{"id":3175,"date":"2011-03-29T20:20:05","date_gmt":"2011-03-30T01:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=3175"},"modified":"2011-03-29T20:20:05","modified_gmt":"2011-03-30T01:20:05","slug":"spring-term-2011-chicago-day-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=3175","title":{"rendered":"Spring Term 2011: Chicago Day 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another great day!\u00a0 This morning started a little earlier than yesterday morning in an effort to get started on our work projects.\u00a0 When we arrived at the church, Nathan led the team in a devotion about what it means to be a doorholder in the Kingdom of God.\u00a0 He referenced Psalm 84:10 and talked about how that relates to what we are doing this week serving with Soul City Church.\u00a0 After his devotion, we spread out around the church and prayed individually for about 30 minutes.\u00a0 That was a great experience and most of the crew really got into it.<\/p>\n

From there, we divided into two teams.\u00a0 Six people stayed at the church and painted the stage.\u00a0 The rest of the crew headed next door to Warehouse B to clean, demolish stuff, and throw stuff away.\u00a0 Picture a Warehouse about as big as the auditorium at West Ridge Church or even just 3 times as big as the NCCS gym.\u00a0 That is what we cleaned.\u00a0 The building used to be a car dealership and it has just been neglected for many years.\u00a0 We really had a great time and the team busted it to get everything mostly done before lunch.\u00a0 The boys had to move some furniture that was broken and damaged to the dumpster.\u00a0 This also included several doors with glass panes in them.\u00a0 Let\u2019s just say that they might have had too much fun putting those in the dumpster! (very responsibly of course)<\/p>\n

After lunch we went back over with our broom brigade to give it a once over and tidy things up and we were done.\u00a0 One day soon, Soul City Church will need this warehouse for their worship space.\u00a0 We want to come back up here and worship with them when that happens.\u00a0 There is enough room for thousands to worship Jesus together here in the city!\u00a0 Today we were doorholders helping to prepare the space for that to happen.<\/p>\n

Everyone enjoyed the lunch break.\u00a0 The Morgan Street Deli has been a great find!\u00a0 The sandwiches, salads, and other choices have all been a big hit with our hungry crew.\u00a0 After we finished lunch and the once over at the warehouse, we got back together for a quick strategy session and divided our group into 9 teams.\u00a0 1 team of 4 went with Nathan to BreakThru ministries.\u00a0 BreakThru is a ministry to homeless people that Soul City supports.\u00a0 Our guys were delivering hygiene supplies and other things along with one of the staff guys from Soul City Church.\u00a0 1 team of 8 worked for Soul City Kids putting together more Easter Eggs, working on the new kids space, and doing other tasks.\u00a0 Chad and Marcus did an awesome job putting a crib together\u2026do you know how many pieces those things have??!!\u00a0 The other 7 teams divided up and went out in groups of 4 within a couple of blocks of the church to pass out invite cards to the \u201cPaint the City Green\u201d event that SCC is hosting Friday night.\u00a0 We are doing a ton to help them get ready for this event.\u00a0 We are bummed to miss it\u2026but believe that God has amazing things in store!<\/p>\n

The 7 street teams met up at a park when all the cards were handed out.\u00a0 That was a great place to hang out for a bit as we learned a few new games.\u00a0 It is such a blast to see our kids enjoying each other\u2019s company!\u00a0 We walked back to the church and helped the Kids Ministry group finish up.\u00a0 After that, we all gathered in the auditorium to look at our task list for the week.\u00a0 It was fun going through item by item and crossing things off the list.\u00a0 I think we have definitely accomplished more than Soul City Church realized that we might be able to.\u00a0 It is such a privilege to partner with these folks that sacrificed so much to move to the city to reach the West Loop for Christ.\u00a0 We have had a blast working with them!<\/p>\n

We hopped on the \u201cL\u201d back to the hotel so everyone could clean up.\u00a0 Then, we divided up into a few groups to check out more Chicago restaurants for dinner.\u00a0 There were groups for Gino\u2019s East pizza, Portillo\u2019s Chicago hot dogs, Chipotle, Q\u2019doba, and Pizzeria Uno.\u00a0 Lots of great choices within a very short walk from our hotel.\u00a0 After dinner everyone had a little bit of freetime to pick up some snacks and relax.<\/p>\n

Our team meeting will be at 9pm Central time. This has proven to be a great time of worship and sharing each evening.\u00a0 It is hard to believe that 38 people in a hotel room could be enjoyable, but the team has come each night ready to worship.\u00a0 We have also spent a good bit of time praying together and that has been a joy.\u00a0 There are burdens in our midst\u2026but tons to be grateful for as well!<\/p>\n

We want to give a big shoutout to the NCCS 4th<\/sup> graders that are praying for us this week.\u00a0 We love you guys and have really enjoyed all of the notes you sent for us.\u00a0 Ya\u2019ll are the coolest kids and we are so proud of you and the way you stepped up to support us this week.\u00a0 We can\u2019t wait until you guys get to come on Spring Term.\u00a0 We love the 4th<\/sup> graders!<\/p>\n

Megan Strange<\/p>\n