NY'06 Entry #6: Popcorn for Jesus

HOLY SMOKES. When we--and you back home--prayed for our Family Festival to be a success, I somehow knew it would be a success. I didn't know, however, that it would be... well... A SUCCESS. God was absolutely amazing in all aspects of the day today, showing his favor and love and grace to all of us... we'll get to that.

First, I'll shoot through the morning... I mean, I could go through minute by minute (which Paula Mackey loves, but that's unfair to just ramble, even if it is my website) but really this morning was kind of like yesterday morning... I was actually going to go to Starbucks this morning, but I couldn't get myself up. Not after getting to bed last night around 1230. Hey, I do it for you people. =)

We got to Graffiti 2 on time, and started setting up for the morning... yesterday we had about 35 to 40, this time around we had about 50 or a little more... so many that the question "at what point will be cap the number of kids in here? 60? 100?" We decided around 80, if we do in fact have that many tomorrow.


Cindy taking the kids through Upward Sprinking Camp

Kid Sister's girl that she talked to yesterday, Ashley, didn't come. But alot of the other kids did come back. Some of the things to mention:

• Chuck & Cindy & Shannon from Woodlawn have one kid named Aubrie. Apparently, last year, he did nothing but roam the courts and hang out at the fence all day, never participating. This year, however, he's been all about playing some ball.
• Speaking of Cindy, remember the "Upward Sprinking" joke I made yesterday? Yeah... Chuck and Cindy let their kids do basketball drills through the Daisy Sprinkler. It was hysterical.
• Gary, my idol, asked later what we figured kids in Birmingham would ask for in prayers... we said stuff like "cars" or "latest (blank)". He said yeah, thats what most kids would say. He said in his small group, however, one kid said he prayed for "friends" and another said "for justice". Sure there is a story there.
• Met two of the park guards, one named Yvonne and the other we didn't get a name for. I was talking to Yvonne and she was telling me about her family. She mentioned she was 50, and that she had several kids, the oldest being 38. She just kept talking about the rest of her family, so I didn't do the math until a few minutes later. I was a little taken back. Maybe I shouldn't be.
• Funniest part of the day for me was when I had to get some info for a chick named Angie from Woodlawn in Baton Rouge. We had a kid get a small scrap on his knee, but for our safety, every injury has to be documented, no matter how small. So, I walk over to the Upward Cheerleading area where Angie is, and ask her to step over to me. I smile, and say, "So, like, I know we're on a mission trip... but like, can I, uh... can I have... can I like, maybe have your phone number?" She gave me the strangest look that I've gotten in a long, long time--and that's saying something. I did explain to her what I needed, though. Worth mentioning.
• Gary also had another kid in his group named Justice, who right before scrimmaging with the group, asked if he could pray first. Gary said "Yeah, man!" Justice then prayed "God... help us win this game. But if you don't... then I guess that's okay too."

I'm sitting in the hotel lobby, and it just occurred to me that they are about to have live music, as I see one guy with a guitar. I guess that's what I get for blogging the mission trip in the hotel bar. For the glory, baby. For the glory.

We packed our junk up and headed back to Stamford, where we all grabbed a quick lunch wherever. I ran upstairs and changed clothes... as much as we talk about how hot it was last year, its now starting to get just humid enough and hot enough here (and is supposed to get progressively hotter as the week goes by) for the people who didn't go last year to actually have a legit argument when they say "its hot!"

I ate at the Daily Grind (cost me $9 for a sandwich and a water, and another dollar for a Mounds bar) and waited for everyone else to come down. Around 230pm, we piled in the vans headed for Cove Park Island--I actually rode with Gary & Margie and one of the Hobbits, and Tim & Anna Lynn jumped in too.


Oh Chuck... you think you're hot, sweaty and tired now...

Landon was already down there, as was Alan, his wife, and the stairstep children. Landon was driving a big U-Haul truck, with a trailer attached to it, and Alan had his van, all full of stuff. We began setting up little by little, putting up collapsable tents, setting up tables for food, unloading all the food, the grill, hauling out the moonwalky things (they're called bouncies or bounce-houses, which actually makes more sense than "moonwalk") and all the other fun things needed to put on a festival.

It took well over an hour to set up, and we still weren't quite done when 4pm--the start time--came around. Give you the picture... we've got two big tarp/metal frame tents side by side, with three tables running across the front, and one on each side. BBQ grill in the corner. About twenty yards to the right and up of the tents is another tent, our "registration tent". Directly in front of the two big tents, about twenty yards, is a row of chairs, each with supplies for games set up in them... games like "ring toss" and "hula hoop challenge" and other stuff. On the left side of the tents is the two bounce houses, laying flat on the ground.

I grabbed a hand truck and walked around the main field--and this is a huge, huge field, mind you--and gathered garbage cans to place around the perimeter. Though its good to be safe, apparently the health department had given Landon and Encounter Church a big list of stuff they had to abide by, like no food sitting on the ground, even in its packaging, coolers had to be drained of melted ice water at all times, that water itself had to be dumped in bathroom sinks and not just on the pavement or grass, people couldn't get any food for themselves, we had to hand them the hot dog and bun on a plate and so on.

Just looked around and saw a chick from earlier in the day. I saw her on an elevator earlier, very attractive, very classy, going to a business meeting. Now, seven hours later, she's being held up by a guy in the entranceway because she seems like she's too drunk to stand on her own. Such is the world we live in. Sad.

We set up the food stuff under the two big tents, and Tim took over the grill. I was elected to do popcorn, because somehow I slightly remembered how to do it a year ago, while Cindy was doing sno-cones. J-Bo, Mama Faith and G-Ann were manning the hot dog buns next to Coach Tim's grill, and Gary, Margie and Abby Lohan were going to do registration to begin with. Kid Sister was doing chips and Natedawg was doing the Oreo cookies (we had to serve people both of these normally accessible items). Landon wanted everything done by the book because we wanted no room for anyone to say anything.

Across the field, there is a guy who runs the Cove Cafe, which sells drinks, hot dogs, burgers and other beach type foods, and he's not happy. You can imagine, because he makes his money selling $3 dogs, and here's this bunch of church folk giving food away for free. Landon talks to him for a while, and he seems to disappear for a while.

So, 4pm rolls around, and we've got a problem. The bounce houses are still flat on the ground. The generator provided for us isn't working, and not only can we not inflate the inflatables, we can't run the sno-cone or popcorn machine. I look around, and we have maybe a dozen or so people who have shown up. Truth be told, I'm praying for 100. We'll see.

Another generator arrives, they hook it up, they still can't get it to work. I walk over and watch what's happening, then I take a step back and utter these exact words: "Father God... I pray you bless this afternoon and everything that walks within our sight. In the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, I banish any of Satan's demons from this area, that these generators will work." And when I said the word "work", instantaneously, I saw Landon leap up with his hands in the air, I hear Mark yell "Yeah!!" and I hear the roar of a generator engine. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life. God rocks my face off.

So we got the extension cords stretched, plugged in the sno-cone and popcorn machine, and we were off. I poured in the oil and kernals and waited for it to pop... then the plug came unplugged. So we plugged it back in, and a few minutes later, the generator somehow was switched off (Cindy was yelling across the field for Chuck or Mark, as you could see one of the inflatibles come uninflated with kids in it... it was kind of funny), and when it was switched back on, I finally, FINALLY, had my popcorn. And we rolled.

And the people started coming. And coming. And coming. And coming. And coming. And coming. Then, more came. It was absolutely unbelievable. G-Ann and Mama Faith are trucking out buns as fast as they could go, Coach Tim was putting on dogs by the dozen, J-Bo was over there helping, Kid Sister and Natedawg were tossing those chips and Oreos, I was filling popcorn bags like crazy, and Cindy was throwing down on the sno-cones. She had a line like you'd see at a movie theater concession stand, about ten kids deep, for about ten or twenty minutes... it stopped when we just ran out of ice. So a few guys went to get ice.

Here's the field from a distance... I had to walk back a bit to get everything in. Right about now is when the people really started pouring in.

It was amazing just watching this area just fill up. Even things that seemed to be bumps in the road, like when the Cove Cafe guy came back, ended up working out for God's glory. The guy said that he normally makes 300 to 400 in a typical afternoon, but he had made $15 since 4pm (it was around 630ish when he came back). Landon told him he'd write him a check for the difference. The guy said that wasn't necessary, but Landon said "Look, man... we want to come back, and we want to keep favor with you, so whatever we can do to establish and maintain a good working relationship, we want to do it." They talked for a while, and seemingly came to an agreement that they would work out when Encounter came back. Landon said later that he plans on sending the guy a $500 check.

I finally took a break, leaving the popcorn in the capable hands of Natedawg, and had a dog myself... actually, two. I went and sat in the middle of the field, looking all around me, and had tears in my eyes. It was so amazing, all of our prayers, all of your prayers, God's plan, God's wonderful, beautiful plan to give us a gorgeous day with the breeze blowing, a team that was put here for a purpose one by one, it was so joyous and beautiful to see it all come together.

In order to eat, all people & families had to do was fill out a registration card, sort of like a communication information card that Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship) has. They got a green Encounter Church rubber wristband and were free to do whatever. Around 7pm, Gary said they had a stack of cards several inches thick, and Landon told us later he estimated at least 300 cards with about 500 or 600 names on them.

What's more, all through the evening, I could overhear people asking about the church, where it met, what it was all about, the location and so on. Remember Julissa? She was in the prayer requests yesterday--she lit up with a smile when we told her we prayed for her. And tonight, she ended up helping run some of the games and such, and later ended up serving popcorn.


This is the food tent... at around 745pm, when were running out of just about everything.

I helped Landon's wife Christy do some face painting, but not for long. My hand was too shaky, I felt too jumpy and excited to sit still. Besides, I've face painted before... the early requests are "stars" and "hearts" and "rainbows"... by the end of the night, its "can I get a puma perched on a bedrock of slate, waiting to pounce on a gazelle, with ravens flying in the background?"

Through the course of the evening, we all switched places doing different jobs, though Coach Tim stayed with the hot dogs on the grill and Mama Faith and G-Ann kept with the buns and condiments.

If I can be personal for a minute... I needed to see this happen. Not that my faith was lacking a miracle to make it click, but I am so revitilized by tonight! I teared up three different times, first in the field, then talking to Todd and Sharon and Kid Sister, then later talking to Coach Tim, just at the amazing blessings God was pouring out on us. All of our work passing out fliers, which most of us didn't even want to do, all of our prayers we gave to Him for this one night to go decent came to frution in dozens of connections made by Encounter Church to the community, tons of good will built up with the people there, further connections made by us to some of the VBS kids and other adults, hundreds and hundreds of information cards, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and more names that Landon now has to work with... I just smiled for hours and hours on end.


Me and Kid Sister (named so because everyone else on the trip has family, so I claimed her as my own)... We're both wearing smiles we can't get rid of. She's starting to enter the pantheon of "love this kid" kids that before only Garrett, Kourtney, Laura Posey and a few select other have approached.

By 7pm, we were already out of ice, and had to send someone else for more--making this the second time we were out. We loaded up all three coolers full of the last drinks we had, that being a few cases of bottled water, a few cases of Cokes and some Diet Coke, and by 730ish, before they even had time to get cold in the little ice we had, they were gone. At 740, the mustard was all gone. The ice arrived, but the drinks, save for a few Diet Cokes, were all gone. I spent much time running all over the field trying to gather garbage cans with a hand truck, because all the ones I had gathered were overflowing. People were still registering at 8pm, when we were shutting things down. I saw one family sitting in the grass, eating hot dogs and sipping watered down sno-cones... as I passed by, I smiled, and both said "Thank you for doing this. Thank you so much."

Of course, then we had the fun part--the tear-down process. Didn't matter... I was so happy and overjoyed, I could have loaded that truck by myself... it might have taken a while, and eventually stolen some of my joy, but it was awesome anyway. Across the bike trail, in another field with a covered area, they were having a clambake (I know this because when Courtney the Stairstep Child and I took water that was draining from the coolers to the bathrooms there, I saw the clams). I was so thirsty, I just walked over there in the middle of their party and asked for water. Saw a granny shaking her jelly and throwing down on the dance floor. If you still can move it, then do so, I guess. They gave me a bottle of water.

Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty for Jesus, as Abby Lohan, Cindy and Justin the Stairstep Child found out... notice the big red stain on Cindy's shirt as well... it's all sno-cone syrup.

I wasn't going to blog tonight, but I told Chuck that I couldn't keep from blogging... no matter how tired I was, I had to write about this night and its glory... God's glory.

Requests:

• We'll have a chance to talk to Yvonne and the other park guard tomorrow
• One of our kids, Darnecia, has tonsil surgery tomorrow. I don't know if we'll see her again, but I hope it goes well.
• That Cindy, Chuck and Shannon will have more success dealing with their 1st thru 3rd graders.
• Even though Ashley didn't come back this morning, my new Kid Sister (Emily) spent some time talking to a woman during the festival... I didn't get any info, but pray that that connection will lead to something God-filled.
• Finally, that Landon will have some support and help in following up with all of the new information leads he has to work with now.

And appropriately for the night:
There's a stirring deep within me, could it be my time has come?
When I see my gracious Savior, face to face, when all is done
is that His voice I am hearing, "Come away my precious one"
Is He calling me? Is He calling me
I will rise up... rise up...
and bow down
and lay my crown
at his wounded feet.

Thanks to Brooke, Ryan & Melissa and Jason T'bow for the encouragement. Good night.

Next... NYC'06 Entry #7: Speechless

NY'06 Entry #5: Don't Stop Believin'

Got in a few minutes ago from lunch and our first session of Upward Basketball in The Bronx. Sitting here now on the bed in room 845 of the Holiday Inn Select, as Pastor Chuck--my roommate for the week--irons his shirt... in a few minutes, we'll be heading over to Encounter Church were Mark, Chucky and I will run through our lines for tonight's KidStuf skit, one that I've never done before.

The rest of the group--Both Eubanks, The Hobbits, Natedawg, Danielsahn, J-Bo, G-Ann, Tim & Anna Lynn, Cindy and K-Swiss--will be going with Landon over to Cove Island Park to do more flier passer outer work in promo of tomorrow night's Family Festival. Apparently our little Abby Lohan has a casting audition in Manhattan, so that's where she and Mama Faith will be spending the afternoon.

This morning started early, perhaps a little earlier than yesterday... I went to bed late, getting yesterday's blog finished, but also getting the pictures aligned and then talking to my wife, Stephanie. She had just finished with a crop at our home, so she was still up (which was good--I thought I was about to wake her up, and that's never good).

It was good to hear her voice, even though we could only talk a few minutes. Went to bed, woke up at 545am, showered and shaved (with the fogless mirror in the bathroom... this hotel has fogless mirrors in the bathroom! Isn't that spectacular??) then met J-Bo and Swiss downstairs. We all three walked to Starbucks, about three blocks away, and sat quietly, with the two girls reading the Word and myself running through lines for tonight, and praying over them quietly.

We came back to the hotel, and brought G-Ann a cup of coffee, and I brought Abby Lohan a cup of strawberry lemonade, to make up for poking fun at her--fine, I'll say it... I gleeked on her. No one else but her. She's come to expect now, so the free drink helped make up for it.

Tim & Anna Lynn, Swiss and the Warners (and myself) piled into one van, the others into the other van piloted by Gary Eubanks, and we made the hour trek to The Bronx and Graffiti 2...

...I can't finish this right now... but check here tonight, and I will finish it. I've got to get my Tyler gear on and go get ready for daycamp (nightcamp?) tonight... talk to you soon!

...Okay, and we're back. About, oh, six and a half hours have transpired since I blogged the above paragraphs... now where was I? Ah yes, making the hour trek to Graffiti 2 with the Warners, Swiss and Coach Tim & Anna Lynn... by the way, more and more people are starting to call Jennifer Boutwell "J-Bo". Cindy did it, as did Anna Lynn, and most of the kids are doing it. I started it! However, I don't feel so optimistic about Emily being called "K-Swiss" even after I explain it. I actually have called her "K-Swiss", "Kid Sis" and "Swiss" at this point, she answers to all. Maybe it will be one of those things where "Only you, Dave, can call me K-Swiss. No one else can do it" kind of things. That would make me feel special. That would be cool. Wait, I'm rambling...

...we arrived at Graffiti 2, and immediately starting setting up. Bjorn was there (did I tell you about Bjorn? He's the dude from Texas and is the intern at Graffiti 2, and the only reason he has the name Bjorn is that his parents were tennis fans, and fans of Bjorn Borg. I told him its good that he wasn't named Borg instead, or that his parents weren't Lendl or Ivanesavich fans. Or how about Elana Smashnova? No, I didn't make that name up) as was Andrew, so we walked the block to The People's Park, sitting right behind the Graffiti 2 location.


G-Ann & J-Bo, along with a couple of other guys, walk the block from Graffiti 2 (around the corner) to the People's Park. You'll see the corner that I would go to in about five minutes to promote the camp

Around 845, we had seen nary a kid, so some of us each took a flier and went to the block corner. I stood with Abby Lohan, and across the street stood Mama Faith and her son (and Abby's bro) Natedawg, and we just told passing families that there was a cheerleading and basketball camp starting at 9am right there at People's Park.

Let me just say, this is a really nice park. From what I've seen, there are two sections (there may be more adjacent to it, I just didnt see it.) The first section you come to, if walking from Graffiti 2 to the park is a handball wall, which can also be used for tennis and other bouncy ball games. Why there is a handball court in the middle of The Bronx I couldn't tell you.

Right past the handball courts is a play area, with jungle gymy type set up (you know, the big metal things with slides, ladders, hooks, holes and all other things kids somehow never get hurt on, but you and I would crack a rib on in about four seconds?) and right in the middle is this giant metal daisy. This daisy shoots water straight in the air, and water also shoots up from holes all over the immediately daisy area floor... its quite cool. Cindy and I both have joked about taking up Upward Sprinkling, especially when it gets hot.

There is a small building next to it, for bathrooms and such, and then you go up a ramp into a large fenced in area where there are about six or seven basketball courts. I think The Bronx has made an effort to revitalize some of the parks in the area, because some of them look really run down, while some, like this one, just look great.

We set up our registration table near the entrance ramp, and some of us spent time on the corners advertising. One of the most random things I've ever seen/heard... this lady--she seemed Puerto Rican, came walking by with one kid in tow and another in a stroller. I actually heard her before I realized it was her, but I heard Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" blaring somewhere... looked around, here comes this lady with a stroller, two kids and a giant boom box shoved in the back pouch area of the stroller. I looked at Abby Lohan and said, "Do you hear Journey? What the crap?" She was on her way to take her kids to the park. Just weird. I told Cindy later that then and there, "Don't Stop Believin" had become the name of today's blog.


My idol, Gary Eubanks (read yesterday's post), with one of our kids, with Coach Tim in the background

Like any camp such as this, including last year, the kids came slowly but surely. The one difference is that this time around, Andrew from Graffiti 2 said a parental signature was mandatory, whereas last year, it was come one come all--we just took names and would give them to local churches for follow up (though I explained yesterday how that didn't happen until this year...) Anyway, with parents and/or guardians coming up, it gave us a chance to talk to the parents as well as play with the kids.

I was really a rover, as was Swiss, there during camp. I walked from area to area, taking pictures, helping do stuff like grab more basketballs or set up drill cones or whatever. Swiss was working with G-Ann and a lady named Brenda to do registration, which was really complicated... not only sign the kids up, but some had pre-registered, plus you had to figure how who got what prizes, ask for t-shirt/jersey sizes for prizes later this week, and keep it all straight on a table sitting on a court that had wind blowing through it, which meant that papers liked to fly a lot.


Here's Abby Lohan, named so for her weird resemblance to another Lohan of a skankier form. Personally, I think Abigail Pierson is much prettier than Lindsay Lohan, but that's just me. Anyway, this is some of the kids she was actually schooling in a pick up game before the camp started.

Swiss later told me later that she really wanted to spend more time with some of the kids instead of the registration handle she had dealt with. Specifically, a girl named Ashley came up to her today... Ashley is the brother of Matthew, who was also at the camp. Ashley said she wanted to help out and volunteer tomorrow, so naturally, Swiss is excited about the idea of being able to talk to her. It'll be listed in requests as to what to pray for in that.

My camera was running out of battery power (the lithium batteries I bought at Target the night before? Yeah, I left them in the room. Duh.) So I stole away to the corner market next to Graffiti 2 to buy some batteries... thinking "Oh geez, they are like, five bucks for two at the Shell station... I can only imagine what they'll cost here." I asked for AA batteries, and he handed me a pack of Duracell AA's. I had my hand on a $10 bill in my pocket, cringing at how much it could be... he said "Two dollars." I was like "What? Two bucks?" I paid the man, and walked out. I looked at them, thinking for two bucks, they probably expired in March of, I don't know, 2002... no, they are good through 2012. The Bronx rocks!

We had about 35 to 40 kids show up, including a few kids who came late. Coach Tim, Cindy and a Woodlawn guy (Rhett Baker, I think. Yes, yes, he's heard the Butler joke, cause I made it) coached four or five of the young kids, while Mark took on the really young kids, and Gary helped with the older guys. None of the Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship) girls were on with cheerleading, but as far as girls basketball goes, they had J-Bo, Coach Tim, Mama Faith, Natedawg, Abby Lohan and Anna Lynn all helping with the three girls that wanted to play... this turned out really well, because all of the above mentioned people were able to start some really good friendships and relationships with the girls they worked with.


Pastor Chuck, Cindy and Shannon (from the Woodlawn group) handling their kids.

As I said before, G-Ann was doing registration, while Swiss & I both were roving around, helping out. Andrew was overseeing, going from group to group, talking to the kids. Kendall had actually arrived early in the camp (around 915 or so) and we unloaded all the Upward balls and a small goal for some of the smaller kids.

This camp is far and away different from last year. I hate to say better, because that's to imply last year's wasnt good--and it was very good, even if just for our learning experiences. Anyway, this camp is more structured, and falls under the guise of Andrew & Graffiti 2, which most of the kids are aware of, and know the rules and what will be tolerated. Last year, as Mark put it, "we were just a bunch of bumpkins saying 'Hey, come play some basketball with us!'" I mean, this year we have a permit to do this at The People's Park, which means we have power to actually remove someone for bad behavior (Andrew said he called the cops on a 4th grader who was refusing to cooperate--don't worry, Andrew and this kid still talk all the time). Last year, we didn't have any such permit, so really nothing (but God) was stopping anyone from coming and playing on the court.


Love this sight... the kids praying.

I could spend the rest of the column discussing the Upward Camp today, but that was really only half of our day... so I'll just let it go and say this was great first day of camp, and we're all pumped about tomorrow's camp. We're all figuring around 50 or more tomorrow... though we know that God will bring us what He wants us to have.

We loaded up and began the journey back to Stamford, again, with The Warners, Swiss, Coach Tim and Anna Lynn... now the smart thing to do would have been to whip out my script that I had to do tonight, because unlike last night where I had done it before, and just had to remember a few lines, this one I hadn't looked at but twice, ever. EVER. I didn't even really know what it was about. So what happened? Swiss took a nap, Mark and Cindy sat in front, Coach Tim and I chatted a bit here and there, Anna Lynn was just being Anna Lynn.

Since it was a little after 1, and we had agreed to be ready to go to Encounter Church for set up at 3pm, we decided to go ahead and just stop for lunch, instead of going to the lobby and dispersing. Mark parked the van on level 3 (this will be important in a minute) of the Target parking deck. He declared "This van will be pulling out at 2pm. Anyone who wants to ride, be here. Anyone who wants to walk, see you at the hotel." The hotel is only about four or five blocks, so we aren't talking a long way.

Mark & Cindy went to get Mexican food, while Swiss, Coach Tim, Anna Lynn and myself walked down the block. We found a sandwich shop called Cafe Maestro, so Swiss & I decided on sandwiches, while Coach Tim and Anna Lynn walked across the street for Chinese. It was a pretty good lunch, though after adding pickles and olives to my sandwich, it ended up being a $6.50 sandwich, plus the few bucks for the portion of pasta salad I ate. Somehow, Swiss talked me into walking with her to Dunkin' Donuts, so I complied. I mean, its Stamford, Connecticut. I can't let a 17 year old girl walk the streets by herself. What was I to do? We each had a single donut, but we both felt guilty afterwards--me especially... mine had Bavarian cream in it.

Our original plan was to walk back to the hotel, but seeing as my room key was in the van, Target was two blocks away, and it was right at 2pm, we just walked back to the van. I wasn't sure what level we were on, but Swiss knew it was L3. It was. A few minutes later, Mark comes walking to the van, without his lovely wife. "Where's Cindy?" we ask. He smiles and says "She's on the elevator. She was convinced that we were parked on L4, when I knew we were on L3, so she stayed on the elevator to go to L4 just to prove me wrong." He said all of this as he was cranking the van. A phone call came a few minutes later. Cindy was downstairs with Anna Lynn and Coach Tim. And when we picked her up, she didn't have much to say, other than "Well, at least I was downstairs waiting on y'all." I laughed and said "No, Mark, its not that you were right, its that she was downstairs waiting." Mark agreed.

I got to the hotel, changed and laid back. Chuck was already in there, and as I walked by his bed, he just half-smiled and slightly waved. He's in tonight's skit and like me, he kinda sorta kinda knows his lines, but not really. Mark knows them pretty well, apparently. Anyway, I pulled out the computer and had enough time to blog the opening paragraphs to this blog, but then had to change and head to the vans. I got in the van with... you guessed it, the Warners, Coach Tim and Anna Lynn and Swiss. Cindy made the comment that we seemed to have given ourselves van assignments, and I said that tomorrow I'm getting on Gary's van. Gary's van is full, so when I get on, someone will be without a seat, and it will be funny to see them confused... "Uh... where do I sit? What do I do? Who moved my cheese?"

Encounter Church was open, and we all trumbled in. Of course, instead of immediately going to work, we just lazed it up a little and started chatting with Landon. Finally, about 4ish, the group headed out to Cove Island Park to pass out more fliers for the festival tomorrow night--Margie & The Hobbits and Danielsahn have joined up by now. Swiss came back in the room, saying that the van was full, so she didn't mind just staying and relaxing. Chuck, Mark and I started running lines, while Cindy directed... I got the first part of the skit down easily, I was money (pun intended). It was the second part that kept throwing me for a loop... lots and lots of loops. But I figured we'd get it eventually... of course, we were going to do it in three hours, so "eventually" didn't encompasse a whole lot of time.

We ran through it several times while Swiss dozed in a chair. Eventually Alan's family came in, with oldest daughter Courtney the Stairstep Child and the boys, Nathan, Justin and Brandon. Sharon followed soon after, and Landon brought in dinner... taco salad. Right now, Steph is laughing, saying "oh no..." because I'm not a fan of taco salad... well, its not so much that I don't like taco salad, its just that I don't like the lettuce, tomatoes, onions and salsa that go in it... so basically, I'm diggin' on a meat, cheese and sour cream piled on a tortilla. I had one taco for dinner. Sigh.

The Cove Island group came in, as did Abby Lohan and Mama Faith soon after. Hail, hail, the gang's all here. And we ate pretty quickly, finished our set up, and now I had two things pressing on me... this dreaded KidStuf skit that I was in no way even remotely prepared for (I told Chuck if some kids go to the bad place because of this skit, I was putting it on the teachers for leaving it up to me to begin with)... and I had to do the group activity... I had to do "prayer journals". I had to spend 20 minutes or more teaching kids how to keep a prayer journal. I had a group of younger kids at 6pm, and another group of 4th and 5th graders at 640pm... and a skit script staring at me, its bold yellow lines marked mocking me as I moved about. It taunted me.


Gametime for, l-r, Justin (one of the Stairstep children), Natedawg, Heaven, Frederick, The Hobbits, Danielsahn and Lauren, Landon's daughter

Anyway, I made it through. I worked with the younger kids, including the Hobbits, first. I told them what a prayer journal was, and why we needed it. I then asked them to write down first three things they were thankful for, which most did. Margie and Mama Faith were also hanging out, though I don't know if they just wanted to be there, or they heard me stressing about doing prayer journals for 20 minutes, but either way, I'm glad they were there. Then I taught them to write down a few things they wanted to pray for. Some said "job for mommy", some said "feel better", while little Meagan Eubanks wrote "i want a baby sister". I laughed. I then told her, in front of Margie, "We'll make sure that we all pray for you to have a baby sister." I won't tell you what Margie said, other than to reveal that will probably be an unanswered prayer.

Later, when I told Gary, he said, "You know, I should deck you for that." He laughed and then confirmed that another baby would be an unanswered prayer.

Anyway, that group left, I studied lines for about ten minutes, and then in came the second group of a little older kids. I went through the same schpeel, but this time asked them to write things they loved about God, and then told them how they could go back and compare their journals and see when prayers had been answered. There was this tiny kid named Kevin who is in 5th grade, though I'm wondering if there is some sort of disability there with him. Anyway, I made it through.


The making of a prayer journal. Kevin is the kid in the blue with his back to you

The KidStuf portion of the show began, and we did the first part of our skit... I actually only missed one line, and I really didn't miss it... I just stalled and made something up until the line came to me, and I flowed right through. The second part of the skit was pretty good too... I had warned Chuck that my last five lines were really tricky, and I kept getting them out of line, so I might just end up monologing all those lines together. And you know what? I did just that very thing... and it did sound a bit rough, but it worked. Sigh. My last lines as Tyler and I can't nail it. Perhaps I shouldn't have said that. Just ignore it, its off the record.

The evening ended quickly after that, and it turned out well. Most of the same kids came back, and they just seemed so loving, and they took to all of us. G-Ann told me that young Kevin, the kid in 5th grade who looks like he's five, was picked up by his mom, and placed in a stroller (clue that made me think something is a different), and she said she saw him open up his prayer journal and just stare at what he wrote the entire way down the sidewalk. Made me smile.

Swiss' fear is that she won't be able to connect, and I kind of have the same fear. I don't mind doing what I'm asked, and fitting in where I can, because its not about warm fuzzies for me, its about salvation, but we all would like to come home and talk about that one kid or two kids that just filled us with joy and all. Perhaps I'll click in eventually this week... if not, I hope that I can just be an encouragement to the team at least.

The night came to a close, and everyone headed back to the Holiday Inn Select--of course, this was after I had to retrieve Danielsahn from a tree, where I almost dropped him. We considered a Starbucks run, but tomorrow is going to be our busiest day so far--early morning wake up and in the Bronx by 815am or so, immediately after camp is over, we have to come straight back to Stamford, grab a quick lunch, then go to Cove Island and help set up... then we actually have the Family Festival to tend to. Then de-brief and clean up after. Then add about 90 minutes to anything I do during a day just so I can get you fine people to read and pray about what you read... not that I mind at all =)

Prayer requests:

• The big one right now is the Family Festival tomorrow night... pray that it doesn't rain, pray that many, many, many families show up and that Encounter Church can make a huge impact on this community.
• Rest. Right now, everyone but me should be sound asleep, getting ready for what is to be our busiest day yet. We've got a long day, so praise God in advance that by the time you read this, we'll be rested and already moving through the busy day.
• Julissa. She's 16 years old, and I talked to her tonight in our prayer journal discussion. She's looking for a job and has not been feeling well the last few days. Pray for a job and for health. This is big, because I told her I would pray for her (which I will)... imagine what she'll think when I reveal to her that dozens of people in Alabama are praying for her by name.
• Carina. She's a girl who was in Faith's & Abby Lohan's group during camp. Carina is 15 or 16, and is suffering from sort of skin disease or rash she's had since birth. Pray that God would heal her of this, if only to demonstrate the power of prayer to her and her family.
• Ashley. She's the girl that Swiss talked to, and wanted to volunteer. Pray that she comes back, and that she can help fit in, and if God so wills it, that Swiss can make a connection to her.
• Obviously, continued prayer for the Upward Camp. More kids. More parents. More connections.

Tomorrow is a long day, as I've said, like, four times. There is a chance that I won't blog tomorrow night, or I'll blog only a little because I might be... well, dead on my feet. So don't be shocked if you see a blog about three paragraphs with promises of more to come.

Remember, God has us here to serve... and he has asked most of you to pray, and I think we all can say THANK YOU for doing so! I know God will address all of these concerns in His time--so don't stop believin'!

Next... NYC'06 Entry #6: Popcorn for Jesus

NY'06 Entry #4: Moments

My, my, my... its three full days into the trip and I can feel God working in me. I almost hate to start out this blog, usually light hearted while informative, with such a deep statement, but God is moving. I'm excited, I'm joyous, I feel the Spirit just tugging at me to pay attention and watch Him just go Jesus Crazy on our hearts, on this city, on what we are doing. I just spent the last hour talking to K-Swiss, and you can't help but be pumped up on how on fire for God she is... she's crazy for Jesus, ready to take on Hell with a water pistol.

Leslie is a worker with New Hope New York, and today in orientation she went over some things we needed to know--and then she said simply, "you are here for a reason. don't miss it. God has you here for one moment, for one moment this week, and it may be at basketball camp, or at your day camps in Stamford, or maybe it might happen on the subway or in a store or hotel or wherever. But if you aren't prayed up, tuned into what the Spirit has, you will miss it. It will be August, and instead of saying 'Hey, remember so and so, and his uncle that we prayed for, and how awesome God worked', you'll be saying 'Hey, what's that kids name that I prayed with? The one that we led to Christ? Didn't he have a sick uncle?' Don't let it be August and you miss that moment."

As she spoke, it sent chills up my spine and I got goosebumps. Coach Tim was sitting beside me, and he rocked a little bit back and forth, I could tell it had hit him too. So I pray to God that it won't become August and I don't remember anything.

I told her later how encouraging it was, but that it made me think of Whitney Houston's "One Moment In Time." She laughed. I did too.

Well, I guess we could start with this morning... we left the hotel at the crack'o'dawn, like around 630, because we had to make it out to The Bronx, notably Graffiti 2's ministry, and Mark wasn't sure of the way. Mark, Cindy, Coach Tim, Anna Lynn, K-Swiss and I piled in one van, Gary, J-Bo, Nathan, Abby Lohan, Mama Faith, G-Ann and Chuck got in the other one. Margie was taking Danielsahn and The Hobbits elsewhere, as young children were'nt allowed to be down with Graffiti doing the basketball camps.

Had a great discussion on politics on the way, as K-Swiss asked about Republicans and Democrats... I am sure only Stephanie and perhaps Ty Coffey would understand how quickly I perked up and was like "Well, let me tell you..." And I did.

Oh, and as we made our way down the subway steps, K-Swiss noted an older woman (she didn't get her name) handing out tracts on one of the upper levels. She stopped, talked to the woman and just encouraged her, letting her know we were here for the same purpose. Good little conversation.


K-Swiss and a Moment on the Subway

Also on the Subway, Coach Tim got to talk to a lady named Barbara. She's got an 18 year old son named Anthony, and she asked for prayers for health, her son, and for both of them to be hooked back into church. Sounds like a great request to me.

Andrew Mann is a short white dude with short reddish hair. He runs Graffiti 2, which is the second location of Graffiti Ministries, an outreach community ministry that helps kids and adults in their areas with... well, issues in life. Reading, sports camps, chapel, fine arts camps with dance, music and drama, and other things are taught all during the year. I think he said Graffiti 1 was located in Manhatten, and 2 is in The Bronx in a neighborhood called Mott Haven. Andrew listed off the five roughest neighborhoods in NYC, and he said the hope is to put a Graffiti 3, 4 and a 5 in the rest of those areas.

He also has "Proof", which is a "canine assistant dog". This catagory also includes search & rescue dogs, cadaver dogs, seeing eye dogs and others, but Proof is a... well, I don't really know the term for it, because the book that I have is upstairs in my backpack, but he's a dog that helps kids with anger issues, emotional problems and other things.

From Graffiti 2, we walked down to the subway station and took the 2 train to the New Hope New York offices down on 72nd street. I remembered the walk from the station down the block to the offices, which also shares space with the Mandarin Chinese ministry. Also arriving at the same time was a group from Woodlawn Baptist out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We'll be working with them, plus a few other guys, on this week's Upward Basketball camp.

We got upstairs, did introductions and Andrew ran down the list of information that we needed to know... stuff like "don't be alone with any child for any reason" and "some of the children have been sexually abused, so know the places you can touch a child safely" and stuff like that. You know, all the stuff that we should know before working with a very poor community full of children who don't have anything but need only Jesus. I'm just sayin.

Kendall Phillips also came in... I just love Kendall (and we're all pretty much decided that K-Swiss will follow Kendall's footsteps in about five years), as does everyone on the team that went last year. She is working at her church in... Pine Top? Pine Bluff? Wherever... its the same church in Mississippi that Matt Lord went to when he left Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship).

Anyway, we got our orientation about that, Lesley then came up, introduced herself, talked a little bit and then gave the moving speech I mentioned at the beginning. Talk about firing up a crowd. Another two churches worth of people came in, filling the room up, and Kendall came up. She let us know that 23 churches had approached NHNY to work with and follow up with kids who had made commitments.

To understand how big this is, understand that we had NO church helping us out last year... so when we had decisions made for Christ, be it our team or another team that went up last year, there was no one but NHNY to turn their information to. And Leslie informed us she still had about 250 decision cards to deal with and is working on passing them out to churches. So this is HUGE for there to be TWENTY THREE churches that came to NHNY... not Leslie and Kendall calling them all up, no, the churches came to them. God is AWESOME.

It was time for lunch and so we all walked together back to the subway station from 72nd Street to take the 2 train to uptown Bronx, at 149th & 3rd Avenue.

So a huge gaggle of women just came into the lobby where I'm sitting. Earlier, we were walking through, and there was this massive crowd of men and women in the lobby--found out it was an au pair convention. They had all come here to Stamford to train the ways of the Au Pair (I guess there's a seminar on "Not Shaking the Baby") and they'll train until Thursday when they leave for their Au Pairination. I only mention this because to my right, there is a huge stack of luggage now... when the Au Pairs left their luggage, the bagboys worked hard to get it up to their rooms... now they have to start all over.

Anyway, we get off on 149th & 3rd, then hike to Graffiti 2, which is located in partial space of the Evangelical Garifuna Church, which, if I remember correctly, is an African culture. Andrew lets us know we have three choices for lunch... McDonald's, about a block down, a sandwich shop nearby that he says is the best in NY, and a pizza place next door. I vote for the pizza place.

Remember that rectangle pizza you got in high school, the thin one that was a sorta yellow, sorta red, all greasy? Imagine that in a big triangle shape. My man behind the counter slaps it on a round thin paper plate, with all corners of the pizza sticking out, and just curls the plate to fit it into a paper sack. Then he hands me the Dr. Pepper bottle I bought, complete with a straw that is about three inches shorter than the bottle.


Mmmm... a moment to remember high school pizza... rolled up in a paper sack

The pizza was... well, remember that rectangle pizza that... yeah. K-Swiss had bought some "garlic knots", simply garlic bread wrapped in a pretzal shape... I was knot impressed. Knot. Get it? Ha! I slay me.

The Woodlawn group was there as well, as people began to trickle in with their pizza slices, garlic knots and McD's meals, and though they had to wait forever to get it, others came in with their sandwiches. Also joining us was Richie and Scott, from North Davis Church of Christ in Arlington, Texas. Two big guys, Mark immediately put them dealing with the older kids. We spent the next two hours hashing out details of who would do what tomorrow. After a while I looked at Mama Faith and whispered, "Is it bad that I'm bored?"

As the discussion wore on of what we'd do, who would do what and so on and so forth, I spent time studying a world map on the wall, complete with country info (population, economy, info, flag, etc) and let me say that there are a lot of countries I have never, ever heard of. Djibouti? Its a small country east of Ethiopia. Cote D'ivoire? Between Liberia and Ghana. Burkino Faso? East of Niger. I don't remember any of these countries existing when I was in school taking the Africa Continent Country exam. What happened to Zaire? That was a country once, I know it. Oh, and I have no clue where Lesotho is. Not a single idea. While things were being hashed out, I looked for it... didn't see it.


Kendall, Andrew, G-Ann and a North Davis guy

We all walked out to The People's Park, where we'll have the camps, and the churches came together to pray for the park. Afterwards, North Davis and Woodlawn went to pass out fliers in the neighborhood, while our group had to scat quickly. It was approaching 330, and we had dinner at 5... it took about an hour to navigate through traffic back to the hotel where we changed, then met to go to Encounter Church.

At 5pm, we had dinner. In the van ride over, Abby Lohan, Cindy, J-Bo and I went over our KidStuff skit (anyone remember the skit with the Tylertron 3000? I sure didn't), but we were all pre-occupied to practice any before 6pm. Our dinner was simple sandwiches, cookies and chips, which was just perfect, and around 6pm, we started. A few kids trickled in one by one, including a mom named Anna and her two kids Natalie (a tiny little girl) and Frederick (her not-too-much-older-older-brother) who were both just sweet kids. Of course, Danielsahn, The Hobbits, Landon's children (Lauren, Lawson & Layton) and Lauren's friends Allyson & Leah were there, adding to the crowd, but we got a few kids in.

Notably, we saw a kid named Kevin, who was in 7th grade... I was afraid he would feel too old or "too cool" to enjoy himself, but he seemed to really like it all. They had a Bible story time, sharing the "throw down your nets" story, and I led crafts in decorating a sailor's hat. I love mine--I think its cool. In addition to writing verses and other fun Jesus things on it, I've got "Gary Eubanks Is My Idol" on the side. He said it warmed his heart.

Abby Lohan led the recreation, Mark and Cindy tackled the little kids, G-Ann and Coach Tim worked with the older kids, Faith led crafts, K-Swiss took video and was a rover, Gary was Snackman, I roved and led a craft, and so on and so forth. Margie, Cindy and K-Swiss also led the music, which was funny.


A Moment with Margie, the Infamous Air Leg Guitarist

And Tebe, Barnie and the Lattas will appreciate this... Landon gets up, starts talking to the kids, and leads them all--Valleydale, Encounter and local visiting Connecticut kids--in a cheer. He shows them how to put their arm up, make a circle and say "Rooooollllllll Tiiiiiiiiiddddddeeee....." which they all did. Made me laugh.


A Moment for Every Bama Fan

So, the skit about the Tylertron 3000 was a hoot... we blew through the first part alright, but we got mixed up in the second part, I said Abby Lohan's (Cammie) and J-Bo's (Julie) lines accidentally, confused them both, Cindy (Mrs. F) caught up and we finished it. Loved it.

The poor luggage guy just loaded up two massive luggage carts with all the luggage of the gaggle of chicks that just came in. Couldn't get it all.

It seemed as if all the kids truly had a good time with it and they all said they wanted to come back... the parents that were there really liked it too, and seemed like they wanted to come back. Let's pray they do.


A Moment with Mom Anna with Frederick & Natalie

Finally, after it was all over and most were heading back to the hotel, K-Swiss, J-Bo and I walked over to Target to get some stuff. In Target was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen... a shopping cart escalator. You push your cart in the "shopping cart" door, it picks it up, keeps it level and you just step on the regular escalator, and meet your cart at the top. I was wide eyed and amazed.

We tried to stop at Starbucks, but it closed at 9pm. Sickening, I know. The three of us are actually planning on going over there early in the morning, all three just to have some time to read the Word before we head out for another day.

Prayers:

• The kids I just mentioned at VBS: Mom Anna and kids Frederick & Natalie... 12 year old Kevin... another kid named Kevin... a little girl named Heaven... pray that these kids will come back, bring friends, bring parents and be receptive to God's word.
• The camps start tomorrow (Tuesday). I hope we have a great turnout, and pray that when the schedule changes (and it will) that we can roll with it easily.
• Pray that none of us will miss "the moment" or "the moments" that God will give us this week.
• Pray for the lady that K-Swiss met in the subway station will continue to glory in Him and His work
• Pray for Barbara (in the subway) and her son Anthony, and that both will be brought back to church
• Pray that I will continue to be open to the Spirit and let God move through me as He will

Had to take a moment to show you the Target Shopping Escalator... How cool is this?

Just asked the bellhop who the new gaggle of chicks was... more Au Pairs for the convention. And he said 25 more to come. That's alot of nannies.

Alright, its late, I'm going to leave now, because the three guys behind me who love to use the F-word in their manner of describing everything is starting to grate on me. I think I'll still pray for them as I'm going up the elevator. You can do the same.

Next... NYC'06 Entry #5: Don't Stop Believin'

NY'06 Entry #3: The Truth is Served

The second full day of NYC (or at least Stamford) is complete... and we've got to be here in the lobby at 615am, and as its 1015pm now on Sunday night, I'll do my best to make this a little shorter--but there's just so much to say, isn't there?

This morning I finally rolled out of bed around 845, which means I got almost 9 hours of solid, good sleep. As Chuck would mention later, it will probably take one more night (maybe tonight) of good sleep to catch up, so let's hope that's the case. Showered, meandered downstairs to the Daily Grind cafe where I got a bagel, some cream cheese, some milk and some yogurt, which still ended up costing me almost $7.


Start your day at the Daily Grind

Everyone met downstairs, Mark led a quick devotion and we were out the door to walk the few blocks to Landon's apartment complex, I think it's called Avalon Gardens or Grove or something. Avalon is one of the premier apartment reality companies in Connecticut, owning some of the most expensive and sought after properties in the area. Apartments usually cost in the neighborhood of a few thousand a month. Such is life in Stamford.

Just a little background on Stamford, for those of you not familiar with the city, it has an average income of around $145K, and that includes low income housing. You're looking at around 250 or more without it. Its the 8th largest business center in the United States, and its within 40 miles of New York City, truly one of the crossroads of the world. In fact, from the heart of NY, to a 75 mile radius out, there are about 21 million people... and 20 million of them are lost.

Landon told us that its even gotten to the point now where some hotels in the area are not leaving Bibles in the rooms. They have a "religious" menu on the phone, where "push 1 for a Bible, push 2 for a Koran, pust 3 for the Mormon Book, etc". He said that we probably don't have that in North Shelby County... but it probably won't be long.


Chuck, Cindy and Margie, with Daniel passed out, listening to Landon brief us on the area

We met in a conference room in Landon's complex--and you could see why its so pricey. It is a beautiful building, with courtyards, racquetball courts and other amenities. He opened up the room, and we each went around telling about ourselves, what we were here for, and other fun things. I got to share my short time with Bruce (yesterday) and others shared their hearts for the kids, for the city, for the area and other things.

Landon even told us that Marty Rayborn, the lead singer for the band Shenandoah, was a member of Mussel Shoals Baptist, and came up a few weeks ago to serve with Encounter Church... Marty even led a drug dealer to Christ, while the guy was holding the drugs. While it was exciting that a drug dealer found Christ, no one else seemed impressed that it was Marty Rayborn. I mean, I would have been totally star struck had I been around him... Landon said he led worship at some of the camps, including one in a poorer area of town, where they were the only white guys around. Marty was singing some of the band's stuff, and everyone there was just kind of looking at him.

Shenandoah? These guys are awesome! "Two Dozen Roses"? "Moon Over Georgia"? "Ghost in This House"? "...ain't no place I'd rather be, next to you sitting next to me... ain't no place that I'd rather beeeee.... then next to you sitting next to me." Love it.

And then we all ate pizza.


K-Swiss takes a bite of the pepperoni

Afterwards, we split into two groups and went prayer walking around the block. There are two buildings to the complex, so one group went one way, while Mark, Cindy, Abigail, Margie, Gary, The Hobbits and Yours Truly went the other. Alan, the intern for Encounter, also has kids of his own, and we got to take Courtney with us. I call her and her siblings "The Stairstep Children" because she's 15 or so (she looks like she's 20), while one brother is like 13, the next is 12 and on down one or two more times...

We prayed on one corner, and I stood back a little bit, closed my eyes, turned my face upwards. I felt the sun, felt the breeze and just felt the spirit smiling on us. This is the exact team that God intended to be here--myself included, and I'm excited to be following His will to be here.

The two groups merged again, and we walked back to the hotel... one the way, we stopped to pray in front of the Faith Tabernacle Baptist Church, which any Baptist church here is unusual. As we stopped, one of the members was walking out. Cindy said, "We want to pray for your church." The lady, Edith, was just pleased as punch, I think. She said the church had been here around 16 years, and had about 1000 members--we joked later that that's why we can't find any around town... they are all at Faith Tab.

Our next stop was to load up the vans and go up to the Encounter Church to set up for Vacation Bible School that starts tomorrow night. It was rather chaotic when we got there, but we slowly began to fill the roles, start making the stuff we need to make, compile our list of stuff and practice our skits for the next day.


Yours Truly and Margie reading the KidStuf lines

We had a group doing name tag hangythings for tomorrow, G-Ann was working on the "fisherman's poles" for one of the lessons, the kids ran around, Nathan and Chuck worked on sound, and we just did stuff. The skit includes Abigail, J-Bo, Cindy and Yours Truly, and we all sort of kind of know our lines, but sort of not, but sort of... such is life when I'm involved in the drama.


Here is Courtney the Stairstep Child, on the left and then Sharon & Todd that I've mentioned a few times, tying name tags

Finally, after getting all of this stuff done, we split into three groups... Chuck was taking some to Target, where they would pick up supplies, and where they ended up running into the Peruvian Independance Celebration, with a band and lots of flying flags.

The next group was with Margie & Gary and the Hobbits, Danielsahn, G-Ann, J-Bo, K-Swiss and a few others, and they went to a nearby park that is known for having rockin' playground equipment. They did pass out lots of fliers, and met several people that we hope will be coming on Wednesday night to the Family Festival.

Meanwhile, Yours Truly, Coach Tim, Anna Lynn, Cindy and Mark went over to Cove Island Park, where the actual Family Festival will be taking place. This park was huge and beautiful. It apparently is built on a cove of some sort, with a small marina just down from where we hopped out of the van. There is a beachfront, but also tons and tons of wide open grass space, marked here and there with trees, volleyball nets, soccer nets and lots of picnic tables and grills.


A picture of Cove Island, hopefully giving some idea of size. The beach is in the distance, and every way you look, there was tons of people.

I split from the group, handing out fliers as I could. I walked to where the sidewalk ended and the sand began, leading to the beach. I sighed, then took my shoes off, put them in my backpack and started walking on the beach barefoot. I am not a fan of what we are doing--there's nothing wrong with it, I just don't like doing flier work. It's necessary, however.

I did some walking on the beach, but realized that there were far too many bikinis here, and this was just a place I didn't need to be. I'm not saying anything about anything, I was just aware that too much skin makes for too much distraction, so I headed back toward the grass. As I was walking, I was actually thinking "Man... I really want to do something that I am good at!" Yes, yes, I know this isn't a servant mentality, don't email me and get me on this--I'm fully aware. But I'm being honest.

Anyway, I was thinking this, when I came upon six guys and three girls playing volleyball, so I stopped to watch them. Not more than a few seconds passed by, when one them looked at me and said, in a thick spanish accent, "You play?"

I said, "Nah... I'm just watching..."
He replied, "We need one more... come on, you play." He motioned me to come to his side, where they only had four, as opposed to the five on the other side. One girl asked me if I knew Spanish, I said no. She asked me my name, and I told her "David". She then pointed to the other side, and rapidly began to spew out names... "Thass Carlos, thass Melindo, thass Manuel, thass..." but she said them so quickly, I could barely keep up. They knew my name, though... as we played, I could hear Louis, the guy who called me to play, call my name out "daveed! daveed!" when the ball came my way--and I delivered pretty much 100 percent, thank you very much.


The court in which I served for the Lord, and where Louis got racked.

I asked one girl, Laidy, where they were all from, and she said that the side I was on was the Colombian side, and the other side was pretty much all Peruvian. I ended up meeting Louis, Laidy, Charlie, Neilton and a few others that I can't remember, and we played for about 30 minutes... until...

...one play that lasted forever, but we got the point. However, Louis ended up slamming his foot onto the wooden volleyball post... he limped off, and we all went over to look. The bone was sticking out of his second toe, the one next to his big toe, and in a matter of seconds, it was puffed up huge and already blue. I looked at Laidy and said "I guess the game is over."

He was saying that it didn't hurt, and I was like, "Dude, that's not cool at all, man." A few of the guys helped him up, and they started walking away with him to take him to the hospital. Then, I took a flier out of my backpack, turned to Laidy, and said, "Hey, we're having a family festival here on Wednesday night. Free food, free music and such... you guys should all come out." She smiled big, said thanks, and I shook some hands and waved goodbye.

The rest of the evening wasn't nearly as eventful, as we all met back at the front, and then went to eat dinner at Bennigans... or at least, Cindy & Mark, Anna Lynn & Coach Tim and myself. After dinner, we got here and met up with everyone around 830pm to talk about the day and tomorrow.

And that brings me to right now, actually. Its 11 after 11, so I'll give you some quick prayer requests:

--Pray that all the volleyball guys & gals maybe show up on Wednesday. And for Louis, that he'll be fine.
--A girl named Marie who works in the Daily Grind Cafe. She's Haitian, she's been here 17 years, and she asked us to pray for her, and for strength. Her husband is still in Haiti, as is her children, and she wants to see them brought over. Her kids are Samir (6) and Jaden (2), and her roommate Precious is pregnant and has been in the hospital for a few days. So, pray for Marie, and pray that we'll have an opportunity to share with her, especially Coach Tim who has really connected with her.
--Pray for Wednesday night's Family Festival. Its in Cove Island Park, which is, as you can tell now, a huge place for families, and a huge chance to connect with a lot of people in the area.
--As always, keep the team in your prayers as we go about day-to-day.
--I've read encouraging notes from Tebe, Randy Latta and my dear Stephanie, so I thank you guys for the props and prayers. I love you guys!

Until tomorrow's day begins, which it will in about six hours...

Trees of life are blooming, Your word plants the seed and we feel it growing,
Your kindness leading to repentance, and we see traces of deliverance, Lord, thank You for mercy
Oh, can you hear it? It’s the song of the redeemed
The pursuit of passion for the One who set us free
Oh can you hear it? We’re crying out for more
So listen to our song It’s turning into a holy roar
A holy roar
Rivers of renewal, Spirit whisper a revival
And send us rushing, Lord send us rushing.
Open hearts with hopes of unity
We’re servants to love in lost humanity
Lord send us reaching
And we come rejoicing and singing and crying out to You, Lord
Can You hear the holy roar
As we respond to Who You are and all that You have done Lord with our lives, with all that we are
We return to You, Oh God
You are holy God
We lay down our lives, our songs, these tears, Lord
Can You hear the holy roar?
These cries, these prayers…
Can You hear the holy roar?
Still hear the holy roar

Next... NYC'06 Entry #4: Moments

NY'06 Entry #2: Encounter(s) in Stamford

Before we begin... I love you and miss you Steph! Wish you were here serving beside me, but since you're there, I'll be encouraged in knowing you love me and are praying for me!

Okay, let's play a game. I'll give you some words to unscramble and it will make a key phrase that will describe the main advantage of the Holiday Inn Select over last year's spot, the West Side Inn... ready? The phrase to unscramble is: "conditioning air".

Did you guess air conditioning? You're right! Yay for you!!!! (of course, an even better phrase is listed under the comments section of the West Side Inn page-- it says "welcome to hell")

Our first full day here in Stamford, CT, is almost over... its about 1025pm EST, and I'm sitting in the lobby lounge typing out the day's info. This is such a stark contrast over last year, I don't even know where to begin... I mean, no sweat pouring down my face, no naked foriegn ladies coming out of the nearby rooms, no $5 per hour to use the internet--well, actually, to use the internet here is free, but you have to rent the one computer at $.69 per minute... for you Alabama folk, that works out to about $7 per TEN MINUTES... which will run you about $40 per hour. Luckily, three different people brought laptops this time around, so I'm on Chuck's laptop now.

Feeling a little weird, cause I'm drinking a Sprite I ordered from the bar ($1.86, plus tip--$3, and I didn't even get the whole can), and it looks like a mixed drink. So, here I am working on updating a blog full of God and prayers, drinking what looks to be a Vodka Spritzer. Who knew.

The day started early, early, early... if you read the previous blog posted at about 4am Saturday morning, you'll know that I'm running on about an hour & a half sleep... this will be a factor later, but for now, just know I got to the church around 445am, meeting up with the vans. Larry Long, a participant on last year's team, and Ken Mackey, husband of last year's participant and this year's Barnabas Partner header-upper Paula, drove the vans.

Mark & Cindy Warner, Jennifer & Georgia Ann Boutwell, Margie & Gary Eubanks and the two Eubanks hobbits Josh and Meagan, Chuck and Danielsahn, Coach Tim Harrington and daughter AnnaLynn, Faith Pierson and her two teens Abby & Nathan and Yours Truly (Emily was going to meet us later in NYC, having come earlier in the week) all piled into the two vans and headed for the Birmingham World Renowned International Aerospace and Nautical Port. Last year, P-Wat (Philip Waters) had us there at like, 2am for what was seemingly like a 7am flight, so this time, Mark relaxed the time constraints just slightly.

We all checked at curb-side with no problem, except for the check-in guy telling Mark in a not-so-subtle fashion that "we work on tips, man..." So we all gave him a few bucks and it made him happy.

Had a bagel in one of the airport cafes, and then we boarded. Margie was expressing slight concern over the size of the plane, and how small it was, and Gary piped up "at least we don't have to walk across the runway to get to it."

The seating was all weird like... I actually had a seat with Margie, Gary and Josh, while their four year old daughter was sitting five rows up... so Meagan and I switched out, which planted me next to Mark. Faith Pierson sat across the aisle with some strange guy, while Coach Tim and Anna Lynn sat in front of us. Cindy was sitting diagonal from us, with a strange woman... I could have been unselfish and traded to let the Warner's sit together, but by the time I realized what was going on, I was already settled in. I apologized later, if that means anything.

The flight was uneventful, as it should be, and we landed in La Guardia Airport in NYC a little over two hours later... and we stepped off the plane onto the runway to walk to the terminal. Grabbed our bags, and met up with Landon Reesor, church planter and pastor of Encounter Church in Stamford, CT.

We took a shuttle over to Budget Rent-a-Car, where we were supposed to get two larger vans that we would drive to Stamford, about 45 minutes away, just across the NY state line. Well, it worked out that the vans were gone, but they gave us four minivans for the same price. So there was tons of room for everyone in the vans, and Landon had a minivan of his own. I rode with him, and we chatted about life, church, seeker vs. builder churchs, sex in God's eyes and even more. Interesting discussion.

We arrived at the Holiday Inn Select around 1245pm, and we able to check in not long after that. Within walking distance was Taco Bell, McDonald's, Subway and Starbucks, so everyone went to drop their stuff off and made their way to lunch. I started walking with Chuck and Danielsahn when we realized it was raining... so we dashed back in and grabbed Chuck's minivan, out of the four we have, to drive to McDonald's, getting totally turned around the in the process. Chuck is on the phone while chatting with his under-the-weather daughter, which distracts him and is probably the root cause for him turning down the wrong way of a one way street.

We found McDonalds (after finding the on ramp to I-90 first) and parked down the road. By this time, it had poured rain, and was still raining a good bit, so we made a run for it. Not having a son in tow made it easier for me to move quicker, so I went on down to Subway. A few minutes later, Mark & Cindy showed up, followed by G-Ann (Georgia Ann) and J-Bo (Jennifer)... they had all walked, so they were soaked. We had a quick lunch, then went next door to McDonalds to see that K-Swiss (Emily's new nickname) had joined us.

Margie & Chuck and The Hobbits were already eating their lunch, while Coach Tim and Anna Lynn apparently had eaten at the hotel's little "Daily Grind" cafe. I had seen the Piersons eating earlier, but they had disappeared. I walked on down to Starbucks, talked to some of the partners there, got some coffee, then walked back to find that everyone except for the Eubanks had disappeared. So, they finished eating, we all walked back to Starbucks and they indulged in some hot tasty beverages (with my partner discount, natch) and then we strolled into the library, which has the 'Bucks attached to it.

At three, we met in the lobby of the hotel, meeting up with Alan and his son Nate. Alan is interning with Landon at Encounter, so he walked us over to the Unitarian Universalist Church were Encounter meets for their Saturday night services.

Landon explained to us a little about this church... first, its a blessing that the UUC actually lets Encounter rent space, because Encounter's doctrine is much like Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship's) doctrine, and the UUC is pretty much... well, not.

It started out as two churches, the Universalist sect and the Unitarian sect, with the former believing in multiple ways to get to God, and the latter believing in one God, one way. In the 1950s, however, due to low membership of both, for whatever reason, they merged the churches to be Unitarian Universalist, keeping the "however you can there" mentality. Its evolved from a doctrine into more of a spiritual philosophy at this point. Kind of like a "religious free for all". In their sanctuary, they actually have a Hinduism flag, a Star of David flag, a lotus flower/Buddhism flag, a yin-yang Taoism flag, an Islamic symbol flag and a Christian Cross flag, all hanging up side by side, none greater or less than the other. Quite remarkable.

Landon says there is one lady who come on Saturday night to help set up for the UUC Sunday service, and they've been able to talk to her, but I didn't get her name.

Our jobs this afternoon was to take a few 8oz bottles of water and some fliers for the Family Festival on Wednesday and the VBS "daycamps" that are happening during the week, and pass them out to people we see. Landon stressed the importance of shedding labels of everyone, and how much different "Christians" are looked at here as opposed to down South.

I walked out with G-Ann, K-Swiss and J-Bo, each of us carrying a few bottles and some fliers. This is the part where I reveal to you my failures in this area. I love people, I love talking to people, and if I'm sitting in a lobby like the one I'm in now, or in a cafe or wherever, and an opportunity comes up to talk to people, I love it... but just walking up to people and handing them stuff? Not so much. And for the three ladies I was with, they said it was a shortcoming with them too...

We walked up the streets a little while, talking to people, giving out some water, telling about our events coming up. K-Swiss talked to some cops, while G-Ann talked to a guy named Gordon Smith, who was just as nice as he could be. He asked out our group, and what we were doing, so G-Ann got to share a little bit. I spoke to a guy named Robert Douglas, who seemed bothered by the fact that he might have to pay for parking on Cove Island, which is apparently an important and affluent enough place to have parking fees.

Margie and Gary had talked to another guy named Joe on their ventures... Joe is a former Catholic, lost his entire family (no one told me why, or even if they knew, but I didn't ask) and is pretty angry at God. Perhaps we'll see him at the Family Festival.

By 445, we returned to Encounter to gather for the 5pm Saturday service... this is essentially the Sunday morning service, but since UUC meets then, Encounter does theirs Saturday night. A guy named... Kevin?... anyway, he was the Worship Leader Guy, and he led us in some worship, as most worship leader guys do.


The Worship Leader Guy, whatever his name may be

One song he got into was rather amusing, and he started over like, four times because he couldn't find the key. Finally, he started playing something else, deadpanning "That song was dumb anyway." Cracked us all up.

After a few songs, Landon came up, introduced himself to the group and the newcomers, and there were a few, and gave the "stand up, speak to someone you don't know" talk. Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship) does this, like many churches, I'm sure, but V'dale only give you maybe 30 seconds before they launch into another song, signaling its time for you to sit down again. And so you have half a minute to find about two people to connect with in a church with about 2,000 people in.... not Encounter. Landon gave us, like, ten minutes. Not counting the 17 of us, there were about 12 people there, so we had a chance to connect, reconnect, re-reconnect and even rededicate our lives.


A group shot during worship, led by the Worship Leader Guy

Here's where the tired part that I mentioned comes in. Its raining again outside, there is a big oscillating fan going, its slightly warm, but not too hot in this room, and Landon is speaking into a muffled microphone, so I'm only catching half of what he's saying, and I'm in the fourth row. And this is bad for me, because I'm going down hard... my head is bobbing, my eyes are jerking open after drifting closed... 90 minutes of sleep for what has been essentially the last 36 hours is now smacking me in the face with a number one stick.

At one point, K-Swiss, sitting next to me, elbows me because I was out. I jerk my head up to see Cindy looking back with her "you'd better wake up" look. And Landon is not boring... he's giving a solid lesson on Acts 5:33-42, though I can't tell you solidly what its about. And, love the guy, but he's a long prayer guy... and on a day like this, this is bad for everyone who has a plane ticket with "Birmingham" on it.

Mark later points out that this is almost necessary... in a place like Stamford, where church attendance is in the low single digits in percentage, you may only have one shot to present the gospel to people. You don't know when and if they will ever come back to Encounter or anywhere else, so every week, its all got to be added in.

Finally, the service ends--again, a good service, I'm just not in a place to take on a service unless there's charismatic dancing involved to keep me awake--and I notice Margie talking to a woman named Maria. It seems that she's lost custody of her three daughters, she's living a hard life and she writes poetry. There was an article in the Stamford paper (Landon had let me read it earlier when we were driving over) about the recent Southern Baptist missions movement to plant churches across the country, especially in the New York area, and it mentioned Encounter in one line. Maria had come based on that mention in the paper.

In fact, several new faces were there tonight... Gary, Margie and Mark prayed with Maria over her issues and life, so that's a prayer request for you.

We did get to meet up with Todd & Sharon, the couple that we met last summer on our one day visit to Stamford, and they are doing well. Very good to see them, and I'll try to get a picture up before this trip is over, so you can put a name to a face.

Everyone headed down to Lucky's for dinner, a Johnny Rocket's type place that we had eaten at last year--with Todd and Sharon, as a matter of fact. Coach Tim, Anna Lynn, Chucky and Danielsahn sat at the bar, K-Swiss, the Piersons, and JBo and G-Ann sat in a booth, so Mark & Cindy, Eubanks and The Hobbits and myself sat at a long table in the back.

Someone made a good point about Encounter over dinner... "(paraphrasing) Here we sit in a 2,000 member church, we complain when the temperature isn't right, we make a fuss when the preacher isn't saying what we want him to say, we complain over the littlest things when we've got every ammenity we could need, and when we don't like it, what do we do? We move out, go down the road and just start another church... when places like this have handfuls of people just looking for somewhere to go, we don't go where we are needed..." Warranted mentioning.

After dinner, the group walked towards the hotel together, while Margie, Mark and I were going to break off and go to the five story Target--two stories of Target, three stories of parking, because I needed saline solution and Margie needed makeup.

On the way, I met Bruce. He's a rugged ol' soul who smelled a little like alcohol, so when he asked me for a few dollars, he wasn't shy about why--"food... something to drink... cigerettes and beer?" I told him I would take him to McDonald's, and he seemed to oblige.


Bruce and I, Outside of Mickey D's

He then told me that he'd rather have the money, that he'd go down to the diner for some other food, but I told him "Sorry, man... I don't have alot of money, so McDonald's is all I can afford... but if you don't want it, that's cool." He quickly smiled and said he'd love the food. I took him into the restaurant, and bought him two Big Macs and a large Coke ($8.55? What a rip!). I talked to him for a minute (didn't find out anything substantial), shook his hand and told him I loved him and Jesus loved him too. I then told him that Encounter Church was just down the road, and would love to see him next Saturday night.

For whatever reason, God has a habit of putting hungry souls in my path... I've bought McD's or street hot dogs or K-Mart pizza slices for countless people, some I've prayed with, some I just gave a hug too, but I really enjoy doing it. I'm sure it will come up again.

After Target, we all made our way back and I grabbed Chuck's computer... thanks to Emily, I figured out how to put pics on the site... btw, in my tired mind while I was nodding at church, I thought this: "Jennifer... I should call her J-Bout. No, J-Bo. And instead of typing out Georgia Ann everytime, I'll call her G-Ann. Emily is a good kid. She's like a kid sister or something. I could call her Kid Sister. Or even Kid Sis. That sounts like K-Swiss. So from here on out, I'll call her K-Swiss or Kid Sis. I like that." I wish I were kidding.

J-Bo and K-Swiss went to their room about an hour ago, so here it is, 1140pm EST.

Here are the things you can keep in your prayers:

• Maria. Don't know what she's dealing with, but, like all of us, she could use some Jesus in her life.
• Bruce, Joe, Robert Douglas and Gordon Smith. God put them in our path, even if it was for just a brief, encouraging conversation.
• The Team. We don't have to be anywhere until 10am tomorrow, so we can all get some sleep tonight--by the time some of you read this (on Sunday), we'll be just getting up, have been up for a while, or might be getting ready for bed on Sunday night... either way, pray for renewal each day, emotionally, physically and spiritually.
• Boldness. With K-Swiss, G-Ann and J-Bo, I learned I'm not the only one who might struggle with a spirit of boldness, so pray that we are are unashamed to be Christ Followers in our witnessing.

So, thats Day One. A long blog (but you knew it would be, didn't you?) but this time, with pictures!

I'll close with this... its a song we sang in worship, one of my all time favorite worship songs, about growing closer to Christ, closer to his life, closer to his death and to become like Him in His risen life...

All I once held dear, built my life upon... All this world reveres, and wars to own... All I once thought gain I have counted lossSpent and worthless now, compared to this
Knowing you, Jesus, Knowing you, there is no greater thing... You’re my all, you’re the best... You’re my joy, my righteousness... And I love you, Lord
Now my heart’s desire is to know you more... To be found in you and known as yours... To possess by faith what I could not earn... All-surpassing gift of righteousness
Oh, to know the power of your risen life... And to know You in Your sufferings... To become like you in your death, my Lord... So with you to live and never die (this last verse just encourages me so much...)

See you tomorrow.

Next... NYC'06 Entry #3... The Truth is Served