Wow! It's been way over a year since I blogged...but I am back. I'm not really sure how I am going to go about doing it this time but I am just going to see how it goes. Ummmm....what to blog about?

I am thankful that the Lord is Good...His love endures forever!

Well, Hello! I want to give a quick update:

• The Lord has been moving greatly through the Dance & Drill Team that I coach at Brewster Elementary. About 3 weeks ago, I started meeting with the 5th grade girls that are a part of the team for Bible Study. Out of the 15 girls that are in 5th grade on the dance team there are about 10 that have shown interest since the first Bible Study. These girls are excited about coming and learning about truth! Right now we are talking through the gospel by using the "Bridge of Life" and memorizing scripture like Gen. 1:27, Rom. 3:23, and Rom. 6:23. I have seen how a handful of these girls are serious about what we are talking through and even want to memorize the scriptures each week. Some of the girls have been asking me for a bible so that they can continue to look at these things during the week. The Lord has provided a way for me to get Bibles for them as I had lunch with a 25 year old medical student named Kim. I started sharing with her about the dance team and bible study with the 5th grade girls and from our conversation she decided that she wanted to try to provide bibles for these girls...I never even asked her, the Lord just put it on her heart! So this past Monday, Kim called me and told me that she talked with a friend of hers who wants to be a part of it too...and then Kim's friend talked with her mother and father that now want to help...and so now, there are a number of people who want to buy bibles for these girls. Each individual will provide a bible, write a encouraging note every so often, and if they have any other needs, they will be available. It's just neat to see how the Lord provideds above and beyond what we expect...ya know! He is Good!
  

• Oh...and then, also on Monday, I was walking into the office the the school after the lunch, and a parent happend to walk in a the same time and asked me if I was the dance coach. I responded positively and she handed to me 20 long-sleeve green and pink shirts and told me that the dance team could use them. I thanked her and then she just walked out. I was kind of in shock because I don't know her...her daughter is not on the dance team...and we need uniforms! Again...look at God. He is Jehovah-Jireh!

• I am going on a Road Trip for Thanksgiving! First stop is Whitehouse, TN (about 30 minutes from Nashville, TN). Soup is speaking at a Discipleship Conference there. We will be there Friday through Sunday...then I am leaving straight from there and will be in Valdosta for 2 nights, like Sunday and Monday...and then from there riding to Vidalia with my brother, Bryan, to e with the family! So I will get to see a lot of people over the next week! I am so excited about seeing friends in Valdosta and family for Thanksgiving in Vidalia! Then I will ride back to Valdosta with my brother on Friday...rest for a day before heading back to Memphis, TN. Please be in prayer for me as I travel.

I hope that you all have a great Thanksgiving and get to reflect on the goodness of the Lord with those you love.
Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,

2 months later...

I didn't realize it, but it has really been two months since I have updated my readers. I want to apologize for not making it a priority, because it it very important to me (and to many of you that have been interested) that I keep you informed. Will you please forgive me? I pray that you will.

So the last time I wrote was the beginning of the school year. There is alot of exciting things going on with our daily interactions with the students at Brewster Elementary! I have started a Dance and Drill Team for 3rd-5th grade girls that meets after school on Mondays and Wednesdays. Alongside me are some wonderful people who volunteer there time with the Dance Team: Two young women from the Universtiy of Memphis, a young woman in high school, and my neighbor who is in 7th grade. We are dancing to Christ-centered music by artists like Lecrae, Tedashii, Sho, Trip Lee, and Flame. Being culturally relevent is important as we want to reach these beautiful kids with the gospel. Please pray for me as I over the next week, I will be inviting these 3rd-5th grade girls to join me for a weekly bible study. I am thinking about first hosting a lock-in for them so that we can have some relational time together and then present an invite to the bible study. This will be a setting for me to clearly present the gospel away from the school.

Recently, I have been extrememly encouraged by some college students from Georgia. In about a month, we have had 7 college students come visit Memphis as they are investigating places of interest as they are soon approaching graduation. It has been refreshing for me to see some familiar faces but also to be able to continue being a resource as college students think for their future. I have a huge interest in connecting people and helping people transition and Soup has kind of let me take that on as part of my job! While people are here visiting, we hope to expose you to the awesome community of believers and the different ministries and/or careers of interest. Our goal is not so much to persuade people to move to Memphis, but to cast vision for you to be vested in a missional community of believers somewhere! So if anyone else wants to come and visit, just let me know.

Just something else I would like to share is how the Lord has grown my heart significantly for the people of China. Half of our staff team just returned from China last week and get this...I WILL BE GOING TO CHINA IN JUNE! Right now Molly and I are meeting with some Chinese students at the University of Memphis in hopes of reaching China through them. We had a great time at Bible Study with them on Friday...authentic Chinese food, praising God in Mandarin, and just connecting with the Chinese. I am in awe everytime I think about how the Lord is using us in this...please pray for us.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Believing God,

The school year has started

School started on this past Monday here in Memphis City Schools and when school is in, so are we. Every staff member is required to be in a "visible environent" in the community and we do that by serving in the schools here. Soup has really done a great job helping us to understand what it means to really SERVE. When we say that we are going to serve in the school, that means that we don't go there with our own agenda of what we are going to do, or not going to do...we are supposed to humble ourselves and serve wherever the need may be in the school. So that means if they need hall monitors, or a classroom tutor, or someone to clean tables after lunch, that is what we will do. The Lord has given the Eikon staff here alot of favor with the public schools through serving.

So, guess where I will be serving this year? I will be at Brewster Elementary! It is a new school in our neighborhood, named after a minister that used to live here hood. The principle is a believer and is excited about us coming in and doing whatever we can to help them serve the kids in the community. You can viist the school website at http://www.mcsk12.net/schools/brewster.es/.

For those of you that know me pretty well, this may be quite a surprise to you...I mean, I've always prefered to be around teenagers and young adults. But the great opportunity that I have as I minister to these elementary students is a longer time to establish and equip them before they become adults. See, we have a strategy to walk with these kids all the way through until they graduate from high school. So when I walk into the elementary school each day, I will do so with the end in mind...that they would be conformed to the likeness, or eikon (greek word for likeness found in Romans 8:29), of Christ!

Please pray for me as I am preparing to plan for a large group activity to host afterschool in order to meet kids at Brewster. A large group activity can be anything like coaching basketball, dance team, cheerleading, tutoring, or school newspaper. We do this to get some relational time with the kids and introduce Christ through small devotionals. Then prayerfully, a few individuals would emerge that be interested in knowing more about Christ. These would be the kids that I would meet with in a small group evangelistic bible study. From that group, hopefully the Lord will cause some kids to respond in faith to the gospel and I would meet with them in discipleship to begin helping them to know God and make Him known for a lifetime! I am exctied, but I need much prayer as I am trusting God for wisdom for how to do ministry with these kids.

I'll keep you updated...I promise!

KAA...U Know!

The week of July 28th to August 4th, our staff took some of our kids to an urban sports camp, Kids Across America (also know as KAA...U Know!). It was a great experience for the kids and me...all the way in Branson, Missouri in the woods. If you want to know more about the camp, you can visit the website at http://www.kidsacrossamerica.org/.

We took about 80 kids along with our church, Fellowship Memphis (http://www.fellowshipmemphis.org). It was a great time for alot of these kids to get away from the hood, meet new people, and most importantly, continue to be exposed to the gospel of Christ.

This was also a refueling time for urban youth workers because we brought our kids with us, but the camp counselors were responsible for them for the week while we took a "bubble bath in Jesus"! I had a great time networking with other people in ministry from all over the US. (I wanna give a shout out to my new friends in Missouri, Nebraska, Florida, and Okalahoma!) Oh, and I also had an oppportunity to do a high ropes course (scary stuff!), go tubing in the lake, and went down a zip line! It was a very adventurous week for all of us. I can't wait to go back next year to KAA...U Know!

We just finished our 2nd Session of VOBS and I can't explain how much I enjoyed this group of 14-17 year olds! One of the things that we did during VOBS each morning was meet with our small groups and share the gospel through the bridge diagram. At Eikon, we call it the Bridge of Life, and it is a helpful tool in being able to communicate the gospel to others. It's neat for me to look back at the first day of the program and see how there seemed to be a lack of interest in the gospel from the group, to now being able to say that there are 4 girls out the 7 that want to continue meeting when school starts back. Three of the girls have given their life to Christ (Darian, Tammira, and Jericca) and there is one who has expressed to me and the other girls that she wants to surrender all to Christ.

On one of the last days of VOBS, I asked the girls to write me a letter to tell me what they have learned through VOBS and what they want their lives to look like after VOBS is over. Here are some of the letters that were written...

Hey Ms. Candice,
This program has really brought a helpful vision to me about God and I want to thank all of you for teaching me. Especially you Ms. Candice. You taught me the [gospel] bridges the best way you could. I've been through a lot, and I mean A LOT, and after talking to you it really helped me. I felt like the world was against me and those who I had here for me died so I started thinking it wasn't meant for me to be happy. After working with VOBS I've realized even if I don't have 1 friend or family member to talk to God is always here. Ms. Candice you have been an inspiration in my life since the day we met. You are a kind hearted, hard working, young lady and I would love to be just like you when I get older. The program itself has also helped me a lot because it taught me things that I really need to know in the real world. I want to thank you all because you're blessed to have the gift of God, and that's touching our hearts. Thank you all. Love Jerrica Lumpkin. (11th grade)

The VOBS program has done a whole lot for me this past summer. You have taught me things that I can guarantee you that I will use in the future. You inspired me to become more intuned with myself and with GOD. I want you to be my mentor because I really think I can learn a lot from you in the near future. Most of all I want to thank you for changing my life over these past two weeks. I was going through a lot when I first got here, but being here has taught me that you don't have to go through hard times alone. I love the VOBS program and that's what I had to say about how it has impacted on me. ~Darian (10th grade)

Dear Ms. Candice,

I’ve learned many things working with VOBS. We learned that to work anywhere you have to be a hard worker and also you have to want to work. Your first appearance is your best appearance. We also learned that you have to believe that God will help you and wants you to believe that he will. Being in this group has taught me that if I want to achieve something I have to trust in God first. This group has also helped me started a better and new life for myself and also taught me how to get alone with other people better. ~Tammira (11th grade)

Dear Ms. Candice,
I have learned a lot from you and also the other members at VOBS. After I leave here I plan to go to college and make a change with my life. This job has really taught me a lot and I have learned a lot from the man upstairs. I just want to say thank you for all that you have done for us. You have been a great mentor!!!!!!!!!! I have learned to stand my ground and do what’s right towards people. I also learned more about god which was like giving my life to him. After this is over I would change my life for what’s right and start going to church more gives myself to God. So thank you for sharing with us and being there for us through everything we have been through. You are one of the greatest peoples in the world!!!!!!!!!~Angelica (10th grade)

Here is an Update...It's been a long time!

I can not believe that it is already July...the summer is going by so fast!

You may be wondering what I have been up to that has kept me away from blogging the past month. Well, it's VOBS...Vocation Beginners School! VOBS is a 4-week summer jobs program for youth, broken into a 2 week session for 10-13 year olds and a 2 week session for 14-17 year olds. There are about 90 youth that went about an intense eight-week training session before the summer started. Each youth was required to write a resume, ger reference letters, complete a job application, and have a successful job interview before they could participate this summer. Here is a break down of the activities the youth take part in during a typical week in VOBS:

• 10 hours vocational training (work)
• 8 hours of biblical training classes (study)
• 2 hours of field trips and recreational activities

All of the work the youth do are services needed around the community-yard work, cleaning lockers at East High, or even washing cars. Local businesses and supporters have donated funds so that at the end of the program, each student has the potential to earn $250 for the two weeks.

We held our first session June 16-28 with the 10-13 year olds and I absolutely loved every minute of it! I haven't had many opportunities to work with children this age but the Lord has continued to awe me with the way He works in and through young people. One girl in particular is a 12 year old named Jacqueline. She was one of the girls that was in my group I met with each morning before we started work. Jacqueline has gone to church her entire life, lives with her grandmother and other siblings, and has told me that she lives in a really dangerous area here in Memphis. Well, I noticed early on that she is a natural leader, so I knew that if I could gain her trust and respect, I would have a better chance to be trusted and respected by the other middle school girls. So each morning, we would talk about various things, talk through the gospel with the bridge diagram, and pray for whatever they brought up. After about the first week, I asked the girls to tell me what we had been talking about through the bridge and I was completely awed by the way some of the girls could understand what we had been talking about...especially Jacqueline! So I pulled Jacqueline aside while we were working and asked her if she had ever repented and trusted in Christ for salvation and she told me she did the previous night, which was Sunday after church. She told me that her church had made her think that in order to be right with God was through being a good person, but finally understood that "no good is good enough" for God. She had been listening intently all week and told me she realized that her church was wrong and that we can only come to God through Christ because we are separated by sin but He was perfect and died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. The coolest thing is that on the last day of VOBS, we gave an opportunity for any of the kids to share with the entire group what they enjoyed about the program the most. Some shared about the fun we had at the pool, the money they would recieve, and other things...but Jacqueline shared her testimony with 45 kids without anyone encouraging her to do so! God has changed her heart and made her new and she wants everyone to know! She is not the only one either...there are 2 other girls that I know of that have been changed by the Good News they have finally had the opportunity to hear for the first time. Please pray for Jacqueline (12), Dynasty(10), and Miesha (11) that they would continue to desire the Lord sincerely. Also, pray for the staff as we follow up with them in discipleship.