Urban Hope Community Church

Happy New Year!

2009-12-29T10:58:00.001-08:00

Hope your Christmas last week was great! We had a lot of fun on Christmas Eve with the service. The kids put on a play (here are Jesus, Mary, and Joseph) and we sang songs, were challenged by Ed, and hung out while drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies. Nikki checked that she had committed her life to Jesus for the first time, so pray that we would have a good conversation about that soon!

Carmen is a faithful helper in the nursery monthly. She loves children and uses the gifts that God has given her to serve the church joyfully. Her family is here for Christmas break from Reading, PA, New York, and the Dominican Republic. She has a big heart for her family to know God, so please pray that God would use this trip especially to Himself to them.

It is so wonderful to watch the changes that God is making in Cheryl's life already since she decided to follow Jesus last week. Please pray for His love and truth to go down deep and penetrate her heart and that her walk would Him would mature everyday.

Mike and Darcy are wonderful friends of ours who serve the church here with us. They invited us over to their house for Christmas and it was so fun to spend the day with them. Pray for those of us who don't have family around or older adults to disciple us. It's hard and very lonely sometimes. Pray that God would answer this prayer and bring someone to us, but that we would also find our satisfaction and encouragement from Him first.

This will be the last time I write as the Urban Hope Staff Missionary. This is my last week of working in the office. I will miss helping the church in this way, but I'm excited to be home instead with our baby and more available for foster children. I hope you have enjoyed hearing some updates of what God is doing in our church!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T04:55:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday morning, despite all of the snow that came down on Saturday (22 inches!), we had a great time at Celebration. There was a Kingdom Kids choir, a group of teens and helpers rapping the books of the Bible, people doing special music, Ed playing the piano, and an amazing message of Jesus. I'm so thankful and proud to be a part of Urban Hope Community Church!
Jess and Pete help with Kingdom Kids and the youth group and live just a few blocks from the church. God used them big time this week to help provide Christmas presents for a family without any this Christmas. It's amazing to see people being so generous with what God has given them.

These guys are some of our leaders and core teens. What an honor it is to be a part of the body of Christ with them.

Here's some of Mary, Melissa, and April's kids. They are so precious! Melissa decided to follow Jesus last Sunday, so we are praising God for a new sister. Cheryl, another friend and lady from our church, decided to follow Jesus this past Sunday, too. Praise Him! Thank you to those of you from other churches who provided Christmas presents again this year for these kids. I'm sure God has used that to encourge them and draw them closer to Him!

April has been living for God and praising him for everything! Derrick has not had a seizure for over four weeks and doesn't have to have surgery. God is good! She cooked lunch for everyone after Celebration two weeks ago (50+ people) because she was feeling so thankful for God's goodness and just wanted to bless other people because of it. Who does that???!! We've been having fun making healthy food together because she wants to feed her children better food.

Carmen lives across the street from the church and her grandson Jose came to Celebration with her on Sunday. Carmen decided to follow Jesus a few months ago and has been coming to our house church some. She works often on Sundays, but pray that she will really get connected and serve God with her whole life along with us.

Have a merry Christmas from Urban Hope!

2009-12-10T11:46:00.000-08:00

This is the last Sunday for Kingdom Kids for the year. It's crazy to think that it's almost the end of the year already. Please pray that lots of kids would come and hear the truth! It's been a great semester so far. The PBU students who help every week--led by Neil--have been in charge of the Bible lessons every week. They have done a fabulous job!!! The theme of the semester has been that we live in a broken world and there is a rescuer coming to fix it. Last week we met the rescuer--a tiny baby who is God and man. This week that rescuer will be grown up and will die for the sins of the world. What a powerful message--the only message that can change lives! The PBU students head home for Christmas break and then we will begin Kingdom Kids again at the end of January. Please pray that those of us who live here would keep the relationships strong with the kids even during the break.
Cornerstone is going well on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school. There are at least ten kids that come consistantly. The theme this week is cooperation and the Bible lesson on Tuesday was about the first churches in Acts. Wow, I want our church to be like those churches. Pray that us and the kids would really get that. The kids are practicing for a play that they will put on for the Christmas Eve service. It would be great to see lots of parents come to see their kids perform.
Wednesday night youth group is now called Crossover I have just been informed. It sounds like the high school group has a solid group of students, but there are only about four junior highers who have been coming. It's awesome that there are actually more leaders than kids so everyone gets a lot of attention, but we would love to see this group grow. There's been some great Bible teaching about the resurrection and the power of Jesus over death.
In Celebration, we have been learning about some of the people in the Bible who God used in big ways for His glory. It's crazy that these people were just ordinary people like us who said yes to God working in their lives. On December 20, we will have a kids choir composed of kids from Kingdom Kids singing some Christmas songs. This is another great way to get to know some parents who will hopefully come see their kids sing. Pray that God is working big time in the hearts of these kids!

Thanksgiving Meals

2009-12-03T12:35:00.000-08:00

Thanks so much to those of you who donated money for Thanksgiving meals for our neighbors this year. We had a great time delivering them as a church family last Tuesday afternoon and evening. Brent did a great job organizing things this year. We delivered 225 meals to families in our neighborhood. They were so appreciative of getting all of that food for only $5. In the picture above, Ed was the driver of the delivery van for Water Street. He did a great job circling while we hopped out with the turkeys and bags of groceries to deliever on each block. It's hard doing this on a one-way street with no parking spots! The two guys in the picture were helping deliver meals as well and Shalia, my next door neighbor, helped for about 4 hours on Water Street. She was so tired when I walked her back home!
April was one of the workers who was able to be paid with the money that we charge for the meals. She did an awesome job overseeing everything and making sure we stayed organized. Here she is marking off people's names as meals were delivered to their homes.

Here's Nathan and David, two other teen guys who helped out. Nikki was another one of the paid workers and helped us out a lot with delievering meals on Water Street. She has been bringing her six kids to Celebration on Sundays for a couple of months now. She asked me last week if my husband and I could start doing a Bible study with her, her husband, and kids in their home. We're going to do it this Friday night for the first time. We'll be watching some of the Hope video, which goes through the whole story of the Bible, and getting to share lots of exciting truth with them. Please pray for wisdom for us and soft hearts that say yes to Him. And of course, Shalia jumped in this picture, too. :)

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2009-11-30T09:01:00.000-08:00

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Baptism at Urban Hope

2009-11-24T12:29:00.000-08:00

On Nov. 8 Urban Hope Community Church enjoyed watching seven of their own be baptized. Anthony and JJ Lopez, Hector Rodriguez, Gina Rodriguez, Nathan Rodriguez, Alejandro Santiago, Michael McCullough, and Luis Acosta.

2009-11-05T10:00:00.000-08:00

Darcy is a wife, mom, full-time daycare worker, and pregnant with her second child. Please pray for her and her baby's health, as well as for Jocelyn, her daughter, who gets sick very often because of being at the daycare. Pray for energy and refreshment this week for her as she balances many responsibilities. Pray for her husband Mike to lead his family well!

Sunday, after an awesome Celebration, was another celebration of potluck. Everyone enjoyed eating and spending time together. Hector is always such a servant at potucks--serving and cooking food and cleaning up. His wife shared a testimony at Celebration about an addiction that she has had for several decades--anger. The series has been on addictions for a few weeks now, so Bobbie, Hector's wife, wanted to share a freedom from addiction that God had given her recently. She told us that her addiction had been anger and said "And my anger was right back there" and pointed to her mom. I have heard Bobbie talk about this anger toward her mom several times before. She said a couple of weeks ago, she knew the Holy Spirit was telling her to go over to her parents house and tell both of them, but her mom especially, that she was done being angry at them and tell her that she had forgiven her. She didn't even change out of her pajamas and headed over to be obedient to the Holy Spirit. She told her she had forgiven her and shared the gospel with her and both of her parents turned their lives over to Jesus right there. Her mom came up to the front as she is sharing all of this and hugged her and shared a little about how Jesus is changing her. Bobbie had not even let her mom touch her for years! Wow, praise the Lord for bringing a new brother and sister to us and doing a miracle in this family. God is doing a lot to challenge the rest of us in the church through Bobbie's testimony.

We had a great time at Kingdom Kids and are ready to go home! We practiced the memory verse as we walked back to Water Street--"In your anger, do not sin." Ephesians 4:26

Here is a dark picture of Jordan, one of our Kingdom Kids volunteers. He is acting out the part of Cain offering his crops to God. We learned that our world is broken because of sin, but Jesus came to make things right! If we choose to say yes to our sin, we will do terrible things like Cain killing his brother. But if we say yes to the Holy Spirit in us, we have the power to live for God. Pray that we would live for Jesus this week!

More faces of Urban Hope

2009-10-29T09:37:00.000-07:00

Christy is one of our faithful nursery helpers each month. She is also the mother of two little boys, Samuel and Micah. Christy is awesome at balancing family, friends, work, and ministry and is so generous and hospitable. Christy and the boys have taken turns being sick over the past week or so. Please pray that God would protect them (and Jason, too) from sickness. There have been a lot of colds going around recently, so pray that our church would trust God's protection, provision, and healing.
Cornerstone has become a big program at our church, as of last week. We setting it up like an afterschool program on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 3:45 to 5:45 pm. We pick kids up and they have a snack, play games, have Bible time, homework help, and can choose from electives like shop, art, cooking, or Bible quizzing. Kelly, is the leader of the homework helping section and also a lot more. I have often found her in the office making copies of math worksheets, cleaning out cabinets and closets in the church, and buying things for the Cornerstone store in the past couple of weeks. The kids earn dollars for doing certain things during Cornerstone or get them taken away if they are not acting appropriately and then get to buy things at the store. Please pray that God would be the one in charge of Cornerstone. What a praise to have so many helpers like Kelly who love Jesus, these kids, and serving the church with the talents He's given them.

2009-10-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

Just a quick Urban Hope update...

Here is a picture of Hector, Jennifer, and Hilda, three teens who are living for Jesus and helping weekly with Kingdom Kids. Hector is even the one to lead the memory verse part each week. He makes up motions and does a great job! Pray that these three would be a big part of the youth group that is starting on Wednesday nights at 7 pm this week!

These guys were having a great time at Kingdom Kids yesterday, even though I couldn't get them to smile for the picture. :) Jordan, on the right, is a PBU student who has gotten involved this semester and has been an awesome help acting out parts of the Bible story each week.

Ashli, Mary, and Cassy go to Chicago!

2009-10-15T07:46:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, I get to take Ashli, Mary, and Cassy to the airport so they can fly to Chicago for three days. They are going to a training to learn how to run a God-centered afterschool program that will probably be beginning next week every Tuesday and Thursday. What an awesome opportunity! It's really exciting, too, because it will be Mary's first time on an airplane. She is nervous, but still very excited. Mary's two daughters, Shayla and Abee, are on the right of this picture. Pray that Mary would trust God and her boyfriend to take care of the girls and their brothers while she is gone. She's nervous about leaving them for sure. But God is definitely able to take care of them while she's gone!
Last Sunday, Jason spoke about the spiritual world at Celebration and it got a lot of people's attention. Pray that our church would put on our armor today and be ready for Satan's attacks. He is working hard in our neighborhood, but our God is way bigger!
My husband Ryan, Judah, and I went to Penn Valley Church on Sunday morning to share a little about Urban Hope in the service. We were so welcomed and loved while we were there. They have been a big encouragment to our church through sending helpers monthly for Kingdom Kids and giving us tons of prayer and financial support. It was really refreshing to get to meet some older, wiser believers. Please pray for older believers to move to Urban Hope to mentor the leaders here. We need it!

What a Celebration!

2009-10-05T07:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an awesome morning at Celebration! We had so many people and a lot of new faces. God is moving in our church and neighborhood big time. My husband and I met a man when we were out visiting some boys from ROCK that my husband is getting to know. His name is Mr. Robert Ashbourn and he used to be involved in the Third Brethren Church that used to be in the building that we are now. He is a believer as far as we know, but hasn't been involved in a church for a few years. We told him that we need him! We are not complete without him. He said that he would come to Celebration for sure next week and maybe this week and he came this week with his wife. They are in their sixties, so we are very thankful for an older couple. Pray that they would get involved with the church encouraging others and being encouraged as well. Pray that they would know that even though they are not as young as most of the rest of the church, God is definitely not done with them yet! Brent did an overview of the whole story of the Bible yesterday for the message and it was really good. I learned a lot and I know a lot of people that aren't as familiar with the Bible could really have benefited from it. God, let your Word be living and active in the lives of your people here and everywhere! Oh, and one of the moms from one block down from us came for the first time yesterday with her six kids. Five of her kids are involved with Kingdom Kids. I asked if I can come over to her house tomorrow to talk. Daddy, give me the words to say and ears to listen. Please save Nikki and her children!
Kingdom Kids was so encouraging yesterday. The Bible story was about David forgiving Saul and not killing him when he had a chance to and plenty of reasons to. There were some great skits and songs and games to go along with the lesson. When I was picking up the kids on our street (God brought out 17 kids total from our street!!!), I got to Shalia's house (our next door neighbor that I had pictures of last week) and she was crying. She said she had gotten in trouble because of something her brother did and her mom said that she can't come to Kingdom Kids anymore after today. Interesting punishment. I think the enemy is behind all of this. So pray that Shalia would continue to be able to come and that Satan would not get the victory! Pray that I would be wise in knowing how involved to get in talking to her mom or whatever. Prat that Shalia would be forgiving of her mom and brother like we talked about in Kingdom Kids and show her mom that she's different because she's following Jesus. Wouldn't it be amazing if her Mom Maria became a follower of Jesus out of all of this? Thank you for praying!

2009-10-01T07:27:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was Puetro Rican Parade Day in Philadelphia! Here are a couple of pictures from our block party. The first one is from our front porch. There are several whole chickens roasting as well as some pork. There are four men playing a mean game of dominos as well. The kids played in the street all day and then around 6 pm we had a potluck dinner. I was asked to bring the bread again, which makes me feel so welcome and part of the block for sure. Ryan and I even got to help serve the food to our neighbors, which was such an honor. In the mean time, Judah was being passed around between several neighbors who wanted to hold him. I love our block! The second picture is of Ryan, Judah, Shalia, and Irving on our front porch. Shalia and Irving are our next ddor neighbors and so much fun! Shalia helped me make the rolls for the block party. It's a lot of work making bread for a whole block, so I very much appreciated the help! Do you see Judah holding his little Puetro Rican flag? Please pray for Ryan and the other leaders of a youth group that will be starting on Wednesday nights this month. Pray that they would be on their knees for the youth and crazy in love with God so they can love the students with His love.

Kingdom Kids

2009-09-21T07:29:00.001-07:00

We had a great day at Kingdom Kids yesterday. It was our second week for the semester and still full of energy and there were so many kids. Lord, please let it be like this the rest of semester. I met a new family on my block last week with two kids that have come to Kingdom Kids for the past two weeks. The little girl is in this picture with the beautiful smile. Her name is Najiber and her brother's name is Jaiber. She has such a beautiful heart and just seems like a little sponge right now. Pray that God draws her to Himself and she chooses to follow Him!
Her are some of our helpers listening to Ashli give us some instructions before going out to pick up the kids. We have some adults, teens from the neighborhood, and students from Philadelphia Biblical University. We are so thankful for faithful helpers to love our kids and teach them His truth!

Here are some girls singing along with some of the songs.

Here are a few faces from the boys side. Ths little guy in the middle is Justis from down the block from us. He has five brothers and sisters and loves coming to Kingdom Kids and running as much as possible. Pray that he knows Jesus and desires His justice!

More faces of Urban Hope

2009-09-18T11:15:00.001-07:00

Here are some precious faces from the nursery. Ryan is one of our faithful nursery workers every month. If you are ever here visiting and want to help out in an easy way, ask to help in the nursery. We can always use help! Ryan is with Deonte and Judah, both seven months old.
Nathan is two years old and loves to play. His mom and Dad have come to Celebration on and off for the past year or more. Pray that their whole family would follow Jesus and live for Him!

This is Aiden anf he is two years old. He has an older brother named Ethan. His mom Christina has beem around for several years, but isn't following Jeseus yet. She is interested in joining the first principles class this fall.

Samuel is two years old and repeats everything he hears. He is very smart! His dad Jason is the leader of our church and his mom Christy helps out with many things in the neighborhood and the church as well. Praise the Lord that Samuel has parents that love Jesus!

Some faces of Urban Hope

2009-09-10T11:17:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Urban Hope Community Church! Hopefully you can come visit us soon, but if not, maybe these pictures will hold you over until you do!

Bruce and his son Jason--Bruce is such an important part of our church! I had a breakfast with my Cornerstone girls last week where they cooked for and served their parents. We cleaned up some, but then needed to go, so I was planning on finishing things up on Sunday morning before Celebration. When I got there, the dirty dishes in the sink were gone, the clean dishes in the dish drainer were put away, the stove was wiped down, ang the nursery where the younger siblings had played was cleaned up. That was all Bruce!

Left to right: Christy (just started at Temple last month and is our pianist on Sunday mornings), James (our worship leader and guitar player, high school history teacher), and Alex (our bass player, grew up in the neighborhood)

left to right: Alex, Sam, Carl, Hilda, and Ashli

Left to right: Nolan and Sarah (just moved here last month, Sarah is teaching 2nd grade at Hunting Park Christian School and Nolan is selling Kerby vacuums--if you're interested, talk to him!), Dave (he and his wife Kelly have lived here for over a year, he helps a lot with sound on Sunday mornings), and Ryan (my handsome husband, the greeter for the day with the bulletins in his hand, he is a warehouse leader at Cardone Industries, which re-manufactures car parts)

Joe Ryan--He is running the sound along with David on Sunday mornings. He grew up in the neighborhood and he and his mom are a part of the church here. He is in school at the Art Institute of Philadelphia and he helps make videos for the church from time to time.

Pray for Cheryl and Mary

2009-09-04T13:04:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry that I still don't have any pictures of youth camp yet. I will keep trying and hopefully someone will give me some soon!
We had a meeting on Sunday after Celebration with all of the leaders of different ministries to get on the same page for starting the new semester. My friend Cheryl was there. I have told you about her before. I have known her for two and a half years and she has been coming pretty regularly to Celebration for that time. Her and her daughter Katie have been over to our house numerous times, we have been over to their's, we have prayed together, read the Bible together, gone grocery shopping together, and just lived life together. We have had many talks about what it means to follow God and what the Bible teaches. On Sunday, Cheryl was filling out one of the volunteer applications for children's ministry (she helps out with the nursery once a month and is my Kingdom Kids street helper) and the first question says something like "when did you first decide to follow Jesus?" She had filled the whole application out except this question and the second that said something about describe how you are growing closer to him now. She comes up to me and asks what the first question means. I said, well, when did you first realize you were a sinner and give your life to Jesus to save you? She said, well, I think that was the first day that you came to my house to meet me and then I started going to church. I said, it's asking something more than just when you started going to church. That's a change on the outside--when did Jesus change your heart? Do you know if you died today that you would go to heaven? Cheryl, these are really important questions--way more important than just questions for an application. Cheryl said, "well, I'm not perfect yet!" I said, that's the whole point. You won't be until you get to heaven. We don't have to be perfect before we get to heaven because no one would ever get there. The Bible says (Acts 16:31): Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!" Cheryl ended up writing down that she is still seeking to learn more about Him. I was so thankful for those questions on the application. We have had so many talks and I have wondered if she was following Jesus yet, so the answer is no, but I'm not discouraged. Please pray that God would get a hold of Cheryl's heart today. He is the perfect one who can take away her sins. Pray that the Holy Spirit would be speaking to her big time and she would respond.
One quick update on Mary, too. It's been a tough few months for her as she's been saying no to the Holy Spirit's power inside of her. She had a talk with Ed, our director from Indiana who's staying out here until the end of the year, on Wednesday night and re-dedicated her life to the Lord. I have been praying for that for all of these months and saying things and writing things when God would lead. Thank you Jesus, for not giving up on Mary and not giving up on any of us. We are so messed up but you still love us and are patient with us because of your great mercy. Thank you! Pray that Mary would stay committed to you and her boyfriend would chose to follow you so they can be a family together loving you and raising children to love you. Pray that she would put on her armor everyday to fight off the devil's attacks.

School Supplies

2009-08-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot. We are starting Kingdom Kids up again in the middle of September. Kingdom Kids is our kids' outreach program that we have for kids 5-12 years old during the school year. We meet together on Sunday afternoon, go and pick up the kids, have the program (which is full of games, prizes, Bible lessons, songs, and much more), and then walk the kids home. The first Sunday back, we are wanting to give out school supplies to the kids. If you would like to donate any school supplies, please send them or bring them to Urban Hope, 210 East Tioga Street, Philadelphia, PA 19134. Thank you!

2009-08-24T07:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I am sorry to say that my husband didn't want to take the camera to camp last weekend, so it looks like we'll have to wait one more week so I can get pictures from someone else! I heard great reports from my husband about the teen's weekend away. There were a lot of staff there, so it was almost 1:1 for staff to student ratio, so all of the teens got plenty of personal attention. There were chapel messages on running the race, how this life is all about God and not us at all, and who we are because God has adopted us as His children. There was an awesome swimming pool, gym, climbing walls, and zipline at the camp that everyone really enjoyed. One junior high boy that my husband spent a lot of time with is named Chino. He's not a believer yet, but interested and Ryan asked him if he would start reading the Bible with him. Pray that God gets a hold of his life quickly!
Meanwhile, the rest of us who were left behind were at Celebration on Sunday morning. Jason spoke about the importance of scripture in our lives. It was a fun time of fellowship and interaction since it was a smaller service. I walked my friend Cheryl and her daughter Katie home after Celebration and we had a great talk about a lot of things. She said she wants to read her Bible every night after she gets Katie in bed instead of watching tv as much. I want to keep reading my Bible daily (I'm reading through it chronologically--it's really fun!), but write down a verse to meditate on throughout the day. I'm good at just reading in the morning and then not letting it affect and change me throughout the day. Pray that Cheryl, me, and the rest of our church dive into scripture big time this week!

Off to Camp

2009-08-20T07:06:00.000-07:00

The teens from our church head off to Camp Andrews for the weekend. Please pray for them to know God well and be changed! The plan is to have a few pictures up from that weekend next week. I will send the camera with my husband and see what he comes back with. :)
I apologize for not writing for the past couple of weeks. Things have been busy here. I love the summer, but there is always so much going on that it goes too fast! We had a group from Grace College here for a class for five days. Jason was in charge of teaching the class and setting up lots of awesome learning opportunities for them. I was in charge of providing lunch and breakfast for them everyday. I definitely learned a lot about what it takes to cook for 45 people. Thanks to Brenda, part of our team who lives in Ohio, I had a good idea of how much to buy for them. Thanks, Brenda! I now know all kinds of important things, like how much pizza to buy for 45 people (17 larges!), that people like chocolate chip cookies better than peanut butter, and that people like grapes way better than apples. It was fun to deliver some of the leftover food to a family down the street from me who has six kids. Their mom was so happy to have breakfast already taken care of for the day especially!
Thank you for your prayers for us. Pray that we would be purposeful and adaptable to whatever the Holy Spirit wants to use us for this week.

Jesus, call Felicia to follow you!

2009-07-27T11:28:00.000-07:00

There is a very sweet family that lives one block up from us. They used to live one block over on Lee Street and then moved out of the neighborhood for a year or so and now are back. They have come to Celebration on and off for the past couple of months. I have been able to read the Bible with the mom a couple of times. We aim for every week, but her life is a little crazy with six kids. I wish so much that I had a picture of them to share with you, but once I get one, I will put it up. I got to read the Bible today with Felicia (the mom) at her house. She told me that she wanted to read through 1 John since that's what we were studying at Celebration when they first started coming. Today we read 1 John 1:5-10. We had a great talk about living in light instead of darkness and that we are all sinners and in need of God's grace in our lives. Jesus was the only one to walk this earth and not break any of God's commands, so he is able to be our perfect sacrifice. We deserve death because of our sin, but God offers life because of his death. And what an amazing life we can have with him here on earth and in heaven forever. Life with him is not problem free at all, but it is full of hope and joy because we have the God of the universe living inside of us. Felicia's two girls who are five and seven were reading and praying with us. They are at camps this week and are involved in Kingdom Kids during the school year. Pray that this whole family would choose to follow Jesus and not just know about Him. Pray that He would change their lives like crazy because their hearts are changed. We watched a video on Sunday for Celebration and God was really teaching Felicia a lot though it. Pray that He draws her to Himself!

2009-07-23T09:03:00.001-07:00

Judah and Papa--don't we look alike??

Judah and I have returned from a week with my family. It's so good to be home! We flew to Tulsa, OK, to see my sister and brother-in-law for a few days, drove down with my family to Ft. Worth, TX for a cousin's wedding, drove to Nixa, MO, to spend a couple of days at my Dad, Mom, and sister's house, and then flew back out of Tulsa yesterday morning. Judah definitely hit his traveling limit yesterday, so we're glad to be stationary for a little while. What fun it was to spend some much time seeing family. Judah loved all of the attention and I loved hearing some many comments about who's nose he had and how his teeth came in early just like mine. God creating family is such a beautiful thing. No matter what issues each family may have, God definitely has a purpose in placing us in just the right family. I am learning something about what it means to be created in the image of God when I look at a little boy who has some images of me. God, please grow our children and the children that we disciple who aren't biologically our's to reflect your image so much more than our own!
I wish Judah could write to you about his first extended visit to the subburbs. I'm sure he would have a lot to share! Pray for us as we have chosen to leave our families and culture to live in our neighborhood. I can't imagine living anywhere else, but it can definitely be hard sometimes. I am so thankful for the family that he has given us here. I have the best brothers and sisters ever! Pray that God would bring along a dad and mom here--an older couple that could disciple us youngsters. :) We need it!

A few more week two pictures

2009-07-13T07:37:00.000-07:00

Here is Brenda and Carmen cooking dinner for the group at camp. Brenda is from a church in Ohio and came last year as the cook for camp and was back again this year. A woman from her church donated money for our two new stoves in the picture and she had a great time cooking with them. Carmen is a wonderful sister in the Lord from our church.
Here's my little Judah with Denny, Brenda's husband. He still has a smile on his face even though Judah just threw up on him! Brenda loved our neighborhood so much after coming last year that she wanted her husband to come out and visit, so they were here last fall for a few days and both of them were her last week for camp. What an encouragement they are to us! Pray that they would be able to come visit us again and maybe even move here sometime in the future. :)

A great second week at camp

2009-07-13T07:21:00.000-07:00

Here is the black team on the art side making pictures with glitter glue
Here is the orange team playing with play-dough

What a great week of camp we had last week. It was such a different week than the first. There were fewer kids and helpers, which worked out ok because then you could really get to know the kids well. I'm all for smaller groups. :) I kept expecting 50 crazy kids to jump out of the closet somewhere because of how crazy the first week was. We had some awesome helpers again this week. We definitely couldn't even begin to think about running this camp just on our own. So, to those who helped--thank you!
On Saturday, a group of about 50 went to the beach with ROCK. It was a beautiful day and we were so encouraged by how many people came along. This morning, Brent and 5 teenagers--Kiara, David, Hilda, Hector, and Carl--headed out for Momentum for the week. Please pray for God to do something big that lasts for the rest of their lives. Pray for growth and spiritual maturity.
Sunday celebration continued to be on I John. The message was about idols. Ryan and I were downstairs in the nursery, so we didn't hear it, but my friend Cheryl gave us a summary. Lord, forgive me for putting things ahead of you. Only you are worthy to be worshipped! When I drove Cheryl and her daughter Katie home, I asked her if she was following Jesus and committed her life to him. She has been coming to church regularly again and making good changes, but I hadn't heard anthing about a decision to turn her life over to him yet. She said yes she is following him, so give me wisdom in talking to her more about this and discipling her. Pray that she'd know how to be a good mom to Katie and that Katie would realize the importance of obeying her mom.

Report from Camp Week One

2009-07-06T08:29:00.000-07:00

A picture of my husband Ryan and I and three of the guys from the Austin church. On the far right is Sarah's husband, Jon. It was the best picture I could offer because I don't have a picture of Sarah!

Here are some thoughts from Sarah Hensley, who came down with a church called Origins from Austin, TX, to help with the first week of camp:

"We really enjoyed our time in Philly participating at Urban Hope's 1st week of summer camp. In addition to gaining an increased understanding of life in the inner-city, we were glad to help facilitate a fun week for the kids. We realized that most of these kids will not go to an elaborate summer camp; so, it was a joy to see them having a good time in a safe environment close to home. They loved being creative and silly and accomplishing new things. We pray that last week was just the first of many times that these kids will be involved with Urban Hope. Jon [my husband] was especially excited to see one of the young ladies, who came through his game room, accept Jesus as Savior at the end of the week. He had been rewarding the campers with bubble gum if they memorized the Way. She recited it in his room, then in front of the whole group, and placed her faith in Jesus the next day! Thanks for sharing your neighborhood with us and allowing us to be a part of a fun week!"
Please be praying for our church this week as we are in our second week of camp for the summer. Pray that lives would be changed for Him!

Camp Week #1

2009-06-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

The art side during a game of beach volleyball

Kids outside doing sidewalk chalk during a session of art camp

We finished up the first week of camps this past week, so things are quiet around here until next week when we start things up again. Please pray for us this week as we prepare for the second week. So far I have confirmed numbers with two of the groups that are coming next week and they are bringing many fewer people than they originally thought. I will not worry--God, I trust you! Please pray that He would do a miracle and bring out many people to help next week. We had so many helpers last week and it was awesome. We had three groups from Texas, Maryland, and Ohio, plus Operation Barnabas for a short time while they were starting up their traveling. Also, several people from our church--April, Bruce, Sam, Chris, Ashli, Jason, Alethea, Jason, and Hilda, to name a few. It was amazing to see all of the groups working together as one.
Here is an update from Ashli, who is a vital part of making the camps happen. This update camp in the middle of the week last week, but there are still things to be praying for this week!

Aahh...KIP STREET. So you know the kids that you work with are a little rough around the edges when a good friend comes up to you and asks, "So does Kip Street really have to come to camp?" and then laughs. Please pray for the Kip Street kids. They are living up to there previously self-made reputations. Here's some of their names: Jose, Andre, David, Brandon, NICHOLAS, and Anthony (he no longer lives on kip street but fights with david). These boys are the definition of handful. Please pray that God softens their hearts and gives each of their leaders wisdom. Numbers...some are into this some aren't so I'll just share. We all know that numbers are NOT what counts, but we were'nt sure how many kids would show, so this is kind of cool. About 130 kids are currently registered. 78 or 79 kids came Monday and 89 kids came today. 10 kids who came yesterday didn't come today. That means we've already seen around 99 kids. Pray that God would be at work in all of our hearts. Pray for safety. Pray for HIS GLORY. Tomorrow there's no school for kids so we're switching back to our normal camp time of 12-4 we've been meeting 4-7. Please pray that parent's would remember this switch and that kids would be awake and ready. We'll be focusing on Matthew 15:18- but the words that come out of your mouth comre from your heart. And they are what make you unfit to worship God.
Thank you for your prayers!