God is present and active in every situation of our lives. Sometimes we don’t always recognize God’s presence and activity within us and around us. But occasionally we catch a glimpse of what God is doing, and that can propel us forward in our journey of following Jesus. I had one such experience toward the end of our mission trip to Guatemala earlier this month. Continue reading
Blessings from Guatemala, Part 2
Jesús es el mejor. Jesus is the best.
On our mission trip to Guatemala, I had the special privilege of speaking during the Sunday morning worship service at “The Tracks.” Pastor Walter, the pastor of that congregation, graciously gave up his sermon time so that Pastor Jerry and I could both share thoughts from scripture that might be inspiring or challenging for the congregation. I’ll admit the truth: normally I prepare a new sermon for each speaking engagement I receive, but this time, for various reasons, I reused a sermon I had preached at Mt. Haley a few weeks earlier. Continue reading
Blessings from Guatemala, Part 1
I learned something very important on this year’s mission trip to Guatemala: coming home on a red-eye flight while changing time zones during the “spring ahead” change to Daylight Saving Time is not very much fun at all. This past Sunday, we took off from Guatemala City at midnight Central Standard Time, and four hours later we landed in Washington, D.C., at 6am Eastern Daylight Time. That was, in a word, rough.
Of course I learned more important things on this trip, as well. In the next few posts, I would like to share some of my reflections from this week-long mission trip to Central America. My hope is that this will give you a good sense of what took place during this trip, as well as how this trip’s lessons can connect to our everyday lives back at home. Continue reading
March Youth Update
PRAISE GOD!! Winter has arrived…..AGAIN! So much for the Groundhog! As I work here on my computer I am having visions of deep snow in the driveway that will take up hours of my time. Oh well, March has come in like a lion and hopefully this means it will go out like a lamb…and how appropriate with Easter on the last weekend of March. The good news is that the storm is in the middle of the week and we LEAVE for Guatemala very early on Saturday morning.
Our Guatemala mission begins in the middle of the night on Friday evening when we will journey to Battle Creek with our team members and lots of luggage bearing gifts and materials. We’ll park our cars at the North Avenue Church of God, which has very graciously agreed to drop us off in Chicago’s O’Hare airport with their 25 passenger bus and pick us back up on the following Sunday morning. David Beam, our missionary, is anticipating our arrival late Saturday night into Guatemala City. Then we’re off in a whirlwind as we worship with the church of the TRACKS Sunday morning and then begin our week of construction and interacting with the people of the Tracks. Everyone is going to be BLESSED! God has answered MANY prayers; we have paid all of our expenses so far, and have only luggage costs and transportation yet to deal with. However, we have money in the bank. Praise God for blessing us!! PLEASE keep us in your prayers this week, March 5 through 13, and we will see you in church the following Sunday. Continue reading
February Youth Update
Guatemala! Mt. Haley’s mission to the TRACKS and a week with missionary David Beam has preoccupied my thoughts this month as we have prepared for our March 5th–13th, 2016, mission trip. God blessed us with great prices for our plane tickets; however, we will fly not out of our usual departure cities of Flint or Detroit but from Chicago. God saved us almost $6000 by flying out of O’Hare, but our next challenge is getting to Chicago: 6-7 hours travel time with 16 people and probably 32 pieces of luggage. Now I am patiently awaiting a phone call for a confirmation of travel arrangements that might get us there in a convenient fashion. Praying big time right now. We have five of our team coming from other churches and the rest are somehow related to Mt. Haley. A cool stat this year is that we have 8 team members under 25; Jeremy Hassen is just a little older than that; and the rest of us, well, we won’t go into their ages. Plus Pastor David and myself represent the clergy with plans for David to speak at the Church of the Tracks. We have plans to build two bedrooms and a bathroom for Sonia, the English teacher at the school and a long time friend of the Mt. Haley team. It will be exciting for her and her family, plus the satisfaction we receive in ministering to this community of Guatemala. May All the Glory Be to God!! Continue reading
November Youth Update
We enter November with Olive’s yard raking project completed and two events in our history. We had a successful swimming party at Four Seasons Health Club on October 11th and enjoyed the corn maze, hayride and other activities at Grandma’s Pumpkin Patch last Sunday. Our youth meetings are reaching about 8 kids a week and our GRAD meetings are hosting 5-6 young adults. We are continuing to reach out to those families to join us regularly with Sunday morning Worship participation & attendance then urging parents to help in having their youth to grow spiritually through the ministries of Mt. Haley. Continue reading
Quit Making Excuses
“Let the dead bury their own dead!” – Jesus
Wait, what?
We live in a culture of sound bites. Our attention spans are incredibly short, and if a story doesn’t catch our attention in the first couple of seconds, we move on. But sometimes we need to listen more carefully to what is being said. Continue reading
October Youth Update
Where did the summer go? With the warm weather we have experienced in September and the late start of the youth year due to the late Labor Day, it seems like Fall came up quick. We have already had the school Homecomings of Bullock Creek, Dow, Midland this week, plus Connie and I are heading to Anderson University this weekend and its only the first week of October! Continue reading
Let’s Go to Guatemala!
Guatemala! —A mission, a week with God’s people, lives being changed, a community far away but yet very close, friends, homes, God’s love, a calling!
God’s servants are being called to Guatemala for our annual mission to worship with the people, help meet their needs with items for daily living, help in providing a home for a family, to encourage and bless them, to reach out to our community of believers and to honor God and give Him glory. Every year we spend approximately a week in Guatemala at the “Tracks” in Guatemala City. Registration for the Mt. Haley Guatemala Mission trip to Guatemala will be due by Sunday, September 27th, 2015. The registration is $100 with a $250 balance + (plane fare, passport & insurance) due by February 1, 2016. The trip is tentatively scheduled for approximately March 5-12, 2016.
The $350 for the mission covers the cost of our food, lodging, transportation, gas and other miscellaneous needs the trip may entail. Every person must have a U.S. passport (you would need to apply for it SOON); we have a small fee for insurance (unknown presently) and money to cover airfare to Guatemala & back. Airfare has been somewhere between $350 and $750 per person as we strive to obtain the best possible rates to meet our needs. (Flight, luggage, carry-ons, times, etc). A safe estimate would be to plan for a thousand dollars for the mission. People from other churches are welcomed and encouraged to participate. The group needs to raise $5000 to cover the costs of helping a family build a home at the Tracks and is helped by the churches involved with the project.
After registration, each participant is asked to attend and participate in four monthly meetings prior to the trip to help the group grow in unity, purpose, spiritually and be prepared for their experience. Attendance is expected.
Guatemala is an incredible life-changing experience, blessing David Beam, the community and friends we work and visit, the family we help with having a house, plus blessings we receive, that probably outweigh the blessings we hope to give. It’s a chance to live out our Christian walk and strengthen our walk with Christ as we serve in our own community and church. Guatemala – a calling in life to serve Christ and others!
Feel free to contact Pastor Jerry Graham with any questions, concerns or thoughts as we begin to plan for this year’s mission.
July Youth Update
Summer is moving along! Pastor David, Connie and I attended the North American Convention of the Church of God in Oklahoma City last week and were challenged, inspired and moved to be proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ with boldness. This event is one of the great events of the Church of God and we would fully endorse your attendance or even following it on the Internet. Topics, along with the many great speakers, music and worship experiences plus the general assembly, included a move to have the NAC every odd numbered year with the International Youth Convention on even years, resolutions to improve racial relationships, a call to community outreach and encouragement to keep “Jesus is the Subject” in our daily lives. A blessed experience for the entire Church of God. Continue reading