The End (of the Beginning)

Dear Readers,

Well, we have come to a fork in the road (keep on walking and you’ll find the knife later). I have decided to end this blog with this final post. Why do you ask? Good question. I’m glad I had some answers ready.

After this post, I will be switching to an email style of newsletter, where I will still do the same format (with some tweeks of my own) but it will be sent out to the group of my supporters (and anyone else who wants to follow along) The main reason for switching was that some of my supporter simply are not on Facebook. If they aren’t on Facebook, even though I am posting all of my blogs on a regular site, it is hard to explain to people how to get on there without Facebook (even I can’t remember the URL sometimes). Also, in moving to the email, it’ll let me know who is getting and reading the updates, so I will have a much better sense of who is following along, instead of only being able to guess from the 500+ Facebooks friends that could have been potentially reading it. Don’t get me wrong, if you’ve been following on Facebook and still want to, that’s great! Just shot me your email on a message, and I will get you on the list, but this way, it will be much more controllable. I also check my email much more often than my blog, so if I get any responses, I’ll be able to see them a lot quicker. In fact, even as I wrote this, I already got a reply back from someone, now isn’t that nice. :D Thank you again for all the prayers, love, and support you all have shown, and I can only hope that this change can help the connection between all of us stay that much stronger!

Once again, if you would like to be added to the email list, just message or text me. Thanks!

                                                                                                                                                                Josh

Senatobia, MS

It's time to hear about church number 3, so for that, we are heading back down South, where Sweet Tea is measured by the amount of cups of sugar you put into it!

After leaving Morton, we shot straight down through Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas, finally ending up in Senatobia MS. Lifepoint church is about 7 years old, and they have just moved into a new building. It's a church of about 600 or so, and their Pastor's name is George Ross. (Trivia fact: George was actually the former youth pastor of Clay, one of the boys on the team.)

Throughout the next two weeks, God really broke through and changed a lot of hearts and lives in the church. Marriages were restored and God made himself known in a lot of lives of the people. The staff/Pastor relationship was greatly strengthened, and we are all excited to see what God has in store for them in the future.

My host family you ask? Well, let me tell you about them! The Cole family opened up their house to me, Joel, and Caleb, and it was an incredible time. Some of the events included shooting guns, racing go karts, and dancing around a bonfire (at a safe-ish distance of course). We really got to spend some quality time with them, got to go on long walks around their property, play some video games with them, even laugh our heads off with games like Balderdash and Apples to Apples (BTW: did you know that a kakkerlak is an Albino Cockroach? Oh the things you learn in family games)

Signing has been going good, I continue to have about 5-6 people come up each summit and ask where and how I learned it, and it has been encouraging to see the response and the welcoming atmosphere of the churches so far. I am starting to get some different songs thrown at me, since we are going into more contemporary churches, we're having to do quicker songs, so it's a bit of a challenge, but by God's grace, it has been going well.

Finally, God has still been doing a continuing work in me, through these summits. His grace is being made known to me more and more every day, and the Holy Spirit is continually showing me areas that I am not giving up to Christ. I would say that each summit has been a different "period" for me. The first summit was the "test run" period, where God was showing me just what I had gotten myself into. The second was definitely the "breaking" summit, where God broke me wide open to show me where I really was in my relationship with Him. This previous summit was probably my "rebuilding" summit. I came in to this summit a little overwhelmed by what I learned in Morton, but now I have had a chance to sort through some of it, and have been able to start to look at my life one area at a time.

Thank you all so much for your prayers AND DRUM ROLLLL!!!!!! I GET TO COME HOME IN 27 DAYS! Excited much, and I so excited to see all of you again!

In Christ,

Josh        

Morton, IL

Dear friends and family,
               

                It’s officially the end of the second summit! Well, almost, it was about a week ago, but that’s ok! We have left the beautiful city of Morton, IL, and I…..am going to tell you about it!

                We arrived in Morton at the end of September, and it was a LOT larger than our last church! Grace Church is located in the little town of Morton (it has 16,700 people for the population, so says the sign) It’s a really cool little town where everything is only 5 or 6 minutes away from everything else, so if you want to get a coffee at Eli’s or just see a pumpkin farm or two, it’s only a good 5 minute drive. We were able to get our truck unloaded on the same day we got here, and at dinner, we got to split up dinner between three of us, and wound up getting three appetizers for three people, life is good. Senior Clay DeBolt and I got to hang out this summit, and we were greeted by the Wright Family when we got back to the church that night! The Wright’s consist of Craig, Tammy, Jordan, and Taylor oh and Mogli (dog) too! I had such a good time with them, and they were such a blessing to me and Clay’s life. They will be dearly missed (and so will all of the Wii Tennis games, the Nerf Gun Battles, and the late night study sessions J )

                This summit was a lot easier materials wise, I feel that God is blessing me with wisdom…either that or I am slowly losing it and the craziness that is materials is starting to make sense to me. Signing has continued with little or no change, but it was great to hear how God has been using it, and how people think it is really cool that it is adding another level to the worship. Pause: a team member came up and started narrating my blog for me; little does he know I’m going to include it in here. J

I would just like to say that Nathan Cowles is the most amazing guy in the world. He has better looks than anyone on the planet. Also, he is so strong; he makes me look like a pip squeak. I wish I could grow down to be like him. Maybe, someday, if I’m good, Santa will bless me and will turn me into Nathan.      

Thanks Nathan. Unfortunately, someone still doesn’t know Santa is fake, but I’m sure he’ll figure that out eventually. Now where was I? Oh right, ASL. So it was really neat to see God continuing to use ASL in other people’s lives. God used conversations that started in ASL to move to different things and I have gotten to pray with a lot of different church members before we part ways, a really cool ministry opportunity.

In Morton, we got to do a lot of stuff as a team. A couple things I got to do for the first time were 1. Going through a corn maze that wasn’t smaller than my house and 2. Going to the Caterpillar plant. And no, not the insect, but the machine! A gentleman in the church allowed us to come to his work and see first-hand how all the CAT Vehicles operated and we even got to climb on some of them!

Prayer request: God really blew me wide open this summit. I sat through this summit so that I could hear how a Life Action Summit worked, and God used the two weeks to show me areas in my life that I had not given over to God, and I am still sorting through everything. Please pray that this spirit of brokenness won’t leave me and that I’ll continue to place God first, over everything else.  

Whew, summits are getting more and more fun, but also more and more busy! Hope you all enjoyed the update!   

Rocky Mount

Dear…..people

                Well, it’s been QUITE a while since I have been on here huh? Probably most of you have left, that’s ok, hopefully the diehard fans are still here J. I have decided (since I have come to realization that I have NO free time) that I will try to at least update this per summit (and hopefully add in extra ones here and there.)

                Our first summit was Rocky Mount, NC, but don’t let the name fool you. Mountains are nigh to be seen in Rocky Mount. Oh well, there’s always disappointments in life. We got to the church on Friday but the truck with all our supplies did not come in for about 2 hours later, so four of us (Trevor, Jason, Nathan, and myself ) got to sit and meet our host family Carol and Jess Harrington. Nice folks, and VERY generous hosts. I have loved getting to know them, and I know that the four boys who stayed at their house will miss them greatly. We started unloading the next day and went right to work, getting ready for the first summit of the year. The first Sunday went off without a hitch and by this time, we had gotten to meet our second host family, the Weeks. A family of 8 kids with a lot of energy, we got to know them as we went out to dinner and played games at their house for most of the nights.

                During the mornings as the band members practiced, I would be in my Materials Office, sorting through boxes, trying to find what went where and where went what. It took me most of the summit, but I finally have everything where I want it, so we’ll see how that turns out in the long run. Singing has gone well, I have learned some songs in harmony and I am starting to “hear” it so hopefully by the end of this year, I’ll have it down.  The main ministry I have had there is my signing during the songs. When I first arrived, I was on the verge of terror, wondering how my signing was going to be taken by the congregation. However, God has been gracious and no less than 20 people have come up to me to share that the signing has blessed them in some way, WOW!

                The final night was probably the most memorable for me. We were having popcorn testimonies, and one gentlemen stood up, and started to share that over his life, he had been plagued with different illnesses, and because of one of them, it has left his cognitive abilities hurt so that he cannot speak as well as he used to. One night, we lead the congregation in a song “King of Glory” that was always done with sign language, and as he signed the song, he found that he was not having trouble with the words because he was “singing” with his hands, and his speech problem was not hindering him. Ever since that night, he signed with me whenever I did a song, praising his Lord with his hands. Wow, when he shared that, it’s like God said “Now you know why you are here.”

God has been good to me and the team. We’ve had great times, good laughs, and a whole lot of fun, and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us in Illinois!

Week 3

So this last week, the sickness was really on me, but on this Saturday, I am ALMOST over it! Praise God! He also used it to show me that I need to be thinking of others, even when it isn't easy. Because thinking of others when you're sick...not the easiest. :) Let's see if I can think of some highlights of the week.

1. Ok so first off, tonight will be our very first service ever! I am beyond excited! We had rehearsal yesterday and I am just blown away by God's Sovereignty. I honestly think I am going to enjoy singing 100 times more than drumming, we'll see how that goes!
2. My team leader gave me permission to sign during songs now! I am so thankful for that, and for his spirit, that he letting me have privilege. For right now, I think I am going to hang back some, because I am not entirely confident in my singing, but now, the door is open, praise God!
3. On Thursday, we had our "date night", which meant we all got to dress up all fancy and get some really amazing food! We had a great table that talked in british accents the entire time, very proper.
4. The team outing last night was a lot of fun, in which we went to the beach, first to pizza, then to the fountains, then volleyball, and finally, back to the beach. I love how our team is one big family.

Sorry this is shorter, but it is really hectic right now, so maybe later. Thanks for following! Sooner we hit the ROAD!

Week 2

Well, as my second week comes to an end, I sit here, listening to my new Steven Curtis Chapman CD (which is amazing), trying to think back over the last week. Wow…a LOT of stuff happened. Let me give you some of the highlights.

1.       I started a small group playing volleyball this week after the evening service since there is a tournament today, and it quickly expanded to pretty much the entire team coming to play at one time or another. I am so thankful to God that He gave me the idea, because it has a great fellowship time for team members who wouldn’t normally see each other to play and interact.

2.       I got sick. Woohoo. Not the best part of the week, but it was definitely one of the main parts of the week.

3.       We had pictures this week, and I didn’t break the camera, so that’s good! We’ll see how they turn out, but I was quite happy with how fast it went.

4.       Got to go to Jimmy and Lori’s a couple of nights, both of which were a lot of fun, from watching Justin record Adena’s birthday video( happy birthday Adena!), to playing Wah.

5.       We got to go off campus last night to McDonalds which was probably one of the best fellowship times with the teams I have had yet.

6.       Had a spontaneous music session last night with Wesley, Trevor, and Blake in the Lodge last night.

Now, for some more serious notes. J

1.       At the end of last week, I was having a good time. At this end of this week, I am having an absolutely amazing time! And that is even with me being sick! I look back and I think that God has brought me closer with pretty much every person on the team in at least one instance over the last week.  It is really cool because the team has said that last year did not have this kind of unity until December. WOW, then praise God! And already, the team jokes are starting to flow, these are my kind of people!

2.       I got assigned to be a materials manager for the team, and I got to put in my first order yesterday! It was a little stressful, but God worked it all out, and we should be ready for at least the next 3 summits. Score!  

3.       At McDonalds, some of us were sitting around a table when a young man, probably around our age, came up and just randomly started talking with us. His name is Jacob, and we got to talk with him for about 10 minutes or so, and he seemed like a interesting guy. Even though he didn’t have anything he wanted us to pray for (props to Clint for asking him!), I am definitely going to add him to a prayer list I am starting soon.

4.       This week was revival week, and honestly I had no idea of what to expect. I hoped that God would show me something in my life but…wow he really showed me some major stuff, and honestly I am still in process mode, perhaps more on that later.

Quick Prayer Request

Hey all, I will write more later, but for now, I have a quick request before the service starts. I should have known it was going to happen but I oh well, I got sick. Haha it happens, sore throats are so fun aren't they? Anyways, I got about 30 minutes of sleep last night, and pictures are today, but God promises that I can do all things through Him, so I am gonna just do my best. Thanks for all the prayers and love.

Josh