As we gathered this morning in the lobby to head out, you could tell that everyone was excited about the opportunity to serve Soul City Church. We have really loved the vision of this church and its leaders and realize that they are believing God for big things on behalf of the West Loop and the city of Chicago. Their excitement is contagious enough to have our team up and out of bed early and ready to get back to work. I have been so grateful for the way our team has been on time for everything and has been quick to look out for each other. Our guys in particular have taken on the role of protector and overseer this week and that has been a tremendous blessing!
We arrived at Soul City Church a little before 9am and had our team devotions. Mrs. Timms shared the stories of Peter and Martha and asked us to think about the distractions in our lives that cause us to miss out on what God has for us. Even in serving the Lord, we can miss out on truly knowing Him. She encouraged us to look for ways to block out those distractions in favor of a closer relationship with God.
The morning started with our team heading over to Brown Elementary school to clean up the playground, clean out the room they are using for a parent lounge, and helping them move some furniture in the school. Brown Elementary School is in a precarious situation because they are on the federal watchlist in the “No Child Left Behind” program. For the past several years, their test scores have been very low and the school is in danger of closing. If that happens, hundreds of kids will have to be bused out of their neighborhoods to other schools. Soul City Church is rallying around Brown Elementary to support their teachers, encourage their kids, and look for ways to strengthen parent involvement to try and rescue this school. Gomer and Corey were in charge of the map that gave us directions to walk the few blocks to the school and they did a tremendous job leading us!
The principal at Brown was a very nice lady and seemed extremely grateful for our help. Brittany and Blake were the captains on the playground job and Chad and Victoria were the captains on the parent lounge task. The four of them did a great job of leading by example and making sure that everyone stayed on task until the jobs were done. We had hoped to have an opportunity to spend some time with the kids, but we only got to see a few of them in the hallway as it was a very busy day at the school. We were pleased to serve knowing that we were playing a small part in trying to rescue that school.
We walked back to Soul City Church for lunch and our afternoon projects. The guys went back to do one last cleanup over at Warehouse B while the girls helped set up for the “Paint the City Green” art show that SCC is hosting Friday at 5pm. All of the pieces of art were created by kids at Brown Elementary and we had a great time looking at their special creations! The team worked hard all afternoon. There was a lot of music playing and every once in a while…a little dancing broke out. Just enough to be hilarious!
At 4pm, Dave, Jarrett, Kyle, and Katie invited our team into the auditorium for our closing time. Dave shared with the kids about what a blessing our team had been to Soul City. Jarrett talked to the kids about what it means to do something that is for the Lord and not for yourself. He thanked the team for helping them advance the gospel in the city this week. They also presented our team with Soul City mugs and other Soul City items to remember our week by. We were pleased to surprise them with a love offering that our kids contributed to. They were overwhelmed with the generosity of the team. Our kids were pumped to invest in what Soul City was doing. Isn’t it cool to see how God works those things out??!!
One last time we hopped on the “L” blue line to Jackson. Then, we hopped the brown line to downtown in time to go to the Art Institute of Chicago. We spent almost two hours checking out the museum, visiting with each other, and trying to figure out some of the artwork! It was fun to see our artists really enjoy their time there. After the museum, we headed over to Ed Debevic’s for dinner. We planned this dinner because we knew it would be fun and the last night would be a time to celebrate. It was a blast! The kids really got into the atmosphere at the restaurant and Corey, Dongho, and Mr. Masters really got things rolling as they joined the waitresses in performing YMCA. What a treat!
The kids had a few minutes of free time to pick up last minute souvenirs before heading back for one last team meeting. At our meeting, we started with singing as we have each night. What a treasure it has been to hear them lifting their voices in one accord to God. We have particularly enjoyed “You give beauty for our ashes and a hope that’s everlasting. The past has been redeemed, now forever we will sing. You can make all things news, only your power can raise us. You can make all things new, only your love can save us. All hope is not lost, cause you make all things new.” Tonight the team really sang it out!
All week long we have been praying for our secret prayer partners. Tonight we revealed who we have been praying for and something special that we have noticed about that person. Talk about some major encouragement. It was amazing to see the great lengths that everyone went to in order to encourage their prayers partners…powerful words of life were shared tonight over each student! We finished up by sharing things about the week and then made plans to check out in the morning.
I am finishing this blog just after midnight and we are meeting for team devotions at 7:15am. Pray for Kelsey as she leads us. Many of our students are headed out Saturday for church mission trips, family vacations, and other endeavors as Spring Break is upon us. But, we head out with full hearts knowing that we have truly experienced Christ this week. Thank you for supporting our team with your prayers and by allowing your students to be a part of this adventure!
Megan Strange
