We made it!

We are finally here...we got here early but then could not find the hotel but finally we got everything taken care of! We ate at tgi fridays! Yum. And then made our way to the chapel and r waiting for the service to start at 7:30!

Im hoping we have an incredible time!

We Made it Home!

We finally made it back home: safe and sound; no scratches, bumps, bruises, or broken noses (which in my case is excellent!) We all had a great time and many of the students expressed their appreciation for being able to go on the trip! It was truly a fun and enriching time!

I believe that God "REVEAL"ed Himself to our students in unique and powerful ways; and am praying and hoping that our students will continue to "press-in"!

I am excited about what the future hold, not only for our church, and youth ministry but for each student that is willing and ready to hear what God has for them!

Lunch!

The morning part of the services and songs are over now and we just made it potomac mills mall! Hopefully we can fight our way through all the hustle and bustle to get some good food!

We still have not decided how long we will be staying...we might take a vote; but because some of the students stayed up later than they should have they were having a difficult time staying awake!

Well I am off to get my own lunch now! Pray that our students will come to know even more personally our god who has "revealed" Himself to our students!

On our way!

Well we are on our way...about an hour away! Beautiful scenery....mountain peaks and riges gradually descend into rolling hills and valleys!

We just had a rest stop to "take care of some very important business"! Next stop: depending on time we'll either eat or go to hotel and check_in!

We're up!

Its early but we are awake; ready to begin the day! It wasn't too bad getting to sleep last night at around 12:30/1:00! We had a good time and are ready for an awesome service!


Right now we are going down stairs to eat some continental breakfast; then we'll make our way over to the chapel about 7:30...service doesn't start until about 8:30 but we want to make sure we get good seats!

Great Service!

Like I said in the last post we finally made it to the chapel...and since then we have had a great time! The praise was great and the Word was great as well...just for your information and edification here are some points taken from the story of David and Goliath:

It all has to do with finding the greatness that God has placed within each one of us and living up to His potential in us!
1. be faithful in the little things!
2. face off before you rip his face off! (Step up to the plate and get rid of the sin in your life!)
3. Be yourself...you will be the best you!
4. don't settle for a knockdown go for the head!

We are hoping for a great time tomorrow! After the service when we got back to our rooms we had a great discussion about life, prayer, priorities, and living up to our potential! I am looking forward to many more great conversations!

Well, we're on our way! And I can say that i'm glad todd is driving because
he has us on some road named '50' and I have no idea w

Its Almost Time...for REVEAL; Convention 2009

Well I am here at the house awaiting many of the exciting things we do today!

As I am sure you can all imagine...when you take a van full of students to a cool place the excitement tends to show its self in various ways! I am confident that we will have a great time especially since i am not the only person over 18 going! We will have Todd and Stephanie Sisler with us and we are expecting to have a great time!

Keep us in your prayers...not just safety and fund but a life-changing experience through the power and presence of God!

Signing off....

REVEAL Convention 2009: "Here We Come"

Well, if you're not going to be on our trip to convention with us physically you can still be there via the virtual world! I will be posting updates, pictures, and happenings of our trip for everyone back home!

Obviously, we have not left yet, however; there is an excitement in the air! We are all anticipating what God can and will do in the lives of our teenagers!

We ask for your prayers, not only for a safe trip traveling and while we are there but also that God will speak to the hearts and lives of the students going...not just them but me as well! The theme for the convention is "REVEAL" and that is exactly what we pray will happen...that God will "REVEAL" Himself to each student (myself and parents included) in a personal and powerful way!

Pray that our hearts and minds will be continually renewed and transformed by the power of God and we'll leave 2009 Potomac District Convention different than how we arrived; that God will bring clarity, refreshing and renewing to our hearts and minds!

We're home!

Well we are pulling into the church parking lot right now! It was a great trip and just like I tought almost all of the girls fell asleep! I am glad we made it home safe and had such a good time!

Signing off!

On our way!

Well we are in the van and finally back on our way home!

Pray that it goes well and that we stay safe!

It has been a long but fulfilling two days! We had a lot of fun and glad we could make it to 2009fine arts festival!

We are going to stop at the car wash and clean out the car when we get closer to home and will call to let parents know our ETA!

We're at the mall!

We finally made it ti the mall! Ate some over-priced food ($16 for a salad and a wrap!) other than that it was at least filling!

So, here we are at the mall; some are shopping others are sitting but overall it is much more relaxing than waiting for the next nerve-wracking performance. Probably be here until about 3pm and then we'll be heading back!

Although the trip has been great for getting spiritually filled and encouraged we have had an even better time building friendships and relationships with one another! God has truly blessed me and stef and this church with great youth!

Almost shopping time!

Thus far we've been here, still at the church watching other performances...in a couple minutes we will be heading out to towson mall!

I am just so encouraged to have some of our students "stand up and be counted" as a child of God! Fine arts is just one small way they can do that!

Im glad our students have the opportunity to see other students glorifying God with their abilities and talents!

I'll keep u updated!

Kaelan and nicole did it

Kaelan and nicole just finished up their performance! They, too, did an excellent job!

Nerves were running high and the excitement was thick! But all was well bc they used my hyperventilation technique before they performed! They were a little out of breath but the message came through lol!

All of our girls did an incredible job and i am so proud of them! You should be to! They did a great job representing our church and most importantly honoring God!

Next up: we are going to hang out here and check out some of the other performances from other churches and then we are going shopping (towson mall)!

I will continue to update our wonderful fine arts adventures!

Bethany did it!

I am very excited for bethany she went on at 8.50 and di a great job! She was very nervous but after I taught her how to effectively hyperventilate she did better!

I did not see much of the competiton but from what I saw from bethany it was great. She is still struggling with her cold and im sure that after all of the nerves and excitement she will be exhausted!

A new Da!y

Well it is morning! I have not seen any of the other students yet; i'm sure they are feeling just as tired as i am!

I am getting ready to do all o the usual morning stuff and then go down stairs and fight for some breakfast! With over a 100 other students here it should be interesting! Hopefully, they wont all listen to their parents and "eat their breakfast"!

Keep the other remaining two performances in your prayers!

They Did It!

The dance team has finished their performance and it was great! After much anticipation and nervousness they stepped on to the platform and did a great job! We are not sure what their scores were but they did an even better job here than they did in our Fine Arts Showcase last sunday!

We are all very proud of them!

Its still not over though; after finally getting checked in to our hotel "most of us" are preparing for a good night sleep! But with a hotel filled with at least 100 other students that might be kind of difficult!

Now all we have left to do is be back at the church by at least 8:30 and Bethany Dewitt will be performing a Solo Human Video! I am very excited and know she will do a great job! Make sure you pray for her: she has been having allergy issues all day from a cold! We know she will still shine!

After her performance we have the privileged of watching Kaelan and Nicole sing!

I will be sure to continue the updates!


I tired to make the video short and low quality so that it would be optimized for dial-up users...but at least its better than a video of me setting in a chair!

We're here!

We finally made it! Getting ready to eat at chilis!

We are all getting very excited about tonight!

Almost had a huge problem....they only had us down for five tickets instead of six..we got it all worked out!

Were finally on the road!

Well we just left and we r finally on the road...to begin our long awaited fine arts extravaganza!

Don't worry; im not texting this while im driving, pastor pete's driving!

For starters the gorls r crazy! And I mean crazy...theyzre already singin and dancing...won't be long before they have everyone in the van singing!

So to sum it up things r going well (aside from the fact I forgot all of my camera equipment!) oh well just one of those bumps in the road!

First "mobile"update!

Don't worry u guys have not missed anything! Im just testing the mobile update feature to see how, and if it works!

Fine Arts...here we come!

I can here the melodramatic music now! "dum, dum, dum"!

As I think about our upcoming trip to Fine Arts Festival I begin to wonder what our journey has in store for all of us!

Inevitably, there will be some things that just do not work the way I wanted them to or even the way I planned. But, I hope that by now God has developed my my patience enough to endure these little problems I face along life's journey! James 1:2-11

One thing I am going to try to do, and am unsure if it will actually work is keep this blog updated with pictures and cool write-ups of events and fun stuff along the way! That way even though our students will be 3.5 hours away from home parents can still feel "somewhat" reassured!

I'm excited about all of the fun we're going to have, and hoping that God does even more amazing things in our students lives than what He has already "begun" to do!