Kristian's Kaleidoscope: Installment 7

Praise God! Two people were baptized this Sunday. What an amazing Sunday it was! Even in the rain, I hope all of you who came to the driven-in service liked my preaching. I had a great time out on the boat. What an awesome thing to be able to put on a resume - I preached from a boat like Jesus. Also, I look forward to preaching again on July 15 in the 10:30 service, so be ready to hear the Word.

This Wednesday is the church wide game night. I can’t wait to beat you all in some games and I don’t even like games!

Please be in prayer for the Morris family. For all who do not know, Syd Morris passed away June 25, 2012. He was an amazing man and was loved by many. He will be sorely missed, and all our hearts at NBCC go out to his family and friends. Syd is at rest now. We praise God in all things for the glory goes to Him above all. We also ask that you been in prayer for all our brothers and sisters hurting.

All those able to help, please do not forget about VBS. We could use more helpers. If you have any questions, please contact Troy Borst. We need more volunteers if we are going to reach and teach children the kingdom of God.

I want to leave you with this verse as I always do, “ For I know the plansI have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”    

Kristian Beasley

Ministry Intern   

Bahamas Team - Dale

All Saints Blessings

First, I would like to give all praise and glory to the Lord, Who’s love and care we were blessed to witness first hand this past week. 

I want to also thank all of you for your gracious support and prayers for our travels.

You need to know this morning that GOD IS GOOD, and His people are strong, and His love still endures. Amen!

“All Saints Camp” in Nassau Bahamas first began as a leper colony. It is now an AIDS/HIV camp that houses about 20 or so residents that are either HIV positive or suffer from some other sever infirmity.  

The residents at All Saints are completely quarantined from the general population. They have little more than a 6x8 room with a small bed and very well wore clothes on their backs. Yet, they possess the most unbelievable spirit, and sense of worth that I have ever seen. They would never ask for anything, for they know with certainty that the Lord provides for their needs Our very presence there is undisputable proof.     

Our team was there with a large youth group from the Cincinnati area. Together, we worked to start the rebuilding of the camp, board by board, so that each resident will, eventually, have clean, sound housing with sewage and running water.

But, even more important, we were there to minister. We were there to talk, to listen, to pray, to laugh and cry with the residents. These are real people, God’s children, no different than you and I save for their afflictions.      

This was a PEOPLE first mission trip with a building secondary. Many of the youth helped to feed and groom the patients. Some cannot eat or drink on their own. Many are incontinent and require assistance. Some are blind and lame. We spent some time each day talking with them and listen to their stories and getting to know them and them, us.

It was a delight each morning to see Patrick, a stroke victim, waiting at the top of the hill for our arrival with a big smile and his loving charm. Even though he could barely speak, it was very obvious that nothing would suit him more than to grab a hammer and dive in, but his bent and broken body would not allow it.       

Vincent is blind, a stoke victim and has AIDS, but is also a strong man of God. I have heard few give a more moving testimony.

As you can see from the slides and photos, if it were not for Next Step Ministries the residents of All Saints would have even less. It is our prayer this day that these pictures and our testimonies might in some way allow all of you to see the need, and to understand that YOU can make a difference in people’s lives. Yes, you can! But!!!  Yes…. there is a but. But we can only make a difference by getting up and stepping out of the comfort that we are so used to. And putting our faith into action.  This is your call.

Will you answer?

Thank you! God bless.

   

Dale Hammond

Bahamas Team  

Through my eyes...BigStuf

BigStuf. It’s what the teens rave about year after year. Now, I understand completely why. BigStuf is an amazing conference/camp that can really change your heart, soul, and mind. It was my introduction into the Full Student Ministry program and what an intro it was!

Many speakers presented different views on many different topics that I haven’t thought about. Many testimonies were given and in the end, it showed me how God worked through each of those people in their problems. Andy Stanly gave me an understanding on how we as teens and adolescents get to get life right the first time. Judah Smith asked the question Is Jesus enough? and put it into a funny (yet serious) conversation. He explained that Jesus will satisfy all needs in life. Pattie Mallette (Justin Beiber’s mom) gave a fantastic testimony about her various problems. The organization, To Write Love on Her Arms talked about Renee, 25, who went through depression, self injury, and other problems, but God helped her through it. Singers like Phil Wickham, Mac Powell of Third Day, Mike Donehey of Tenth Avenue North, Aaron Shust, Natalie Grant, Trevor Morgan, Rend Collective, Shane & Shane, and Laura Story took the stage and worshiped with us.

BigStuf has connections with many organizations that help people all over the world. The 410 Bridge, a organization created by BigsStuf, sends Bibles to kids in Kenya. I was able to donate a Bible to a little boy named Bilha Njeri. I took a picture with a note written in his native language, Swahili. The picture of me is in the Bible I sent him.

Group time allowed our youth group to talk about what the speakers said. Justin asked us various questions like what would you want your future self to tell you now? or what would you tell your younger self? This was a time for us to talk and bond as a group.
Through my eyes...BigStuf is an AMAZING experience for everyone……students AND sponsers. There are still some livestreams up! Wanna be a sponser next year?

Abby B.

Through my eyes...

I’ve wanted to join Justin and Bethany Jett’s crew for a long time as Justin will tell you. Now that I am in 6th grade, I have officially crossed the border into the youth group. Through my eyes will be a way for you to experience the wonders of NBCC’s Full Student Ministry as I do.

Through my eyes...the life of a preacher’s kid new to Full Student Ministry! I'm excited...I hope you are, too!

Abby B.

Bahamas Team - Pam

In my previous blog entry, I mentioned that my prayer was for God to rip my world apart and break my heart for what breaks His.  Well, in the words of Ms. Moxey at Camp, “Sho’ Nuff!”  God did just that and what a tremendous blessing it was all week.  
We served with a youth group from Wyoming, Ohio.  They were a wonderful group of teens that ranged in age from 14 to 20.  Their leaders were amazing and gracious as well.  The Next Step staff was outstanding.  They worked very hard to make everything come together for all of us and even when obstacles came up like no water, and no gas for the stove and no Internet – they adapted and made everything work out.  Our God is awesome!!  
We all worked very hard at camp and actually finished all the projects ahead of schedule.  When we first arrived, there were pillars for the houses to be built on and that was it.  Teams filled in the dirt back around the pillars and built the floor frame and floor joists, painted the plywood flooring and installed that.  We did this for a two-resident home and a four-resident home.  In addition, another team used machetes and cleared away brush and trees around the camp, as a security fence needs to be installed.  These residents don’t have much at all and, yet, people try to steal from them.  Another team dug holes in the ground (using a jackhammer) to be able to put in 6x6 poles to rerun the electrical wires.  Concrete was hand-mixed for those holes by using wheel barrels full of rock, sand and 100lb bags of concrete and buckets of water.  Teams used shovels to mix the cement slowly to make sure it was the right consistency.  

While all of this work was going on, we were all encouraged to go meet and talk and visit with the residents.  This was the absolute best part!  The work was challenging and rewarding –but visiting was the true blessing.  We thought we were going there to bless them, and we received it back ten fold!  Ms. Moxey has been at the camp for a very long time – John says that she’s been there long before he started going there in 1999.  Using another one of her catch phrases, “I’ve been here umpteen years!”  Another resident, Patrick, greeted us each day and tried his best to help us out even though he is partially paralyzed from enduring strokes.  He was always joyful and was just so happy to be around us and to be included.  He prayed with us daily as we gathered in a circle, held hands and prayed each day before we began the work.  Vincent, who is blind, but blessed with such insight, sold us “Goombay Punch” and other sodas as well as joined our lunch devotions and prayed with us.  The Holy Spirit was definitely present and flowed through him as he would share and pray with us.  So many other residents were just happy to see us there and thankful for our service.  Garvin is an amazing person, and we got to witness the biggest smile I’ve ever seen.  
My personal favorite (if that’s possible in a place like All Saints Camp) has to be Lillian.  I brought her a pair of slippers and was able to personally deliver them to her with her lunch and her eyes lit up, and she just repeatedly thanked me.  From there she trusted me enough to take her key and unlock her door for her later that day – which is a big deal as again, everything they have is in their tiny room.  Thursday was the icing on the cake, though.  We visited her and told her how beautiful she was and how lovely her family was – 3 daughters, 2 sons and 20 grandchildren!!  Her smiles and laughter were so intoxicating. I’ve never previously felt God’s love showering over me as much as I did that day.  Definitely one of the best weeks of my life!  
Following God’s will for me to go on this trip has definitely opened my heart and mind to know that the mission field (no matter it’s location) is where I want to be and I will WILLINGLY go wherever it is He sends me next.


Pam
Bahamas Team

Kristian's Kaleidoscope: Installment 6

Happy late Father’s Day to all the dads! I don’t know about you, but my dad’s day was great. It was so relaxing and fun; I hope everyone else’s was as great. In my opinion, we need more days to celebrate so we can get more time off.

For all those who attend the 8:30 drive-in service yours truly will be preaching this coming Sunday. We will continue in the book of Luke, so get ready to hear someone different for a change. Also coming up in July is VBS! If you haven’t signed up, well get on it! 

For those of you who are not in your twenties, my C2 (college and career) class has been studying Psalms along with those of you who attend Wednesday night. In our study, we have all ready gone through Psalm one, two and three. I tell you this because I want to share a little bit of what we have learned. First, through our studies, we have learned that Psalms one and two are the introduction to the book. Psalms one and two set the tune for the entire book of Psalms. The first chapter deals with being righteous and what will happen to the righteous and the wicked. While Psalm two deals with Jesus coming and saving the righteous. With that, I taught the Greek name of the Psalms, which is “Psalterion”. The word means, “to pluck.” The reason for this is the Psalms were to be song. They were for music so the word makes sense in that essence. The word Psalter can be another name for the Psalms as well. Also, we discussed how some of the Psalms were prophetic in a way because they were spoken from David about David but also Jesus. Some Psalms were meant for David, Jesus, and us. We talked about the Psalms being in 5 parts. Each part of the Psalms ends in a doxology, and scholars believe this to be true so that when the priest read the books of the torah in the synagogues that they could accompany each book with a Psalm - 5 books and 5 parts of Psalms to read together. When studying the book of Psalms the word selah comes up a lot, you will notice, in between the verses. The word means to pause; it is a musical direction. Selah is equivalent to our rest symbol in modern music. The over arching theme we learned from the Psalms was the righteous will be blessed through Jesus.

            That was just a little bit of what we have been learning and going over in class. I hope if you haven’t gotten a chance to check out our Wednesday night Bible studies, you will!! For all of you that just graduated, I look forward to you coming to C2. If you have any questions, just ask me, your friendly neighborhood intern. 


Kristian Beasley
Ministry Intern
Remember Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Bahamas Team - John

Okay, we are back from the Bahamas and my prayer before leaving was that I would keep my mouth shut and let this team hear, feel, smell, touch, love and be loved like I have been since the year 1999 when I first began going to the All Saints Camp. I think the Lord made me successful in this regard and yet, it was like it was brand new all over again.  

The All Saints Camp is an old Leper Colony that now houses those with HIV and full blown AIDS as well as a few with major other health issues. Often times, the residents when found with these ailments are loaded in the car and taken to the camp and usually dumped at the front gate with whatever items they can carry, and seldom see relatives, family or loved ones again. Their existence is meager at best, with little to call their own.  They live in a room that is about ten foot by ten foot, most are bedridden or have trouble walking or even using a wheel chair. Their breakfast, lunch and dinner (usually a PB&J or Tuna Fish sandwich) is brought to them, and they are helped with their personal hygiene and diaper changes and bed baths. Yet with so very little, they give so much of themselves and most offer no complaints, only praise to our Lord Jesus Christ. One of our team told me on our return that the first night she was glad to be back home, yet felt so guilty that she could eat a filling hot meal, take a warm bath and lay in a comfortable bed (none of which the camp residents have).  

There are so many highlights to this trip that a book could not contain them, however, a few stand out. One is Miss Moxey who by her own admission has been at the camp for umpteen years and I know for a fact that she has been there since 1999 as that was when I first met her. She is a joy with a capital J. When I took a few of our people down to meet her (the first day at the camp), she greeted everyone with a warm friendly smile and words of praise to our Lord. She let us read Scripture to her and ask her about the pictures of family she had on the wall. Then, there was Patrick who can walk (with difficulty) and is partially paralyzed on the right side due to one of many strokes he has had due to his HIV/AIDS condition. He was always at the top of the hill with a great big smile and welcome as we came up in our school bus. He watched us close as we began building, and when we let him use our hammer to pound in a nail, you would have thought that someone had just given him a million dollars.  Patrick was also invited to join us in morning prayer before we began work and to join us during our lunch devotions, you could see that he knew we both loved him and cared for him. 

We stayed at a retreat that was run by Next Step Ministries (.com, if you want to go to the website). They have a staff of interns that take care of: the week coordination, job site management, cooking, devotions and worship. I know that when our Lord hears the name Next Step, or Heather, Rebecca, Craig, Maple, Kaylee, Travis, Jesus or Audrey that He smiles. We thank the Father for them all.  There were days we had no water at the camp, no gas for cooking, no cooking spray for the pancakes on the griddle and at times no air conditioning, yet this staff worked around it, making the best of a sometimes bad situation.  We had confidence in them from the moment they met us at the airport and that confidence only increased with every hour that passed.  I hope and pray to get Tom C, Justin J, Pam R, and one of our senior youth down there before this summer season is over.  This trip  allowed us to meet 26 people from a church in Wyoming (suburb of Cincinnati) Ohio.  One of the girls, Alex, came with her mother as her mother was not okay with her working at an HIV/AIDS camp.  That changed real quick, and I would look for her return next year.  This group was one of the best groups I have ever met. Their leaders taught us much, and we could see their investment in their youth and their youth's devotion to our Lord. 

I will stop now only because of space and the fear of boring you by going on too long. I pray that you will invest yourself in our Lords Kingdom and do as Jesus said, GO!  And what you do for the least of these you do also for Me.

We will be planning the Summer 2013 Bahamas trip very soon, get your passport and get ready to experience God showing up everyday in everyway.  You will be changed, I guarantee it.  

Love and Prayers…john hartley 

missions team chair

Bahamas Team

Kristian's Kaleidoscope (Installment 5)

Who’s ready for wacky Wednesday? I know I am! Its going to be so much fun, don’t forget June 27 is also our Churchwide Game Night. So be ready to have some fun and fellowship with others here at NBCC. That Sunday, however, I preach. I know a lot of you were asking me because you missed the first sermon but don’t worry! There is more of me to be had. I can’t wait to get the chance to preach again; I am very much looking forward to it. 
Like I say every week, God is doing big things here at NBCC and I cannot help say it, it's true! With big events like Wacky Wednesday, VBS, the mission trip to the Bahamas, and last week's Prom. It is hard to say that God isn’t moving this church. On that note, I just want to say how excited I am for VBS. Kids are one of my biggest passions so it’s going to be great working with them. We all have to admit the best part about kids is the fact that they say the darndest things. So if you want to hear the funniest things you have ever heard, and teach kids about Jesus then come help us out July 15th through the 19th. 
Well, as some of you who were at church this Sunday know, I had the privilege of doing the communion meditation. I truly enjoyed leading the church into a time of remembrance of Christ and His sacrifice. Like I said on Sunday, our time of reflection should truly put us back into that room where Jesus washed His disciples feet. As we meditate on Him, we should be brought into that upstairs room; we should see Jesus holding the cup in hand; we should feel ourselves reclined at the table. When we do this, when we remember like this, then we start to see the real picture of Jesus’ sacrifice; then we start to make out what He really went through on the cross. When we put ourselves back where He first broke bread, then we can see the pain in His eyes, the suffering on His face and see a glimpse of His great love for us. For then we will know that our God truly loves us and how great His only Son's sacrifice was. 
I look forward to another great week here at NBCC and can't wait for all the new, exciting, upcoming events! So everyone be ready for what God’s going to do! 


Kristian Beasley
Ministry Intern


“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Praying for the Bahamas Team - Pam

This is my first out-of-country mission trip and technically only my second mission trip ever (the first being the Steppin' Stone road trip on 5/5/12).  I think I've blown up John Hartley's email box with all of my questions about what to bring, when and where we are leaving from, what can we bring for the Camp, what else, etc.  I'm a "planner" and a list person.  This is how I stay focused and organized at my job and it overflows into the rest of my life.  This is good, though.  I'm "ready" from the perspective that my suitcase is packed (under the maximum weight of 50lbs - per the scale at Publix) and all my lists have been checked as completed.  So, one would think that I am prepared for this trip - or at least it looks good on paper.  

This is where Pam stops and God takes over.  My prayer is that God will open my eyes to truly see the world and these people we are going to serve and serve with.  I pray that He will clean my ears out to hear the needs, concerns, prayers and praises of this trip.  Mostly, I pray for our Lord to just rip wide-open my Heart for what hurts His.  I want to feel their needs and feel their joys.  I want to identify with each person I come in contact with.  I live in such a "bubble" here.  I have a great job, a nice apartment, food, clothes, a car, money, great friends and a wonderful church family.  I have no idea what it will be like there, but I know it's not going to be the nice, neat little box that I currently call Pam's world.  I want God to take my world apart and bring me into the world He wants me to serve in the name of my Savior Jesus Christ.  
The song that's been on my heart recently is "Worlds Apart" by Jars of Clay.  All I want is for Him to "...take my world apart, I am on my knees...".  To bring this full-circle right to where it started...it started with John Hartley at the Faith Promise Rally handing out a piece of chalk and telling us all to go home and draw a circle around ourselves with that chalk and think about Isaiah 6:8:  "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!".  What's left of that chalk and that passage are hanging on my bulletin board at home. 




Pam Rosky
Bahamas Team Member

Praying for the Bahamas Team - John

Having been to the Bahamas' on mission trips several times since the year 2000, it is with great anticipation that I return after a few years absence. I am excited to take a team down that has not been on this type of mission field before.  Of course, all the residents at All Saints Camp where we are going to serve are either HIV positive or have full blown aids.  In the Bahamas, if you are found to have this type of condition, you are taken to a camp like this and left with whatever you may have been able to take.  You may or may not see your family or relatives again.  The camp is just up the hill from the constant reminder for those who have aids - a local cemetery.  We are going on this trip from first to serve our Lord who in His Word says go.  We are also going so that we can get more of our members into the mission field (it is the one thing that will cause us as Christians and our church to grow). We also want to see if this is something we want our youth to be part of in the future and lastly, to look at the mission itself to see if it is something we want to support as part of our missions program.  Please be in prayer for our hearts and minds to be open to our Lord's will and direction and that we would honor Him in all we do, say and think.  
The two missionaries, Tim and Felicia, we have known since the year 2000 when I all went down on a short term mission trip with them and did so again for the next few years.  Tim and Felicia listened to God, sold all they had, solicited support and went there full time as missionaries.  To watch Tim feed Garvin, who can not feed himself or to watch Felicia fix one of the ladies hair (she used to have her own hair salon) is really seeing God's people doing for what our Lord calls the least of these.  I know our Lord will use the folks going down to recruit others to come join us as we hope. We are praying to make all our trips annual trips just with many different folks going each time.  There is no reason that everyone at NBCC can not go into the mission field for a short time. God has something for each of us to do, all we have to do is GO.
  


John Hartley
Bahamas Team Member
Missions Team Chair

Kristian's Kaleidoscope (Installment 4)

Thank you everyone at NBCC for all the support and love. For those who don’t know, yesterday was my first sermon here and the feedback was great. I truly enjoyed preaching, and I praise God for the opportunity to do so. If you missed me this time don’t worry I preach again the 24th at the 8:30 service. I have to say it was great doing a sermon on worry, I felt if I were going to tell people not to worry then I myself could not be worried. So I gave the sermon to God, and He took care of the rest. Also, I taught my first C2 class, which was awesome for all those kids just graduating or if you’re still in your twenties. Come check us out up stairs in Troy’s office at 9:30. This week in C2, we went over spiritual gifts. If you’re wondering what your spiritual gift is, then come by C2 and fill out a spiritual gift evaluation sheet. Next week in class, we look forward to seeing how we can use our spiritual gifts to further the kingdom.

I know I say this every week, but I truly mean it, thank you NBCC for all you have done for me, I am so blessed to be a part of this family! God is doing big things in me and in this church, so may all the praise go to Him. With that I have to say, it’s been great every Sunday seeing the 10:30 service packed out. Every Sunday, we are seeing more and more new faces. The growth that is happening to me and to NBCC is all due to our great God! I can’t wait to see how full the church is going to be at the end of summer when school starts back. Though with so many great things planned for summer, we can’t rush things. Stay tuned and read those bulletins for great upcoming events.

I pray that this week everyone at NBCC will feel a sense of peace and not worry about the things of this world. With last Sunday being on worry, it is my wish that each member will truly seek the kingdom of God and let all other worries fall to the waste side. Let Jesus become all you worry about; let His kingdom be your treasure and desires and lets all leave our worries at the cross.


Kristian 
Ministry Intern


 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).