Saturday, May 28, 2011

Urbancrest Missions Calendar Updates ~ June 2011

Key West Mission Project
June 2–9, 2011
Please contact Dave Bickers at dbickers@urbancrest.org to receive prayer updates for the Key West team while they are on mission.

Appalachia Mission Team Meeting
June 5, 2011 @ 12:20pm

Block Party at Tecumseh Trails Park
June 8, 2011

Haiti Mission Project
June 10–18, 2011
Please contact Jeff & Deanne Clem at clemje@embarqmail.com to receive prayer updates for the Haiti team while they are on mission.

Southern Baptist Convention
June 13-15, 2011 in Phoenix, AZ

Block Party at Ridgeway Ct. Community
June 15, 2011

Vacation Bible School
June 20-25, 2011

Block Party at UBC Vacation Bible School
June 25, 2011

Uganda Mission Project
June 29-July 13, 2011
Please contact Doss Estep at destep@urbancrest.org to receive prayer updates for the Uganda team while they are on mission.

Block Party at Hunters Run Park
June 29, 2011

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Donations for Haiti

The Haiti team is in need of the following items to take with them on their upcoming short-term mission trip. Please bring your items to the barrel in the church foyer no later than June 5, 2011. Generics of any of these are perfectly fine. They do not have to be name brands.


Clinic needs…..                                                         
Tylenol extra strength tablets                                       
Ibuprofen                                                                  
Naproxen                                                          
Tums                                                                 
Mylicon infant drops                                        
Ranitidine                                                         
Cimetidine                                                                     
Adult multivitamin with and without iron         
Infant poly vi sol vitamin drops                       
Vitamin B6
B complex vitamins
Slowmag
Ginger root tablets (for morning sickness)
eye drops
allergy eye drops
nasal saline drops
Tylenol sinus
nasal decongestant
Lotrimin cream
Bengay type cream
Phisohex soap
Cetaphil type product
 
General needs……
peanut butter
tuna/spam
diapers
baby wipes
baby lotion
baby food (plastic containers ONLY, NO GLASS)
powdered infant formula
baby rice cereal

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Important Reminders

Don’t forget these important meetings

This Saturday May 21 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Safe Travel Training ~ Mandatory training for every international mission team volunteer. In order for us to provide training materials and lunch, please register by contacting your team leader or emailing destep@urbancrest.org
 *Continental breakfast at 8:30 am

This Sunday, May 22, 2011
Impact Ohio Mission Project~Information/Commit to Go Meeting ~12:30 pm. Room 207

Appalachia Mission Project ~ Information Meeting ~ 12:30 pm Room 201

Mission Internship Process, 2011-12 ~ Information 6:00 pm in the Sanctuary. If you are interested in learning about the Urbancrest Mission Internship program or you are feeling a call to missions, come and learn how about this unique program.

Information of these meetings will be available in the church foyer this Sunday.

June 11, 2011
Malawi and Uganda Team training Meetings 6:30 pm

For more information about these opportunities please contact me at the above email or call 513-932-4405.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Cuba Mission Trip Report

It has been a while since the Cuba mission team returned from their February 2011 project. It was a great trip and I am a bit embarrassed to only now be writing about it. However, with the Global Impact Celebration and all the other great things God has been doing these past few weeks, I have just not had time to write the report until now.

The Cuba mission team was comprised of Jeff Crumbley, Doss Estep, Mick Lovely, Clint Otto, Darrel Sims, Joe Veal, and Sam Zalatoris. We left Urbancrest on February 18, and after spending the night in Miami, Florida, arrived in Havana, Cuba, the next day. We were met in Havana by our host and translator, David Gonzales, from the Western Baptist Convention and Victor Grillo, President of the Western Baptist Convention of Cuba. We were in Cuba with the permission of the US Treasury Department and on a religious visa issued by the Cuban government. Our church had been invited by the La Palma Baptist Church to help them repair the church parsonage. The pastor, his wife, and their young daughter had been living in a church Sunday school room for over two years. That invitation and the Lord’s call to help and encourage our brothers and sisters in the faith set us on a journey that started nearly a year before we arrived at the airport. Cuba is a communist country and  freedoms are limited. Though they have the freedom to worship, the churches are restricted both in how they evangelize and in the construction or repairing of church buildings. Permission was granted to us to travel to Cuba to repair the pastor’s home. The government requires that we bring a certain amount of money to be applied to any project we come to do. They keep twenty percent as a tax and the rest helps their economy.


After a four hour ride in a 1947 two-ton international truck that had a Russian diesel engine and a bus coach mounted on it, we arrived in La Palma and met our host for the week. Pastor Ignatius and his church members had our dinner prepared and were waiting for us. While we ate, about seventy-five youth arrived to wait for the 8:30pm service and get a glimpse of the gringos. As the service began for the anticipated youth meeting, I looked around and realized that there were people of all ages at the church. The contemporary worship music was led by a couple of ladies on a DVD and shown through a video projector on the front wall of the small church. The congregational worship was sincere, and even though I could not sing along to the Spanish words flashing across the screen, I bowed my head in worship to my King, who is also their King. As Joe Veal preached the message and David translated, seven youth and adults gave their lives to Christ!

Our lodging turned out to be 2” foam mats or air mattresses on the church sanctuary floor, although some of the team members were afraid of scorpions and laid their mats on two pews. I guess they didn’t know that scorpions can climb! By midnight, everyone was ready for some sleep, but the night sounds in Cuba were so foreign to our ears that we were all awakened several times before the sun began to shine. Each morning we rolled up our mats and put away our suitcases so that the building could be used as it was originally intended.

Cuba is a country closed to the outside influence of Christianity. That means that our team was not allowed to evangelize off the church property. However, at the church building and on any property the church owned, we could say whatever we wanted. In those locations, we taught and preached with freedom. Joe and Darrel taught sixty adults how to use the Evangecube, and we gave about twenty-five of them to the local congregation. Three people prayed to receive Christ that morning during the Sunday services. We spent the remainder of the day on Sunday assessing the needed repairs in the pastor’s home, locating the tools and materials that were available, and getting to know our Cuban brothers and sisters in Christ.

Monday morning brought a wonderful breakfast, followed by a long day of hard work. The house had to be cleaned out before we could begin any construction work. Mick and Jeff began the task of rewiring the home. Darrel, Sam, Clint, and I began to get the floors ready for tile and the walls ready for paint. Joe wanted to work outside, so he and several other men were tasked with removing a huge stump so that a foundation could be poured for a back porch. Bad decision Joe!


Each day was filled with this type of work. We cleaned, painted, wired, and helped the tile layer move tile around from room to room. Joe worked on the stump until it disappeared and then helped dig the foundation hole, mix concrete in a wheelbarrow, and carry it to the holes. Darrel, Sam, and Clint also helped with the concrete mixing. Every day was hard work and our team really jumped in and set a good example.

José was the tile expert of the city of La Palma. He was in his 60’s and was a believer in Jesus. He spent most of his days on his knees, bent over to lay floor tile. When I finally was able to talk to him, I remembered that I had brought a pair of knee pads to Cuba with me. I ask him, through the translator, if he had a set. He didn’t act like he knew what I was talking about. Clint got the knee pads from our tool case and strapped them onto José. His reaction was memorable. As he bowed down and his knees touched the floor for the first time without pain, he exclaimed, “Gloria a Dios!” which means, “Glory to God!”


As our week continued, José and others explained to us that the whole city knew that "the Americans" were there working hard on the church. In fact, our translator, David, was able to acquire some electrical parts that we needed because of the good reports about the team. You see, the average person in Cuba will only make $12-$20 per month. Therefore, there is little money to purchase supplies, and they are very scarce. So while we were in need of many things and had the money to purchase them, most merchants will hold onto supplies until their neighbors can afford them rather than sell the supplies to strangers. But, the reputation that Christ gave us allowed us to purchase the things we needed to continue our project.

Each evening we held a worship time, either in one of the house church plants or in the church itself. Cuba has over 4,000 house churches, most of which have started since 2007. Typically, Joe would preach and the other men would teach youth and children. Most of the churches were very new, and the believers were hungry for the Word of God. The number of people at each worship service increased as the week progressed, and there was a deeper worship experience each day. By the end of the trip, one hundred people had responded to the Gospel for the first time!

We praise the Lord that we were able to witness the power of God in Cuba! Lives were transformed and souls were saved. God used this construction project to encourage our Cuban brothers and sisters, save the souls of one hundred people, and also change our lives forever. Thank you, Urbancrest, for your vision to minister to the oppressed church in Cuba! Two more trips are in the planning. One project will take place in early December 2011 and one in February 2012. If you are interested in how you can be used in this work on either of these trips, contact destep@urbancrest.com.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Mission Project Meetings

You are invited!
Malawi Mission Trip: July 18 - 31, 2011
Next Meeting: Saturday, May 7 @ 6:30pm at UBC
Joe Veal is in Malawi this week. His last report said that over 20,000 souls had already come to Christ! This July, Urbancrest will send a team to work with Joe. We will evangelize with him, but we will also be working at the Lighthouse project. Lighthouse is an orphanage that is supported by You-Turn Ministries. We want to minister to the orphans and set up discipleship opportunities for the children, women, men, and especially pastors. We need workers of all types to catch the vision for this work. In the future, we hope to build other orphanages and teach these new believers.

Uganda Mission Trip: June 29 - July 12, 2011
Next Meeting: Saturday, May 7 @ 6:30pm at UBC
Urbancrest has sent teams to Uganda for several years. This year we will deploy two of our own families to Uganda: the Bogans and the Whitmers. We are still in need of several people to go on this short-term trip. There is a need for volunteers who can teach and train pastors, work in schools, or teach women and children.
 
Please pray about these important opportunities. Then come and join us!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Just Say "Yes!"

 
 
Many people think about going on a mission project but do not follow through with it for what are sometimes the wrong reasons. In my own life, I can look back and remember the invitations that God gave me to join Him. I am saddened that I allowed the evil one to keep me away from God’s will for my life for so many years. The Lord would speak to my heart in that still small voice, usually through a friend, brochure, or something similar. “You can go!” is what I always heard in my heart. “You need to check that out!” was another pull that I would usually dismiss. I had many excuses. See how they compare to yours:
  • I am really busy that week/month/season of life and I just don’t have time. (No time for God? Really?)
  • I am afraid to go to another country. What if they don’t like me? (This expresses a lack of love for Jesus or the things He loves. Perfect love casts out fear!)
  • I just don’t have the money. (If Jesus calls you to go, it is His job to get you there. Could there be a pride issue?)
  • I am not sure I can do what needs to be done in that culture. (“I can do all things through Christ.” Could it be a lack of faith?)
  • I am not sure I can eat the food. (He feeds the sparrows. How much more does He care for you?)
There are many more excuses that I personally have used, and even more that I have heard over the years. Satan is the deceiver and there is no end to the lies he will tell you. Who will you listen to? The call of every Christian is to reach the world with the Gospel, which means that you are to either pray and/or give to someone that is going, or go yourself. Are you going to be obedient? If you decide to be obedient, the question becomes whether you will be the one to go (and if so, where?) or the one to pray and give. Who does God want you to partner with? You don’t have to wait for someone to send you a support letter!
 
Here is the truth about going on a mission trip. Those that go usually survive! They eat, work, and get really tired. They come home and are forever changed. God has used them!! The Kingdom was impacted and enlarged because God used them. Souls will be in Heaven for eternity because God used them! Then, they can’t wait to go back.
 
We have the following mission projects that are in need of volunteers to step up and be obedient:
 
Malawi Mission Trip: July 18 - 31, 2011
Next Meeting: Saturday, May 7 @ 6:30pm at UBC
Joe Veal is in Malawi this week. His last report said that over 11,000 souls had already come to Christ! This July, Urbancrest will send a team to work with Joe. We will evangelize with him, but we will also be working at the Lighthouse project. Lighthouse is an orphanage that is supported by You-Turn Ministries. We want to minister to the orphans and set up discipleship opportunities for the children, women, men, and especially pastors. We need workers of all types to catch the vision for this work. In the future, we hope to build other orphanages and teach these new believers.

Uganda Mission Trip: June 29 - July 12, 2011
Next Meeting: Saturday, May 7 @ 6:30pm at UBC
Urbancrest has sent teams to Uganda for several years. This year we will deploy two of our own families to Uganda: the Bogans and the Whitmers. We are still in need of several people to go on this short-term trip. There is a need for volunteers who can teach and train pastors, work in schools, or teach women and children.
 
Please pray about these important opportunities. Then, say “Yes!” Come to the meeting and learn more. Is Jesus calling you to go, or give and pray?