Double Duty Day!!!

Today we began our kids fest! But before that we had day two of our sports camp at the Roosevelt Recreation Center. This morning we had about 20 students participate in our sports camp which was down 20 from the previous day due to some kids not being able to come. It was still a very successful day. Our students are connecting more and more with the kids in this area which is providing more and more credibility for the Village Church and its pastor and members.

We played soccer at sports camp today and that seemed much more successful than basketball, because it was a little easier to instruct for the younger age group. All was well at the camp today until I started to kick a soccer ball around in the gym. There is one kid at the sports camp named Sean, who I will just say is very lively and likes sports and competing. So I thought it would be a good idea to have him play goalie and I would try to score on him. Bare in mine that he his 10 and I am 25. This would be like me going against soccer star David Beckham, if you are familiar with him. In no way am I David Beckham or will I ever aspire to be like him. So, as the story goes I began to dribble the soccer ball at him about 40 feet away and then my competitive spirit takes over after I saw Sean's face saying, "bring it on, buddy" Like David against Goliath Sean stood his ground. I kicked the ball as hard as I could, and not purposefully, the ball sailed straight to his face and nailed him straight in the lip. As he fail to his knees I came back to reality and realized what I had done. Luckily, he was fine no blood or tears. Sean, was a little stunned after his head shot back in whip lash from the blow. But we made up and he was back in the goal standing his ground 1 minute later. He was a tough kid to say the least and I didn't kick the ball much more after that.

The kids fest was very successful. We were prepared for 2 kids or 20 kids. We had 7 kids show up and our 15 students from Living Hope loved on each one of those 7 kids who came to the sports camp. We learned from Dan that a lot of the kids who came were new visitors to the Village Church and it was great for us to get to minister to those families kids. Jake Trabue shared the bible story today about creation and Taylor Allen shared the 7 day creation wheel. And they did a wonderful job.

At the end of the kids fest Dan pulled me aside and asked if he thought we would be ok with trying to throw a last minute block party on Thursday night from 6-8pm. So tomorrow we are going to do 2 days of kids fest in one day. Chelsea Halter will be sharing the story of how Jesus Loves the Little Children and then Michael Paladino will be sharing the story of Easter and the Resurrection. Please pray for them.

As we have been preparing for Baltimore, we have known that there could be changes to come and must be willing to do what ever the church and pastor would need at anytime. Our team has responded with much maturity and flexibility in the change to lead a block party on Thursday instead of the kids fest. Dan senses that holding a block party will be the best use of our teams time and will be most effective for the Village Church in getting the neighbors and families onto the church lot.

So, we will need your prayers for the rest of the week and the changes for Thursday.

Blessings,
Bryan