For the fifth year running (I believe), Grace Church of Sebring held a Fall Festival for the community. Over 600 people came through the registration line, hundreds of them heard the gospel message for the first time, and THIRTEEN children accepted Jesus Christ s their Lord and Savior!
Our students had the privilege of working incredibly hard (ha!) and orchestrating a good portion of the event. Each GCBI student manned a booth in partnership with a family or individual from our church. The event lasted four hours, but the setup and tear down was probably four times that, at least! Our students were wonderful and each put a unique flair to their booths – most even dressed up in their best western attire to fit in!
Enjoy some snapshots from the day – and if you’re at Grace Church next weekend, you’ll get to see a fun Rootin’ Tootin’ Western Roundup video showcasing our beautiful and friendly church family!
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Just over a week ago, our students climbed into the van for a long drive north. Well, sort of north. In an abbreviated Fall Ministry Tour, GCBI spent the weekend in Georgia visiting several different ministries with the goal of seeing God’s hand at work in unique ways.
Where? Explorations in Antiquity, North Point Community Church, and the International House of Prayer (Click to open the ministry’s web page)
When? October 16-19
Why? To experience three individual ministries that are ministering in unique ways – and to have an opportunity to critically evaluate their experiences and the Biblicity of each.
To read an interesting and fresh account of the weekend, click here - one of our students faithfully blogs about her experiences and we’re sure you’ll enjoy reading her account of the weekend! Additionally, enjoy some of the photos of our students from the Explorations in Antiquity Center:
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This past Sunday night, our students had the chance to spend time with some dear saints from Whispering Pines Baptist Church. For many of our students, ministering with senior adults is -honest!- a step outside their comfort zones. For this evening, WPBC had “church around the tables”, and each GCBI student sat at a table with 7-9 church members. WPBC provided each student with little bookmark strips of paper with the student’s name, address, and picture, which they were to give the folks who sat with them at their tables – these will serve as a reminder to the church family to pray for “their” student and write them notes of encouragement throughout the year. Elijah & Jordan led in worship with a few old favorites to honor WPBC and a beautiful newer song of praise (which they also shared with Grace Church that morning).
The goal of the evening was to spark conversation between generations – to allow senior adults to share some of their stories with our students and make a God-connection in their relationships. Having grown from teenager to adult in this church that my father now pastors, it was a delight to see the older, familiar faces leaning with interest as mohawked, pierced, and tattooed young adults shared their own stories! WPBC is a praying church. Our students will be lifted up consistently by people who have walked with the Lord for many, many years. We’ll have additional opportunities throughout the year to minister to and fellowship with WPBC and we’re looking forward to watching God move in the relationships we’ll build.
When my father, Steve Trinkle, closed in prayer for that evening, he offered a gentle yet powerful reminder to the church family. “These young folks,” he said, “sing the old songs a new way. And they sing new songs to people we will never know and could never reach. But they serve the same Living God that we do. What an encouragement that should be to us!”
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Our students have worked feverishly to assist the Highlands County Youth for Christ staff in hosting no less than THREE Back to School events this fall in all three high schools in our county! We are thankful for their enduring energy and patience, doing whatever was needed to help at these events. Despite the chaos, we know that hundreds of teenagers across the county were given the opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. We continue to pray that as our students participate in Campus Life clubs throughout the year, they will develop relationships with youth that allow the light of God’s love to shine through to the darkest places of their lives. Ask God to make our GCBI students a place of truth and encouragement for these teenagers and ask Him to bring more to salvation through the ministry of YFC!
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Click here to download the 2nd Annual Chili Cook-Off Sign up form!
We’ll be working on getting these into the hands of our local churches – but if you have an interests in attending or cooking at the event, get in touch with us! Our contact information can be found on the “Contact” page – so shoot us an email or give us a call!
We are excited about this event, because we desire to see EVERY student go to Israel this year! We’re asking the Lord to provide for the needs of the students through this and other fund raising opportunities.
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