Philly, I love you!

I’m a little late about blogging about my week in Philadelphia
but I know all 4 of my readers will forgive me 😉 Let me just start by being
honest…Philadelphia has been my
favorite city on our tour so far. People=amazing, churches=amazing, FCA
huddles=amazing, memories=priceless.

Our week was packed with ministry while we were in Philadelphia.
We started the week out by falling in love with a church before we even entered
in the building. Christ Church
of the Valley (aka rock star church) put us up in the Hampton Inn for 2 nights.
That’s right, I did not mistype that. We spent 2 blissful nights with no floor
or couch sleeping, no sleeping bags, and no cats. It was paradise. We were
shocked when they offered and we were so blessed by their generosity. They
thought we would enjoy having our own space for a short time since we have been
couch surfing since we started and boy did we.We shared Sunday evening to the
youth group. It was the first formal presentation that Jessie and I made
together and I must say we did pretty darn well. Jessie and I will never be
your typical presentation style speakers. I mean you are reading my blog right
now, you know I am not formal and not eloquent. The one way I communicate is
from my heart so that is how our presentations are; real, raw, honest, and
filled with the Spirit. We had some great conversations with some youth
afterwards and some even better ones with some of the leaders. We met some
amazing guys who quickly became our friends and tour guides the remainder of the
week. I was not expecting to make quick friends with people I know I will keep
in touch with. Here is one short story before I stop talking about how much I
loved Christ Church
of the Valley…

We met Mike at the leader meeting before the youth service started.
The guys there teased him that he should sign up for our trip when we told them
about the World Race because they know he loves missions. Then the service
starts and we get up and share to the youth. Jessie and I hang around talking
with the youth and leaders afterwards. Later we were going to go to coffee with
some of our new friends and find out Mike is meeting us there. By now it has
probably been about 1 hour since church was over when we finally make it to
Starbucks. We meet Mike there and he tells us he has already signed up for the
World Race!?!?! How awesome is that. I already love this guy. It was so cool to
see how God used our words to inspire someone to take the plunge and dive into
the crazy unknown of God’s Kingdom. We were blessed enough to get to hang out
with Mike more during the week. The world race would be lucky to have Mike join
the community.

Geez, so far I have just talked about the 1 place and I told
you we had a busy week…so stay with me now!!

I contacted FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) while I
was trying to book events and asked if we could share at any of their huddles
while we were in town. They seriously hooked us up. We shared at 4 different
huddles throughout the week. 1 high school, 1 middle school, 1 all boys trade
school (college age), and 1 college (basically all football guys). Every time
we shared we had great conversations with some of the students and were able to
encourage them to live radically even if it seems like the crazy thing to do.
When we spoke at the Trade School I had a crazy Holy Spirit moment. One second
I was just sharing some stories and the next I was telling these men to rise up
and become the men of God that they were created to be. They will be the
leaders of tomorrow and they need to quit sleeping thru their Christian walks
and become true leaders in school, work, and in relationships. I told them
about one of our spiritual fathers on the race who would slap the men and tell
them to rise up and become a warrior for God. I was like, “woah Jesus,
where did all of that come from!” It was fantastic because we saw it click
in their heads that it was truth from God and they were really getting it. A
fantastically, funny moment was when Jessie was telling the guys about getting
Malaria in Africa and how she lost a lot of weight. One
of the guys made a smart comment saying how he wanted to get it so he could
lose weight for wrestling. Jessie teased him saying, you want malaria, I’ll
give you malaria. It didn’t click in her head that in a guys mind he
interpreted that as she was offering to make out with him. All the guys cracked
up laughing and the guy turned bright read. Jessie just thought she was funny.
It wasn’t until after we left I told her how they took what she said. It was
classic! In all seriousness though,  we had some great ministry moments
sharing with FCA. I was encouraged by the students.

Wednesday evening we shared at Bethel…the
Church at Franklin Mills. If this blog wasn’t so long already I would go into
the detail of how awesome this youth group was. The kids were so hungry for
God’s truth and more of His presence. I could see a hunger for missions in the
youth that I don’t think they realized was present until that moment. I know God is
going to make some future missionaries out of a few of them. So not only was it
a great night of stories we prayed over some of the teens and after we rebuked
the chains of satan,  we confirmed their authority in Christ and spoke
life into them. These teens were rock star!

Meet the Powers family. They hosted us after we checked out
of the Hampton. This is one of the
most amazing families I have ever met. There are 4 kids so the family never has
a dull moment. We had a blast with them. Thank you for your love and
hospitality!