Update Number Six

Let's see... what to say about the last couple of weeks...
First off, the slip n' slide outreach was great - a ton of people came and we got to talk with a lot of them. I've had some great conversations in the last week with random people out on the boardwalk and the beach. One guy we (me and my friend Mandy) were talking with, Andy, explained how his son was having a hard time with his faith and everything. We told him to come to Pac. Ave. (our weekly meeting) and join us to get plugged in, and he seemed really excited to ask him. Andy was so greatful that he actually paid for both of us to go out on the pier (2 bucks a person) since we had been telling him that we wanted to see what it was like.

Another guy named Brian that I talked to (this time with another friend, Zach) was really curious as to what Christianity was really about. He had never really heard the gospel before - he just got his impression of Christianity from TV and watching people that considered themselves Christians. It's amazing how many people refuse to accept Christianity without knowing its meaning. So anyway, we told him everything from the beginning, and he was really interested. It was amazing to see God change his heart throughout the conversation, going from a very closed mind to the whole idea to actually being interested in accepting it.

In terms of myself, God has been working on my faith in the last few weeks - how much I trust Him with and what I believe He can and cannot do. Please keep on praying for all of us down here, as our time starts to kind of wind down. We definately need it.

God bless,
Shane

Goodbye Staff

Alright, so as I said in my last update, the staff left last Friday. Which means that students are running the entire project right now. So far, it's going pretty well, and I definately thought that there would be more kinks than there have been. It's really cool to see the students step up and take ownership of the rest of the summer here. I just hope that we can continue to get excited and encourage eachother to keep growing and keep pushing harder, since we don't have any leadership to do so. And I have confidence that we will... the amount of community and fellowship at this project is by far more than I have ever experienced before, and it's incredible.

As far as ministry goes, our outreach for this Saturday is a giant Slip n' Slide into the ocean. I think it's going to be a great way of gathering people and just hanging out with them. A thing that I've learned here is that just because people don't talk about spiritual things in their daily life doesn't mean it needs to be a taboo subject. I usually just assume that people are touchy about that kind of stuff, but the reality is is that it's just another thing to talk about - and as I've been learning, the most important thing on earth to talk about.

Anyway, sorry for that rant. Here's a few photos of our last night with staff:

All of the guys from Colorado School of Mines


This is Scott, the (former) project director and his kids, Zack and Gabe.


Me and Scott


A bunch of people at the Agape Feast

Update Number Four

Hey again,

Hard to believe I’m writing the half-way-done-with-project update already… I feel like I’ve only been here a little while – but at the same time, I feel like the relationships I’ve made so far have been a lot longer than 5 weeks.

So here I am on the 4th of July – I got off of work at about 9:30, went home, took a nap, and now I’m sitting here at the coffee shop with my friend Nate with about 4 hours until my next activity. Feels good to finally have some time to slow down.

There are some pretty cool things that have been happening lately here in Virginia Beach. First, our outreach last Saturday was incredible. Pictures of it are at the bottom of this post. It was a cardboard and duct tape staged battle on the beach. I know that sounds a little weird, but it was really cool and very effective. All of the guys made armor and weapons out of cardboard and duct tape (they looked really good - see below). There was a red team (good) and a blue team (evil). I was on the blue team... we marched out to the beach and gathered a huge crowd of curious people (a few hundred) and battled eachother. The last guy standing after an awesome coreographed fight stood up and gave a presentation of the Gospel. It was amazing to see everybody watching us and listening intently to what Scott had to say. We got to talk to people afterward and see what their thoughts were on God and Jesus, and explain the significance of the battle - it was likened to a spiritual battle that everyone is going through. It was incredible to see God work in so many people's hearts all at once.

Also, this is a huge week for the project, because all of the staff are leaving this Friday... all of them - even the project director (the main man in charge, Scott Santee). All of the students are taking over their roles. I'm in charge of leading a Bible study once they leave, and I'm pretty excited to see how God will grow me and prepare me more for doing the same kind of stuff next year on the Mines campus. Everybody says that project really starts after the staff leave, so we'll see what happenes. It sounds pretty crazy to me, but I know it will be amazing.

I hope all of you are still doing well, and I can't tell you how much I'm learning here (or, at least without making this post a novel).

-shane

photos::


blue team at the paradise before we left


blue team leader, Ian


red team marching on the boardwalk


Ian levelling Tyson


the midst of battle


Scott giving his message