operation STM: Hilton Head!

STM = Short Term Mission

Our mission: engage Hilton Head, SC with the love and hope of Jesus!

2 weeks ago today, my co-leader Katy and I arrived in Hilton Head to prepare for our team from Wisconsin to arrive and get settled before their week of ministry there.

They were a group of 19 youth and 3 adult leaders from Wisconsin. (Needless to say they were a little overwhelmed by the level of humidity on the island. But we ALL were!) After about 16 hours of DRIVING, they made it in time for some pizza, house rules, and to slump into bed exhausted.

Our day to day schedule went a little like this:

7:00 am – wake up

7:30 am – breakfast/devotional/announcement time

8:40 am – load the buses for ministry!

9 am – 12 pm = AM MINISTRY!

12 – 1 pm = lunch

1 – 4:30 pm = AFTERNOON MINISTRY!

4:30 pm – 5:30 pm FREE TIME

5:30 – 6:30 pm = DINNER

7:00 – 9:00 pm = worship, debrief, teaching time

10:00 pm = LIGHTS OUT!

(LONG days = tired youths AND leaders! haha)

(Katy and I with the church youth leaders:

back – [L to R] Jordan, me, and Courtney

front – Tina & my co-leader Katy!)

[We may or may not have finished this whole tub of ice cream in one sitting…]

Our ministries for the week included:

1. the Children’s Center – which provides lower priced childcare for the community

2. Bloom – a nursing home on the island

3. SOAR – a program that works with kids with special needs in the community

4. Memory Matters – a day center for those facing Alzheimer’s and dementia

5. Deep Well – a community food pantry/construction organization helping repair homes that need some love

6. PELC (Providence Early Learning Center) – our host church’s daycare center.

In addition to these ministries, we took one day from the week to do a teaching for half the day and then switched our groups. This teaching was on Listening Prayer where we discussed what it looks like to hear the voice of God.

We drew from Scripture and shared our own experiences as leaders and created a space for the kids to hear from God what He wanted to say to them about Himself and also what He had to say THROUGH them to other kids in the youth group.

Let me just say I was BLOWN AWAY at how the kids boldly and vulnerably listened for the Lord’s voice and shared whether they thought it was accurate or not! We shared with them that we continually can become more tuned in to God’s voice as we spend time with Him in His Word and in community so that His voice is clearer and clearer. All of this is so we can FOLLOW and obey what He’s leading us to in any moment.

Well…. GOD MOVED in MIGHTY ways!!!!

SO many of the youth heard the voice of God for the first time! They shared that this was so eye-opening to them.. that they could actually pray and talk to God and HEAR HIM TALK BACK! We know that this is a game-changer for them for the rest of their lives on their journeys with the Lord. If they took NOTHING ELSE away from our time together in Hilton Head, we were praying that they would learn to hear and discern God’s voice for themselves. What do our words matter compared to HIS speaking straight to their own spiritual ears?!

As I’ve heard it said: there is no kid-sized Holy Spirit. When children and young adults receive Jesus, they have the fullness of His Spirit dwelling in them as well! So what if we treated them like they can hear Him too and encouraged them to take ownership of what it means to steward this reality and LIVE connected to God and in constant communication with Him?

WOW!

It was a week of dependence upon the Lord for my co-leader Katy and I, and it was also a week for those youth leaders to watch the kids they see each week engage in ministry and be challenged to go outside of their comfort zones in so many ways. Even though Katy and I didn’t know the kids before the trip, we saw such CHANGE happen in so many of them in a matter of DAYS. That is the power of God’s love working in and through them as they were loved by Him, so touched, and then so overjoyed to share that love with the people in each ministry we came into contact with!

I didn’t expect these kids to steal my heart and didn’t expect that I would miss them, but I already do! Please be in prayer with me that ALL God did in them this past week would be sealed in their lives and spirits! That is would all simply be a springboard for more and more learning and following Jesus the rest of their lives in each individual way that their Father intends to work that out in His unique plans for them.

He loves them and knows them perfectly, and I know that they encountered more of God and His love in this week. I saw it on their faces in sharing about the hugs they got from younger children they spent time with, the joy the elderly people expressed that the kids brought with them into their space! I saw it in the words they heard from God to give to EACH OTHER which they shared with such boldness and compassion. And I saw it in the way they allowed us to be there with them for these 5 days.

WHAT A PRIVILEGE! And what sweet memories have been rooted in the minds of Katy and I, this youth group, and all those we embraced and got to know in Hilton Head. We pray Jesus is exalted and LOVED more and more because of our presence there and HIS Presence that was with us in each moment.

Praise God for these youth, the beautiful island of Hilton Head, and the opportunity through CGA to pour out and LOVE in this way to these youth!