Beechwood Church

On the first day of the summer mission trip season, youth leader Jesse and his team from Holland, Michigan arrived to West Town to serve Pastor Marvin and his congregants at Iglesia Bautista Erie!

After the team settled in, Pastor Marvin introduced himself to us and taught us more about the church and the city of Chicago as a whole. We got to know one another in the orientation meeting before braving the rain and talking a walk over to have dinner.

Later, during our meeting, Jesse shared a thought with us that was so profound: "Jesus does not meet expectations." He shared this thought with us not to discredit the character of Jesus, but to get us to think about the ways Jesus did the unexpected during his time on Earth and continues to do the unexpected in our lives. He didn't conform to the societal norms of his time; he embraced the "unforgivable" and spoke to the "unreachable". He grows us in ways that we can never truly foresee or imagine, using circumstances that, at times, we never thought we'd see ourselves in.

Jesse encouraged us to be open to the ways Jesus might use us, change us and speak to us this week...even if it's not what we expected.

We are looking forward to what this trip will bring!

Today was great day of fellowship with the Iglesia Bautista Erie congregants! We joined them in worship today as they kicked off their Father's Day service, where they spent the day honoring the fathers of the church. The worship was bilingual. After service concluded we had lunch with the church, which was a moment that was used to honor the fathers as well. 

After dinner we went over to the local park and did some canvassing for VBS, which will start on Monday afternoon. We then went out to dinner at Portillo's, one of the most popular restaurants in Chicago! 

We ended the night with a moment of reflection; we discussed the challenges the day brought and the how we saw God moving in what we did today. Many of the students discussed stepping out of their comfort zones to do something bold for the Kingdom. 

As I sat back listening to their testimonies I was reminded of a song that was sung for worship during morning service: "Tuyo Somos."  which means "We Are Yours." God chooses to use us, no matter our fears or discomforts, and he was able to use our group because we were bold enough to say "yes" despite our discomforts.

One of our visions for this week is to say yes despite our limitations and fears, trusting that God will grow the seeds of hope, love and service that we will plant. We can't wait to get to work tomorrow!

Here is a a photo of us hanging out at Smith Park before handing out flyers for Vacation Bible School! 

On one of the first major days of service, the kids woke up excited and ready to tackle whatever the day presented! 

Our first adventure was at Mitchell Elementary School where we helped rearrange the school library, toss out trash and do some organizing of different spaces in the building. The principal was beyond pleased and invited us to come back whenever we wanted! 

While our first day of VBS was postponed because of the rain, the kids came back to the church and helped clean, organize and prepare for some of tomorrow's service projects. The team was rewarded from the church with a delicious home-cooked meal by some of the church members.

We closed the day in worship, and discussed the importance of every individual life that we impact in the eyes of God; the people we serve are so important, and we know this in part because they were made in the very image of God! This reminder was  beautiful and will propel us to love those who we serve well as the week continues!

On what was a beautiful and sunny day in Chicago, the team was able to lend helping hands and build up the host church's partnerships with a couple of different organizations! We sent a small team back to Mitchell Elementary School to do some more reorganizing and cleaning, another group went over to Superior Park to do some gardening and another stayed at the host church to do more service projects. All of our efforts were deeply appreciated and met with thanksgiving and praise!

After we finished doing that work we went to do VBS at Smith Park. We went with a great plan and expectant hearts, but initially it was difficult to get people to come over to us. We eventually got a few kids to come sing and play with us, but we decided to try a different method. Instead of trying to get kids to come over and join us, we joined them in whatever they were doing and fellowship with them that way! There was even opportunity in some of those times of connection to talk about Jesus. 

In our nightly meeting, we discussed the importance of trusting God with our plans. While things didn't go exactly the way we would have wanted them to go, God was able to use our willingness and presence to make an impact on the lives  of some kids! Robin reminded us of Paul's testimony in 1 Corinthians 9: He became all things to all people so that he could point them to Christ. 

Our team did such a job of embracing the challenge of letting go of our own good for God's great. We are looking forward to what He has in store for us tomorrow.

Our last day at Smith Park was undoubtedly our best one yet! We learned from our first two days at the park and decided to make a change, trusting wholly that God would honor our willingness, our presence and our faithfulness. We met the kids at the park right where they were and had a response from them that was better than the previous two days combined! The youth of Beechwood were flexible and stepped out of thier normal to show God's love to the kids that they encountered. God be glorified!

After dinner, the youth of Beechwood got the opportunity to gather with the congregation and share moments from the week that impacted them. They were even given the privilege of leading the church in worship! 

Pastor Marvin left us with a thought from 1 Corinthians 3:7-9 regarding the seeds we were planting by serving alongside his church. It reads:

"It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building."

It was such a blessing to be reminded that God is still in control. Thankfully this team was able to see some of the immediate effects of their hard work in service, but we know that God will continue to provide an increase far beyond what we can imagine!

One of the stops we made during our day of recreation was the Cloud Gate, otherwise known as The Bean!

Our visit to the world famous Chicago Cubs ballpark!