Friday, July 15, 2011

June/July 2011 - Bushnell Beat

Fun City



Golf Outing
Student Volunteers






Cornerstone Cleanup Crew


Mission Trip








Our summer began on a good spiritual note. Andrew, Abby, and myself helped with the Checkrow ChurchVBS the first week of June. It was a rockin' good time “Kicking it Old School.” Our son Andrew helped lead games and Abby and I worked as “roadies,” working directly with the kids. Pastor Joe Olson had some great messages on God being our Creator, our King, our Savior, our Redeemer, and our Rock! I believe there were over 50 kids there that week. What a good time investing in the spiritual lives of young people.

There have been many other adventures this summer. Opportunities to teach along the road of life have come through fishing trips, swimming parties, and many cookouts with Bushnell area teens. A few teens have began attending church and a couple have gotten back to church as a result. Praise be to God for His words of life!

Our most time consuming and eye opening trip came in the middle of June, our mission trip to Arkansas with Randy Randle and his dad, Vic. Randy is the pastor at the Macomb Assembly of God church. He organized the trip to Hillcrest Children's Home in Hot Springs, Arkansas, where we took 5 Bushnell teens and our whole family. Hillcrest Children’s Home is a private Christian residential child care campus established in 1944 as a national Assemblies of God child care ministry to abused and neglected children. Our mission is to rescue children from harm's way, restore broken hearts and spirits...rekindling hope for a child's bright future. “ This was a wonderful opportunity to serve these people, reflect on our own lives, be thankful for what God has provided for us, and how He is providing for the destitute. While we were there, we saw the love of Christ in the house parents, the chef and his staff, the maintenance crew, the woodworking staff, and the administrative staff. The people that work there care a bunch!

The Bushnell crew painted a fence, painted the trim in a large bathroom with 7 doorways, weed eated, mowed, did a bit of drywall mudding, lots of cleaning, and provided games with a devotion each night. The highlight of the week was probably the fishing adventure on Wednesday afternoon, where each child had the chance to reel in at least one catfish, most without help. Please pray for the teens that went on the trip, for they have a lot spiritual growing to do. Pray that they remember this time and that God will use it for His glory in the future. Thank you for your prayers and gifts towards this trip!

Our latest events have included Cornerstone Festival and a junior high trip to Fun City. We had 6 teens camp with us at Cornerstone and 4 helped clean up the festival grounds when it was over for 2 ½ days. It was a hot week filled with many concerts, conversations, and building time with each other. The day we went to Fun City, the heat was just right. We took 13 teens and met a few more when we got there. That was a good day!

We are very thankful and grateful for your ongoing support of the ministry to teens in the Bushnell area.

The Rodeffer's.