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Even though today is the last day of World Changers Evansville, we all know that its never “goodbye” but “Ill see you later.” Even if we dont see one another on this side of Heaven we all know that one day we will see each other again as we party it up in Heaven. We were challenged to continue to share the love of Jesus Christ when we get back home, creating a search party for God’s missing children. We as Christians should be out sharing and searching for His lost children, shining the light on them and picking them up, giving them to His warm embrace.
This week has been packed full of saw dust, paint chips, evangelism, worship, and Christ centered messages that would totally blow your socks off! As we all know nothing is ever complete until the cow sings. Thats right some of the participants taught the Chick-Fil-A Cow the World Changers and it was all caught on tape. As you anxiously await your family’s arrival home, rest assured that they had a wonderful week and experienced God like never before. Because of their wonderful evangelistic efforts here in Evansville, His kingdom grew by 9 more people!
Here at Evansville, Indiana we have made the choice to go and serve Christ in communities, sharing His great love and helping His people. Tonight we gave money to three great ministries. These three ministries, Kaleo, Urban Evangelism, and Current Canada are all supported by the missions offering collected here at World Changers. The money the students give enables other students to go an serve in these areas. Finally, we are glorifying God by living our life for Him.
We were challenged tonight to go, give, and glorify, not only here but back home. We were reminded of the woman who used her tears and hair to clean the feet of Jesus. Even though she had very little, she gave all that she had for this man, Jesus Christ, whom she knew could save her. It was her faith that cleansed her of her sin, and it is her story that reminds us that in order to fully serve the God we claim to love we must give it all up for His sake because it was never ours in the first place.
As we prepare for tomorrow be praying for the community. There were 6 salvations today alone, and many more seeds planted. As the participants finish up at their worksites they will be going out into the community to share the love of Jesus Christ. Be praying that God speaks through all of us and opens doors, giving us an opportunity, but more importantly opens their hearts to be receptive to Him.
Hammers pounding, shingles flying, and siding going up… needless to say the participants were tearing the work site up! Some of the houses are expected to finish tomorrow, how crazy is that???
Not only was there quite a bit of work going on concerning the construction side of World Changers but some hard core evangelism went on today. While students were out sharing the love of Christ they were able to lead two people to Christ. One site informed us that they take an evangelism break from noon until 2pm.
The best part about the day didnt happen on the work site but here at the facility where the students eat, sleep, and most importantly praise their Heavenly Father. While dropping a hammer on the work site is typically considered a bad thing that was the challenge raised in tonight’s Concert of Prayer.
Anthony challenged the students to drop the hammer that they use to daily drive the nails into their Savior’s hands. Tonight he told the Greatest Love Story Ever Ever Told to the students, the story of Christ dying for them, the most horrific murder known to man. While telling the story we heard the hammer pound the nails that pierced the sinless and perfect hands of Jesus Christ. Our hammer is our sin, and it is our sin that He died for. Our hammer, our sin, is what killed the most precious person in our lives.
We are incredibly excited to see how God works tomorrow on the sites, especially after the powerful message tonight. Be praying that tonight’s message moved the students and they realized the need for them to share the gift they have been given in Jesus Christ. We have been given a holy and perfect gift and it would be selfish to share that gift. Pray for the community of Evansville that hearts are broken and walls are torn down.
Dusty, dirty, and down right determined definitely applied to the crews today. While a few of them ended early they were all covered in evidence of their hard work today. Taking the time to talk to participants about the day was overwhelming in terms of trying to comprehend the amount of work that was accomplished in just one day.
Thank goodness the excitement didnt just end at the work site! Anthony brought another Spirit filled message tonight. The room was dark as students spoke with their Creator, taking the time to listen to what He was saying to them. Tonight was our time to get right with God, a time to reconnect and prepare ourselves spiritually for the rest of the week. Tonight’s service was just a prelude of what’s to come in tomorrow’s Concert of Prayer.
Be expecting stories of how God moves tomorrow night. Make sure to be praying that God will break us, humble us, and bring us to our knees at the foot of the cross tomorrow night. Encourage your youth and adults to send the participants from your church who are here, in Indiana, E-couragrams, and even pray for them by name in those E-couragrams. If you are looking for an excuse to call your family here, tomorrow will be a great night because you will have the opportunity to hear how God moves in the special worship service planned.
After a wonderful wake up call from the Brady Bunch singing over the intercom, feet could be heard scuffling through the halls as everyone rushed to the Encouragram Wall to find out what crew they were on. While everyone may have arrived yesterday, today was when the real fun started, as it was the first full day of World Changers Evansville and it certainly was an eventful one! After the participants found out their crew assignment they had the opportunity to meet one another during crew chats. Shortly after crew chats, local churches escorted each crew to their church where the crews attended service and were fed wonderful home cooked lunches.
Soon after lunch was over the crews piled into their vehicles of choice and headed over to check out their work site and meet the homeowner. While out at the site this afternoon they also took some time to go around and meet the neighbors, telling them who they were and what the were here to do in Evansville.
Sounds exciting right? Well thats not even the half of it, the real excitement came when Jesus Christ spoke through Anthony tonight during worship. Anthony challenged us to shake the thresholds like the angels did. He challenged us to worship like Isaiah did, and spoke of the power that could come from that.
Be praying this week that the students will shake the threshold with their voices praising the name of Jesus. That they will be so on fire for Christ that they will bring “Jehovah Bumps” to people when they speak His name and His great love for us. Be praying that God does something amazing here in Evansville, something that none of us could humanly do, that awakens our hearts and brings the community of Evansville alive, striving after the heart of Jesus Christ our Lord and our Savior.
Today thirteen churches arrived in Evansville, Indiana form nine different states to share the love of Christ with the community here in Evansville. Many of these participants are taking vacation time away from their families to be in Evansville. Instead of laying out at the beach, playing at the pool, or going to the movies with friends, they were in worship praising their Lord and Savior as angels danced in Heaven at the glorious sound and beautiful sight of 272 participants honoring their Creator. These thirteen churches (Erin Baptist Church, First Baptist Church Columbia, First Baptist Church DuQuoin, First Baptist Church St. Charles, Fellowship Baptist Church, Grace Baptist Church, Meadowview Baptist Church, Midway Heights Baptist Church, Mount Zion Baptist Church, Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, Mt. Olive Baptist Church, Silver Leaf Baptist Church, Thorington Road Baptist Church) drove incredibly long hours to this small town to help transform those living here. Students and adults are gearing up as we speak to replace roofs and/or repaint 20 houses this week. The participants are having a blast getting to know one another while waiting in cafeteria lines for some yummy lasagna, exploring the facility, and playing games in the gym. Worship this week is led by Anthony Caldwell, who some believe to be the next amazing evangelist in the area!!! Anthony has an amazing gift from God to reach people on every level in their walk with Christ. Tonight he challenged us to be a set apart people for Christ. The students were also challenged to continue sharing the love of Christ when they get back home, because we as Christians have been given a precious gift that we should be delighted to share with everyone who will listen. Be sure to ask your youth how God has worked in their life because we are expecting God to do great things, and cant wait to see how lives in Evansville are transformed!!! Please pray that God will prepare the hearts of those in the community, as well as the hearts of the participants, and that the seeds will be planted in deep and rich soil.
The room is silent with anticipation as everyone is eagerly awaiting the end of our last day of training. We all know that the close of training means the start of many sleepless nights staying up late sharing project stories, long car rides full of travel games, and most importantly the changing of countless lives! We are so excited for the weeks to come.
Evansville, Indiana is anxiously awaiting your arrival, as are we. We as a staff are ready to get the projects underway and experience God’s glory as He shines in and through us in the weeks to come. Be sure to come visit us in the office whenever you get a chance because we can’t wait to hear all of the amazing things that God does on your site throughout the day.
Jessica Best is our Team Leader/Office Manager and she would love a nice sweaty hug when you arrive back form your site. Our AV this summer is Nathan Edwards, so be sure to watch for his appearance throughout the week on your site! Jared Fincher is our Music Leader and he is going platinum after this summer, we see it now! The Missions Communication Specialist for the summer is Meg Mendell, make sure to come see her on Thursday at the Missions Round Table to find out what other missions opportunities are available to you.
We hope that you are just as excited as we are, and we ask you to join us in continuing to pray for the homeowners, community, and churches in the weeks leading up to the project. So like we said… we can’t wait for your arrival so hurry up, but be safe!
