Time to get to work! This morning we all met in the lobby to walk to the trains that would take us to Soul City Church for the day. We did a team devotion talking about God’s Holiness and Grace in relation to the generosity God has called us to be known for. As we begin the mission portion of our trip, it is important to recognize that anything we do to serve others is only because Christ served us first. We read through Romans 5 where it talks about the fact that “at just the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.” In doing that, he provided access to the Father that we never could have earned on our own. We have wide-open access to the Father through Jesus the Son as Christians and we have a great story to share. We recognize that anything we do this week while serving Soul City Church is an investment in what God is doing in the city of Chicago. Pretty awesome opportunity!
Dave VanDixhorn is the Soul City director of the 7>1 Initiatives. That area of the SCC ministry recognizes that the gospel would lead them to use their building 7 days a week rather than the 1 day a week that most churches are utilized. The 7>1 Initiative is a great way to reach people that might not otherwise come to a church. Dave gave us the history of SCC and an overview of the projects we will be working on this week. Here are the main tasks:
- Clean the entire church from top to bottom (22,000 square feet)
- Paint the stage
- Clean out Warehouse B (future site of the SCC worship space)
- Work on the SCC Easter Egg hunt (50,000 eggs stuffed with candy)
- Hand out flyers advertising the “Paint the City Green” event at SCC on Friday evening
- Clean up the park down the street from SCC
- Work on materials for the Soul City Kids Ministry
- Work with the kids at Brown Elementary to encourage them on the art projects for “Paint the City Green”
- Clean up the playground at Brown Elementary
- Set up SCC for the “Paint the City Green” event
- Pray like crazy
We got the entire church cleaned, handed out tons of cards, made a huge dent in the Easter Egg Hunt preparations, prepared a ton of resources for Soul City Kids, ate a great lunch from Morgan Street Deli, washed some windows, and put together a great plan for tomorrow. While the girls went to the store to buy candy, all of the guys spent time praying in different areas of the church. In the morning, Avery, Stephanie, Brooke, Kayla, and Niamh are going to paint the stage while the rest of us start on Warehouse B. It is going to be a great day!
After we finished at SCC, we hopped the Blue line train out to Millenium Park to see The Bean. We took some fun pictures and then made our way back toward the hotel. Riding the train during rush hour definitely provides some humorous moments with our crew! Once we got back to the hotel, we divided into two groups and some headed to Gino’s East and some to the Rainforest Café to grab dinner. For the most part, we sat in groups of 5-6 and had a great chance to visit as we ate together. One of the greatest privileges of Spring Term is the chance to get to know our team better. These students are incredible young adults and it is such a privilege to have a front seat to what God is doing in and through their lives.
Dinner was followed by our nightly team meeting. We sang “From the Inside Out” and “God of this City” before we shared our thoughts on the day. Can you picture 38 people crammed in a hotel room singing and worshipping God? Simply amazing…He is our supreme treasure!
Tomorrow morning we will meet in the lobby at 8:45am to head back to Soul City Church for another day packed full of opportunities to work TOGETHER…Cultivating Hearts. Challenging Minds. Impacting Culture.
