VBS and services of late

Well, I gotta say that the last two weeks have been not only a tornado, but an up and down one at that. Here are some high and low lights...

1) We had a youth group from Melbourne, Florida with us from July 6th through the14th, and what a time we had! It was tremendous, and in and of itself deserves some coverage, so here goes:
a) On Wednesday, July 7th, we passed out close to 3000 flyers in several neighborhoods, inviting kids to our VBS as well as inviting families to join us as well. We passed out these flyers in about 5 hours, and the best part was, I didn't have to walk! :) That night, the 7th, was our first VBS night, and we had 19 kids, with 12 of those being first timers - it was way cool. The puppet shows that the teen group put on were great. That night, after every one was gone, the kids that stayed with us (Stephanie, Virginia, Jackie, Kyle, Randy and counselor Christine) and Krista and I played Mafia - it was great. Stayed up until almost 2am.
b) On Thursday, July 8th, we woke up to rain! :( We had planned a day to go to the park and put on puppet shows for the kids in the park (Rochester Commons) - but we could not because of the rain. I woke up and began to ask God "why?" and "what are we supposed to do?" because we had no other activity planned. So we brainstormed (which was in keeping with the weather), and we called and visited many places, including KMart, Walmart, and the mall to name a few - with no luck of them allowing us to do puppet shows. Finally, I thought "what about daycares? They have kids locked up today...we should call them!" And so we did - after about 5 with no luck, we contacted NH Girls, Inc. and they said they had about 25 six to twelve year old girls that would love for us to do a puppet show, and so we said ok! Well, turns out, they are located at the Rochester Community Center, so when we went down there to scope the place out, the girl (Mandy) said that another group was going to come as well, giving us about 50+ kids - great! Well, when we came back to set up, she had invited another group, and in a huge room, we entertained about 120 kids and counselors, and invited to church and VBS! It was awesome, as we hadn't anticipated this extra ministry opportunity. Isn't it great when GOD decides to change the plans and allow us to participate?! That night we had 22 kids at VBS, and played Mafia late again.
c) On Friday the 9th, we were able to visit Rochester Commons and do the puppet show, as the rain had gone away. As I went to secure the permit for the park at the city manager's office, the receptionist told me that the permit was not good because the fire chief and city manager didn't sign it, and they weren't around or available to sign it. Almost despairing because our puppet team was at the park setting up as we talked, I prayed to God "what to do", and all of a sudden, the unlocatable fire chief walks by, and she nabs him and he signs it. Still one signature to go, though, and the city manager is in a meeting - but then all of a sudden, he walks in, and she gets him to sign it! The receptionist said to me, "Someone must be watching over you!" to which I replied, "It's called 'the power of prayer!'" At the park, we ministered to about 50 kids and parents, as well as the St Charles Orphanage. I need to see about their Big Brother/Big Sister program... At VBS that night, we had 24, and one little 9 year old girl got saved! Praise God!
d) On Saturday the 10th, we gave the teens a needed morning off, and relaxed. I had lunch with Pastor Guinn, who reminded me of the importance of leading people to Christ and helping them grow in their relationship with him. It was good. I was glad to get to know him some. That evening held the highlight though, despite some stinky things - first, the stinky things: 1) many kids, because of Saturday, did not come to our closing program, and so our kid attendance was low, although we did have many come back; 2) Many of our people weren't there. I am convinced firmly that Sundays are the way for us to go on our weekend service. It is SO frustrating when people aren't there, and quite honestly, if we hit Sundays and no one still shows up, then I need to question some things. I just hope and pray that Sundays are a boost in the arm for our attendance and for our offerings, both of which have been SO lousy lately. At this rate, I might have to ask for assistance from GSBC, and I don't really want that. We will see - and God knows. But the great news is that we had Bonnie, Kathy Boston's daughter get saved - she is about my age - it was great! Our people missed a blessing. Our official VBS results are not yet in, but we do know of 2 people, one child and one woman, whose lives are different now because of our outreach!
e) Sunday the 11th came early as we had to be on the road at 7am to get to Matt's church in Pelham so the kids could do their puppet shows in his services. Crossroads made us breakfast and lunch, and after the services, the kids went to Boston. The Willis family came home and crashed.
f) The youth group also visited 6 Flags in Springfield on Monday the 12th, and we all went up to Attitash for the day on Tuesday the 13th, where we had a blast on the alpine slides until it rained :(

The group went home early Wednesday morning, and we sure do miss the whole bunch - Stephanie, Virginia, Jackie, Kyle, Randy and counselor Christine, Mike & Jenetta, Gerinda, Jessica, Dixie, Kyle, Billy, Matt, Garrett, Johnathon, Jeff & Kina, Justin, Ben - we miss all of them and the great folks at Bethany Baptist Church. Honestly, I did not think that I would walk away as blessed as I was. I consider Jeff and Kina, Mike and Jenetta, and Christine my friends.

OK - so far as the Journey is concerned, I am very concerned about attendance, as you might guess. I am unsure if it is just summer or what, but unfortunately, the Journey has been out of sight, out of mind with our folks and yet we still have bills to pay and a community to impact. Last night, at our midweek bible study, we had 6 adults in the bible study! Our people need to be doing better than that. Quite honestly, my biggest prayers right now are that we would be able to meet our bills without resorting to asking anyone for money, and that we would regain that momentum that we went into the summertime months with!