By host on 7/17/2009 7:34 PM

Today was another work project day! We went to Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church and spent the whole day working on their parking lots. They needed a lot of work! One was just an old grass lot that they wanted to be able to park on so it needed some leveling, and in the process, we unearthed a completely overgrown sidewalk! Some cute little kids from the house next to the lot came out and talked with us. They were absolutely adorable, especially Jerard (not sure how you spell it), who was just 2 years old but very smart!

Once we finished working, we went to Joy Yee's for some Chinese! YUM! We then spent a little time walking around that area to avoid rush hour traffic. About half of the group went to Coldstone and the rest to a bookstore. A few did both, but the students were always with an adult!

 

We're heading out at 8:30 tomorrow morning (9:30 at home). See you tomorrow evening!
-Lindsey

By host on 7/17/2009 7:31 PM

Hey! Sorry I didn't get you an update yesterday!

For the free day, everyone had the option of going downtown, and most did, but a few stayed behind and just spent the day at the Woodfield Mall. Those who went to the city eventually ended up back here at the mall too. Lunch and dinner were wherever your small group wanted to go, so we were all over the place. I'm going to get some pictures sent to Dad so they can be posted soon!

Sorry about the delay!
-Lindsey

By host on 7/15/2009 3:13 PM

Today we went to Breakthrough Urban Ministries. We got up early and left the hotel by 5:15 am. We served both breakfast and lunch at the homeless shelter. The high school students went to the men's shelter and the middle schoolers went to the women's shelter. We had a ton of fun cooking food and we created lots of dessert options from whatever we could find in the pantry.

There's not a whole lot more to be said about today, just look for the pictures!



 

Updated 3:17 pm CST by Lindsey Lorenz.

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By host on 7/14/2009 9:34 PM

Today we did street interviews! We had lunch from Potbellys, and then went to the Streets of Woodfield and spent some time asking people questions. It was a good experience for everyone and helped the group understand the differing world views and to understand how sheltered we are back home. Some of the groups even had the opportunity to pray with some of the people they talked to. It was a really great day. When we finished, we came back here for a debriefing, then went out to dinner at Portillos here in the suburbs. We then went to the mall for a little while, just for some fun to finish the day.

 

Updated Tuesday night by Lindsey Lorenz

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By host on 7/13/2009 10:11 PM

Today we had the privilege to serve at Greater Union Baptist Church. We helped their janitor, John Spencer, a.k.a. "Brother Spence" out for the day. When we arrived, we went directly to the sanctuary, where he shared some of his story with us and talked with our group. We played some music and did some singing too.



After some Subway for lunch, we did some cleaning for Brother Spence. Greater Union is a big church, so we had plenty to do, and it is a blessing to Brother Spence to have groups come in, because he typically takes care of the entire church full time.

After leaving Greater Union, we headed over to Moody Bible Institute for GRIP's Summer Slam. Todd, Tina, and I walked to Chipotle to grab 23 burritos! They helped with set-up, then we ate dinner and joined the local kids for Summer Slam. Everyone joined in the sports. A baseball game was going on, some of the group played "Nuke 'em" (a volleyball type...

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By host on 7/10/2008 9:03 PM

www.gripyouth.com
Don Stubb's ministry that TEC has been involved with for several years

www.breakthroughministries.com 
This is the homeless shelter that we worked at

www.pgm.org
Pacific Garden Mission, this was the first homeless shelter that we visited when we arrived at Chicago

www.unshackled.org
 this is the radio program that we watched the live tapping of

www.parkcommunitychurch.org
this is another church that we attended on Sunday evening

By host on 7/10/2008 4:20 PM

Today was our work day. We went to Philadelphia Church, where we attended services Sunday morning, and donated our time there. Next week they’re having a big 300 person group coming in, so we did some prep work for them. We cleaned out the basement of one of their buildings.

It was mostly storage, but it’s going to be a youth room for them in the future and the main floor is going to be a coffee house type area. We also worked on cleaning up the little kitchen in the coffee house part, along with cleaning their garage and also a storage room off of the choir loft. We all worked in different areas, but had fun cleaning and knowing that we were really helping the church. There was just so much work that they couldn’t do on their own, and it was greatly appreciated. All of the students have great stories about the work we did, so you’ll have to ask them some questions about it! It was a lot of cleaning, lifting, and organizing,...

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By host on 7/9/2008 10:21 PM

Today was our free day. Each van went their separate ways until dinner. At 6pm, we all met at Giordano’s Pizza. We celebrated Mitchell’s birthday together and enjoyed some really great pizza.

Our vehicle for the day was just me, Dad, and Margo. The 3 of us saw all of the sights. We went to Navy Pier, Millennium Park, the Buckingham Fountain, the Magnificent Mile (Michigan Ave.) for shopping, and the John Hancock Building. Some of the groups visited other places like the Sears Tower and the Aquarium. It was a fun day of fellowship with each other and exploring the city. 



After dinner, we all headed back to Navy Pier and watched the fireworks. It was a great end to our day of sightseeing! Oh, and we probably walked 5-10 miles today, depending on the group!

 

Updated by Lindsey Lorenz, 11pm Wednesday.

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By host on 7/8/2008 11:21 PM

Yesterday (Monday), we got up nice and early! The group was ready to leave by 6:15 am. We went to a homeless shelter run by Breakthrough Urban Ministries. Half of the group worked with Sharon at the women’s shelter, and the other half of us went to the men’s shelter and worked in Edward’s kitchen.

The pictures you’ll see are from the group who worked at the women’s shelter, since that’s where Dad, a.k.a. cameraman, was! Breakthrough is a ministry that not only provides meals and a place for people to sleep, but also provides resources to help people develop résumés and find jobs. We served both breakfast and lunch at both of the locations, and in between the meals, the group at the women’s shelter walked to the men’s and we all got a tour of the facility.

In the evening, we went to Montrose Beach for GRIP’s Beach Blast. We hung out at the beach playing volleyball and “nuke ‘em.” There was a cookout as well and then...

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By host on 7/6/2008 8:42 PM

So we arrived in Chicago yesterday. We started our visit to the city by going to Pacific Garden Mission, where we were given a tour of the facility and sat in on the recording of the radio program "Unshackled." The session they recorded will air around the country the last week of October. After the recording, we ate dinner at the mission.

We next headed to North Park University where we are staying. We are living in Anderson Hall this week, and the building is round! The hallways of each floor are in a circle with the bathrooms in the middle, and the rooms on the outside of the loop. The rooms are shaped like pie pieces! We ended Saturday night with some worship with Broadway United Methodist outside in a concrete circle bench. 

Today we had breakfast at the university, then headed to Philadelphia Church, where Don Stubbs, from GRIP Ministries normally attends.   Worship was great and the message was over Romans 12....

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