Party time!
Last weekend was the TreeHouse Winter Blast 2008 retreat and it went very well. I’m going to give you a sample of a letter I received today about the retreat so you can get a taste of what God was doing there. The letter was written by Becky Walker (she is the executive director of TreeHouse).
Here are also highlights from WinterBlast!
This year we had the largest group of kids at Winter Blast EVER! Chaska TreeHouse has 19 teens and 5 staff go and out of those 19 teens 2 accepted Christ for the first time and 4 recommitted their lives to Christ. It has been awesome seeing the hunger and thirst the kids have for God and His Word after a retreat like the one we just had. We are now in a place where we are building upon their desire to know more by starting up a few Bible studies during the week. Yesterday was our first Bible study and we had 11 show up which is very encouraging. Pray that we will be able to communicate the truth of God’s Word accurately and relevantly. They have so many misconceptions about who God is, what His Word says, and how it applies to their lives, so hopefully the Holy Spirit will be able to work on their hearts and minds over the next few weeks. Pray that their hearts and minds would receive the truth and it would change them.
On a more somber note I wanted to ask you all to pray for a family that is involved with TreeHouse. Two of the teens in the family attend TreeHouse and were at Winter Blast with us last week. When they got home their mom told them that their dad had died on Saturday. Their dad is in an out of state prison and suffered a deadly heart attack. Over the past few days we’ve been trying to help the family figure out a way to get to the funeral because they can not afford plane tickets for all 5 family members. Several of the tickets have been purchased by individuals who know the family but there are still a few tickets left to be paid for. They left today for the funeral so please pray that they would experience closure and be able to grieve their lose in a positive way. If any of you know anyone who would be willing to donate money toward a ticket for the family please let me know and I’ll pass the information on to the right person. This family really has no money. Both kids come on Winter Blast and did not have any money to put toward the trip ($110 per kid was the cost) so I gave them both a scholarship. If anyone would like to send money to my scholarship fund to help cover their costs I would appreciate it very much. Thanks!
To end on a more positive thought I want to reiterate how awesome it is that we had 15 kids come to know Christ as their personal Savior for the first time! There is a serious party going on in heaven now! The work has only begun though because now the seeds need to be watered, pruned, and cared for as they grow. Please pray that we will be able to help them in that journey and they will be able to sustain their desire and yearning instead of it being a once-a-year feeling they get at a retreat.
Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts. Please remember Maggie and I in your prayer as we are thinking through some tough decisions for our family that may be coming up in the near future. Thanks in advance. Prayer really works! :)Â I’ll update you soon!