If you’re looking to follow the GCBI class of 10-11, then head on over to our main site: GCBI.NET – we’ll be blogging over there this year, in order to keep everything streamlined and accessible!
Looking forward to hearing from you!
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I’m still waiting on my “official” photographer to mail me the disc of photos (Thanks, KSR!), but in the meantime, here are a few snapshots from this year’s graduation celebration!
We brought back the “Dundie Awards” for this year’s students, giving delightful little caricatures of each student to celebrate their…individualism! We’re listing the awards alphabetically by student below, but to download the actual transcript in PDF form, click here!
Mayelis Cisneros received the Did You Bring A Snack? Award, which came with a jar full of beef jerky!
Devon Fox was the recipient of the hilarious Man Crush Award…he now wears a t-shirt with Pastor Randy’s face on it, which reads “Pastor Randy’s Biggest Fan!”
Elijah Ogden proudly wore a neon-painted sash denoting his Aggressive Creativity Award!
A pack of energizer batteries carefully displayed in a shadow box proclaimed Chelsea Rumbaugh to have won the Youryouthfulenergyandexuberance Exhaust Us Award!
And sweet Erin Williams won the Not Going Anywhere For A While? Grab A Snickers! Award, which came with its own small mountain of mini Snickers bars!
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as the end of the year approaches, we took a little time out to enjoy one another out of town!
thanks to a rockstar happy family, we had a fun photo shoot before heading to orlando for dinner and a bit of wandering around…
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So it’s been roughly 3 weeks since being home from Israel and it seems like we haven’t stopped moving.
The last 2 weekends we have shared our Israel experience at local churches as well as a mid-week service at a beloved trailer park in our community. Whispering Pines trailer Park is just full of senior saints who love and support our ministry.
We have also been preparing for the Easter Eggstravaganza at Grace Church of Sebring which called for 2 1/2 hard, long days of labor that our students had to put in. The Eggstravaganza is our biggest outreach of the year, so please pray for a great harvest and that the weather would cooperate. We will have booths and free food and balloons and face painting and mountains of candy and hundreds of cupcakes and a huge slide and bounce houses and… (so that was definitely a run on sentence…shhh-don’t tell Sarah Beth!)
But, don’t be fooled, we don’t just want to give away tons of food and have a safe place for kids to come and have fun, the real reason we do this is to have the chance to speak Jesus Christ into the lives of the lost of our community and to invite them into a community of faith and begin being a part of the Body of Christ.
So each of our students will be running a booth with a family or friends from the community, so come on out, enjoy the day and see what God is doing in and through our kids.
Gr@ce and Pe@ce,
Cam
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Wow. What a time we’re having. We have been to so many historical and significant sites while here in Israel. We’ve seen the Mediterranean and Dead Seas as well as the Sea of Galilee. We’ve been to Jesus’ birthplace in Bethlehem (the House of Bread), His childhood town of Nazareth, the headquarters of His adult ministry, Capernaum and the place of His death and resurrection in Jerusalem. We’ve seen the oldest discovered building on earth, which dates back to 7500 B.C.E. in Jericho. We’ve walked the Qumran Valley, where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered and we also got to stand on the mount were it is believed that Jesus delivered His sermon on the mount found in Matthew 5-7. We have also learned a few Hebrew words, how to figure out the ratio of a dollar to shekels, and eaten some…interesting foods.
Thank you so much to everyone who helped us get here financially and is praying for us while we are away. It is certainly an experience we will be forever changed by.
Shalom
Lige
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Hey ya’ll! First, i want to start out by saying thanks to everyone who helped me to get over here to Israel and to everyone back home praying for all of us. Without you all I wouldn’t be here seeing the bible, smelling the Bible, tasting the Bible, and being a part of this life changing experience.
So far, for me, this trip has been full of “at first” experiences.
At first, I didn’t really understand why I was coming to Israel. I knew it was the Holy land where Jesus walked but I didn’t understand the power of it all. But then. sitting atop Mount Carmel, next to a statue of Elijah the Tishbite, I prayed a prayer and realized I’m here to learn more about my father in Heaven, his Word, and what happened in His land.
And, each day I’m here. all of those things are ringing true.
At first, I also couldn’t fully grasp that we were in Israel, the setting of the Bible. It was hard for me to realize that I wasnt in Sebring anymore. But then, while touring an excavation at a baker’s house in ancient Nazareth, did I realize that THIS was Jesus’ hometown. He walked these streets, mary might have baked Jesus’ dinners at this house. And I get to see it. How lucky am I?
It’s all still very crazy for me, but I am beginning to grasp it.
Lastly…at first, I was scared. I was scared of the dark stairwell at Meggido.
I was scared to be on top of Mt. Carmel.
I was scared to be on a boat on the sea of Galilee.
But then…My Savior broke me down. He gently reminded me this trip wasn’t about me or about overcoming my fears. But this trip was about Him and His life. Pastor Randy told us today, “Walk with God, or worry.” Who am I to choose the latter.
All this to say, it’s only the fourth day and I’m having an incredible time here with some good friends. i cant wait to see what the Lord has to bring this next week. thank you for your prayers and keep them coming!
Much love and appreciation
Chelsea Grace
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Day 2 we have arrived…
after a 10 and a half hour flight from Newark to Tel Aviv we hit the ground running. No time to waste, things to do, stuff to learn. Sounds like Pastor Randy doesn’t it!
The first site of the trip was Hav’uot Quetomeam, where we were fed a light lunch of the biblical period which included flat bread, humus, olives, cucumbers, yogurt and delicious sage tea…
It was here that Randy wanted to introduce us to some of the things the biblical writer thought we already knew before we journeyed into the pages of Scripture.
One of the coolest things about this stop was Zecharie, an actual modern scribe who was actually translating the Torah (first 5 books of the Hebrew Scriptures) from an old set of parchment papers to new ones right before our eyes. We were able to see what the process looks like and we were also blessed with being able to see a 200-year-old Torah still intact. Before we left Zecharie blessed us by singing for us in his native tongue a specific psalm from the Torah.
It was a great opening day but Pastor Randy could tell that our entire group was spent, so we headed for the hotel to attempt to sleep off some of our new found jet lag.
As Machar (Until Tomorrow)
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It was way too long of a day!
We began our trek to Orlando at 4:00am to catch a plan that flew out at 7:56am.
From then on out it was excitement filled with expectancy.
I have never been overseas so I wasn’t really sure what to expect with a ten and a half -hour plane ride. We had the privilege of getting to travel with our very own Rod and Marge Spencer which as always is a delight to spend time with them.
We flew overnight and, well…if I can be honest, they had a ton of movies available on board and a TV rest in the back of each seat so…i think it is safe to say we were well occupied…
Day 1 eventually turned into Day 2 as we soared above the clouds across the Atlantic Ocean…
Stay tuned
More to Come,
Shalom (Peace)
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Established in 1996 (“1996-ish”, the tee-shirts read) by then youth pastor Paul Purdy, Googa Mooga is an annual mess of an event hosted by the First Baptist Church of Sebring. Think food wars…only with a singular type of ammo: flour.
Hundreds of small paper bags of flour were filled beforehand by volunteers, students invited friends in the community, and nearly 100 people gathered way out off SR64 for the event. Our GCBI students were attending to help with crowd control, mingle with youth, and lead worship. All invitees were encouraged to wear dark clothes, since the ‘battle’ happens after dark. Though most of our students complied, only the guys ended up braving the battlefield to fight flour with flour.
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Though there may be a few changes here and there, we wanted you to have the most recent itinerary for our upcoming Israel trip! We are grateful to know you will be praying for our group as we travel!
February 16: Depart from USA
February 17: Arrive Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv [Overnight Feb 17: by the Mediterranean Sea]
February 18: Ceasarea Maritima, Mt. Carmel, Nazareth church & excavation, Tiberias
February 19: Capernaum, Bethsaida Excavations, Boat on Sea, Tabgha, Mount of Beatitudes, Chorazin
February 20: Chorazin, Tel Dan, Banias (Ceasarea Philippi), Quneitra, Katzrin, Gamla overlook, Golan Heights [Overnight Feb 18-20: Sea of Galilee Area]
February 21: Jordan River, Beth Shean, Views of Perea, early arrival at hotel, with time at the Dead Sea [Overnight Feb 21: Dead Sea Area]
February 22: Masada, Ein Gedi Overlook, Qumran, Jericho
February 23: Bethlehem, Shepherds’ Field, Herodion, Haas Promenade
February 24: Mount of Olives walk, Gethsemane, Mt. Zion (Last Supper Room, St. Peter en Gallicantu), Western Wall, and
Old City walk
February 25: Ancient Temple Mount and South Wall excavations, Pool of Bethesda, Via Dolorosa, Holy Sepulchre, and the
Garden Tomb [Overnight Feb 21-25: Jerusalem]
February 26: Day at Leisure, depart from Tel Aviv late evening
February 26: Arrive in USA morning
Great Commission Bible Institute 