Spring Carnival 2009!

It was a very full couple days here at Urban Hope. On Friday afternoon, Maranatha GBC, Valley Community Church and Winchester GBC arrived eager to learn and participate in the weekend festivities. After getting unpacked and organized, they met for a quick orientation followed by a challenge regarding the homeless in Philly. Shortly after, they grabbed their brown bag meals and headed off for center city. For the next hanful of hours they spent time in the subways, parks, and streets handing out meals and praying for people. The neat thing was that (in many cases), some of the students from the groups were more blessed than the homeless! They encountered people on the streets who would openly share about Jesus, recite the scriptures and ask to pray for them. For many students, it came as a surprise to see such strong faith even though they had less. What a lesson of faith! In addition to learning about the faith some of the homeless had, the groups were also challenged to reach out to those who society constantly pushes out. As Christ followers, we are to love as Jesus loved, especially those who may be (or seem) different. As the Scripture say's in 1 Samuel 16:7b, "...The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

On Saturday morning the groups met up to clean the street and sidewalks and set up for the Carnival that afternoon (1-4pm). After a couple hours of organizing and minor set backs, the Carnival was ready to go. Some of the activities included: a moon bounce, jousting, three-on-three basketball, spin art, a dunk tank, face paint and more! The best part was the awesome weather God provided. All in all it was a ton of fun and great to have so many from our community show up. Many thanks to the visiting groups who helped make this happen.

You can see more pictures of the Spring Carnival in the Training Center Photo Gallery.

By:Brent Saba