Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Greece Day 2

Day 2 came a tad early for me, but I was ready to explore the beauty of Greece! Everyone was already split into teams and those teams went to a different site each day. I joined the Media Team so I could visit as many sites as possible. Our team started off by joining the group conducting interviews of Greek locals. Students would approach different people and interview them about their culture, traditions and religious beliefs and practices. Everyone was delightful to talk with and openly shared about their rich culture.

Rows and rows of coffee shops...coffee is a BIG DEAL in Greece!
One of the teams paused for a photo op before starting their interviews!

After discussing traditions with our server (who wouldn't teach me any Greek dances, despite the fact that I was ready and willing to learn!) we piled in the van to visit the crew that was clearing away brush and planting new trees as part of a city beautification project.Clearing away the brush
The team takes a lunch break

We enjoyed lunch and a hike up the hill with this crew then we made our way to the sports clinics. Every afternoon our team split up to either lead or participate in several different sports, aerobics and dance classes in the community. This gave us an opportunity to meet more Greeks and learn their way of life in hopes of having a chance to talk with them about their way of life. I joined our two resident black belts for the Tae Kwon Do class. And no, I did not participate!
Shawn was incredible! He taught those kids some moves! He and his sister Kjerstin are from Alaska and are two of the sweetest people!
Kjerstin is an amazing young woman. She was born deaf but can now hear and speak thanks to a cochlear transplant! Not to mention she's a black belt. And from Alaska.

After the sports adventures (other teams went to fencing, aerobics, ballet, traditional Greek dance, basketball, and soccer) we headed back for dinner at our homestead and then had a wonderful night of worship. I was able to share a piece from my new show Grace's Cafe. Here's a shot of Stella (not in costume, as I had no costumes in Greece!)
Stella is a great character!

After such a full day it was early to bed to prepare for the hike we tackled on Wednesday!


Thursday, March 26, 2009

Greece Day 1

My first day in Greece coincided with dinner so I met the team and enjoyed fantastic Greek food right off the bat!
Maria, the restaurant owner, and Dr. Jerry from GA Southern

One of the servers serving up some Greek delights!
Jennifer led worship, and Mark was our project coordinator. Jennifer and I went to college together and lived in London together so it was wonderful to catch up with her again!

Maria, her sister and the kitchen and serving crew!



Greece Updates Coming Soon

My deepest apologies for not being able to update you during the trip last week. Blogger locked me out of this blog and I've only today regained access. I will be updating this blog with stories, photos and video of the trip throughout the day. Thank you so much for your prayers...the Lord moved in some amazing ways! I look forward to sharing with you!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Greece!!

Hey everyone! I arrived safely in Athens, Greece and have had a wonderful time so far! I will have more time later tonight to load some pictures and hopefully some video, but I wanted to check in and let you know I arrived safely. The ministry teams are doing a great job! They are meeting locals in coffee shops and learning about their culture through questions. Today a team was helping to clear brush from a recent wildfire, others are prayer walking and doing construction work. The teams are about to meet back up and then break off into groups doing sports ministry...and by sports I mean basketball and fencing. Tae Kwan Do and low impact aerobics. Totally random, but hey, it's all about meeting some locals and loving them by hanging out with them, right? Thank you so much for your prayers, please continue to lift our team of 50 up to the Lord. Feel free to post questions and comments!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Fuge Winter Weekend

What a whirlwind of a weekend! (I like alliteration, can't you tell?) I had a wonderful time at Ridgecrest, NC this weekend performing for Fuge Winter Weekend. Almost 30 amazing staffers led students in Bible study, Michael Spooner of Nashville, TN led worship and Gary Morgan, pastor of Mosaic church in Nashville shared the Word. What an honor it was to share the message of the Gospel alongside these guys! I was able to share a few sketches from my upcoming show Grace's Cafe...and they loved it! Several adults and students responded to the pieces and shared how the Lord touched them through the message of Grace's Cafe. I can't wait to debut the show next fall!

I left Ridgecrest today around 11 and made the six hour drive back to Nashville heading straight to the airport, and here I sit awaiting my flight for Athens, Greece. Well, technically I'm going to Washington/Dulles first, then Frankfurt, Germany and then Athens, but you know what I mean. :) All in all I'll be traveling for about 24 hours, please pray that I am able to sleep on the flight tonight! After all of the excitment this weekend, I'm fairly certain it won't be a problem.

I've got a few videos to edit from the past couple events so hopefully I'll get those posted soon, but I'll be posting Greece stuff (if I have internet) as soon as I can! Thank you for praying for our team, I am looking forward to meeting everyone and getting to work. Have a blessed week!

Monday, February 16, 2009

A Youth Minister's Thoughts on Worthy is the Lamb



Jeremy Jones, youth minister at Mt. Hebron Baptist Church in Elmore, AL shares his thoughts about Worthy is the Lamb.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Conclave::Day 1&2

We've had a great time at Conclave in Atlanta this weekend! Francis Chan has brought the Word two nights in a row and this guy has done an amazing job leading worship. Our booth has been busy busy and I've met some super cool people! Here are a few of them:

That's my friend Kaiti talking about DE to some fabulous visitors!
And that's one stylish lady signing up for the newsletter :)

These folks were super fun! We had a great time talking about
how DE could minister to the students in their city.
I told you they were super fun!

This guy stopped by.

So I gave him some information, you know, the brochure, the card, a sticker or two.

This is me saying, "Have you had a Dramatic Encounter?"

This is him looking confused by the question.

Maybe he'll come back tomorrow; I forgot to give him a purple pen!