Buddy Champion

El Salvador Mission Trip Saturday Evening Update

Another day in El Salvador which means….another day of rain. It has rained every day since we have been here. But today there was even more rain because Tropical Storm Agatha has hit! The rain didn’t stop us from our task and we had a great day of ministry.

This morning we worked with the youth from Candace’s church. We swam, played soccer, threw the football, played soccer some more, played Uno, played Wii and then played soccer some more. They absolutely love soccer and they put us to shame when we played with them. They stayed until lunch time and as they were leaving the 22 orphans we visited on Wednesday came to us. We were so happy to see them again. Kevin Johnson, one of children’s ministry summer interns, taught the Bible story until free time (and yes, soccer was involved once again). After eating pizza and snow cones we gave them each a new set of clothes donated by our church members We were also able to provide each child with a brand new Bible that was appropriate for their reading level. I wish you could have seen some of their faces when they received their clothes and Bibles. Like we mentioned in the earlier blog, we had the chance to give them some new mattresses and pillows for the kids who did not have either.

Thanks to your giving to FBCT we were able to provide these incredible gifts to the boys. It was hard not to get emotional seeing them load into the back what looked like a U-Haul truck and just hold on for their hour ride up to the orphanage on a dirt road. I have seen animals that have traveled in better conditions than these precious kids. As they left they all asked us, “Please say that we will see you again.” We have all learned so much from this trip, but probably the greatest lesson we have learned is just how blessed we are.

Tomorrow (Sunday) we will go to church where we will participate in the service by preaching and sharing testimonies. Depending on the path of the Tropical Storm we may have the afternoon to go sightseeing before we head back to Birmingham on Monday. Thank you so much for your prayers.

El Salvador Mission Trip Saturday Update

Had a great, rainy day in El Salvador yesterday.

We spoke at a school full of 1st – 6th graders and continued to talk about honesty and then presented the Gospel. We saw many of them come to Christ. Afterwards we went to a mall and found a Christian bookstore and bought the kids at the orphanage Bibles and books. We also bought pillows for all of them since most didn’t have one (or had an old piece of foam). We’ll be presenting all of this tomorrow to them at the church when they come over to hang out.

After shopping, we returned to the same school and spoke to high school students. We discussed the importance of sexual purity and how we should live our lives according to God’s plans, not what culture tells us. We had the opportunity to share the gospel. The teachers and faculty were very appreciative of our visit and told us to come back any time.

We have been able to share the gospel with hundreds of students this week while they are in class….that still blows our minds!

Then it was time to set up for the movie but the bottom fell out of the sky and rained the movie out. But we ended up having great fellowship with the people of Vida Nueva over dinner.

The highlight of the night was at dinner when we taught Kenneth, our 18 year old translator, how to say “waffle fries” and “Chick-fil-a.” Can you guess which adult encouraged this English lesson? After teaching him this he is definitely ready for his visit to the States!

We are excited to see what God has in store for Saturday. We will be meeting and hanging out with some of Candace’s kids from church. Tomorrow afternoon the orphans that we have made friends with will be coming to the church to play games and swim if the weather allows. Later tomorrow night we will be holding a reception for the new believers from this week. Keep praying as we continue to talk and encourage them.

El Salvador Mission Trip Friday Update

Today was another great and safe day in El Salvador. Some highlights are:

Today we had an opportunity to speak to a private school…there is a big difference between a public and private school here (private school is much better)!
The question of the day: How do you say Imodium and Pepto Bismol in Spanish? Yes…the Latin American cuisine has hit!
Cindy and Joy continue to keep us on task.
Chad is the popular man today…he has the meds!
This afternoon I traveled in a 15 passenger bus…with 24 people… to an orphanage in a very rural section of El Salvador. Candace has been caring for 10 of these boys for over 5 years. If you are reading this in America…thank God for His goodness to you!!!
We spent time with 22 orphan boys, gave them a new change of clothes, hung new crimson (yes I had a problem with that) curtains in their rooms and put new bed sheets on their beds. It was a cool afternoon.
Tonight we ate some American food…Pizza Hut in an attempt to calm some digestive systems. Pizza for that? Oh well…maybe it will help.
Taylor and Andrew are having a great week. Andrew is picking up a lot of Spanish.
Macie is speaking Spanish like she knows what she is saying…apparently 6 years of Spanish really does teach you something!
Our translators are incredible people…wish we could bring them to the states so you could meet them!
Today three of us traveled back on the bus…with 21 people from El Salvador…the “greengos” sat in the back of the bus…I laughed to myself. They are great people to hang out with.

More schools tomorrow and Kid’s Clubs in a neighborhood!

El Salvador Mission Trip Thursday Update

Today was another great day in El Salvador. We continue to touch many lives and our team is honoring the Lord in incredible ways! Here are a few thoughts from the day:

It is amazing how receptive the Salvadorians are to the gospel. They are kind to give us their time and attention.
We had another opportunity to share in the public schools about honesty and purity and then share the Gospel with each classroom. It is awesome to see a classroom of children with their heads on their desk praying out loud…asking Jesus to be their Savior.
Today, a few of our guys…Matt and Kevin got involved in a “pick up” basketball game at the school playground.
The funny question of the day was a classroom of girls wanted to know if Johnny was single…Blake asked if they wanted to know if he was single and they said…not really!
Blake tried to buy 9 (nueve) chicken strips and came back with a box of 12 pieces of chicken, 12 rolls, 1 order of French fries and half a liter of pepsi. We laughed…and ate chicken!
Tonight our movie was rained out but was still had a chance to share Christ with moms who brought their kids to the park for our activities and then we walked through the neighborhood sharing the gospel.
Candace and Vlady rock…they are doing an awesome job for Christ!

Keep praying and thank you for being a church that believes in the Great Commission!

El Salvador Mission Trip Wednesday Update

All arrived in El Salvador and in good shape.

Yesterday we spoke to a school and shared Christ in classrooms. Several children prayed to receive Christ! What an awesome sight! Afterwards we went door to door, witnessing and inviting families to a kids club in the park and movie. Had a great turn out there. So amazing to get to share Christ with families as they came to watch the movie.

We’re heading back into schools today to share with other classrooms. Pray for a great explosion of decisions. Tonight we’ll enjoy another movie with families.

On Thursday, we will attend church with Candace and Vlady Vasquez. We’re praying for a great experience of worship as the Body of Christ.

One quick highlight: Johnny Dailey is a rock star over here. He had to sign over 100 autographs because of his guitar playing for a classroom. Rock on Johnny D!

Continue to pray for our team as we serve Him this week.

Stress Relievers

Last Sunday I asked you to send a text and let me know how you handle stress. Here are the results of our very “scientific” (not really but that sounds official!) poll:

How We Handle Our Stress?

Physical Activity            31%
Eat                                18%
Rest                              18%
Verbal Expressions       14%
Turn to God                   9%
Other                           10%

We will continue to learn each week how God’s Word gives us practical tips for reducing the stressful lives that we are living. See you Sunday!

Reflections

It was another great weekend! Perhaps…one of the best in recent memory? How could that be? When was the last time we baptized over 30 people in one day? It is always encouraging to see people follow Jesus’ example of baptism by immersion, take the first steps of obedience in their walk with Christ and publicly confess Jesus as their Savior. That is good stuff!

Sunday we baptized 33 in one special service!
It is great to see the complete body of Christ shift their schedules for something fantastic.
We still have a large group of people that need to be baptized. Pray for them to take the next steps with Christ.
God added new family members to the church Sunday morning. That’s always exciting.
Sunday night, 15 more people indicated they would like to make FBCT their home in our Membership Class.
We had good attendance in our Membership Class. It is cool to see people understand that we are Committed to God, Know His Ways and Do His Work…Because It’s All About Him!

Tonight, we will have our basketball awards night at 6:00 in the Worship Center. It will be an awesome night to reach out to our families in a unique way. I hope you are planning to come and see the conclusion of months of hard work by an army of volunteers.

This Sunday we will learn a little bit more about “Who Is Jesus?” Our topic on Sunday will be that He is THE Savior of the world! Bring a friend to any of the four worship service options and their lives will be blessed.

Team Impact – Amazing!

What can we say about Team-Impact? Wow…the humble giant servants served the Lord and many lives were changed! Reflect on these numbers for just a few minutes:

50 School Assemblies
17,470 students spoken to in three days
Capacity crowds filled our sanctuary each night
521 Decisions were made
413 Salvations
108 Recommitments
Of the decisions made,
- 101 were from FBCT
- 131 did not list a church home
- 289 were visitors from area churches

When was the last time we had that many people at God’s altar? It was amazing.

The great thing is, you were a part of eternity changing for hundreds of people! You served, you gave, you prayed…you gave God a platform that He could bless and touch many hearts and lives! Go God!

This Sunday is going to be awesome! We will start a new series called “Who Is Jesus.” Watch this teaser: [wpvideo PJ5NsE6C] Also, this Sunday we will have a special baptism service in the sanctuary for everyone at 10:30. Make plans to be there and see some of those that made decisions take the next steps in their new life with Christ!

A Real Team Impact

Tonight we have finished the Friday night event of Team Impact! I hope you have experienced these humble servants who love the Lord and have a passion to share what Christ has done in their lives. They began sharing their ministry with us on Wednesday morning and during the week the team has spoken to 50 assemblies which totaled over 17,470 students. In our evening services we have seen 299 boys, girls, students and adults come to a personal relationship with Christ. The great news is that we still have Saturday and Sunday nights remaining!

Some Highlights:

The First Baptist Army is truly Doing His work!
Great character education assemblies provided to local schools free of charge thanks to generous corporate sponsors.
Giant men with even bigger servant hearts.
Countless stories of friends, neighbors, relatives, co-workers, fiancés, students, etc – coming to Christ.
People inviting others to Team Impact!
A church staff laying it on the line 24/7 in order to get the job done.
Receptive and appreciative schools that really appreciate FBCT and corporations caring about their students.

The list could go on and on. I hope you have experience the IMPACT!
See ya Saturday night!

Sunday, February 14 Reflections

The best news from this past weekend…it didn’t snow on Saturday night! That is always a bummer for those of us who are weekend warriors. Friday brought about some cool scenes but still adjusted some events that were scheduled during the weekend. Sunday was another good day around FBCT!

• God continues to add new families to the fellowship…that always makes for a good day!

• We did a much better job parking across Chalkville Road this week…but we still ran out of parking places. This week we will have more options for parking so that we can continue to reach people…including you!

• We had 1540 in our small groups and 1808 worshipping together in the four different options. That’s a great winter Sunday!

• We have 53 fourth graders at church yesterday!! We had to move tables out of the classrooms and do their worksheets in their laps!! Isn’t that awesome…wait a minute…we have to fix that problem! We will!

• We had 155 in children’s worship with only 6 empty chairs…that’s not much space for growth.

• Don’t fret…A Night To Remember…that we can’t remember has been rescheduled for Friday, March 5, 2010, 6:00-8:30pm! Keep your dancing shoes out and invite a friend!

• The city wide TEAM food drive got off to a great start. It will continue through the week and you are welcome to place your items in the bins located in the mission area.

• Did you notice how many we had to dedicate themselves and their children to the Lord Sunday? Pray for dry weather so we can get the new building ready!!!

• Team Impact is coming!!! More on that in the coming days. Keep praying.

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