Aledo, IL

Last summit of 2011- Aledo, IL

(This one is going to be a little bit longer, but that is because this is probably the last post of 2011)

For the last summit of the year, our team left the Life Action Camp after Thanksgiving Break, and hopped down to Aledo, IL, a small little town of about 3,700 people total. (Note: I have found out this year that I am a huge fan of small towns) This was our only 8 day summit of this half of the year, where we arrived on Friday, started Sunday and continued until the following Sunday, and then tore down that night. But this week showed us that God does not need a “time frame” in order to change lives and hearts as we got to see many different stories told and lives change in just the short time we were there.

The Church

First Baptist Church of Aledo has about 300-400 members in it, but since the community is so small, this church still has a big impact on the town. Pastor Luke has lead the church for a number of years, and every single member that I ever talked to had nothing but glowing comments about him. I got to talk to him a little myself, and he was very deliberate and thoughtful when he spoke, but still could carry on the conversation and was interested in what was being said. In short: I like him. J The stories that came out the last night during popcorn testimonies were pretty amazing, including one couple thanking God for bringing their daughter’s boyfriend to Christ that morning, a prayer request that they had been praying since the beginning of the relationship. Please continue to lift up Aledo as they continue to seek God’s Will for their lives, and also about some important decisions in their church’s near future.

The Ministry

The Praise team got really stretched for this summit, in more ways than one. First Baptist has a much smaller stage than most churches, so we had to drop two male and female singers, so that we only had about 4-5 singers for every song. This put a LOT more pressure on the ones leading, but they held up and carried through to the end. Our worship leader Dustin left on Thursday to get home to spend time with his wife, Jen, who has been having medical problems for the past 2 months (Please keep her in your prayers, we’ve kind of adopted each other as siblings J) . In his absence, Trevor Jones picked up the slack, and led the worship team on Sunday morning and night. (And might I say he did a fantastic job too!) Me and Jason Farson roomed together this summit, and we got to stay with Jo and Paul Kernan, a dear couple that I KNOW we will miss (Along with Banana splits, late night talks, and all the bickering we did back and forth J) I am going to save the comments about signing for the “My Life” segment, because this church touched me in signing much more than most of the other churches.

The Team

Short and sweet…I miss my team. A lot. But I know that if we stayed which each other all year….we’d probably kill each other. Haha, the entire team is now officially home, but I have a feeling that we will all be Facebooking, Skyping, and texting throughout the month. A couple team members even get this newsletter so this is a shout out to them! Please pray that as we are home for a month that we do not grow slack or lazy but that we will continue to pursue God, and come back more in love with Him than when we left.

My Life

This summit, I was asked to play a couple of parts in skits for Base Camp (2^nd-5^th grade) and I loved it! It was a great group of kids and it’s a LOT of fun to act with the BC teachers because they are very “improv” minded when they act, so sometimes you just go with the flow and the resulting skit is much funnier than the original idea. Now, onto signing. J

Since we only had two male singers, I kind of knew that I would be one of the ones off, but I got a surprise when I was told that they still wanted signing, just no singing! I got to sign without a mic! It was definitely one of the most fun and enjoyable times I have ever had on the team, and at the same time it helped me learn self control in signing while still putting joy and energy into it. God really blessed me again through signing this summit by encouraging words from the congregation. During popcorn testimonies, an elderly woman got up and thanked the team for being there and then thanked me for the signing that it had greatly blessed her. It was truly humbling, and even more so when more people came up afterwards to thank me. Praise God, because without Him, I couldn’t sign, let alone take my next breath. However, my biggest encouragement came in Base Camp. One of the teachers asked a young man what he had liked about the summit so far. The boy turned to me and said, “I actually kinda really enjoyed the signing, it’s really cool how you do that on stage, even though you don’t sing.” Out of the mouths of babes. That one little answer encouraged me more than that boy will ever know, because that was the first time a kid had said that he appreciated the signing. Up until then, I had just viewed it as a ministry to adults, but now God has encouraged me that in the next half of the year, He can use it to bless anyone He wants to, even kids.

Prayer Request: I am so thankful to go home, but I must admit I am a little afraid that I could easily get into the mindset of “I’m not in Life Action right now, so I can just go back to what I want.” That is so far from the truth. Please pray that I would continue this upward climb towards knowing God more that started this year, and that I would never be satisfied with what I know of Him. 

Well, here I sit in Midway airport, ready to take off. Thank you again so much for the prayers, they honestly do mean the world to me. Thank you all again!

Merry Christmas!

Josh