Rootin’ Tootin’ Western Roundup!

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!

Ministry Experience Weekend

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:

 

Dinner at WPBC

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!”

YFC Back to School Bashes!

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!

Chili Cook Off Sign Ups!

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.

Ormond Beach Ministry Weekend

Our students are amazing. Okay? Okay.

We left for Grace Community Church in Ormond Beach early Saturday morning, having the general idea that we would be ministering around the facilities doing some hands-on work , and ministering through an outreach event on Sunday.  When we got there, it seemed that plans shifted a bit moment-by-moment…and our students rose to the challenge by being gracious, flexible, and hard working! Erik & Terrah Dubasak were there to work with us and be liaisons for us and the church, since part of their ministry is now with GCC.

The group spent several hours on Saturday painting the outside of the building and hedging some of the shrubbery. A few students also assisted with the indoor cleaning-out of several office spaces to make room for a new ministry partner at GCC.  By 3pm on Saturday, the work assigned us was accomplished and we hit the beach for a few relaxing hours!  After the beach, we enjoyed dinner at the home of Brad & Laura Taylor – he’s an elder at GCC and his wife is an incredible cook.   Dinner was followed by an amazing presentation by Mike Luddeni, an archaeological photographer who has spent years on digs in Israel and specializes in ancient Near East artifacts. His office (or, the “Ruin Room”, as they call it!) contained incredibly beautiful artifacts from his adventures – some nearly 5,000 years old!  He gifted each of the students with several “Bible and Spade” magazines (from the evangelical archaeological organization with which he works) and also gave all of us pieces of pottery (thousands of years old!) discovered on one of his digs – very intriguing…

Sunday morning dawned early, with a delicious breakfast at the church prepared by Laura (again with the cooking!) and the students helped set up and prepare for the “outreach event”. What we discovered, however, was that it was more like a Homecoming Sunday – the congregation had been asked to invite friends who used to attend the church “home” for the weekend. It was interesting – Tim shared during the testimony time in the service, Elijah & Jordan sang “God of This City” for the offertory, and Tim & Chelsea assisted with child care. After worship, there was a luncheon on the campus and our students mingled with the members and hung out with some of the interim pastor’s family & friends.

To be honest, it was not anything we expected it would be, based on our previous communication. But we believe firmly that it was an exercise in being the hands & feet of Christ to the body – whatever the need may be. We could tell this church was hurting and tired…one of our students made the observation (as we toted loads and loads of “stuff” from one office space to the next) that, “It seems to me if people can’t get rid of just stuff that is 15-20 years old, then they’re holding on to the past pretty tightly. And if you’re holding on to the past that tightly, it’s going to be hard to open your eyes up to what the Lord may want to do and be in you.”

We are blessed with an incredible group – continue to pray that the Lord uses the experiences of this year and the Biblical studies to open their eyes, teach them discernment, and mold them into mature, solid men and women of God — men and women who listen closely for His voice and act in obedience when He calls.

Jordan painting a door…

Chelsea nearly got attacked by wasps!

Magie organizing some of the office space…

Erik, pretending to do work…

Elijah’s new jewelry…

Tim painting trim…

Chad edging the cross…

Devon, Erik, Elijah painting the front wall…

Cam challenged Devon…

Tim: “Where has all the paint gone?”

Elijah waiting for instruction…

Terrah. Scary, huh?

They clean up well!

Lige & Tim having a moment…

Magie, Chad, Chelsea

GCBI w/Erik & Terrah

GCBI & some new friends…

Happy Family Dinner!

With apologies to the original Happy Family, we have begun using the beloved phrase to describe the goings on at the Institute.  Like: Happy Family Meeting, Happy Family Prayer Time, Happy Family Cleaning Day, and Happy Family Take The Trash Out Before Midnight Or Else.

Friday night, having had last-minute plan changes in our ministry weekend, we (Cam & SB) invited the students over for Happy Family Dinner & Game Night. Hilarity ensued…

After tacos and taco salad, we brewed the coffee and prepped for the gaming – it’s too bad none of the guys are competitive. Oh, wait, okay – they live to beat each other at ANYTHING.  We played Guesstures and Apples to Apples – each included only mild provocation by players to other players. Also, Cameron told Tim that he didn’t think Tim could eat two enormous brownies all in one bite. Naturally, that is precisely what Tim felt compelled to do.

Enjoy a few images from the night…

The guys dressed up – and Brian showed up to make it a little vintage!

The lovely ladies, sans Erin the Professional Photographer…

The guys.

Elijah is…I think he was an explosion?

Tim.

Devon does not understand why NO ONE understands what he’s gesturing at.

Jordan is a POLITE game player. Mostly.

Magie is very matter of fact. But don’t mess with her.

Chelsea was….blossoming? Booming? Freezing?

Tim sets it up…

Tim acts it out…

Cameron is ferocious.

Cam is “guessturing” to something…on Elijah’s face…

Devon & Tim guessing for their team…

Second Annual Chili Cook Off!

When? November 8, 4:30pm – 7:30pm

Where? Wiley Hall, Grace Church of Sebring

Why? In order to raise funds for the 2010 Israel GCBI Study Trip!

Details…

We are excitedly preparing for the Second Annual GCBI Chili Cook-off and Dessert Auction!  Designed to raise money for the 2010 Israel trip, so that “no child is left behind”! (Okay, lame jokes, anyone?)

The Chili Cook-off and Dessert Auction will be open to ten phenomenal chili cooks from our own community – and as many masterful desserts (homemade pies, cakes or cookies) as we can handle! Our local students will be taking flyers to their home churches and families as well, to invite the community to this family fun event!

Sign-up information will be coming to a Grace Church bulletin near you in the coming weeks – so stay tuned for details!

PS
We know not everyone is a lover of chili – so we’ll have several soup alternatives to the chili. There will also be cornbread and crackers, as well as drinks and coffee.

But here’s the deal – like chili or not, can eat sweets or not, this event is about getting EVERY GCBI student to Israel this year!  Come anyway – make a donation – and ask the Lord to provide for each individual in His perfect timing!

Deeper Still

This past weekend, our girls joined a group of women from our church for a ladies conference called “Deeper Still“, taught by Kay Arthur, Beth Moore, and Priscilla Shirer.  We all admitted to ourselves that there is a tendency to be little skeptics – slightly concerned about an imbalanced, happy-feely approach to faith & relationships.  After the event, we each admitted that the weekend was a delightful surprise, full of straight-up, powerhouse Biblical teaching by women (for women!).

We left Friday morning with three ladies from the church for a bit of shopping and “girl time”.  (Can I add a little personal note that I was getting a kick out of watching Ilene, Dottie, and Lori sample lip gloss at Bath & Body Works?!)  We enjoyed a leisurely afternoon lunch before checking into the hotel and meeting up with the 30 or so other women who were there for the weekend.

The event opened with worship led by an incredibly talented team, headed up by Travis Cottrell.  We enjoyed a new spin on old hymns & classics, as well as newer original worship songs.  Kay, Beth, and Priscilla each taught a session on a specific Scripture or topic – Hebrews & the “rest of faith” (Kay), Ephesians 3 & “God is able!” (Priscilla), and spiritual discernment & hearing the voice of God (Beth).

This morning at our weekly Happy Family Meeting with the students, the girls each shared something significant they experience during the weekend, something the Lord impressed upon them as a result of their willingness to go and listen for Him.  Girls, I look forward to many more weekends of ministry and fun together – and I know the ladies of Grace Church are excited to continue building relationships with you all and getting to know you!

Thanks to those who made it possible for our girls to attend this weekend!

Ladies Weekend!

The girls are headed to the Beth Moore conference tomorrow – photos will be up after the weekend!

When you think of it, ask the Lord to confirm His presence and purpose for the ladies as they worship with other women and study His Word this weekend!