Whenever I get back from a Saints Prison Ministry trip, the first people I want to see are my wife and kids. It doesn’t matter if the trip was to Arizona or to 30 minutes away to the prison in Pekin. I want to see them and tell the stories of how the day went. There are so many times when I say, “I wish you got to be there to see…” Unfortunately/fortunately there is a combination of strict prison rules and good old fashioned wisdom about bringing your wife and kids along on a prison visit. I do enjoy the time with my teammates but I have longed to do something similar with my wife and family.
Last week, we had the opportunity to take our youth group from church on a very short term missions trip to a small church in Columbus, IL. We were tasked with helping run their vacation Bible school. We also did some yardwork and painting while we were there. One cool thing for me was getting to live out several aspects of a Saints trip with my family. We got to serve in the heat. We got to step outside of our comfort zones when we had to go door to door to hand out flyers for the VBS. We had to be flexible when things didn’t work out the way we planned with vehicle issues and other things. We even skipped the chain restaurants because there were local places to eat that were way better! (Thank you Hugh Dwyer!)
Ultimately, it was fun to minister with my wife and it was fun to see my kids serve the Lord on this trip. The Gospel went out all three days to approximately 20 small town kids and we praise the Lord for His provisions on the trip! It refreshed and re-energized me for the stretch run of prison visits we have left this summer
Tomorrow we are going to Taylorville for a day of softball, ministry, and really hot temperatures! We are planning on playing two games in the morning and then an indoor activity in the afternoon when it gets really hot!
Drew Aberle and Chris Onken are sharing their testimonies tomorrow. Please pray that their life stories honor the Lord and draw people closer to Him.
I am sharing the Gospel during the morning session. Please pray that I am clear with my words and that the Lord draws the men to Himself. Ray Koonce is preaching during the afternoon session.
One final note- I am a couple of updates behind because of the busy summer schedule. I will have updates for our Pontiac and Illinois River visits up soon!
