Charleston Mission-Day 6

This is our last full day in Charleston on our Mission Trip, so a lot of things kind of wrapped up today. We worked again at Hope Assembly to finish several tasks that have been worked on all week. We sorted more clothes, finished sanding Hope Assembly's Bus, worked hard to organize a LARGE storage area in the attic/top floor area, worked a lot of bugs out of the sound system in the Sanctuary, cleaned the Sanctuary area, and passed out flyers in two neighborhoods advertising a computer/job skills training class being offered at Hope Assembly.

**A side note, of all the passing out of flyers, this was met with the greatest receptivity. We should consider offering services to people that they know they have a need for. To offer the Gospel door-to-door is a great plan, but if people don't see their need for it, they won't be receptive. Offering a solution to a known and recognized need provides an entry point to developing a trusting relationship that builds the foundation to discuss spiritual needs also. People need to know you care about their day-to-day before they care about hearing anything else.

Anyway, at lunch, we were treated by several of the Hope Assembly ladies to a traditional Charleston cuisine. It was fantastic! We had macaroni and cheese, white rice, limas with ham hocks, collard greens (some of the best outside of my grandma's and Liz's grandma's), red meat links, barbecued pigs feet and banana pudding for dessert. Okay, so some of it wasn't as good as other parts, but it was definitely authentic and prepared with a lot of love and appreciation for our group coming. That was the best seasoning of all.

During the afternoon, we finished up a few of the morning projects and also bagged 300 bags of groceries to deliver tomorrow morning for an event Without Walls does every Saturday called Adopt-A-Block. We will participate in this before we come home tomorrow. We'll go out with several other partnering churches to minister to a city block or apartment complex or neighborhood by delivering food, cleaning up the grounds in common areas, praying for needs, etc.

This evening we celebrated our week with a meal at Gilligan's Seafood Bar & Grill. It was fantastic! If you're in the Mt. Pleasant, SC area, I recommend it. I recommend getting the Lowcountry Boil dish (crab legs, shrimp, sausage, onions, and potatoes steamed together with a side of corn on the cob all for only $14.95). As you can tell it was a good meal, I think everyone enjoyed.

Our closing evening session wrapped up the "God in a Box" series for the trip. Keying especially on Psalm 139 and Job 38, we talked about how God was bigger than our box. We don't realize how all-knowing, all-powerful, and ever-present God is. David tried to capture this in this Psalm. God is bigger than our box, but he cannot be limited to just being big. He is also small and personal enough to want a relationship with each of us. Amazing, simply amazing. Because God knows us better than we know ourselves, we can trust Him to fully take control of our lives rather than limiting Him to certain areas. In fact, it is because He knows us so well that we can ask Him to search us and show us the areas where we fail to give Him control.

One final note, Compass Youth Ministry of Providence Baptist Church has a group of students that genuinely care about people. I can say that by and large, they care much more deeply for the needs of others than they do for themselves. I have been amazed by the level of drive to accomplish the mission each day. They don't stop until the work is done. I asked tonight about how many seem to be finding an area of ministry that they could see God calling them to serve in. Not necessarily just in the capacity we are working this week, but in any area of life. Several indicated that they are finding that calling. In fact one confirmed his call to go into vocational Christian ministry and a few others said they could potentially see that calling in the future. Please pray for our ministry, I believe that God is moving in a special way and we are on the definite brink of something amazing here.