Below is a video from Adia in Bucharest. The video was made last year around Christmas time after they recieved the Hartford carepackage of a video and cards.
Adia sends her love to all the discpiles in Hartford. If you would like to see what Adia is up to you can visit her blog at: http://aidainbucharest.blogspot.com/.
One of the highlights of the year for all of our teenagers is going to camp. Every year, on an early Saturday morning, a large amount of cars finds our parking lot as the drop-off spot for the teenagers. Teen leaders Jennifer Cody, Amaris Mendez, Anita Allen, Julius Ferrer and others have planned for the entire year to make the arrangements. However, with even the greatest of planning – there is something about predicting the arrival and departure times of our bus that seems impossible.
For instance, this year was the smoothest in memory. However, even this year, after about an hour of driving toward Maine – a tire went flat. The bus sat still on the side of the highway for an hour and a half until a crew came out to fix the flat. After finally departing, the driver got lost and a few desperate text messages had to be sent to head our 31 faithful kids and teen leaders to their proper destination.
Between teen and pre-teen camps – our buses have been delayed by bad weather (tornado winds that toppled trees and blocked the road), too many suitcases, forgotten paperwork that had to be retrieved and more. But through it all, each child has always returned home safely . . . and we thank God for that.
Sunday, August 17, saw the second of our two interviewees for the U Conn female staff position come to town. Sherie Gayle, from the Washington DC area, arrived on Saturday, just in time to share how the cross has changed her life for our Sunday services entitled, “The Anatomy of Faith.” Also on this special day – Tiffany Mazotas sang “God is Watching Us,” accompanied by dancers Tatyana Johnson and Lian Nicholson.
Tim Blake preached the sermon of the day and traced God’s plan for how faith is built. He noted that Biblical belief always involves a dream, a decision, delay &/or detours, and a dead end. However, as we hold onto Jesus – it will ultimately end in deliverance!
Sherie has spent time with the staff, elders and wives and members of the Storrs’ planting. Her days in Hartford will conclude with a staff meeting and luncheon on Tuesday.
Sherie shared her story of becoming a disciple at the age of 16 in Kingston, Jamaica. As a teen, she visited a church service on a Sunday and was immersed the following Saturday. She has stayed faithful for many years as she has moved to the States and worked in both campus and teen ministries.
We will all continue to pray that God will lead us to the best fit for our beginning campus ministry out at Storrs. However, we are very grateful to have gotten to know both Tiffany and Sherie, and are inspired by their hearts to serve our Lord in the full time ministry.
On the weekend of August 9-10, some special guests came to Hartford to inspire many. The fast-paced couple of days began on Saturday night as Ron “Big City” Goodwin from Philadelphia held a rap concert followed by food downstairs at the Stanley Street building.
“Big” was converted in Groton 11 years ago and loves to come back home to his Connecticut roots. He presently works for HOPE worldwide and also hosts a gospel radio show on the #1 station in Philly. His past CD had a song, “Christ is All I Need,” that got as high as #12 nationally in its category. He has recently released a new album and sang many songs from it. His large personality and heart to “give God the glory” was evidenced by all. He also closed out our 11:30 AM Sunday service with his “love” song, where everybody waves their “L” high.
Also in town for this spiritual time was Tiffany Young from Los Angeles. She is the first of two sisters who are interviewing for the female staff position on the U Conn campus. Her bubbly spirit and powerful sharing won over the hearts of many. She has been a part of LA’s campus revival and served as an intern this summer. We are all praying for God’s will to ultimately be done, but no matter the outcome - it is very exciting to see younger hearts desiring to go into the ministry again.
The last outside speaker to arrive in town was Shawn Wooten from Kiev, Ukraine. He preached both messages at the Sunday services. He is well known for his story-telling style and is a long-time favorite in the Greater Hartford Church. His text from Revelation 12 challenged us to remember that now is the day and we can overcome. We are able to overcome because of the blood of the lamb and that inspires us to have and then share a testimony. On this day, we also had a special performance of music from our children’s choir.
Beyond these long-distance travelers, there were disciples in town from Danbury, Burlington, VT, and beyond. God has an international kingdom that extends far beyond our city. So let’s pray, be grateful and expand his borders to as many as possible and in as many places as possible for His glory and joy.
From all across New England and beyond, they gathered on the weekend of August 1-3 at the Worcester DCU Center to worship God, focused on the gripping theme “As For Me and My House.” Literally thousands of people were touched by the teaching, preaching, singing and fellowship.
The structure for this year’s event was a bit different than its predecessors. The Friday program began with a staff luncheon and workshop. Just short of 100 evangelists, women’s ministry staff, teachers, elders and other church leaders came together to kick-off the weekend of memories. John Causey began the parade of speeches with a powerful lesson on faith. He worked through several “D’s” of building our faith: the Dream, the Decisions, the Delay, the Difficulty, the Dead Ends and the Deliverance. Mike Taliaferro then taught on “A Rededication to Discipling.” This lesson called us to have a heart for people, to develop a lowerarchy of serving and explained the benefits of close relationships. The supper break was to set off another round of discussions and interactions all across the city of Worcester.
Next to meet were the small group leaders as they arrived in town for the evening session. Over 400 came and heard Shawn Wooten from the Ukraine teach on how to have a great family group. Shawn’s usual great illustrations of airplanes and stewards pointed us toward using our distinct gifts and abilities planned in advance for us by God. Randy Jordan, the new CEO of HOPE worldwide, was also in town from Philadelphia. He shared briefly about Jesus’ heart for service and directed us to care for the poor of the world. The evening concluded with split classes for men and women entitled, “Inspiration,” and were directed by San Antonio’s Mike Taliaferro and Lena Wooten from Europe.
Combine a little singing (“Building Up The Kingdom”) with a splash of dancing (“Father Abraham”), mix in a Bible lesson and a creative craft, and you have the recipe for three great mornings of fun and memories.
Forty of our children met for our first ever Vacation Bible School at the Greater Hartford Church of Christ from Wednesday through Friday, July 23-25. Children from one to eight years old were treated to Fruits of the Spirit, The Armor of God and Helpers in the Bible during the three special days.
All of the volunteers were amazing. Our teenagers especially provided a great spirit of enthusiasm. Ayo Owodunni and Jenny Coe led the spirited singing. Jenny also was our tireless leader and organizer for this exciting effort.
Everyone seemed to have been pleased with the results. You can see in the photos the fun that we had. We hope it’s the fruit of many more to come!
