From early on, this mission trip has been a battle with the enemy. From filling the team, to getting housing and meals finalized, to sickness, to flights messed up, to our flight into McGrath being canceled a day due to hundreds of wildfires burning around the flight path…I think you get the picture! Personally, he never let up on me and the planning. It seemed that I was constantly hearing him telling me this mission trip was not going to make it. The only thing we could think to do was to do as Jesus did when He said to Peter, “Get behind Me Satan! You are a hindrance to Me!” I have felt, and told the team and everyone I shared this trip with, God has some great things planned for this trip. And we might as well expect the ole enemy to give us his best shot! He did, and we left him in the dust!
“There is nothing special that happens to you on a 757 crossing the ocean” (Harry Gebert, M.D., medical missionary) The truth is, if you are not praying regularly and spending time in God’s word before you go, you won’t do so once you are there. We must remember that missions are ultimately a spiritual activity. You may have a specific task to do on your mission, but the reason for your trip is to make God’s name known among the people you are going to serve. Jesus told His disciples in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” We need to cultivate the habit of abiding in Him before we go. The lessons we learn in the time spent with Him before we go will make a huge difference when we are on the trip.
Our team spent two weeks prior to the trip in a devotion created for this trip. As I prepared the devotion I kept sensing this trip was all about a “heart attack”! Not that someone was going to have one physically, but I believed that God wanted to really work on our hearts on this trip. The devotion was a collection of devotions that address having a heart for God, a heart that we willing offered up to the Father, giving Him full access to do whatever He needed to do, with no part of our hearts being “off-limits” to Him.
I opened the devotion with a story about Dr. David Livingstone, the great missionary to Africa. After he died, his best African friend, Chuma, took his body 1,500 miles for burial. Before Chuma left on that journey, he took out the heart of David Livingstone. He buried it under a tree in Africa because he said, “That’s where his heart really was!” A monument has been erected on the spot where his heart was buried.
I challenged each of us to ask these questions: Where will they bury your heart? What is the most important thing to you? Who are you most passionate about? Who does your heart beat for? I believe these two weeks, and the focus on our “heart preparation”, was a huge part of the success of this trip. From the day we set foot in McGrath, things just worked out! Every mission team has its own “identity”, and also its share of “difficulties”, but from day one this team just rolled! By the time the kids started to come into the church on day one, God was at work in so many ways. And He did not quit even as we left McGrath to start the long trip home. In fact He is still working as I am leading weekly Bible clubs in the village through August while Christie (my wife) and I fill in for Pastor Wayne who is out of the village for the summer. I will be continuing the blog while we are here so stayed tuned.
We were very encouraged by the number of kids on the first day. I am not a “numbers” person, but the numbers in the McGrath VBS tend to drop after the first day. The real encouragement was the number of kids in the older ages (10-12) that came, and came back. Each day we saw a big group of kids, and when one didn’t show up one day, a new one did! We had our hands full all week, and oh, what a joy it was.
This was my fourth year to be a part of the VBS team. After each VBS, I have tried to step back and see what did and didn’t work. The one thing that year after year did not work was one-on-one time; having enough time to get to know the kids, to talk to them and with them. This year we decided to really shake up the usual routine and daily format. We decided to divide the Bible story time into two sections; a summary of the story in a large group, and then divide the kids by ages into two smaller groups to focus on the details of the story. We were not really sure how all this was going to work, but God knew and had a PLAN!
As part of the Bible story time, we had some special friends of ours tell the story…modern day style. We brought 6 big puppets, and the kids loved them! You can check-out the daily blogs for pictures. But a bigger impact of this change was the small groups. Ms. Lynett led the younger kids and Ms. Melynda led the older kids. On day one, Ms. Lynett told me we needed to revamp the younger kids agenda. I said, “You make any changes you need to make and go with it.” Day two was amazing! Ms. Lynett put on her “child creative mind” and for the last three days had those younger kids eating out of her hands…LITERALLY…sour patch gummy worms and all! Ms. Melynda, being the teacher that she is, made a few adjustments also, and really made the daily passages come alive. I was really moved the day she had the kids take a piece of paper and write a prayer request on it. Then she took them outside to make a visual point. “When you ask God for something, as a believer, and give it to Him, He will help you.” Then she had them put the paper in the shovel part of a snow shovel and took out some matches. (I have to admit I was getting a little nervous because there was/is a mandatory STATEWIDE burning ban! All I was thinking was someone will see the smoke, call DNR, and they would come and arrest me! Headlines in local McGrath news the next morning: Visiting missionary team arrested and run out of town for violating burn order!) All I know is that I trust this very special lady, so I gave her a little rope and hope she did not burn the church down! But seriously, after all the pieces of paper were put in the shovel Ms. Melynda explained how God takes those cares off of us and takes them Himself. It got very quiet and I watched as these older kids really listened, and I think started to get a little of what we had been talking about.
It never fails, when you bring teenagers along on a VBS mission trip the trip takes on a whole other flair! Haley and Jay were a big hit with the kids. They really loved it when Haley did her calf roping practice using Jay as the calf! These guys really connected with the older kids and spent some good time with them.
The last day of VBS has become a FUN DAY. The kids just play games, enjoy a cookout with their parents, and end the day with a closing program where they show off the songs they learned and what they learned about Jesus. At the end we always tie the Gospel into what they learned for the week. The church was full and the kids did an outstanding job.
I could not end these thoughts without thanking the incredible people of McGrath Community Church for inviting us back for another VBS. We always have an awesome time when we come each year. We are already planning for next year. To our host homes, Josh and Kellie Peirce and Ray and Sally Collins, your guys heaped real Alaskan hospitality on our team. And we could not leave out the amazing Joyce Turner who brought us an amazing lunch each day and snacks for the kids. She also baked a birthday cake and cupcakes for Jay Cowan’s birthday.
And last but not least, I want to thank our amazing team for an incredible job the entire trip. This group of folks worked, and played, together for ten days and not once did we have any potholes to deal with. To Melynda Cowan, Lynett Smith, Haley Polk, and Jay Cowan, I love you guys and this trip was the best one yet!
To all you that supported this team with prayers and financial support, God left an incredible mark on these kids , and this village because you cared enough to support this team.