Outreach – Page 3 – REVKEVJR.COM

August 27, 2015August 27, 2015 revkevjr Christianity, Church, Evangelism, Faith, Jesus, Kindness, Mentoring, Ministry, Outreach, Student Ministry, Youth Ministry

Serve and Swim 2015

It’s been several years since I came up with the Serve and Swim concept, and it’s always one of my favorite things we do during the summer. The concept is simple. Go out and do a simple act of kindness in the community, then take everyone and go swimming at someone’s house. Tonight was Serve and Swim 2015, and we had a great outreach with our students!

We are launching a third Shelter Rock Church campus in Westbury on October 4th, so I contacted a local ice cream store and worked out a deal to buy several hundred scoops of ice cream to give out to people in the community for free. Tonight our students walked Post Ave. in Westbury and gave out 380 coupons for a free scoop of ice cream compliments of SRC, along with an Invite Card for the Westbury launch. We had many good conversations with folks. Several said they would come and check out SRC. One guy told us he’s coming and bringing his whole family. Another lady in a bar started bawling her eyes out in tears of joy when she heard that a church was starting right around the corner from her house. We talked to lots of the local business owners too. Before we left for our pool party, I bought all of our kids ice cream. It was a great way to partner with and support a local business, and a great way to build excitement about our church coming to town.

July 24, 2015 revkevjr Adventure, Christianity, Compassion, Jesus, Kindness, Ministry, Missions, Outreach, Student Ministry, Travel, Youth Ministry

Nicaragua Mission Recap Video

July 9, 2015 revkevjr Christianity, Fellowship, Friendship, Jesus, Ministry, Missions, Outreach, Student Ministry, Travel, Youth Ministry

Nicaragua Mission Day 6

Today was another day for building relationships with the girls from Villa Esperanza. After devotions and breakfast we loaded a school bus and drove to a water park. The rides and the time at the pool were simply times to show the girls the love of Jesus. We enjoyed conversing with the girls, practicing our Spanish and giving them a chance to learn English. We sought to get to know them better, encourage them, and ask them deeper questions about God. This evening Adriana did a makeup workshop for all of the girls, showing them how to properly apply makeup. Following the demonstration she ministered to the girls, talking to them about their intrinsic value, inner beauty that doesn’t fade with age, and challenging them to become women of God.

July 8, 2015 revkevjr Christianity, Compassion, Ministry, Missions, Outreach, Preaching, Student Ministry, Transformation, Youth Ministry

Nicaragua Mission Day 4

This morning we had team devotions at 7am followed by breakfast and worship and devotions with the Villa staff and some of the girls. We then got into a couple of groups and did work around the Villa. One group did yard work and another group worked on the road into the Villa, shoveling dirt out of the drainage ditch and using it to patch up another area of the road which had been washed out. We also enjoyed some time hanging out and playing with the girls. After dinner we had a service with the girls. Ady and Mike led worship, we did the “Everything” drama, and I preached. Following the message I gave an altar call and probably 30 people came up including both people from Nicaragua as well as our team. We had a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit and the ministry time lasted over an hour as people were praying for one another. It was an in incredible time as the Spirit of God moved. Following the service we had our debriefing meeting as a team and it was marked by expressed feelings of being overwhelmed by the grace if God. We also heard reports of two girls giving their lives to Christ tonight! God is good! Thank you for continuing to pray for us.

July 5, 2015July 5, 2015 revkevjr Christianity, Compassion, Family, Jesus, Kindness, Life, Missions, Outreach, Serving, Student Ministry, Youth Ministry

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.

July 5, 2015 revkevjr Christianity, Kindness, Ministry, Missions, Outreach, Student Ministry, Team, Travel, Youth Ministry

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).

June 19, 2015June 19, 2015 revkevjr Campus Ministry, Outreach, School, Student Ministry, Youth Ministry

Operation Finish Well

I am about to share with you two of the most important things about good youth ministry, so read all the way to the end.

I know, I know. Probably 90% of you reading this live in places where school has been out for several weeks. But here in New York we find that keeping our kids in school for half of the summer is benef … no, wait, is utterly ridiculous! But, for (I am certain) politically-motivated financial reasons, most of our students are still in school.

Last year my good friend Laurie Bolton sent me an idea that she did with her students that I knew instantly I wanted to do. She delivered “study break” goodie bags to her students while they were in finals week. So, this year I went out and bought lots of junk food and little goodies, wrote a poem; we bagged them up, and divvied them up by zip codes among our team of awesome adult youth leaders who delivered the surprises to unsuspecting students. This, we called Operation Finish Well. It was awesome!

Perhaps you are a healthy food person and you are offended that we would deliver sugary goodness to our students. Someone even told me that the sugar would kill their precious brain cells, and that we should have taken them healthy snacks like fruits and veggies, etc. I get it. I understand. You’re totally right. We should have. But I had two thoughts about this … 1) We wanted our kids to be excited when they received the packages. 2) We are actually trying to help our kids learn humility. I’ve been told that the students in our area are really smart, and we think we are serving them and teaching them that they are no better than anyone else by killing off a few brain cells in order to be more average. I’m kidding, of course. lol! (Seriously, point noted.)

This whole operation highlighted two hallmarks of good youth ministry. 1) Stealing ideas, and 2) Junk food.

Feel free to re-steal (But give Laurie props for the idea!).

And feel free to give your students healthy food … which most students will consider junk food and promptly throw away. lol! (Sorry, I was in a joking-kind-of-mood writing this. I’ve been reading Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan – the funniest book I have ever read. Post about that coming soon.)

May 2, 2015 revkevjr Campus Ministry, Christianity, Evangelism, Fellowship, Jesus, Leadership, Legacy, Mentoring, Outreach, Parenting, Pastoring, School, Speaking, Student Ministry, Youth Ministry

Video: Natalia Speaking at Youth For Christ Banquet

Last night was one of the greatest highlights of my life as a father and as a youth pastor. I had the privilege of sharing the stage with my daughter at the Youth For Christ banquet as she shared about starting a Christian Club in her middle school. Our family is so proud of her!

Natalia with banquet speaker Pastor Dimas Salaberrios of The Bronx

April 10, 2015April 10, 2015 revkevjr Christianity, Compassion, Jesus, Kindness, Ministry, Missions, Outreach, Serving, Student Ministry, Volunteers, Youth Ministry

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!

April 8, 2015April 8, 2015 revkevjr Christianity, Compassion, Kindness, Legacy, Missions, Outreach, Serving, Student Ministry, Youth Ministry

Love Long Island 2015: Day 1

IMG_1901_2 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.