11 students, 5 adults, 2 beautiful children, 1 bus, scaffolding, tools, food… you get the point. We were on our way to Tacoma Washington to work with Network Ministries (Bob Weyrick founder and author JESUS DOESN’T SAY PLEASE). The focus of Network is to provide a home and a car for people who would otherwise be homeless. All this with the intention of helping people get back on track with their lives! Their philosophy is not to give someone a fish, but teach them how to fish. It’s messy and it’s hard, but it’s so much the heart of Christ! The job for these high school students? Reconstruct 2 chimney boxes, gut out an apartment, beautify the properties and paint, paint, paint.
When we first arrived we could tell, “We’re not in Kansas any more!” The place we were going to be living is well-known as a “dark” part of town. The apartments are in a neighborhood notorious for gangs and drugs. After we got settled in on the first night and ready for bed I’m not sure anyone really got a good night sleep, except maybe Bear! The man can snore!
Anyway, we lived in an among the homeless. And after a week living with them, serving them, and worshiping with them, it was apparent to us that all our fears and bias’s were gone. A light had been shone on that place, and we didn’t want to leave.
2 finished chimney boxes, 1 restored apartment, 10 gallons of primer, 20 gallons of paint, 2 community meals, 6 hours of worship, multiple hours of scripture memory and 1 Mariner’s game later… we were ready to head back home. But much to our surprise the battery was dead! So we had to leave a little later. By the time we actually pulled away our bus was surrounded by all the people we lived with and among, children and parents. After a tearful goodbye one of the people said, “Thank you so much for coming Eagle Christian Church! You have shined a light on this dark place. We will never forget you!”
The ride home was surreal. Once again we were sent off to be a blessing. Yet God flipped the script. We were blessed tremendously!
Go to http://www.youtube.com/user/mikemaglish to sift through the videos and find the ones from the mission trip. Subscribe to my account to see regular, raw and uncut videos of youth group events.