Cool Spring Baptist Church

After 7 hours of travel, Cool Springs Baptist Church has safely arrived in Pittsburgh! We are so excited to have an awesome week of serving of Lord!

The team worshipped today at our host church, North Park Church. The pastor, Dan Hendley  spoke about the baptism of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit this morning. Pray that the team is bold and that we are open to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit this week!

We participated in an evangelism training with North Park Church. We discussed some of the tough questions we might be asked when telling others about God.

We had a great time at the Strip District. We ate well and visited many stores, including Grandpa Joe's Candy Store. We tried new restaurants.

Some of the team was able to start their morning off by prayer walking in the North View Heights neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Near the end of our walk we met Miss Geneva Brown. She has several medical complications and she is burdened everyday by the pain that comes along with these complications. She was emotional when talking about her pain and expressed her joy when seeing us pray and she asked for us to pray over her even more. Geneva exclaimed that she wasn’t a Christian but she carried a lot of Christian jewelry. As we talked more, Geneva expressed that she would like to accept Jesus and ask Him into her heart! The Holy Spirit was truly working in and though the team and we are glad to say that another family member was added to God’s Kingdom today! 

Please pray that the Holy Spirit continues to use us and that even more people are brought to God’s family this week!

So we may not have painted a picture, but we painted a stairwell at North Park Church. We had a good time. It was a first for some of us. This was an important project that we were successful doing.

We had an amazing time at Northview Heights. We helped with Kids Meal Network at Church of our Savior. We sat with them while they ate. We played catch and spent time talking with students outside.  We played basketball, football, hide and seek, gave children piggy back rides, played with kids, began and developed relationships with the community, and helped in various activities.one group even put together a soccer goal. We prayed with various people. We developed so many great relationships. Some children cried when they had to  go home.

Earlier today a part of the team was able to go to New Hope EPC and help Mrs. Sue, the Director of the VBS. We were able to help put together the decorations for the camp that will begin this coming Monday! Mrs. Sue was able to explain to us how we were a true blessing to her and the church. Every year there is a team for VBS decorations however, this year no team had been assembled so we were able to come in just in time and help the local church!

We had the joy of doing a prayer walk and praying for people in Northview Heights. We prayed for two who had lost family members.  We also encouraged a case worker and security guard through prayer. Another unique experience was praying for someone who spoke another language. We also were able to pray for a 15 year old Christian who was listening to Chris Tomlin and reading his Bible. 

A portion of the team was able to stay back at our host church for the morning. The church holds a fellowship event monthly and this month is the big event to bring church members and community members together outside of the Sunday morning rush. Our small team was able to accomplish many tasks in just two hours time! They set up tables, chairs, speakers. They finished putting together the garden that we’ve been working on since Monday and it looks awesome! A few of the team members were able to get into the kitchen and help prepare some side dishes for the event. The team worked so well together to beautify the space for this event. As a team we will be joining the church as they fellowship later tonight!

Part of our team served Northview Heights this morning by prayer walking around the community and by helping to seal and stain a platform. This is an ongoing project that will eventually have a pavilion! We were so happy to have a hand in this project!

Here we have Hannah & Caroline hard at work helping with the bike ministry in North View Heights. Mr. Al Blay spearheads this ministry. He brings in broken bikes and fixes them for neighborhood kids but as he fixes them he teaches each child how to fix their bike so that if there is a future issue they will know what to do. The kids look forward to fixing their bikes every week!

This morning, we were able to bless an elderly couple by cleaning up their house after many floods. Their house had branches all over from various storms and rain. We carried furniture up from the basement into the garage. We moved everything else from one side to another so they can still use it temporarily while they clean up one side. We also did landscaping, such as: mowing; hedging; trimming; picking up sticks; cleaning off a roof; and cleaning a back patio. We also were also blessed by getting to pray with the family. The prayer was like going to church. They appreciated everything we did. We changed their lives.

We went prayer walking this morning at Northview Heights. We talked with 2 people who we prayed with earlier this week. They told us the prayers we prayed were answered. They thanked us. We were also able to pray for many others and touch their lives. We will nevermore forget our time at Northview Heights Estates. We built relationships in with many children, and families. We also spent the last part of the time we were there praying for the people in the community. 

We shared highlights from the day.   We wrapped up the week, and encouraged each other.

For our Rec Day, we enjoyed going to the Pirates Baseball game. We enjoyed watching the game, and talking with each other. It was some of our first major league baseball game. 

We, or at least part of us, are on our way home.

After a wonderful week of ministry and fun, we are in our way to begin our next mission field, which is our home. We have made so many great memories here, and grown so much. We have stepped out of our comfort zone and we are glad.