Confessions of a Pittsburgh Missionary: When Nothing Goes Right

Confessions of a Pittsburgh Missionary: When Nothing Goes Right
Week 7: June 22-28

I’m going to be honest (this series is called confessions after all), this week was very discouraging and challenging. Chloe and I were so excited for our first club that was supposed to be in the home of a young mother who attends my church. We got to the club and no children showed up. Chloe and I decided to use the time instead to walk the neighborhood, knock on some doors, and invite some kids. We put out flyers, I sent out Facebook messages to some people, and we did everything we could think to do. Still we went back the next day, prayed for children to show up, but none did. I decided it would be best not to continue with the club as this was supposed to be our hands-on second week of training and it’s hard to get practice doing a club when there are no kids. So instead we decided to spend the rest of the week working with Westmoreland County at their club. The problem was solved but it was still a very discouraging start to the summer. We were excited to minister to some kids and apply everything we had learned at training, and then not a single kid showed up. 

Nevertheless, we continued on with the week in Westmoreland County. Wednesday morning I was supposed to meet Cathy, the director of Westmoreland County CEF, at a church so she could lead us to the club. Well I was already running late picking up Chloe. Then to make it worse, I missed my exit and didn’t notice until I was fifteen miles further down the road. Then I had to drive another twenty to the destination. Not to mention, there is road work all over the Greater Pittsburgh area this summer! And we got there late and barely in enough time for Chloe to teach the memory verse. It was very stressful and I was pretty flustered that morning. We went to some extra training after the club with the Westmoreland team at a park. We had just finished eating lunch together when it started downpouring. Chloe and I decided to leave before roads flooded and so we didn’t get to stay as long as I’d hoped. Our feet were soaked and I drove very carefully back to the Greater Pittsburgh area. Thankfully we got there safely, but it just added more to my already stressful day. 

We returned to my church and Chloe attempted an evaluation for one of her Bible lessons. It wasn’t that she did a bad job, she just missed a lot of the application and gospel points CEF puts into lessons. So she didn’t pass. I could see that she was extremely frustrated and discouraged. I tried to encourage her but I wasn’t really sure how to help her. I dropped her off and I think we were both feeling very frustrated and discouraged after the events of the day. That was up until Wednesday of this week. Things weren’t going very well at all. I remember being in the car on one of the drives feeling like God wasn’t answering any of my prayers like I wanted him to. I knew God heard my prayers and was answering me (Jeremiah 33:3) but he wasn’t answering with a “Yes!” like I really wanted him to. It was a very discouraging first half of the week. NOTHING had gone the way I had wanted it to and it seemed like everything was going wrong.

But then Thursday came and things started to get turned around. Cathy was able to help her missionaries and Chloe with links which also helped them a lot with gospel applications. Chloe worked on the same lesson again and evaluated on it and got all of the points. I believe I had only positive feedback for her. So that was very encouraging. We didn’t get lost the rest of the week which was also encouraging. And we got to spend time with our Westmoreland friends, which is always a blessing. Chloe taught the lesson on Friday and did an excellent job. It seemed like things finally turned around.

I figured since God didn’t answer my prayers the way I expected, he must have had a better plan in mind. And I’m not totally sure if there’s more to it or not, but to me it seems like just being able to work with Cathy this week is reason enough. I think she was able to help Chloe in ways that I wouldn’t have known how to since she is a more experienced director. God may have had other reasons for guiding us to Westmoreland County this past week, I trust that he answered my prayers the best way possible even if I don’t know the reason. 

Basically this week I learned that it’s important to be both flexible and proactive, that God is always in control, and that prayer is super important to ministry. Chloe and I had to be flexible on the first day when no one showed up. We were willing to not go through with club for that day. But we didn’t just sit around and decide not to do the club, waiting for kids to show up, we went out and were proactive as well. We invited kids. We didn’t everything we could do before moving onto the next option. I learned that God is always in control. I trust that he always hears my prayers and I have to continue trusting in him even when he doesn’t answer them the way I planned on him doing. It doesn’t mean he’s mean and just doesn’t feel like helping me, it means he has something better in store. And I learned that prayer is super important in ministry. Chloe and I definitely felt some spiritual attack this week, and we both knew that in part, it was because we weren’t praying enough. I mean sure, we prayed when we wanted kids to show up. But we weren’t really making prayer a priority and we need to do that. We need to be sure to involve the Holy Spirit in the Kingdom Work we are involved in, because without his strength, we have no chance at success.

This week started out terrible. But God somehow managed, like he always does, to turn it around and use it for his glory. I’m so glad I serve a God that can turn awful weeks into great testimonies.

Confessions of a Pittsburgh Missionary: Let's Get Started!

Confessions of a Pittsburgh Missionary: Let’s Get Started!

Week 6: June 15-21, 2014

Wow! I can’t believe I just typed that, has it really been six weeks of working already? Where did the time go? With just seven weeks of 5-Day Clubs ahead of us, the summer is already halfway over for me!

This past week Chloe and AJ (my summer missionaries) and I attended CYIA (Christian Youth In Action) Training Camp. It is basically Bible boot camp. It’s an intense week of learning how to teach Bible lessons and other ministry tips. It can be an exhausting and very tiring week, but it’s also a lot of fun. The three of us all made some new friends. The last day was bittersweet, we were tired and ready to be done with this intense week of training, but we were also going to miss all the friends we made that would go to their own counties to reach children.

I thought the week went very well. I stepped into my leadership position a little more officially (you know, since there were actually other people around and I wasn’t just sitting in a temporary home office by myself). It was a little strange for me to be at training camp this time as senior staff. But I adjusted well. The coordinator for Fayette and Somerset County was in a cabin connected to mine and we hit it off. Her name is Hillary and I really enjoyed having her company. She’s not as young as me, but she was probably only 5-7 years older. We found ourselves throughout the week asking each other for advice, telling each other about situations and wondering if we handled it correctly, sharing some of the joys and frustrations of the job, and having some discussions on how to be both an introvert and a leader. Another support staff member for Lancaster County, Erika, would occasionally join in on these conversations as well.  We sat next to each other in the back while the students went through training. Here is a picture of the three of us. 

My main responsibilities during the week were to be in charge of Chloe and AJ. They have to prepare the lessons in our curriculum ahead of time and then be evaluated on them. So I had to be available to help them prepare these lessons, memory verses, and songs. Once they were prepared, they presented them to me as if I was the child and it was my job to evaluate them on how they did. They are doing very well. They have a few more evaluations to finish up next week but I have no doubt that Greater Pittsburgh is equipped with a great team this summer. Our picture is also below. In addition to being in charge of them, I sat through a couple of the training sessions. Since I have already gone through the training I used my time to get some work done and I am very close to finalizing the schedule. This is a huge relief. I am so thankful that God has pulled everything together. I have sixteen clubs scheduled for us in the next seven weeks. And there might be some days that we will use free time to do some open air evangelism in the community. I managed to get us into mostly inner city locations so I am grateful to be able to reach children in Pittsburgh through these locations.

On Wednesday night we went out to a park and did some Open Air Evangelism. This means all the missionaries went to a park, we invited community families to come for games and prizes and what not, and while we were there, we approached the children and shared the gospel with them by using the wordless book. There wasn’t quite enough children there, so many of the summer missionaries found themselves talking to parents and other adults as well. Chloe was able to have a conversation with a mom that the mother was really in need of. She said to Chloe before parting, “I think things happen for a reason and you were meant to come and talk with me tonight.”

AJ and I had the opportunity to talk with a mom as well. She claimed to believe in Jesus but it didn’t seem like she truly had a grasp on what it meant to live her life for him and have a relationship with him. It seemed like she’d be hurt by the church in many ways and so she hadn’t attended for a while. While we weren’t really able to help her understand what a relationship with Christ looks like, we did get her to sign her kids up for “Truth Chasers Club” which is CEF’s mailbox correspondence ministry. So hopefully something good will come from that. AJ was a little discouraged after talking to her, but I reminded him that we had been faithful and obedient to go and tell and now it was God’s job to grow the seed. Pray for Linda and her family, pray that the seed we planted will grow and that she will enter into a saving relationship with Jesus.

I guess to sum it all up, this week made me feel blessed. It is so cool to look back and see how much God has done in my life through CEF. In 2008 when I decided to be obedient and sign up even though I was terrified to do so, I never thought that finding a college, getting two different jobs in the future, making great friends, and having the opportunity to lead many children to Christ would come from it. I am so glad I was obedient to God when I was 15 years old. He has used CEF in amazing ways in my life and because of that, I feel blessed.

We have our first practice 5-Day Club on Monday. AJ is away on a school trip but Chloe and I will be meeting to practice and go over things before each club. Pray for Chloe, that she can get her evaluations done and be blessed as she teaches the children. Pray that AJ will have a great school trip but also will be able to stay focused and get his evaluations finished so he can teach when he comes home. And pray for me, that God will show me how to be a good leader for the summer missionaries in Greater Pittsburgh and be able to coordinate everything effectively. And pray for all of us to have an awesome summer serving God with many opportunities to lead children and even their parents to a saving relationship with Christ. Our summer has officially started!

Confessions of a Pittsburgh Missionary: Holding My Every Moment

Confessions of a Pittsburgh Missionary: Holding My Every Moment
Week 5: June 8-June 14, 2014

This week was busy as I got ready to kick off the summer. I spent lots of tying getting packets of information sent out to hosts, designing and printing prayer cards for us, and making sure everything was in order so we could leave for training school on Saturday. Friday I started working at 11am and I spent the whole day working on stuff. It was pretty tiring.

But once I was all packed and had everything ready and had evaluated Chloe and AJ, we got up early Saturday morning and headed out to Orrstown, Pennsylvania for our week of CYIA Training School. We’re here now and so far we are having fun and making friends. It’s definitely going to be a long week and it’s going to involve a lot of learning and exhausting evaluations, but it’s always so worth it in the end.

On my way up I began reflecting on how far God had brought me since 2007 when I first felt the call to go and work with CEF. I was terrified and didn’t want to do it! But I knew God wanted me to. And here I am, seven years later, a coordinator for Pittsburgh. It is so cool to see how God works. He truly does hold the plan for our lives in his hands and guides our steps. I am so glad that I listened to God’s call as a fourteen year old instead of trying to fight it. I have so loved working with CEF as a result.

I love my job even more now that I am here. It’s taking some getting used to since I am a “senior staff Member.” It’s definitely an adjustment from being used to being a regular missionary all the other years. But I like it and I hope that I can be a strong and wise leader for God to help these teens have as awesome of an experience as I did as a summer missionary. I still can’t believe I’m old enough to be considered senior staff, I still feel about fourteen. But maybe someday it will hit me that I’m growing up and God has prepared me for the position I am in now. 
He has been holding my every moment since birth. He has been faithful to provide for where I am in this very moment. And I truly believe he will continue to hold every moment to come.

Below is a copy of my Thank You Letter to those of you that have supported me!
Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you! You are receiving this letter because in some way you chose to support me this summer. Whether it was by giving financially, donating prizes for children, committing to pray for me, or searching for locations for 5-Day Clubs, you have contributed in making this summer possible. I firmly believe that God will reward you for partnering with me, and therefore Child Evangelism Fellowship. 

With your help, I have been able to schedule many different locations for the summer. I raised $1032 in financial support in addition to the $1500 that the chapter had already committed towards my salary for the summer. I have collected many different prizes for the children this summer that I know they will love. And I can think of at least fifteen different people that have told me that they are praying for me. You have supported me through prayer, financially, through donations, and by finding locations for clubs. Thank you so much!

I am looking forward to big things this summer. I have already started with the job and so far I love it! Right now we are doing our two weeks of training and then we are going to get started with the ministry this summer! Keep praying for us! I have been writing a weekly update to keep you all updated on the events of the summer. 

Thanks again for all of your help! I couldn’t have done it without you!
Blessings,
Lindsey Sutton

Confessions of a Pittsburgh Missionary: Trusting the Provider

Confessions of a Pittsburgh Missionary: Trusting the Provider

Week 4: June 1-7, 2014

This week was a little bit more relaxed. It has been nice to have a little bit of a slow week, it gave me lots of time to keep working on my book that I have been writing. It was a slow week because I had finished contacting everyone on my lists last week, and so this week was mainly waiting for a lot of people to call me back. It’s amazing how many organizations won’t contact you back if you don’t pester them a little! I guess that’s kind of a foreign concept to me, because even if I wasn’t interested in partnering, I would still send an email back and say that! But oh well, the goal for next week is to contact a bunch of those organizations back and try to get them to set a date. I have 10 club locations for the summer so far, and my goal is to have 15. So I’m getting pretty close!

God is showing me how to trust him with even the smallest details. A cool example of that this week was that I needed color ink for my printer to be able to print prayer cards for the summer missionaries and myself. Since I haven’t started getting paid for this job quite yet, money is a little tight and I didn’t really have the money to spend $30+ on a color ink cartridge. I kept waiting but I really needed to print these off. And then an idea popped into my head to check on Amazon to buy ink. And sure enough, there was a colored ink cartridge for less than $10 including shipping. It was a small miracle. But it still showed me that God would provide and take care of all my needs.

In just one week Chloe, AJ, and I will be on our way to our first week of training. This is going to be an intense week of Bible boot camp. But the training is top notch and I am looking forward to what God is going to do in all of our lives. This will kick off our summer and we are going to do lots of ministry in our county after that! I have been praying and fasting, trying to prepare myself spiritually for the summer as well. God is showing me how to trust him. Even when it seems like things won’t come through they always do. My prayer has become, “God you led me to this, I know I’m in your will. You know all my needs, so I am giving this to you and trusting that you are going to provide for every single one of them. You know how many clubs locations I need, so provide them for me and send us where you want us to go.” And he hasn’t let me down yet! My other prayer is that God would rock our worlds this summer with an awesome time of ministry in Pittsburgh.

Keep praying for me. Pray that God will pack our summer out with clubs and would do things that blow our minds this summer. Pray that Chloe, AJ, and I would get to live out the book of Acts in Pittsburgh this summer as we seek to lead people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Thank you for all of your support and prayer! I couldn’t do it without you!

Confessions of a Pittsburgh Missionary: The Living and Active Word of God

Confessions of a Pittsburgh Missionary: The Living and Active Word of God

Week 3: May 24-May 31, 2014

Slowly but surely, I am getting the hang of this job and things are coming together. I was never really concerned that they wouldn’t, but I am glad to be getting more comfortable. This week I made lots and lots of phone calls to organizations around Pittsburgh to try and get 5-Day Clubs scheduled. I made prayer cards for myself and Chloe, one of my summer missionaries. And I got several other jobs finished up, ones that don’t necessarily come to mind right now. But I researched many different places in hopes of making lots of new contacts in the Pittsburgh area.

On Saturday, Chloe and I attended pre-training with Westmoreland County. I had never been through pre-training before and wasn’t sure what all to do. And Cathy Sloan, the director of Westmoreland County, has already done it before. The purpose of pre-training is to go over some policies of CEF and also learn how to use the wordless book evangelistic tool before going to training. The wordless book is CEF’s main evangelistic tool and CEF has a very good way of going about teaching it. But it does get a little complicated at times and it’s a lot to learn. So we want our missionaries to start learning it before they go to training school and have to learn everything else as well. 

In order to prepare for pre-training, we had to complete a study packet with verses and focus questions that go along with the lesson curriculum for the summer. This summer’s curriculum is “The Wordless Book.” So each day of the week, we’ll teach a lesson that covers one page of the wordless book. It’s a great series that will really take children back to the basics of Christianity. So many of the passages of scripture I had to read to complete my pre-training packet were basic Bible stories or things that I had heard before. But even though I had read many of those passages, I was so blessed as I read through them, thought them over, and answered basic focus questions on them. I had to read the creation story and also the story of the fall of man. I also read some passages in Revelation and other parts of the New Testament.

Even though I have heard the creation/fall of man story hundreds of times, I really got a lot out of it as I read it this time. One part that really struck me was Genesis 3:8 “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” This struck me because I was reminded that God wants to be able to spend time with us. He wants us to be able to be in his presence and enjoy him. And before sin, mankind was able to go on walks with God, just hanging out with him. They were able to be in the direct presence of God. But then they willingly chose to sin, they decided to fulfill the desires of their flesh instead of choosing God, which we are guilty of. But I imagined how God must have felt walking through the garden that day, calling out for his children that were now hiding from the presence of God in shame because of sin. How heartbreaking that must have been for God. He could no longer spend time in that close and intimate relationship with his children anymore.

Then one of the other passages we had to read was Revelation 22:3-4 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And I thought how awesome it is, that even though our sin separated us from God, in heaven God dwells with us again. And not only can we be in the direct presence of God in Heaven, but he’s going to take away all the pains of life that are a result of sin. The former things have passed away, he is making all things new, he gives us a second chance to be with him as he originally planned just because he loves us. And that’s part of the reason why Heaven is going to be such a wonderful place to be, because we can be in the presence of God again and all sin is erased.

I was reminded by all of this that the word of God is truly living and active. I’ve heard these passages over and over again, but I still get something out of them. The word of God is truly alive and God can use the same passages to reveal something different to us every time. How cool is it to have a tool like that? I was also reminded of how important it is to share this message with others. Heaven is going to be awesome! We talk about it so casually, I think we sometimes forget just how awesome it really is. And it’s something everyone needs to know about when we tell them about Jesus, so everyone has a chance to go there.

I can’t believe how fast time is moving. We'll kick the summer off with an intense but awesome week of training camp in about two weeks. God has really laid it on my heart to be doing some fasting from various things over these next two weeks in order to really soak up this summer in prayer, to strengthen myself spiritually for evangelistic ministry, to draw near to him in order to be fully equipped for doing his work this summer, and to invite the Holy Spirit to be a part of my ministry this summer. I thought it would be cool to let all of my supporters in on this as well. So I would like you to pray and maybe fast with me at some point over the next two weeks to help me get this summer soaked in prayer.  

I have picked a different topic to be prayed over every day. What I am asking is that you all pick a different day (or more if that's what God leads you to do) to pray for one of the topics I've listed on that day. If you don't want to or can't fast, then just commit to praying for CEF's ministry in that capacity on that day. What I really want is for people to pray, even if they can’t fast. Thanks for praying with me! The key to successful ministry is asking God to do big things with it early on. 

Here is a list of what each day’s prayer topic is. Please let me know if you decide to take a day to pray with me. This is one of the best ways you can support me.
• June 1- That God would restore the joy of our salvation so we can excitedly share it with children this summer.
• June 2- That God would open more locations for 5-Day Clubs in Pittsburgh this summer.
• June 3- That more hosts would open their homes for 5-Day Clubs and that God would bless them and their homes.
• June 4- for CEF missions on the global scale
• June 5- For the homeless/needy in Pittsburgh
• June 6- For the people of Pittsburgh in general, that God would start opening their hearts and ears to hear the gospel.
• June 7- For Chloe and AJ, our summer missionaries, preparing in the next week for training and for an awesome summer experience.
• June 8- For more church/ministry contacts and church growth in Pittsburgh
• June 9- For the inner city and at risk children of Pittsburgh
• June 10- For more missions minded people to serve in Pittsburgh
• June 11- That God would open the door for many witnessing opportunities to both kids and parents this summer.
• June 12- For those that teach/lead training school- to be prepared to train all of the missionaries
• June 13- For me as I lead and guide our missionaries into a summer of missions in Pittsburgh
• June 14- For an awesome and safe week of training school and summer of missions in Pittsburgh as a whole