Rock Hill 2013

As always, this mission began at home.  We left the White Oak parking lot assured that the support and prayers of our families would coincide with God's perfect design for this trip, and we took off!  Eight students, five adults, and several helpful puppets took hold of I-85 north in hopes of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We arrived in Rock Hill about 5:30 on Saturday afternoon, and were thrilled to find what awaited us at Cherry Park.  The facilities we had reserved were swarming with families that had gathered to celebrate, eat, or just soak up the warm sun and cool breeze.  We knew that we weren't going to be working in some unknown corner of Rock Hill, but would be right in the middle of a hub of activity.

Saturday night gave us the chance to spend the night with several of families from Hill City Church.  Not only a great chance to get to know our hosts and ministry partners, but a time to build some friendships. Rachel, Tracy, and I stayed with a family who recently moved into a house built in 1896.  They had a very friendly three-year old boy, 2 friendly dogs, and 13 chickens in the backyard (15 before the aforementioned friendly dogs had a say in the matter).  We heard testimonies of God's grace in their lives, and got a better vision of Hill City's efforts.

Sunday saw morning worship with HCC.  They had a fantastic ensemble of musicians, and played hymns to tunes with which we are familiar, as we sing them in our youth meetings.  We celebrated the Lord's Supper together in a special and unique way, emphasizing the (literal in this case) table fellowship of believers.  Our youth had a great new perspective on the Sabbath, and we were all encouraged by Rev. Andy Stager's preaching.

After church, we hit the streets to canvas for VBS.  Andy and co. provided maps for us in order to focus on certain neighborhoods.  Our youth jumped right in.  There was no hesitation to invite people, regardless of (apparent) social status, race, or even openness to receiving an invitation.  Not to say they were obnoxious, but their excitement for the VBS was clearly evident.  We ate supper with our Hill City hosts, and closed the evening discussing evangelism and the day ahead.

Monday dawned with ideal weather, and plenty of energy. We welcomed 23 children to VBS, all of whom engaged quickly with the material... and with our youth.  Give Tyler V. an opportunity to flash a few magic tricks, and it won't be long before you draw a crowd.  Soon after we began, we saw a uniformed man approaching our crowd.  I'll admit, I was ready to be scolded for some minor infraction, but it turned out to be the Cherry Park supervisor, who was thrilled with our efforts.  He offered any service the park could provide, and even has worked his local connections to line up a potential service project.  Really a neat thing.

The park was swarming again (kind of a surprise for a Monday morning), and so we were able to invite several folks who arrived to play on the playground, or, in one case, whose children were wide-eyed and riveted to the games our attendees were enjoying. (Or, it may have been Haddon's umbrella-hat, who knows...)

We sent a team to bring some love and greeting to a local group home who sent some campers to the recent inaugural Camp Joy, SC.  Looking forward to a report from them and a delicious supper together.

Pray for continued hard work, and that the inevitable drop in energy won't result in a drop in performance.  Most of all, pray for the Holy Spirit to soften little (or big) hearts to the Gospel, so the Kingdom might press forward.

Now that I know this blog exists, I'll get some pictures up tomorrow.

Mackay