Communication Between Excel And Silverlight
1 year ago
Thursday, April 16, 2009
An Easter Blessing in Eastern KY
Teen Mission, USA, held Easter programs/services at two different locations in Eastern KY on Saturday, April 4th.
In Booneville, KY, our team worked with over 60 elementary age children at the Owsley County Elementary School. Nearly 30 volunteers from Catalyst Christian Church (Nicholasville, KY) helped in making this event possible.
The event was a huge success as volunteers worked with the students in making crafts, telling Bible stories and transforming the gym into a carnival-like atmosphere. The day concluded with a massive Easter egg hunt involving nearly 2,500 eggs!
A second program took place in the mountain community of Spencer Ridge (Lee County). Jason Brown (TM Board member and minister at El Bethel Christian Church/Owenton, KY) helped organize a great program that involved preaching, worship, a Bluegrass band and an egg hunt. Also helping out with the program were several folks from Leesburg Christian Church (Cynthiana, KY).
Over the past few years, we’ve done several programs in this community, meeting in a vacant Church of Christ on the top of a mountain. One of the ladies in the community came up to thank us after the program. Her story is very special...
She told of bringing foster children, in her care, to our services last year. Not too long after they came to her home last summer, she saw that a mission group (one of ours led by Jason Brown) was doing a Vacation Bible School at the church on Spencer Ridge. As far as she knew, the foster children had never attended any church function. The VBS was a great success and her first-time VBS attendees had a great time! In fact, when one of them could not sleep at night due to some painful memories from the past, she told the child to think of something good. The little one began singing a song she learned at VBS. That helped the child relax and drift off to sleep.
Its stories like that one that makes this area (Lee & Owsley County) a special place for both me and Teen Mission, USA. In fact, we, as an organization, have “adopted” this community and have committed to doing ministry there throughout the year. Eventually, we would love to have staff people there in the area serving as the mission “hosts” for our short-term mission teams.
Once again, a big THANKS goes out to all those folks who helped with this year’s Easter event. You did a great job! You’re helping bring hope to many people in Lee and Owsley County.
In Him,
Greg Herriford (Teen Mission, USA)
In Booneville, KY, our team worked with over 60 elementary age children at the Owsley County Elementary School. Nearly 30 volunteers from Catalyst Christian Church (Nicholasville, KY) helped in making this event possible.
The event was a huge success as volunteers worked with the students in making crafts, telling Bible stories and transforming the gym into a carnival-like atmosphere. The day concluded with a massive Easter egg hunt involving nearly 2,500 eggs!
A second program took place in the mountain community of Spencer Ridge (Lee County). Jason Brown (TM Board member and minister at El Bethel Christian Church/Owenton, KY) helped organize a great program that involved preaching, worship, a Bluegrass band and an egg hunt. Also helping out with the program were several folks from Leesburg Christian Church (Cynthiana, KY).
Over the past few years, we’ve done several programs in this community, meeting in a vacant Church of Christ on the top of a mountain. One of the ladies in the community came up to thank us after the program. Her story is very special...
She told of bringing foster children, in her care, to our services last year. Not too long after they came to her home last summer, she saw that a mission group (one of ours led by Jason Brown) was doing a Vacation Bible School at the church on Spencer Ridge. As far as she knew, the foster children had never attended any church function. The VBS was a great success and her first-time VBS attendees had a great time! In fact, when one of them could not sleep at night due to some painful memories from the past, she told the child to think of something good. The little one began singing a song she learned at VBS. That helped the child relax and drift off to sleep.
Its stories like that one that makes this area (Lee & Owsley County) a special place for both me and Teen Mission, USA. In fact, we, as an organization, have “adopted” this community and have committed to doing ministry there throughout the year. Eventually, we would love to have staff people there in the area serving as the mission “hosts” for our short-term mission teams.
Once again, a big THANKS goes out to all those folks who helped with this year’s Easter event. You did a great job! You’re helping bring hope to many people in Lee and Owsley County.
In Him,
Greg Herriford (Teen Mission, USA)
Friday, April 10, 2009
Teen Mission Notes (February & March, 2009)
It’s been nearly two months since my last Teen Mission update. Therefore, this one will cover February and March, 2009. There’s a lot to cover so here goes:Health
The day of our last Teen Mission board meeting (Monday, March 2nd), I felt pretty sick and left the meeting early to go see my doctor.
Over the past few months, I’ve been having some minor pains in my chest, but I was also extremely sick to my stomach on that day.
I was a little concerned that it could be something to do with my heart.
I’ve been watching my blood pressure over the past year and a half as it’s been getting a little too high.
The good news is that it is not heart related.
Just to be on the safe side, though, I had an upper GI and a Gall Bladder Ultrasound done at a hospital.
It confirmed what my doctor had thought. It revealed I had a Hiatal Hernia (in my upper stomach). It can be controlled with meds and not eating after 7-8 pm at night.
I am also now taking a blood pressure medicine (small dosage) and my blood is pressure is doing a lot better (averaging 120/80).
It’s no all fun getting older, gang.
Holy Land Trip (March 09-21)
I was away a good bit of the month of March with a group of 46 (mostly from Gardenside Christian Church) on a trip to the Holy Land.
It was a truly awesome, once-in-a-lifetime experience.
God was gracious in allowing me to be healthy and focused. Because of that, I was blessed by the experience of having walked where our Lord walked.
During the trip, I posted a journal and uploaded photos on my blog. Many of you were able to follow along. Thanks for all the positive feedback!
While it was a great trip and we saw a bunch of incredible stuff, I’m glad to be home. It took me about a week to adjust to the time change and all the travel.
Once again, I greatly appreciate all your concerns, thought and prayers.
Mission Journeys
The 2009 Mission Journeys are moving into high gear. In fact, we’ve already sent two teams out this year.
Chuck Perry led a team to Haiti, February 05-15. The group helped build a church building while holding both a revival and Vacation Bible School.
Another team from Big Hill Avenue Christian Church (Richmond, KY) worked in St Albans, WV, March 06-08.
The team served with Gateway Church of Christ in their ongoing ministry to the community around them by working on several area homes and with a few different community centers.
Team member Regena Adams said this about the trip, “Thanks for an awesome weekend. I absolutely had the time of my life; the people…the church…everything was done with excellence, just the way God wants!”
The current economic climate has many people worried about their money. Many would-be Mission Journey volunteers have been hesitant in committing to going on a short-term mission trip this year.
As a result, applications and funds are coming in to our office much later than usual.
Despite that, it looks like we’ll have a good number of participants (500-550) and trips (30-35).
Many of this year’s projects will be taking place in the United States as our international trips will see slight a drop in number.
The projects going outside the USA (Brazil, French Guiana, Haiti, Honduras and possibly Tanzania) will be smaller teams than normal.
Other projects
Besides the Mission Journeys, we’ve been busy getting things ready for our 2009 VBS/Camp mission project and schedules made for our summer interns.
While Our VBS/Camp mission program is just getting underway, we already have several weeks of church camp lined up.
We have not done a new DVD for this project in over 5 years. Sam Bowles (Marengo, IN) is helping us put together a new one that will feature 5 (one each day) of the locations/countries TM, USA, ministers in.
Children will receive their own passport and receive a new stamp/sticker for a new country each day.
In early April, a promotional flier advertising the project was mailed out to 1,000 churches & individuals.
The 5th year of the Joshua Teegarden Internship program will take place this summer. Our interns will represent Teen Mission at many of these weeks of VBS & camp as well as help with the administration of the Mission Journeys.
We currently have two really fine young people lined up to serve with us this summer. They are: Andrew Eells (Rossville, IL) and Sarah Cross (Nicholasville, KY). Both have previously served with us on Mission Journeys (Andrew - Tanzania and Sarah - Mexico). There is a chance we might have a third intern join us for the summer.
Spring is a wonderful season with many things around us starting to bloom and come “back to life.” Creation is reminding us of our Savior’s resurrection years ago.
I pray we as Christians take joy in that fact as we enjoy the season.
May you have a wonderful Easter (April 12th)!
THANKS again for your prayers, support and encouragement.
In Him,
Greg Herriford (Teen Mission, USA)
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Holy Land Trip (Recap)
We successfully made it back from our 12-day Holy Land trip (March 9-21).
I apologize for not posting anything to let folks now we arrived home safely.
In talking with a friend from Indiana, he said, “I was following your blog, but you left me hanging in Galilee!”
It was a great trip and we saw a bunch of incredible stuff, but I’m glad to be home.
It took me about a week to adjust to the time change and all the travel.
Even though we’ve been back for over two weeks now, the memories of the trip are still fresh on my mind.
There were so many highlights that it’s nearly I impossible to narrow them down to a list of favorites. However, here’s my humble attempt at a Holy Land Trip top 10 list (going in reverse order):
(10) Jimmy Boling and his comedy relief: the guy is a born entertainer with a great voice and sense of humor; I’ll never forget his debate over having to pay two shekels to use the restroom in a Galilean town (he owes me one shekel by the way).
(09) Sami our Palestinian guide for the Israel part of the trip: his wisdom and knowledge was greatly appreciated.
(08) Anne Frank house in Amsterdam: it happened so early in the trip that it was easy to forget about it; however, it was a very powerful reminder of a very dark period in human history.
(07) Great Pyramids in Egypt: there’s not much to add; these are one of the wonders of the world; it’s on most everyone’s bucket list of things to see before they die.
(06) Caesarea Philippi: located in northern Israel, I thought it was one of the prettiest areas we visited.
(05) Baptisms in Jordan River: Brother Joe baptized Rosie Caywood and Jimmy Boling in the river; a big rat ran past Rosie on the way out of the water; I’m thankful Rosie did not have her glasses on to see this; she would have passed out if she had.
(04) The Region of Galilee: my favorite area of Israel; I could picture Jesus and the disciples out of the water or traveling along the hillsides; for whatever reason, this area seemed to be the most real to me. I want to go back there some day for a study break. Just me, a computer, books and the sea!
(03) Climbing Mt Sinai: After four hours of sleep in one of the strangest hotels anyone has ever stayed in, our group got up at 1 am and left to climb Mt Sinai in the early morning hours; it may have been crazy and incredibly challenging, but it was well worth the climb; there were many lessons about the Christian walk learned (more about that on a later post); on the top of the mountain, a group of Nigerian Christians broke out in worship at sunrise.
(02) Galilee Boat Ride: for me, it was one of the “slice of heaven” moments; it was an absolutely perfect moment: beautiful weather, good friends, good music and everyone having a good time as we rode across the same sea that Jesus calmed the storm and walked on water. How can you beat that?
(01) Communion Service in Garden Tomb: whether this is the actual site of the tomb or not wasn’t important; taking the Lord’s supper there with so many dear friends was an unforgettable spiritual moment.
Let me say again that the Holy Land trip was a really awesome experience.
The trip played out with hardly a single hitch.
The hotels were great; the food was good; the travel was pretty smooth.
I appreciate Joe Cooper (our preacher at Gardenside) for all his hard work in organizing things with our team. Aristotle Travel as well as Biblical & Educational Journeys did a fantastic job in coordinating this trip.
Having been, I highly recommend that every Christian take such a pilgrimage at some point in their life.
God was gracious in allowing me to be healthy and focused. Because of that, I was blessed by the experience of having walked where our Lord walked.
THANKS again to everyone involved with making this trip happen!
Our team reunion will be this coming Sunday, April 12th (6:30 pm @ Gardenside Christian Church).
In Him,
Greg Herriford
I apologize for not posting anything to let folks now we arrived home safely.
In talking with a friend from Indiana, he said, “I was following your blog, but you left me hanging in Galilee!”
It was a great trip and we saw a bunch of incredible stuff, but I’m glad to be home.
It took me about a week to adjust to the time change and all the travel.
Even though we’ve been back for over two weeks now, the memories of the trip are still fresh on my mind.
There were so many highlights that it’s nearly I impossible to narrow them down to a list of favorites. However, here’s my humble attempt at a Holy Land Trip top 10 list (going in reverse order):
(10) Jimmy Boling and his comedy relief: the guy is a born entertainer with a great voice and sense of humor; I’ll never forget his debate over having to pay two shekels to use the restroom in a Galilean town (he owes me one shekel by the way).
(09) Sami our Palestinian guide for the Israel part of the trip: his wisdom and knowledge was greatly appreciated.
(08) Anne Frank house in Amsterdam: it happened so early in the trip that it was easy to forget about it; however, it was a very powerful reminder of a very dark period in human history.
(07) Great Pyramids in Egypt: there’s not much to add; these are one of the wonders of the world; it’s on most everyone’s bucket list of things to see before they die.
(06) Caesarea Philippi: located in northern Israel, I thought it was one of the prettiest areas we visited.
(05) Baptisms in Jordan River: Brother Joe baptized Rosie Caywood and Jimmy Boling in the river; a big rat ran past Rosie on the way out of the water; I’m thankful Rosie did not have her glasses on to see this; she would have passed out if she had.
(04) The Region of Galilee: my favorite area of Israel; I could picture Jesus and the disciples out of the water or traveling along the hillsides; for whatever reason, this area seemed to be the most real to me. I want to go back there some day for a study break. Just me, a computer, books and the sea!
(03) Climbing Mt Sinai: After four hours of sleep in one of the strangest hotels anyone has ever stayed in, our group got up at 1 am and left to climb Mt Sinai in the early morning hours; it may have been crazy and incredibly challenging, but it was well worth the climb; there were many lessons about the Christian walk learned (more about that on a later post); on the top of the mountain, a group of Nigerian Christians broke out in worship at sunrise.
(02) Galilee Boat Ride: for me, it was one of the “slice of heaven” moments; it was an absolutely perfect moment: beautiful weather, good friends, good music and everyone having a good time as we rode across the same sea that Jesus calmed the storm and walked on water. How can you beat that?
(01) Communion Service in Garden Tomb: whether this is the actual site of the tomb or not wasn’t important; taking the Lord’s supper there with so many dear friends was an unforgettable spiritual moment.
Let me say again that the Holy Land trip was a really awesome experience.
The trip played out with hardly a single hitch.
The hotels were great; the food was good; the travel was pretty smooth.
I appreciate Joe Cooper (our preacher at Gardenside) for all his hard work in organizing things with our team. Aristotle Travel as well as Biblical & Educational Journeys did a fantastic job in coordinating this trip.
Having been, I highly recommend that every Christian take such a pilgrimage at some point in their life.
God was gracious in allowing me to be healthy and focused. Because of that, I was blessed by the experience of having walked where our Lord walked.
THANKS again to everyone involved with making this trip happen!
Our team reunion will be this coming Sunday, April 12th (6:30 pm @ Gardenside Christian Church).
In Him,
Greg Herriford
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