One A-Chord on Tour — Soli Deo Gloria!

What a trip!

This year’s summer mission/music tour took 42 high schoolers (and 10 adults) to Louisville, Indianapolis and Chicago.  (You can check out our itinerary on Google Earth!)  We left Friday morning for Louisville, enjoying the fellowship of a truly special group of high school students.  Believe it or not (and I know you won’t believe me)…I never heard one complaint from this group…ever!  They were positive and appreciative and easy-going.  Just a joy to work with!

Here are some highlights from our trip:

• In Louisville, we provided lunch, sang and played games with the children from Wesley House.  What a blessing it was to see their faces light up when our youth spent time with them!
• Orchard Park Presbyterian church in Indianapolis…Sunday morning.  We sang two services.  In the traditional, we were up and down the stairs to the choir loft all morning…it was like singing while using a Stairmaster.  They were so appreciative of our songs and really made us feel welcome.  In the contemporary service, the band could barely hold themselves back from playing along!
• Sunday evening…A beautiful old Congregational church in Crystal Lake, IL. A very tasty dinner, followed by the first full concert presentation of our tour.
• Sight-seeing on Monday…a perfect day!  Bike ride along Lake Michigan, deep dish pizza, Chicago’s wonderful museums, Michigan Avenue malls and the lights of the city seen from the Hancock Observatory.   What a city!
• On Tuesday, we cooked a full breakfast for the residents of the Eckhardt Senior Apartments, a subsidized housing unit for the elderly in Chicago.  Eggs, sausage, biscuits, bananas, coffee, oj…prepared and served by our fabulous youth…with some help from a great team of chaperones!  After breakfast we simply spent time with each resident, talking and listening.  Then we went up to their 20th floor rec room and sang a concert with a great view of the city all around us.
• Dinner at Ed Debevics!  Don’t talk back and watch what you ask for!!
• If you’re ever in Chicago, you need to check out the Chicago Temple!  This skyscraper church has an amazing sanctuary…as if an old traditional church has been encased in a high-rise.   Every Wednesday, First Methodist Chicago (aka Chicago Temple) has a noon-time communion service.  For many people who work in the city, that service is their “Sunday.”  We provided music for the service, then ascended 20 floors and 173 steps (whew!) to the Sky Chapel, a small chapel with panoramic views of the city and a rich history.
• Wednesday night, we celebrated our time in Chicago.  The seniors had a special dinner cruise on Lake Michigan that was lots of fun…despite the thick fog.  (Hey seniors…Lola misses you already!)  The rest of the crew enjoyed the evening at Navy Pier.
• We left Chicago for the drive back to Louisville.  Thursday evening, we presented our last full concert for the trip at Friendship House, a senior assisted living home.  In a packed, standing room only, oppressively hot room, One A-Chord sang their hearts out…and the crowd responded with enthusiastic applause, lots of smiles, hugs and kisses.  It was a fantastic end to the musical part of our journey.  Of course the fun didn’t end!
• Friday…Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom.  Roller coasters and water rides that afternoon.  Friday evening…choir banquet at the Hard Rock Café, followed by our annual superlative awards handed out riverside.

I’ve outlined the main stops, but couldn’t begin to tell you about all the moments in between.  Students led wonderful, thoughtful devotions each night.  Our wonderful college interns led the group in singing praise songs.   “Family” groups who may not have really known each other before tour, spent time praying, talking, and supporting each other.  And of course all the fun…movies on the bus, tossing the Frisbee in the park, climbing trees, crawling the malls, cookie dough in hotel rooms and lots and lots of laughter.

Mt. Bethel…you should be very proud of this group.  I certainly am.  They represented you in fine fashion!  I hope you were all in worship last Sunday to hear One A-Chord present their Homecoming Concert.  If you weren’t…you really missed something!

And if you’re a high school youth not participating in One A-Chord…join us next year!  You don’t know what you’re missing.  Check out 56 pictures from the trip, or watch the video below for a recap!

Suzanne

M25 at St. Philip

The Mt. Bethel Youth and College Department are joining with St. Philip this summer on Tuesdays for a program called M25.  Our first M25 was this week. Fifteen excited students came to St. Philip with footballs, soccer balls, and hula hoops.  Most of St. Philip’s children come from an apartment complex  that is behind the church, so we headed that direction in search of kids to play with.  Before long, we found a good field to play in, and kids started to come out to play.  There were a few kids who already attend St. Philip, but most were kids we had never met.  It was such a blessing to look across the big field to see everyone playing and smiling despite the heat!  At the end, I had the chance to tell the kids about Sunday School and Church at St. Philip and that we will be coming back all summer!  The new soccer field at St. Philip can’t come soon enough!

As if the day hadn’t already been wonderful, another huge blessing came.  One woman who had been very active at St. Philip had recently stopped coming.  I had been told that she had hard feelings toward some people in the church, but we had not been able to contact her to talk with her.  I had been praying about a way to get to talk to her, and the opportunity presented itself.  Her son came out to play with us, and I sent him home with a note telling his mom that we missed her and to let us know how she is doing.  We headed back to St. Philip to get some water and cool down before the Mt. Bethel group got back on the bus.  We had a time of prayer, and one of the prayers was for relationships in the church that are strained to be healed.  About 5 minutes after the prayer was over, I was in the office alone and heard a knock on the door.  The woman I had sent the note to had come to visit.  We had a great time talking, and she said she will be back this Sunday.  Praise the Lord!  God is already answering prayers through M25, and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for the rest of the summer!

Kelly Gutting, SPUMC Program Director