My First Mission Trip

While in my junior year of high school l decided to go on a mission’s trip. This year we were booked to go to Chichiwawa Mexico. We would be working with children and helping to build a school. The year before we worked on building a soup kitchen, that now had been finished and been used every day to feed the villagers. Sadly two weeks before we were set to depart, a big drug war set off right in Chichiwawa. After a lot of thinking and many prayers we decided to change our planes and go to Galveston Texas. In Galveston we would be helping gut out house that had been hit a few years prior by a hurricane. The first day we arrived the lady in charge of the church we were staying in showed us our rooms. Well l freaked, it was a small room stacked with cots! I wasn’t use to small beds let alone army cots. After l got use to the idea of cots, the next thing l freaked out about was having to take a showers outside. The church had no showers, just a big bus outside with eight small cubicles in; we had 40 people in our group to share eight showers! The first morning l had to get up at five to get a shower, the water was cold and l wasn’t too happy for the rest of the day.
Our first project was to gut out an elderly couples house, which had been flooded by the hurricane. I stayed outside working on the yard, picking up trash that once was people’s belongings. I was amazed by the stuff l found, teddy bears, make-up, toys and even books just scattered all around the yard. It was sad picking up peoples belongings and putting them into the trash. Once we filled up bunches of black bags and cut the grass, the yard finally look liked a yard again. Sadly the house didn’t, it was so badly full of mould that we had to take all the dry wall down and anything that was on the walls. The house looked completely bare, just four walls, a roof and wooden beams where left standing. After a few days working on the house we had to leave and let builders take over, we start going around people’s houses asking if they needed any help. We did a lot of yard work and we got to tell people about our school and how we became to know the Lord.
My favorite part of the whole trip was getting to tell a young Spanish girl about the gospel, she later decided to ask Jesus into her heart. To me this was the most impacting part of the trip, and sleeping on cots and showering outside all off a sudden seemed to be worth it. I learnt that making small sacrifice’s later have big impacts on others, if l decided not to go on the trip then this young girl might have never got saved.

Mexico Missions Trip

When I was in 8th grade we went on a miissions trip to Mexico. While we were there we went to churches and performed skits, puppet shows, and human videos for the children. Being raised in America we all were born with a lot of things that the kids over there don't have. We have maybe twenty pairs of shoes but they are lucky if they have one. The best part about being in Mexico was performing acts of Christian service. We all loved playing with the children and having them sit in our laps, but the best part by far, was handing out the toys and candy after each service. We would hand a kid a rubber bracelet or a beaded necklace and their faces would just light up. It was crazy how happy they were to receive something so small. Every time we performed I knew that I was touching someone's heart. You could see it in their faces how much it meant to them that we were willing to take the time to see them. That made the trip worth it more than anything. All the things that went wrong were forgotten about once we saw those kids.

At each service there were several of the students dressed as clowns: costumes, makeup... the works. On the last day we were there for our last performance, I was finally able to be a clown. I was so excited! But the first service ran late so we didn't have time to go back to where we were staying and put on our makeup. I was very upset and didn't want to be a clown because of it. I had forgotten the whole reason why we were there. It wasn't about me or the makeup. It was about making the children happy and showing them the kindness and love of Christ. When I realized this, I was able to finish the day with a glad heart knowing that I was doing exactly what God wanted me to do. The whole trip was an amazing experience and I'm glad I was able to go. Without that trip I probably wouldn't know the real meaning of what Christian service is.

Do you really love the Lord?

Too often I find myself being ruled by fear instead of love. We as Christ followers are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus said this next to loving the Lord our God with all our heart is the greatest commandments. Jesus' life was lived by love and we as Christians are called to love because we have been shown true love. How can you turn others away when they ask for food, money or even a place to stay. If you have been blessed share the blessing so that there may not a need person. In Matthew 10:8 Jesus says to his diciples, "freely you have recieved, freely give."
What often holds us back from helping other and doing christian service? For me it is often fear or distrust of another person, but why should I fear I know that I am saved death has no sting. If I were to be harmed or killed trying to help others may the Kingdom of God be glorified. Our Lord only asks for us to be willing and do his will. Do not worry what will happen but have faith in the Lord. I often have to remind myself that I am the Lords daily not my own. This helps me to stay accountable with myself to live my life as Abba the Father would have it.

Do these things out of Love...

Jesus says, 

“Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Matt 25:37

If we believe this, then why do we even call it Christian Service? In my opinion,"Christian Service" seems as though it's charity...Doing something because it's right but not out of Love. 

When you buy groceries for your children and family it's done out of a need and a true love. You know that if you don't provide they may perish. I believe that is the way we should be with all people, giving according to their needs.

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 4:19 ESV.

If we are to mirror Christ, then are we not to mirror the way He promises to treat us? God gives us abundantly that we might be able to give to others; That is ultimately our Christian Service. He gives us blessings through finances, time, and with talents, therefore we should share our finances time, and our talents with others to bring Him glory. 

We should give as a sign of our Christlike love. Learn to love your neighbor first, and giving, or "Christian Service" will become easy and simple as making your heart beat.

When [Jesus] had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that 

YOU SHOULD DO AS I HAVE DONE FOR YOU.

 I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

John 13:12-17

Volleyball Camp

During the summer of 2010, the Florida Christian Volleyball team went to help with Heritage Academy’s volleyball camp. The camp had girls ages five to seventeen and they had a variety of different volleyball skills. After we met the coach and introduce our selves to the girls, we started to brake off into groups and work with the girl’s one on one. We all had a bunch of fun until our coach told us we had to learn as many girls’ names as we could. After he told us that we all were running around like headless chickens trying to learn all the girls’ names. While we were learning names we were also teaching the girls all the skills we knew to help improve their volleyball skills. We decided to break the college girls down into groups of two. Each group had eight younger girls to instruct and run drills with. Bekah and l teamed up and started to run drills with the eight girls. First we started off with passing, and then moved on to hitting then serving. I was amazed when a really tiny girl named Broke was smashing the balls over the net. I couldn’t believe she had the power or muscle to get the ball over the net, let alone smash it over. After we went through drills we all got backed together to play the wave game. We had to make sure that a college girl was with two younger girls. It was a lot of fun seeing how much passion for volleyball all the girls had. It was also so special to see how hard they all tried to perfect their skills we had taught them earlier in the camp. After two and a half hours of volleyball we all sat down to have devotions together. My most memorable part of the day for me was when one of the smallest girls passed up a serve. It was so cute when she jumped up and down so excited. But by far the funniest part of the day was a young girl coming up to Stacie and telling her she looked like a gummy bear, to follow the girl said “I want to eat your cheek bone!” all we could do was laugh and smile. We all had a lot of fun helping the girls and hopefully we will get to go see some of their games this season.

BLOG #1

I don't fully understand the concept of "Christian Service" right now, but I'm hoping that will change, for the better, at the end of the semester. I might not be able to accurately define CS, but I can tell you what CS is not!

1. CS is not always easy. It's usually the last filled spot on the team. Most people would rather not do this job. Yup, it's the ones who do they tearing down, constructing, and cleaning of the structures built during the missions trip. Why? As humans, we have tendencies to go for light work and do as little as possible. We don't want to break a sweat unless it's necessary, or unless, you'll be getting an incredible workout from it. Jesus never said this life would be easy, and because so, we as Believers shouldn't always look for the easy way out when we do Kingdom Work.

2. CS is not always fun. I hate dishes; I didn't know I was going to be doing them when I volunteered at a food bank. I had high hopes of cooking really cheap food and serving it up with a smile, nope, I was assigned to do dishes. My initial shock was that of, "Ugh, I get to clean up the mess that others made." I wasn't happy at all about it, and when I think back to that day, I had the wrong attitude because I didn't have a servant's heart or a helping heart. I merely wanted to have a good time with my friends, not really sacrificing much and gaining a "fun time" memory, and that was wrong. Christ didn't come to have a good time, He came to serve, serving so much that He gave His life for us.

3. CS is not always rewarding, on Earth, at least. Because we are sinful people, we do not always have the right motives. We don't always do things for others just because; instead, there are hidden motives behind a lot of good deeds. Take for example, "Oprah's Big Give." Sure the contestants who won got money to give to a charity of their choosing, but they also earned notoriety for helping others and being charitable on national TV; in front of Oprah, too.

Chritian Service

The word "Christian" was meant to be a derogatory term used on the followers of Jesus Christ, this term meant "little Christ." So for me Christian service is a no-brainier, Christ served people during his 3 year ministry and we are called to be like Christ 2 Corinthians 3:18 and 1 John 3:2 reflect this.
If we are called to be like Christ then it is obvious that we are to serve people and in doing this doors will open to share the Gospel. Christian service is very necessary for evangelism, in fact the two go hand and hand we are to share the love of Christ and our love is a direct reflection of that. Matthew 28:16-20 Tells us that we are to go forth and make disciples and to do that we need show the love of Christ through service, service should not feel like a chore but, rather a commission from the King to be fulfilled to further the Kingdom. We are the Kingdom and this is our task at hand, this is what we need to do until the return of our King Jesus Christ.

What Christian Service is to me.

What i believe Christian service is a type of service that is done for God. What i mean by this is that you are not just performing a service or doing a good deed because you think you should. It means to do the service or good deed because you are doing it for God, your are doing it because it is what God wants you to do. Christian service is more than just opening a door for someone or helping and old lady across the street. While those are things that are good to do and i believe you should do i don't consider those Christian service. Christian service would be more like helping and elderly person keeping up their home by doing yard work for them or painting their house. Christian service could also be bigger than that like serving as a youth sponsor and helping teach the youth and bring them closer to God or teaching a Sunday school class to elementary school kids. There are so many other things that are Christian service that you could do but the thing that makes them a Christian service is when your doing it for the good of God, not just because u want to feel better about yourself.

Justin aka "Rafiki"

Christian services should they be mandatory?

Christian services should they be mandatory or should they be optional? Well some people believe that they should not be optional because if you are doing them then that takes away from what there really meant for. I mean just look at the word “Christian Service” what does that say to you? To me it means that you are serving Christ through services that affect others in the best way you can. So I believe if you are not into doing Christian services then you shouldn’t do them because if you are out in the public eye as a Christian doing this services then the public will always look at the negative side which is defiantly not what we as a Christian society want the public to see. But on the other side of the debate I can also see where they are coming from for making them mandatory. One way is that maybe if you get used to it then over time you will start doing them without worrying about getting in the certain amount of Christian Services.

Now that you have finished reading this tell me what your opinion is.

Christian Service: blog 1

In class Mrs. Guthrie read the verse from James that reads: "Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith; I have deeds.' Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do." (James 2: 18)

Here, James is clearly telling us that the Lord calls us to have action with our faith. Some might classify this as "Christian service," however, I would call this obedience. As believers of Christ we are called to 'be like Christ' and follow in his footsteps to act as servants for the kingdom. The verse then continues by incorporating the argument that some have faith and some have deeds. This person that is disputing thinks that if you have either faith or deeds then you have all you need and are fit to enter the kingdom. James of course comes back with the statement, "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do." By this acclamation he is suggesting that we use deeds or perform Christian service in order to show others the faith that we have in God.

You can almost classify this kind of Christian service as a type of evangelism. By us reaching out to our neighbors, helping teach a Bible study, leading a praise and worship team, or even helping an elderly person carry her groceries; through all of these we are representing Christ and the faith we so boldly present as our foundation.

Christian service is our way of showing the world that we, as believers, are not just another group that will spit in their faces and reject them because they do not believe what we do. No, instead we, by our actions, prove to them that there is hope and peace, and we know a God that can give it to them. All it takes is a helping hand and a humble heart.

At the end of chapter two, in James, he writes, "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." (James 2:26) Let us not become like those who are dead in their faith, but instead let us thrive and be renewed by the acts we fulfill in regard to our everlasting love for God.

Alicia Hoffman

What Does Jesus Have to Say about Christian Service?

A few years ago I put together some scriptures from the gospels that talk about "serving others." As you consider these verses, how do you see them relating to Christian service? Are there any practices here that Christians should adopt when they participate in Christian service? Do these verses even help us define Christian service? I'm intertested in your thoughts.

Matthew 6:1-4


 Do not do “your acts of righteousness before men to be seen by them”

 Your Father, who sees what is done “in secret,” will reward you

 Do not “let your left hand know what your right hand is doing”

Matthew 25:31-46

The way we respond to the needs of people on earth has direct bearing on where we will spend eternity

 “I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat”

 “I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink”

 “I was a stranger and you invited me in”

 “I needed clothes and you clothed me”

 “I was sick and you looked after me”

 “I was in prison and you came to visit me”

 “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

 “Come you who are blessed by y Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”

 “I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat”

 “I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink”

 “I was a stranger and you did not invite me in”

 “I needed clothes and you did not clothe me”

 “I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me”

 “Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”

 “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

Luke 6:37-42

The way we treat others has direct bearing on the way God will treat us.

 “Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.”