World Changers Roanoke, VA- Day 1 “Who let the Divas out?”

After a delayed flight yesterday… missing my connection and having to spend the night in Detroit… I’m sure glad to finally be in Roanoke, VA. The temperature is crazy nice too. I just walked outside a few minutes ago and was seriously cold. Sure beats 100 plus temperatures from Ruston last week.

A student squishes his face against the glass as his church arrived at World Changers Roanoke, VA

My flight landed around noon and Josh Jack Carl (NAMB AV guru) and Rebekah (Team Leader) picked me up. We grabbed lunch to go and headed back to the school to get ready for registration at 2.

There are 21 churches and over 310 participants for this project. This is one of the largest projects I’ve worked with in the past two years. The majority of the churches have come from North Carolina. We have other churches from Delaware, Missouri (2), Maryland, Mississippi, and Virgina (obviously).

The Summer Staff team seems cool and on top of things. Rebekah (team leader/mcs) and Meredith (Office manager) are outgoing and seem to have a great team chemistry with the guys. I was very impressed with Jacob (AV) and Brad (music guy) as they interacted with the churches upon arrival. They were sincere and prayed with each group. Love that. Even though this is their last week as a staff, they truly are making  it seem like the first one. This is what summer staff is all about.  I appreciate that and I know it will have a great impact on the students.

So… big shout out to the VA team… great day 1.

On the flip side, a project this size will always have its issues. You can expect it.

What I didn’t expect was some of the DIVA attitudes a few of the group leaders have had. I find it amazing that some people come to a missions project (World Changers of all places) and ask, “Why don’t I have my own room?”. Ummm… well, because you are sharing a school with 300 other people and we can’t ALL have our own room.

What about a little sacrifice? Did they really expect a hotel? I mean, I know some World Changers projects get to stay at college campuses in dorm rooms, etc… but seriously? No divas allowed. That’s my new motto.

Amazing.

I also noticed how some of the adult men “needed” to know what crew they are going to be working with all week. I understand this is important, but for crying out loud, be surprised. Enjoy waking up Sunday morning and finding out what crew you are on. No problems with teenagers… just adults (*sigh*).

Apparently I need to also add this motto: No DIVOS allowed too.

Amazing, again.

Worship service was interesting, but also very uplifting. Brad (music guy) broke a string during the second song and had no replacement. He’s good and reminds me of my worship leader from last year Marc Boucher. It’s funny because they both are in Liberty University’s worship leadership program. After we finished singing acapella (great cover by Brad), we had our “Missions Moment” and then I preached.

Saturday night is tough because there is a combination of excitement and exhaustion. It doesn’t help that the auditorium of the junior high school where we are staying has lighting issues. The whole set of house lights is extremely dim plus the middle section is simply not operational.

The sermon was entitled: “What does it mean to be holy?” from 1 Peter chapter 2. Tonight was primarily the same message I spoke in Biloxi, with a few changes. If you want to hear that message from Biloxi, MS you can listen to it right here.

Highlight #1 of the night:

The sign on the "Man Cave" door

Building a cardboard box fort with Josh Jack. I didn’t realize that the guys had claimed their room last week as the “man cave”, but that’s what I wanted to build. They were all up for it. Unfortunately, the PVC pipe with a curtain on it that we were using as our entrance just came crashing down… The fort still stands (of course, it’s a fort) but the entrance way must be repaired.

The fort at the entrance of the "Man Cave" minus the black curtain which is laying on the floor.

Highlight #2 of the day:

I had a girl tell me she was a black belt. I asked her in what. She didn’t answer, so I suggested “Who flung poo”… she didn’t think it was funny and told me, “I’ll jack your mess up!”. Apparently that’s code for “I’m so glad to be at World Changers”. She’s a black belt in Tae Kwon Do… should I even be worried? Please. Funny, nonetheless.

I’m looking forward to the week…. just battling a weak voice. Please keep me in your prayers because I still have a 3 day camp next week, Nicaragua trip, and then school starts and Challenge Week at my home church Brookwood second week of August.

God is already opening up opportunities for the fall and spring. I have two children’s Retreats for the fall already booked and two youth retreats in the works. I’m hoping to be able to do a college retreat in December at Gulf Shores United Methodist Church as well. If all of these come together then that would be a blessed Fall.

2010 has 3 bookings already. I will be at CrossRoads Church in the Woodlands, TX for D-Now over MLK weekend in January and then at Little Pass Baptist in south Louisiana in April. I have been booked to be the PC and evangelism speaker at PowerPlant 2010 in Chicago during July 10-16!! Looking forward to these events, plus the school year and other opportunities God allows me to have! Thank you for your prayers! Please remember to pray for Tamara as well!

Until tomorrow… time for bed.

Hope to have a NON-DIVA DAY tomorrow… one can only hope!

~ by crosseyedministries on July 19, 2009.