Winds of Grace Tour 2009: The Journey Home

Well what can I say, another amazing Solid Rock Mission Trip! I'm sitting on the bus with 3 hours left until we pull in to St. Stephen, Bruce Almighty is playing on the small TVs, half the students are asleep from, the adult leaders are all reading and attempting to stay awake, and the rest of the students are somehow wide awake, talking, and enjoying their last few hours together on this trip.

It is hard to describe this week in words. This is my third mission trip and the best yet! I have never seen so much passion in these students and have never seen them work harder. This week was a complete God experience and I believe that everyone involved experience His presence with us every step of the way. The week started out a little on the slow side as we tried to figure out all of the details of the work ahead of us. It's funny to think now, but Monday night the adult leaders sat down to talk about the next day and our biggest concern was the lack of work we had and we were very concerned there would not be enough work to get us past Tuesday! Little did we know how much work was in front of us with re-roofing a whole house!

Throughout the week the adult leaders and I saw our students transforming in their relationships with each other and with God. They would sit on breaks and speak with Ms. Ward, Ms. Florida, and Mr. Roosevelt speaking with them and hearing their stories. This happened each day we were at the work sites and by the end of the week we had new family in Alabama!!

Thursday was the highlight of this trip for me. To start with the students with no prodding or encouragement from any of the adults decided unanimously to get up an extra hour early so that we could finish the roof. Once at the work site they worked harder than ever before. It had to be around 130 degrees on that roof but those students didn't let it faze them! We had teams on the ground cleaning up the yard that was littered with shingles and nails, and teams on the roof, laying singles, hammering, and tearing. It was a heavenly thing to see! Jesus was among us this day; He was in each and every one of the students, in their hearts keeping them going.

It was around 2:30pm that afternoon when I stepped back from the project and it hit me..., "We're not going to finish this." The biggest most overwhelming feeling of defeat flooded me and I didn't know how to break it to the students. Slowly I approached the student leaders and the adults. The students knew in their heads that we weren't going to finish but their hearts said otherwise. They asked to stay until 7pm or 8pm or until it got dark. They asked to come back in the morning early again to finish the project. The truth is, a few more hours that day and we still wouldn't have finished. We needed at least two more full days of work. It was too hot to be on the roof and working and if we pushed any harder we would have students dropping like flies. The attitude of these students and their desire to finish the job was too much for me. I stepped away after seeing all of them crushed and had to gather my thoughts and just ask God to help me and these students understand why we couldn't finish this job.

It was about an hour or two later when we finally got everyone off the roof and Mr. Roosevelt came to speak to us under the tree that had provided us shade and shelter all week. His words brought me to tears. He explained to the students how they were an answer to their prayers. How a home is not a home unless there is a roof to cover their heads and these students provided this to them and made it a home again! He thanked God for these students and all they did and he was not at all fazed by the small part of the roof that was not finished. He told us, that his home was now our home and anytime we were in the area he wanted us to come by and see him. He told us the door is always open for us, both doors, front and back, so we could come "home" anytime! If this wasn't a God thing, I don't know what is! I saw Jesus in Mr. Roosevelt and Ms. Florida that day and I think it was at that moment that the students realized why we were there. I know that's when I realized it...

We do mission trips, not to complete projects, or to put on roofs, or to learn new skills. Those are all benefits of these trips but that's not why we do it. We do these trips to bring the love of Jesus to others who might not know him, or who maybe haven't experienced his love in a long time. Sure we want to complete the tasks that are put in front of us, but that is not always in God's plan. That was not his plan this week. Instead His plan was for us to grow our family, our Solid Rock family, our St. Stephen family, our Christian family. And I am proud to say that this task was fully completed! Pastor Lee said in our last evening in Mobile, "When two or three are gathered Jesus is present". Well I will tell you what, there were 34 of us there this week and Jesus didn't leave our side for a second and we ALL felt that!

It is a blessing beyond all blessing for me to be a part of this group and to lead these students. Just when I think they can't make me more proud, they step up like they did this week and blow me away. The grace of God was present this week and our mission to blow grace to all ends of the earth I think was accomplished! These teenagers ARE changing the world, they ARE impacting lives and they ARE the life of the church! There is no doubt about it!

But our mission is not over. It is only beginning because now the biggest challenge is ahead of us. We return home and we must now keep God present in our lives and continue to show everyone back home, friends, family, and strangers what we experienced this week. This is our mission, to create disciples of the risen Christ, these students are doing that in the mission fields of these trips, but now we must all learn how to do that in the mission fields of our daily lives and that is what we return home with, our stories to encourage and explain ALL God's never ending grace and glory, forever and ever! And when we all have the feeling and the attitude these 23 students had this week...well then that is heaven.

As we return home I thank you all for all the blessings and prayers you provided us with this week. We couldn't have done it without you and we are proud to have you join us in mission! I pray that you all can experience what these students have experienced this week and that you will continue to help and support these students and each other in the mission field of life, creating disciples and spreading the love of God! God Bless you all and we will see you all next weekend at worship as the youth begin to share their stories with our Mission Trip Worship Celebrations at all three services!!!

Kenny Champagne

Winds of Grace Tour 2009: A Chapter Ends

We faced many challenges as we rushed to finish the roof on the last day of mission work. Even facing incredible odds, Solid Rock accomplished an unbelievable amount of work in conditions even professionals would refuse.

Alex Barnes writes about June 17:

Thursday would’ve been just like any other day on a St. Stephen youth mission trip. But there was 130 degree weather, sun beating down sucking all the energy out of any creature, and heat waves visibly coming off of the roof we were working on. Was this enough to stop the Solid Rock youth group from attempting to accomplish such a huge task such as completing re-roofing a house? The answer is no my friends.

Thursday would’ve been just like any other day on a St. Stephen youth mission trip. But something occurred on that very day that no one but God could’ve put into motion. First of all, the day started one hour earlier than any of the other days before it… at 6 a.m. You ask, “why the change?” I’ll tell you why… the youth decided to get up earlier just so they had a fighting chance to complete Mrs. Roosevelt’s roof. This was the first amazing event of the day, and it set the tone for the rest of it.

Thursday would’ve been just like any other day on a St. Stephen youth mission trip. But once to the worksite, there was a fire burning in everyone’s eyes that I cannot explain in words. It truly was God at work. From arriving at the site at eight in the morning, till lunch time, everyone was determined to finish as much as possible before the day became too hot, and kids and adults alike had to be literally forced off the roof to take breaks.

Thursday would’ve been just like any other day on a St. Stephen youth mission trip. But not only did we crack through the morning hours, but we kept the steam rolling into the heat, sweating out what water we had in our bodies, and using our faith and love for one another to push through the struggle. Drinking water frequently, complaining only when it was about coming down, and never looking back, we pushed. We pushed St. Stephen.

Thursday would’ve been just like any other day on a St. Stephen youth mission trip. But I fell through that old roof that day, sending everyone into a worried frenzy making sure I was ok. But through the hands and grace of God, I was ok. It was an absolute miracle, and because of it, we found a bad spot in the roof that would’ve been problematic later and probably would’ve leaked.

Thursday would’ve been just like any other day on a St. Stephen youth mission trip. But after I fell in that roof, not one time did someone show fear about standing on that roof. Not one person backed down to finishing the job. We pushed on, through the afternoon heat, and never lost focus on our goal. We pushed so hard that four people had heat exhaustion, and two people passed out from the excess of heat.

Thursday would’ve been just like any other day on a St. Stephen youth mission trip. But once we found out that we couldn’t possibly finish the job because of the time of day and working conditions, everyone was so upset to the point that they almost cried. Stress and aggravation ran through the youth, but what ran through my veins and heart? Pride and love for all of my peers, because everyone cared so much about two people they didn’t know, and all they wanted was to help them.

Thursday would’ve been just like any other day on a St. Stephen youth mission trip, but it wasn’t. It was so much more. Nothing will ever replicate that day, and I will never forget the determination and drive I saw in everyone’s face. This was no normal youth mission trip, but a rather extraordinary one. After working so hard on this whole trip, all of the people involved felt so great and spiritually high. In the words of Kenny Champagne,” If everyone felt this way in the world, it would be heaven.”

Thursday would’ve been just like any other day on a St. Stephen youth mission trip, but God didn’t allow it. God made it one of the greatest days of my life.

These guys worked so hard, I wish St. Stephen could have been there to see it. They all worked until they dropped. That night we shared communion on what will be for many the most memorable day of the trip.

-G. Lue

Winds of Grace Tour 2009: New Beginnings

As we move further into the week, one of our mission sites is completed. With a sense of completion, the two groups combine into one to tackle the arduous task of roofing an entire house in the short span of a day and a half.

Ryan Traher writes on Wednesday June 17:

A rotten roof leads to a rotten ceiling. A rotten ceiling leads to a rotten wall. A rotten wall leads to a rotten room. And a rotten room leads to a relatively rotten life. My work group spent two and a half days repairing 79-year-old woman’s roof and bedroom wall that had been falling apart ever since Hurricane Katrina. We learned firsthand the result of negligence and carelessness in the midst of necessary repair when we discovered that the rot was a product of a poor patch job on the roof. We were in the shade. There was not much to do. There was never enough supplies. There were too many people for the amount of work there was. The work was boring to say the least and not the least bit satisfying. The most aggravating thing though was the lack of cooperation from the organization sponsoring the mission work we were participating in. We did have the honor of being the last group to work for LDR (Lutheran Disaster Response) in this area, but I had to face the fact that they’re commitment to these last few projects was less than satisfactory. This was the reason that a project that could have taken a day took more than twice as long. Instead of the gratifying feeling that comes from knowing your changing someone’s life, I was filled with anger, lack of patience, disappointment, selfishness. Despite the fact that I knew that the work we were doing was just as equally important as a job that was more productive, I was blinded by my emotions and loss of logic. It was not until we had finished that I found reason. We had patched up all the holes and laid new shingles and mudded the wall and sprayed popcorn on the ceiling, etc, etc. But the best part of the job was speaking with that 79-year-old after the job was done and it finally brought me peace. I do not know if I have ever seen someone so grateful to have a bedroom again; a place to sleep; a place to live. I had not had that incredible feeling I was looking for all week, but that day surely made up for it. I lost track of how many times I got dizzy from an indescribable joy that one can only experience from the knowledge that you changed someone’s life.

Even small jobs are incredibly important, and even when circumstances are frustrating there is an understanding of that. Every person at both sites came together that afternoon for an awesome lunch of fried catfish. After lunch both teams tackled the roof at the large site.

These guys are overwhelmingly awesome.




-G. Lue

Winds of Grace Tour: The Mission Continues

As we move further into the mission, the energy sustains and the work continues at an amazing pace that could only be the work of God's hands and feet. Even in such heat, spirits remain high and fun is still had! It's astounding how incredible these young adults are.

Jenna Dietz writes about Tuesday June 16:

If I could choose one theme for our second day of work, i would have to say it was ultimate TEAMWORK. The passion behind our actions together was unbelievable and we got an incredible amount of work done. We completely stripped the roof so that all that was left was the array of never ending nails--and everyone was gulity of serious effort. When it was time to put two tons (yeah, that's right two tons) of shingles and tarp material up on the roof, within seconds a fireman's line was created. One second there was a whole trailer full of heavy shingles, and the next time we look over its empty. Needless to say, we were tired. Very, very tired. But that in no way means we lost our enthusiasm. At lunch the boys (of course) had an epic ninja battle with garden tools to provide that hilarious entertainment to light the spark that we needed to keep up this work. In the next few hours our job was completely finished and we felt like we had really made worked our butts off, and each and every person walked away with that warm fuzzy feeling of making a difference in someones life. In the words of Jen, it was DOMINANT!!!!

Every day Solid Rock faces new challenges, but with teamwork and God's will, they overcome everything they face.


-G. Lue

Winds of Grace Tour: The Mission Begins

The second day of our trip and our first day of mission work was a labor filled flurry of youth and God's Grace.

Eli Bauder writes about Monday June 15:

Ugh. That's the first thing I thought of when I woke up on the second day of the Mission Trip. My previously-comfortable air mattress apparently had a small leak in it and I awoke on the cold, hard deflated mattress with only 5-6 hours sleep under my belt. The night before, I had pulled an all-nighter and that moment when I woke up it took a toll on me. After awakening (using all my energy to open one eyelid, I immediately went to the breakfast table and had an amazing egg sandwich. After the meal we packed up and headed for our work sites. Outside, the heat was astounding. I worked outside and was immediately drenched in sweat. Not only that, we were working on the roof, which is definitely the hottest part of the house. Immersed in sweat we pulled up shingles and tar paper. We finished [demolishing (sic)] one side of the roof when it was time to come in and have dinner. After one of the most delicious dinners, even we started horsing around and playing games, which is what I'm missing out on right now, so take care and thanks!

It's amazing how much energy these kids exhibit after such hard work every day. Pastor Lee must be putting something in the food. After such a great first day I can only expect fantastic progress throughout the week.


-G. Lue

Winds of Grace Tour 2009: Journey and Arrival

Throughout this week, we will encourage the youth to write about their daily experiences to publish to the blog. Please stay tuned for the Winds of Grace Tour updates through the eyes of our incredible youth.

Melissa Izzo writes about Sunday June 14th:

Sunday was a long... LONG day. Waking up on a bus full of excited youth and adults at a rest stop, it was midnight, and we all unloaded to hit the bathrooms before another few hours on the road. WAlking towards the bathrooms, I noticed a foggy window and used my finger to write, "WINDS OF GRACE TOUR '09" into the fog. The mission had begun. Arriving at St. Paul's around 4 AM we all continued our attempts to sleep for another two hours, though we slightly failed, considering we were on a bus full of teenagers. After waking, eating and waiting for the vans to arrive, we loaded up and went to Fort Gains for the morning. Hanging around that old Mobile war fort consisted of looking at old pictures to climbing on top of war cannons. It was a real blast! We ate lunch at Sonic, and after flustering our waitresses with such an amazing(ly large) group of people, we left for Dauphin Beach. We "chillaxed" (as Kenny would say) and go some final peace before starting work on Monday. Back at St. Paul's we gladly showered and worshiped, learning about God's Grace throughout the Old Testament. Finishing the night with a stop and go circle, everyone felt closer as Solid Rock's repeat offenders welcomed the new missioners to our family.

We're very excited to be here in Mobile to be God's hands and feet. A full day of rest and fun prepares us for the work ahead of us. Youth connected beautifully in a very touching way during worship, and I'm sure this week will fill their lives with stories they'll share for the rest of their lives.



-G. Lue

Winds of Grace Tour 2009

Solid Rock's Winds of Grace Tour 2009 is only a few days away! This is the place where you will be able to follow us in our mission! We will post videos, devotionals, and student stories here on this blog every evening so you can see what we have been up to each day and join us in worship by reading the lessons and praying the prayers we pray! I hope you will continue to follow us each day and we encourage you to write us comments and let us know that you are joining us in our mission! Thank you for all your support and until we get to Mobile on Sunday please enjoy the Winds of Grace Promo Video below! God Bless!

Kenny