Confessions of
a Pittsburgh Missionary: The Last One
CEF Week 11
(July 27-August 2), Week 12 (August 3-August 9), and Beyond
I know this update is
coming much later than it’s supposed to and is long overdue. But life has been
nothing short of hectic since my last update. So here’s my update on the last
two weeks of working with CEF Pittsburgh.
In the week of July 28
to August 1, we had two clubs. The first club was at a Salvation Army day camp
on the North Side. AJ, Chloe, and I all really enjoyed these kids. They were
very welcoming, and while they sometimes were a little rowdy, they were also
very loving. One of the little girls asked me in counseling, “If God is Jesus’
father, who are his aunts, uncles, and cousins?” They were truly genuine kids.
I’m excited to hear that this particular Salvation Army has decided to continue
in CEF ministry through hosting a Good News Club. Maybe next summer I’ll be
able to return and be surprised by how much the kids have grown.
Our next club after
that was at a park in Pitcairn. This club turned out to be a little more like
open air evangelism. The first day we were rained out and no one was at the
park. The second day we reached a couple girls and painted their faces. But it
wasn’t until the third day that we were able to start having a club. We
probably reached about fifteen kids and I believe there were 2 salvations from
the club. It was a perfect example of not giving up on a club. We could have
just left, it wasn’t an easy club. But instead we stuck around and two children
came to know the Lord because of it.
The next week was the week
of August 4 to August 8. We were supposed to have three clubs, but one of them
ended up being cancelled. I guess it was a blessing in disguise because I ended
up needing the extra time to get packed for college. We had one club at the
Eastminster Childcare Center. This was our first daycare club and it was
definitely an adjustment. Chloe and I had to find ways to adapt our material to
2-4 year olds who had a short attention span and were very concerned about
fairness. While we didn’t have any salvations with this club, we still had a
great time with the little ones.
And our final club was
at the East Liberty Salvation Army Family Caring Center. This club was at a
homeless shelter and it was definitely humbling. We didn’t have many kids but
the kids we did have were great. They were such sweet kids who really enjoyed
being with us. They loved putting prayer requests in our God can. And the
requests they put in were very humbling. There were many prayer requests
similar to “I pray that we can find a home” or “I pray mommy finds a job.” Some
requests seemed petty to me at first, like “I pray I can go to the concert.”
But I realized that a concert could be like a dream come true to a little girl
who is homeless. It’s more than just a concert, it’s a chance to enjoy
something she probably rarely gets to enjoy. We had two children accept Christ
at this club. I hope to be able to do more with them in the future as they were
a great bunch of kids.
I wrapped up my summer
with CEF on August 9 by planning an end of summer testimony event. I called it
the “Summer Scoop” because we were sharing the scoop on the ministry that
summer. I had lots of activities for kids beforehand like face painting, hair
glitter, and a bunch of games. Then we went inside for sharing and a love
offering and then ended the time with ice cream. I was grateful for help getting
things decorated and set up. But the event went very smoothly. It was a great
time of reflection on all the awesome events that happened throughout the
summer. I got home from the event, unloaded my car from CEF stuff and then
reloaded it with college stuff and left the next morning. Needless to say there
wasn’t much turn around. But I managed.
This summer was an
awesome experience. I can honestly say I could have done that job much longer
and still be happy. And for those of you that know me well, it’s saying a lot
to say that I was willing to be in Pittsburgh longer. I absolutely loved my job
this summer. And God worked through it in some awesome ways! We reached around
340 kids, saw 50 of them make first time salvation decisions, counseled well
over 20 for assurance or other questions, gave out 40 Bibles, and signed 28
kids up for Truth Chasers Club. It was such a blessing to be a part of God’s
kingdom work through CEF Pittsburgh this summer.
I learned many valuable
lessons. I learned how to trust God to give me the power in all circumstances.
There were many times when I was stretched and challenged and had to ask God
for help. There was a time when I wasn’t sure how I was going to pull a
schedule together for the summer, but God made it happen. God is able to do big
things through us when we step out in faith and trust him to lead the way.
I also learned that in
ministry, you must learn to be both flexible and proactive. There were many
times that a club didn’t go as I expected and that we would have been justified
in just giving up. There were times when there weren’t kids waiting for us and
we could have just shrugged our shoulders, said “oh well!” and went home to
relax. But I didn’t give up so easily. I learned to be flexible. I learned to
try different and creative approaches to try to get kids to come over and join
us. I didn’t try to force a program if it didn’t work. But I was also
proactive. We went up to kids and invited them over. We didn’t give up, we kept
trying. I was willing to work with people’s schedules even if a full five day
club didn’t work. At the end of the day I was setting out to accomplish a goal.
My goal was to teach children about Jesus and present the gospel to them. And
if a formal 5-day club setting wasn’t going to accomplish that, then I had to
learn to be willing to try something else. God is able to pave the way for us
and set things up as we expect them at times. But sometimes he has us help with
the process. If I had given up on the tough clubs, there are many children that
wouldn’t have heard about Jesus this summer. And I wasn’t willing to let that
happen.
Thank you so much for
all of your support! Whether you supported me through praying, financial
giving, donations, hosting, or anything else, I couldn’t have done it without
you! And I definitely couldn’t have done it without God. It was an awesome
summer packed full with blessings from doing kingdom work for an awesome God.
My heart is full!
Thankfully it’s not the
end. Now that I am back up in Binghamton for school, I get to start working
part time with the CEF chapter here. I am so blessed to be able to have jobs in
ministry while I go to school for ministry. I know most college students are
not so fortunate. The CEF ministry of Good News Clubs are starting soon so
there is even more work to be done. Keep praying and stay posted! Until then…
This is a video of AJ's testimony from the summer because he was unable to attend the Summer Scoop. Check out the bloopers below as well!
