesn’t have many visitors. She was so excited to have our team there, and she gave them her Granny-pep-talk and showed them her Kwanza room.
Tomorrow we are doing 4 more service projects to show God’s love in our community, which I can’t wait to share with you.
Passing On a Pastoral Heart to Students
Last week my daughter Claudia ended up in the hospital because of some further illness triggered by a bout with the flu. Mom went with her to the Emergency Room, and when she was admitted to the hospital, I was the one who went along and enjoyed sleeping on the fabulously comfortable pull-out sofa. Fortunately, the doctors were able to identify the issues and she was only in the hospital for two days before being released, and she is on the mend.
As a youth pastor, I am usually the one going to visit people in the hospital. It’s not often that our family is on the receiving end of hospital visitations (for which I thank the Lord!). But this time we were. I was blessed as I witnessed my daughter receive texts and calls of concern and prayer. And, of course, when one is in the hospital, it’s always nice to have people drop by for a visit. Several of Claudia’s friends and folks from the church did so, and all were meaningful. As a youth pastor, a few specific ones that blessed me were several of our youth ministry adult volunteers. It was such a blessing to see my team caring for my own daughter in her time of need. Pastoral ministry at its finest.
One of the visits, in particular, stood out to me. Jen is one of our great volunteers. During Claudia’s stay in the hospital, Jen arranged to stop by for a surprise visit. It was about 4pm when I was awakened from my nap on that fabulously comfortable pull-out sofa by the sound of faint giggles. I opened my eyes to see Jen, Rachel (another one of our volunteers), and Liz and Faith, two of our students laughing at us as we had fallen asleep. I then used the remote control to make Claudia’s bed go up and down until she awoke as well, and we all had a good laugh. As they sat and visited, I took note of something awesome that was happening.
Hospital visits afford great opportunities for the exercise of pastoral care. In my philosophy of ministry, I seek to encourage and empower our entire team of leaders to care for students pastorally (Ephesians 4:11-12). Here were Jen and Rachel living out our calling as youth workers to care for students. But something else was going on here. Not only had they come to pastor Claudia themselves, they had brought along two students with them. Liz and Faith had come as friends of Claudia, to be sure. But they had come at the invitation and along with two of their youth leaders. Beyond simply pastoring Claudia, they were also providing hands-on mentoring to Liz and Faith.
Experiences are far more impactful than words. Jen and Rachel didn’t call up Liz and Faith and say, “Come on, let me mentor you in the art of hospital visitation.” They simply lived out my definition of a great youth worker: Live your life for Jesus, and take a student along for the ride. By inviting students along as they pastored, they were effectively passing on a pastor’s heart to students. I was blessed and very proud of them.
It’s not always possible, but my challenge to you today is to think one step beyond just caring for and supporting students yourself; whether it’s visiting them in the hospital or attending their games or events. Pick up the phone and invite a student or two to come along as well. It’s the best way to pass along the heart of the gospel to love God and love others to students.
Why Nobody Wants to Go to Church or Be Around Christians Anymore …
My friends Thom and Joani Schults have a passion for Jesus and a desire to see His Church become all He intends it to be. Yet, through their decades of ministry, they have witnessed the steady decline of the Church in America and were concerned enough to investigate why so many people were turned off by Christians and why so many local churches were shriveling up and even closing. Through their extensive research, including not just surveys, but actually getting out on the street and talking with real people and hearing real stories, they identified a number of root causes for this sad phenomenon. But rather than allowing the depressing news to bring them down, they were able to hear within people’s stories some patterns which offered a ray of hope for a way forward. In their excellent books Why Nobody Wants to Go to Church Anymore and Why Nobody Wants to be Around Christians Anymore they set forth what they call 4 Acts of Love that will make your church irresistible, and your personal faith magnetic. Their Jesus-centered approach to rebuilding the Church and seeing it not only survive but thrive is simple, practical, and something every church leader, and indeed, every Christian should give serious consideration to. Get their books today! Here’s a trailer for their documentary When God Left the Building as well. Definitely a film you should watch (do it as a church staff!).
Jr. High NYC Mission Day 5
This morning Pastor Ron made a pancake breakfast for our team and the other team that arrived yesterday from Ecuador. After breakfast we had a combined devotional time. Natalia shared on servanthood, then I shared from 1 Corinthians 3, and one of the leaders from the other team shared as well. It was a really neat time of encouraging one another as our team was wrapping up a week of ministry and their team was beginning. After devotions we cleaned the dormitories and packed. At 11am we took a group pic in front of the church, then hit the subway, walked about 1/2 of a mile (freezing cold again!) and caught our train home. On the train we went around, and each person shared what they appreciated about each other. We also gave each other care cards. We arrived back in Mineola at 1:15pm, and everyone was safely reunited with their families. It was a wonderful and stretching week in which we all served the Lord by serving His people and grew in our faith.
Jr. High NYC Mission Day 4
This morning we had breakfast at 7:30am. Christina led our group devotions. After cleaning up, we headed to the subway at 8:30am bound for lower Manhattan during rush hour. e were packed in like sardines! We arrived at the Bowery Mission at 9:30am and were given a tour of this incredible ministry which is 135 years old. We then got to work sorting donated food items and stocking the food room, breaking down cardboard boxes, and sweeping and mopping. We had a short break to eat lunch which doubled as a training on how to serve our guests when they arrived for lunch. We then settled into
our positions and served lunch to 150 people – many of them homeless. It was a great joy to honor these people as guests of the Bowery mission and serve them in the name of Jesus with kindness and smiles. After cleaning up we said goodbye about 2:30pm and headed off for our fun time. We went to Little Italy and Chinatown to buy souvenirs, then we went uptown to Rockefeller Center where we went to the Top of the Rock and enjoyed a crystal clear view of the city from 70 stories high. We took the train back to Living Waters, arriving about 8pm, and had dinner. It has been a really great trip! We look forward to our final night together, and then packing up and heading home tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers.
REVKEVJR.COM 
