Jul 11, 2010
Well, here is the forecast for the week near Noel, Missouri where RiverRanch is. Not bad considering what was being predicted about a week ago. We meet at Redeemer at 7:30 in the morning. Please be in prayer for out travels, for cars to work, for river safety, for God to work in the lives of our high school students, for unity among many different churches and anything else God brings to your mind.
We’ll try and post pictures here daily so check back.
-Brian
Jul 8, 2010
Below is the Graduation Speech Redeemer Member Emily Hastings gave at Kansas City Christian High School this past May. Great job Emily!
This speech has definitely been on my mind during the past few weeks. In fact, I even had a nightmare about it. In the dream, I gave the speech sitting crisscross applesauce on the stage over there. Class of 2010, you were sitting up here with me! When the time came to give my speech, I was completely caught off guard, and I realized that I had left my speech at home. I was so shocked that I forgot to go to the podium, so I sat there, making it up as I went along. So I’m feeling pretty good right now because I’m actually standing and my speech is in front of me. So here goes.Today is a day we look back, and a day we look ahead. We remember what we have done and gone through, and we excitedly anticipate the road that lies in front of us, filled with the dreams of what we hope to do and become. But we could do none of these things, we would not even be here today, if it were not for the many people whom God has blessed us with by placing them in our lives. So before we look behind us, we must look around us and thank the people who have been in our lives. To our teachers, school staff, friends, grandparents, siblings, and parents, a huge thank you. Words cannot adequately express our gratitude for your sacrifices, support, and love. For twenty of us, our journey at Kansas City Christian began in kindergarten. We were in either Mrs. Stetler’s or Mrs. Nagel’s class. We memorized a verse for every letter of the alphabet, which we proudly recited at kindergarten graduation. Throughout elementary school, we spent many hours outside at recess, playing soccer and rugby, tetherball and foursquare, and swinging on the monkey bars, or “blue bars” as we called them. We went on field trips to the American Royal, Kaleidescope, and a one-room schoolhouse. We loved having field day on the last day of the year, and participated in events such as the 30 yard dash, the standing long jump, and my personal favorite, the wheelbarrow race. For those of us who have been here since kindergarten, also known as “lifers”, we have eaten more than 1,300 lunches in the lunchroom downstairs! Most of us remember at least a few of the chapel theme songs: “Give Me the Heart of a Missionary”, and “What does the Lord require of Thee”, and “Be Like a Tree”. We finished out elementary school in sixth grade by having “Space Day” and acting out Treasure Island using puppets and props we made ourselves. In middle school, a few more of us arrived at KCC. We met for one class period each day at the main campus, and then got on the bus for the long ride to the middle school. We got tired of the bus ride, but we loved having our own place. We grew in our faith in Mrs. Chugg’s Bible class through our “daily Bible journals” and more scripture memory. We played countless games of dodge ball in the gym, had fun on the teeter-totters, and got used to changing classes every hour. Finally, high school was here. Sometime during these years the rest of us landed at Kansas City Christian. Our lockers gradually progressed down the hallway, from freshmen year just outside Mrs. Young’s door to the sacred “Senior Hallway”. We could now take electives like yearbook, art, choir, drama, band, and lifetime fitness. Many of us played sports. Sophomore year, we made it through dissecting a frog and hearing Mrs. Alley’s infamous words, “Ladies and gentlemen, get out a piece of paper and a pencil. This is a quiz.” Another change sophomore year was Mr. Donyes as our new Bible teacher. He encouraged us to Write out Our Thoughts, or W.O.O.T., as he calls it, and to dream big. Junior year we came together as a class and organized our biggest fundraiser, Pure Excitement, in the fall and Junior Senior Banquet in the spring. Then senior year came. It’s been a fun and exciting year, between planning for college and going to Belize on our Senior missions trip. And here we are today, at the end of the journey, about to go our separate ways. But there are a few things that I want to tell you before we say goodbye, class of 2010. The first thing is that God has given each of you incredible gifts and talents that He wants you to use for Him. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). Work hard and apply yourselves to use these gifts that God has given you, and use them for His glory. Pray that He will bless your efforts, and He will, because God is faithful, and He hears and answers prayer. Second, abide in the Lord by reading the Bible often and cherishing it, for as my youth pastor has said, “The Bible is food for our souls.” And finally, never forget the most important thing we have learned in our families and at this school: the Gospel. A: “We all, like sheep have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way.” (Isaiah 53:6). We memorized this verse the very first week of kindergarten. From the beginning of our time at Kansas City Christian we have learned that we are lost, desperately in need of saving. “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). And we learned that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” For many of us, we have grown up in a Christian family and believed at a young age, and this is not a new message, but we often forget that it is a message that many in the world have never heard. Never forget the truth that the blood of Jesus was shed on the cross for our sins, to bring us to God and give us life. You have a message that the world needs to hear. Don’t ever forget that. Now go out and live it! Congratulations, class of 2010!
Jul 6, 2010
Jul 6, 2010
This week Pastor Tony and I crossed Missouri on bikes along the Katy Trail. Here is some video shot for the show Man vs Wild: Katy Trail Edition that will not likely be airing on the Discovery Channel anytime ever.
Jul 5, 2010
This photo did not come out well, but it is the only one of the whole team just before we left Kansas City.
June 12 through 19th Redeemer sent a group of 8 people to Mexicali, Mexico to serve Christ Church with BEAMM, a segment of the PCA’s Mission to the World. This post is a series of photos from that trip. It doesn’t tell the whole story though, come out on July 18th at 6pm to hear all about the 2010 Border Mission Trip. There are many photos and explanations in this post, to see them click on the link below. Click here to read the rest of this post.
