2010-2011 Shining Light Member's blog

Follow one member's journey during the 2010-2011 Shining Light season

 

New York, here we come!

November 10th, 2011
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So many wonderful things have happened in the past few weeks! We had our first Nexus of the season, our Chicken BBQ sale, and a last chance rehearsal before we head off to NYC!

Our first Nexus: Groovy 60′s Theme, was a blast! Members and friends enjoed a few hours of Rock Band, Just Dance, fellowship and delicious snacks provided and prepared by our wonderful staff. (Thanks staff!) About halfway through Nexus, everyone met in the gym to participate in games that were popular in the 60′s. It was entertaining to me to see how many kids had troubles with these simple games. With all of these advances in technology and the smount of texts and facebook messages it can take just to meet up with your best friend for lunch, I guess we forgot that there are more simple things in life (that are still tons of fun!)

We had an efficacious Chicken BBQ last Saturday at New Covenant. There were certainly some challenges we had to overcome due to hosting the pick-up at a different location, but all things considered, it was a very enjoyable and productive day. Thanks again to everyone who supported Shining Light by buying a BBQ and thanks to all of the members who braved the cold and helped out last weekend! We couldn’t have done it without you!

On Sunday we had our last chance rehearsal for our trip to Riker’s Island. I’m sure that most members would agree with me when I say that it might’ve been our toughest rehearsal to date. Tensions ran high as we watched our performance from our last show at Northwestern Academy Boot Camp. Having the video was a big help, when we’re up on stage it’s hard to understand the vision that the choreographers had or whether or not we’re in sync as a group. As we watched the videos Kelly talked us through them and helped us improve the dances and the visual impact that we we strive for. We ran through the show as a group and tried to implement the new techniques and tighten everything up. By the end of rehearsal, everyone was drained. We still have a few things that need brought together so hopefully everyone found some time this week to practice a little more!

Our first two shows went great but as we head to Riker’s Island we need to really get in our heads in the game. The audience at both of the shows we will be presenting to are very different from what we have experienced thus far in the season. I believe that we can handle these crowds with no issue, because we have God on our side. He blessed us with these wonderful performances and meaningful fellowship time to prepare us to walk into Riker’s with our heads held high and with our message on our faces. We do have some adjustments to make with this trip to NYC. We are blessed enough to stay in the New York School of Urban Ministry (NYSUM) this year. This is a big change for returning members, we’re used to sleeping on the hard floors of a gym in Harlem every other year. NYSUM is going to be a new experience that everyone will have to work with, although I don’t think anyone will have much trouble adjusting! If you haven’t checked out the pictures that Jeff took, make sure you head to Shining Light’s facebook page and see where we’re staying. The hardest part of this weekend will not be being patient with each other or remember the steps to our songs, it’s going to be remembering why we are there and the message that we have to share, the message that we Want to share.

Please keep our group in your prayers as we leave tomorrow bright and early and for the duration of trip and a safe return home! Along with our performances at the Robert N. Davoren Center and the Eric M. Taylor Center of Riker’s Island, we will be participating in NYSUM’s Homeless Ministry and attending Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

I’ll be sure to fill you in with the delightful details of our entire weekend once we’re home!

Brightest Blessings,

Kimberly

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Two Shows In and Feelin’ Great!

October 25th, 2011
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Hello!

Long time no blog! We’ve been very busy spreading our message and I’d like to let you know that our first two shows went fantastic! Small groups are pretty much set and everyone is settling very nicely. New members have been worked into the mix of Set-up and Tear-down and are doing a fantastic job. It was great to see many our parents and friends at our public show at Teen Challenge and things only got better for us as we went to Northwestern Academy!

Northwestern has been said to be one of our harder shows over the years. With the audience we have here, we typically expect little to no reaction from during our performances. This time was a little different.  The members, new and old, were prepared with God by their side to perform to all but a brick wall, but that wasn’t the case this time. The show started out a little rough but we didn’t get discouraged. Instead, we pushed through, sharing the message of hope and the message of Jesus. By the end of the show the boys were very interactive and eagerly participated in our first talk time of the season, we even performed an encore at their request! One of the boys had seen us three times up to date and was now in the CPP part of Boot Camp only a few months away from returning to his home!

As we get into to swing of things in Shining Light it can be hard to keep all of our focus on our message. Hours of dancing and singing really being to fill our heads up. Jeff and Kelly are doing a great job of keeping every one’s eye on the prize (Jesus, of course!) this season, but hearing from a peer who went down the wrong path but is almost back on His path was such a great reminder of why we do what we do. We can never worry about those things that we have no control over. We need to give them to God and keep moving forward.

This weekend we have our first Nexus of the year with a theme of the 60′s! Spread the word, this is a great ice breaker for prospective members. Remember: It’s never too late to join! There will be no practice Sunday night so be sure to come in your best 60′s outfit. Next weekend we have our Chicken BBQ so stop by New Covenant between 9am and 1pm to pick yours up! Following that we have our last rehearsal before Riker’s Island.

This one was a little short, I’ll be sure to post again before Riker’s to keep you updated on the success of our upcoming events! Until then, thanks for reading and have a blessed rest of your week!

Brightest blessings,

Kimberly

 

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You can’t be afraid of stepping on toes if you want to go dancing.

September 24th, 2011
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Hello! I’m Kimberly and I’ll be helping with blogs this year! I’m 19 years old and attending college to study psychology. I was the videographer for the season last year but decided I should try broadening my horizons with some writing! So bare with me as we travel through another wonderful season of Shining Light! (p.s. The title for today was a quote from Lewis Freedman)

What a great season kick-off we’ve had this year! Members, returning and new, have already shown an immense amount of dedication and hard work. During our rehearsal last weekend we were blessed to spend six and a half hours with a choreographer we worked with last year, Darius. Six and a half long and painful hours most would say, but at the end of the night we had done something that seemed impossible! We had learned the choreography to a 5 minute song, which may not seem like a difficult task but I’m sure everyone in attendance last week would tell you it was. Learning to dance and sing to this new song was a great reminder that sometimes out of our greatest struggles comes our biggest calling. I’m sure it was a lot for new members to take in, but I promise it will more than pay off as each person discovers the effect they have on the individuals we have the opportunity to share His word with.

When you are driven by a calling or a deeply personal quest and you allow that calling to inspire action, you live in the world differently. You might notice that you act and interact with more confidence. The way you carry yourself and the way you speak changes. This is when you come alive. You begin to radiate the quest. Such a calling comes from unyielding faith and deep conviction. Nothing more, nothing less. I can only hope that everyone is beginning to feel this sensation and that we’re ready to embrace the beauty that will surely come this season.

This week we have our first solo auditions! I’m so excited to learn of the new talent that has joined the group, and to see the growing talent our returning members provide! Before we know it we will be on stage at Teen Challenge and no one will be able to tell the difference between our new and returning members! Our first performance seems a little out of reach currently but with God by our side, I know that we will have no problem making it there!

I find it always amazing when you can see God working in the people around you. I am so thankful that He can be so close to us as we begin our new season and deal with the growing stresses of school and work places. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27

Hopefully Between Eva and myself we can keep everyone updated with more frequent blogging this year.

Have a wonderful weekend! And as you begin another week try to remember that prayers go up, and blessings come down!

 

Brightest blessings,

Kimberly

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Home Sweet Home!

June 25th, 2011
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I know this is Eva’s blog space but I am obviously not Eva.

My name is Kimberly Spike. I am a first year member of Shining Light and was the videographer for tour this year! I’m not in any way an experienced blogger, in fact, Eva helped with most of the wording in the tour videos as well as editted the blog you are about to read. I was feeling risky and full of knowledge one day and this is what happened, I hope everyone enjoys and takes something away from this!

 

 

It’s a crazy world that we live in and being removed from it all for 10 days I thought I would’ve been able to at least forget about the madness for a little while. The truth is I have never been more aware of the destruction and damaged lives in the people around me each day. Each and every day is another story of a broken home, an abused woman, and or a drug addiction — everything negative. Not a single person in any detention center we have visited has told us about how they walked their dog or had a delicious ice cream dessert before they were in jail or rehab because quite frankly, that isn’t reality. I was nervous about Tour for many reasons, just as every other newbie probably was. My biggest fear was being locked into such a tight community for 10 days. Ten long days, with 75 other people… it still seems impossible. As the days began to pass I realized that there was nothing to fear within the group. We represent the fearless and we are in a place where most people are craving to be. Not only people in jail or rehab facilities struggle to walk into a life for Christ but also Christians or nonchristians you may pass on the street. We are in such a blessed place and it is even more of a blessing that we can help the people we meet on their journeys. My biggest fear now is moving away from tour. Alone. All of us going on our separate paths, back into this imperfect world with as many, if not more, nonbelievers as there are believers.

So how do we stay strong?
More times than I can count this week I have reflected and pointed out to people the main point of Angel’s testimony. For anyone who has not heard about Angel, he fell into Shining Light’s lap at our performance at Life Church in PA in April. I used to be a strong believer in coincidences but friends and family, it is no coincidence that Angel is travelling with us. Each show he tells his heartbreaking story of a troubled childhood rampant with harmful decisions.  Angel begins and ends his testimony with a quote, “We are not born winners or losers, we are born choosers.” He shares a lesson for all of the residents of the various facilities and for every member of Shining Light on how important choice is. Jeff pointed out in group time a few days ago that sometimes it seems as though we are all on autopilot for set-up, the show and tear-down and I couldn’t agree more. We could get up on that stage every day for the next straight month and pass the word of Christ to thousands of different people and they would surely get the message. But is getting the message the same as believing the message? With the craziness of tour and 70 people always in your space I think it is so easy to ‘choose’ to do a show because we have to –not because we’re choosing to believe.

Our speaker from the FBI, Mark, really hit home with his story for a lot of our members. He was an average guy walking through life noticing things falling apart and seeing the problems right before his eyes, but he never thought to pray. The same way that Mark had spent most of his life not praying and instead standing there watching his life crumble around him, we can spend some of our time not choosing to believe or live a life for God and seeing the repercussions of this choice/his choices.

I also don’t think that it was a coincidence that most of the members are only now feeling the power of our group and the presence of God and the seriousness of the things we choose to do. As we try to wind down from the amazing and breathtaking experience we have all been living, I only ask one thing of everyone at home. Try to find time in your sometimes busy schedules to look beyond the things you think you need to do and realize what it is that God needs you to do. For any parents of returning members, I’m sure know that it will not be easy for any of us to walk right back into life outside of tour. I ask that you pray for each member in their return to everyday life and ask God to help guide each one of us down the path that He has set for us.  The experiences we have had on tour will be ones that we will hold in our hearts forever as a friendly reminder of the glory of God whenever we’re feeling a little lost. I personally have never had an experience such as this and I believe it is exactly what I needed to realize the appropriate changes I need to make in my life to live for Jesus.

We have been on an unbelievable journey and I know that all of us aren’t ready for it to end but I think God is ready for it to end. He is so ready to let us expand from this wonderful community and help spread the word of Christ.

So how exactly do we stay strong? We don’t. Because you are never weak with God on your side and in your heart. All of the support from home has been a beautiful thing while we have been gone and I can only hope that it will remain the same now that we’re home!

God bless and it’s good to see everyone in PA!

 

In His service,

Kimberly Spike

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Knowing Jesus.

June 22nd, 2011
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On Sunday, Shining Light went to Mars Hill Bible Church for worship. Their Teaching Pastor, Shane Hipps, shared an inspiring message on believing Jesus versus knowing Jesus. I believe that, for Shining Light to be able to reach audiences the way we have on this tour, we truly have to know Jesus, not just believe in Him, for our message to come across.

Pastor Shane explained it this way: He went to sailing camp when he was a teenager, where he spent more than a day in class learning the concepts and terms behind sailing. He believed those concepts were correct, but didn’t know at that point whether they actually worked. So, after class, he and his partner hit the waters, where Shane really tested what he believed and learned to know that those sailing techniques were correct.

In another illustration, just yesterday, we met Mark Lundgren, an FBI agent and counterterrorism expert, who shared with the group his journey on how he went from ignoring God, to beginning to acknowledge God, to believing, to knowing. His story covered a wide range of experiences, including personal and professional hardships and tragedies, which strongly influenced the strength and depth of how he knows Jesus.

For Shining Light, as we perform in front of numerous audiences on this tour, including many in juvenile correctional facilities, we have to know Jesus, not just believe in Him. The majority of the kids in our audiences are really able to detect the genuineness of our message, and whether we truly know the Jesus we’re talking about.

When you look at the first five shows of this tour, Shining Light is a group that knows Jesus. We’ve had some opportunities to share that knowledge with our audiences, both through the performances and the talk time following. Through our dramas, songs, and the personal testimonies from several members of the group, we’ve had the opportunity to vividly show how real that faith is, and that we know Jesus. It’s an inspiring message that is changing lives on this tour.

More than 200 inmates and rescue mission residents have seen that and their lives have been altered in ways that we’ll surely never see, being that our message is a one-time opportunity, and we won’t be back anytime soon to follow up. Our group, too, has grown. Throughout all the experiences of the last six days, Shining Light members have been stretched—they’ve observed, learned, questioned and watched dozens of new and unique experiences, and their faith has expanded. Some may even be moving from believing to truly knowing Jesus.

We can see some of this in the download times, and in individual conversations amongst the members and staff, though the complete results of this tour, and how it’s stretched our members from believers to knowers may not be seen for some time to come. We’re prayerful that the messages from these speakers, and all that’s happened on this tour can truly bring them closer to fully knowing Jesus.

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3 days into Chicago Tour 2011!

June 19th, 2011
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Hello again all our dedicated friends, family and loved ones! This is Eva coming to you 3 days into our Chicago tour!!

Even though its just beginning I already feel like the group is being pushed and stretched in all new ways! We’re growing in fellowship and community with every passing day. The first day was semi uneventful, just a nice road trip out to Pittsburgh. Once we arrived at Eden Christian Academy we had a delicious dinner and a tour kickoff followed by the launch of our tour devotionals that we will be going through in small groups while on the road. Our devotionals are called Made To Make A Difference, and it’s a series by Max Lucado. It is challenging us to be a generation that follows the callings in our lives despite our age or inexperience. We are continuing to learn about our peers all over that have made up their minds to do something big, and succeeded.

After some brief covering of the rules and expectations of tour conduct, we set up for bed and it was lights out!

 

Day 2 was at Scioto JFC some 3 hours away in Ohio where we were greeted by Chaplain Dunlap–A kind and generous man with an encouraging smile. Three years ago on our Tenessee tour, I had the privledge of preforming in this same facility when I was only a first year member. Being back in the auditorium really brought back some wonderful memories of friends that have, since then, moved on from the group to do wonderful things.

But instead of comparing this season to that year, I was blessed with the opportunity  to make all new memories with all new people. And boy did we ever make memories! We had a double performance, almost one immediately after the other. The first was an all girl audience, which was fun since we rarely get to preform for women. They were very supportive and we got the sense that they were really following along with everything we were trying to get across.

The second show went off without a hitch for our male audience. The only set back of the whole day was the rain, and thus a resulting leak in the auditorium making the backstage area a little bit slippery. But we managed just fine without any major damage or injuries! We got everything packed up and loaded thankfully while there was a break in the storm! We headed back to the bus/vans and headed to a local high school where we quickly all fell asleep from exhaustion.

Today was quite an adventure from the get-go. We all woke up and packed up real early tin hopes that we could hit the road for our 5 hour trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan and Kent County Juvenile center . But before we could even get off the ground, Dave, our amazing bus driver extrordinare noticed one of our tires in the bus was flat! Our staff immediately began calling around to get local reinforecments and to see if we had any hope of getting to Kent County on time. Ever-dilligent, our staff really preformed today! They immediately drew up an emergency plan and had it underway by the time the repair man came to replace our tire!

We sent some of our group ahead of us in the vans to prepare for the arrival of the rest of our crew once the bus was fixed. Suprisingly after the five hour drive to catch up with the vans, we were greeted by Penny the program director. She was so happy to see us and cooperated  graciously despite the several inconveniences of the day. When we entered the gym, to our surprise, the two vans worth of people had achieved the amazing feat of setting everything up without any of the normal set up teams! We only arrived an hour after them, and they managed to complete set up in that time. Without a doubt, God was on our side today. We had a tight schedule without the unexpected, and despite the flat tire, we still got to do two programs today. It was wonderful to see everyone really band together as a team to get exactly what we needed done.

Our first show got a great response despite a quiet audience and our second show was more shy initially but later opened up to ask us questions. This morning, our group was tired and somewhat beaten down, but we were energized by the spirit and God provided the focus, excitement and enthusiasm to get through both shows with sincere delight. After our preformances were over, we all excitedly tore down and packed up.

Currently everyone is nestled in bed as I finish up this blog. We are excited for a free day tomorrow! In the morning we are off to Mars Hill Church and then Indiana Dunes for our first look at Lake Michigan!

 

More updates on the way!!

And check out our tour videos on YouTube!!

 

Until then, be good to one another!

-Eva

 

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God provides.

June 18th, 2011
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As we’ve found out so far on this tour, God always provides. Last night, two of us on staff had a little adventure where God truly provided for us, which saved us a boatload of time.

Throughout the trip, we use a lot of ice to keep our water and food cold. Last night, I was the van driver for the last leg, and felt that I ought to gas up the vehicle for the next driver. In the process, Barb asked us to grab 10 bags of ice for Saturday. Alex and I easily found a gas station and spoke to the attendant who politely informed us that they don’t have any ice, and the nearest place was 11 miles away. Not being from Delaware, Ohio, I took her at her word.

Being that we were already exhausted, we went back to the school where we stayed overnight and asked Barb, “do you REALLY need ice??”

She responded, “I’m totally out, so, yes.”

Alex and I began our journey. We pulled out of the school, went to the end of the street and paused for 30 seconds to confer with the GPS and see where we wanted to go. As we did this, a local police officer passed by. I made my turn and started down the road towards the store. Less than a minute later, I saw headlights near my bumper and soon blue and red lights began flashing.

The officer was suspicious of Alex and I, two guys driving a big, 15-passenger van and not really seeming to have a clue where we were going. He asked for my license and asked what we were up to.

I mentioned that we were looking for ice. That might’ve made him more suspicious.

Then I went on to explain that we’re two staff members of a performing arts ministry from Lebanon, PA, who were looking for ice to help our food staff out, and asked if he knew of anywhere we could go.

At that point, the conversation changed from an inquisition to a helpful public servant giving us directions. He never even took the ID that I was starting to hand over.

He directed us to a store less than 5 minutes from our overnight accommodations, rather than 11 miles, saving us over a half hour of travel time. At 11:30 p.m., at the end of a two-show day, that was immensely helpful.

This is just a pretty interesting example of where God provided in a small way, giving Alex and I an extra 30 minutes of sleep. However, throughout the first three days, we’ve seen many ways where God’s provided. For example:

  • He’s provided a young man, Angel, who is traveling with us this year and inspiring our audiences with the story of how he first met Jesus, and what God’s been doing in his life. It’s truly inspiring, and he’s easily able to relate to our audiences with what he’s done in his past—it’s quite similar to many members of our audiences, yet Angel’s found God and turned his life around, and he challenges them at each show to do the same.
  • Safe travel. We’ve encountered some wild storms, traffic and even a flat tire, though we’re all safe and sound. We’ve had excellent drivers, and luckily the flat tire occurred at an overnight.
  • Nice weather. Outside of some rain and storminess here and there, it’s been a pretty nice tour, weather-wise. That always makes it a little easier, compared to cold, wind and rain!
  • Exceptional audiences. We’ve performed four times so far, for some tough crowds, yet they’ve been incredibly willing to share and ask questions of our group. God’s provided this to not only motivate and inspire our group, but it helps these audiences to get more out of our presentation. That’s why we do what we do, and we thank God for allowing it to go so well!

I can probably go on and on naming dozens of examples where God’s provided for this group, but, for now, I’ll say good night!

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We’re heading west!

June 13th, 2011
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Hi, my name’s Matt and I’ve been part of Shining Light now for 11 years, the last 8 years on staff. I thought, as I got ready to go on tour, that it might be interesting for our friends who are staying home to have a staff member’s perspective on the trip. So, here I am.

As we get ready, I wonder how many people really know all the work that goes into making this 10-day trip happen.

To begin with, Jeff and Kelly, our executive director and production director, have invested countless hours in planning the actual trip. Jeff, in particular, has been working for since the New Year, making hundreds of phone calls, talking to prison chaplains and secretaries and folks with the Salvation Army in Chicago, all in order to setup the seven performances for this year’s tour. He’s also had to find multiple overnight accommodations that can handle 75 people, with showers (preferably more than 1!). He’s also made two trips out to the area, to visit many of our stops. We couldn’t go at all without the hard work and dedication on his part.

Kelly’s role is slightly different. She prepares the show, obviously, but also works on the spiritual component of the trip, developing daily devotions, small group activities, and videos for the group to respond to in small groups. She also supervises the small group leaders, who really lead the members during the week. She, too, invests countless hours getting ready and making sure each member has the opportunity to expand spiritually on the trip, along with probably a million other details and tasks that none of us will ever be aware of.

Another team that works tirelessly before we leave is our food staff. They’re providing 19 meals on the trip, including breakfast every day for 70-75 people. That’s over 1300 individual meals. And that doesn’t include various daily snacks. They’ve been planning and cooking meals for weeks, and freezing them for the trip. Saturday, we offloaded two huge coolers of food into the upright freezer that travels with us. Led by Barb and assisted by Carol, Sylvia, Jim, Rose, Michelle, and Deb, the food staff is one of the hardest working groups on the trip, and we’re immensely thankful for all the great meals they prepare.

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the tech staff. Occasionally, when traveling with as much equipment as we do, it needs repairs or upgrading. Saturday, several production/tech staff members, and a few of key student leaders spent several hours in a blistering hot gym setting up a new projector, upgrading the safety mechanisms on the risers, and worked through a long list of other miscellaneous tasks. The tech team always makes sure everything is properly working for tour, and makes sure we’re fully stocked on all the equipment we need for seven shows.

All of this is in addition to preparing themselves personally for the trip. Every staff member has to pack themselves, as well, to go on tour, and prepare to be away from work for 10 days. It’s a lot of work.

We do it for many reasons, but two are pretty universal:

1) We love being part of a ministry that allows these kids to share the message of Jesus to those who need it most. We’re performing 5 times in prisons, and twice in an outreach capacity. We’re meeting hundreds of folks who don’t hear the message of Jesus otherwise.

2) We do it for this group. Many of the members, particularly this year, are young and many are fairly new in their faith. We get to have a part in their spiritual growth, and get to watch this happen over a season, and especially on tour. It’s an awesome responsibility, and the relational aspect of the group is one part that many on staff enjoy.

I hope you’ll join in our journey in the next 10 days. I hope to provide a few thoughts as we go, and I’d appreciate any of your feedback. Thanks for reading.

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Playing Catch Up

June 9th, 2011
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Needless to say, life has been busy! Not just personally for me, but for Shining Light as well!

As our local season came to an end we had major changes and really important rehearsals to tackle. The challenges were many, the obstacles were (at times) a struggle, but our continual support for each other and the dedication of our team helped us rise above all our adversity and achieve our goals!

Quickly after our Glenn Mills performance in February, we began work on a new song called Declaration-This Is It! Sharie and Megan were patient and gracious with walking us through their choreography, but we only had a few weeks to learn it and incorporate it in the Milton Hershey show. The pressure was on and time was of the essence with choreography as well as vocals.

Milton Hershey came and went and we debuted Declaration as an encore! We came on Saturday evening to set up and then preformed for their Sunday morning Chapel Service.  Over 1,200 junior and senior high school students were packed into Founders Hall. They were a great audience that pumped us up and really made us feel at home.

After that we had one rehearsal to learn and prepare our new song Hero with our new choreographer Darius! He drove all the way from Washington DC to come lead us through a grueling extended rehearsal. We had to fit what would normally take us 3 weeks to learn into one Sunday evening. Personally, my head was swimming with all the killer dance moves we learned as I drove back to school, and the next day i was hurting real bad. Darius really pushed us to not settle for mediocre dance moves but to really apply ourselves and use our talents to glorify the Lord. I can only speak for myself but I really hope we work with him again! It was refreshing to have his excitement, motivation, endurance and his amazing dancing at rehearsal,  and I was a little upset that we could only have him for one.

But April was here! And with it, the Manheim Brethren in Christ Church performance was upon us! Everyone was very tense about Hero going into the performance already but the show went off without any major issues. We had an extraordinary opportunity to invite people from the Water Street Rescue Mission as well as other Lancaster area outreaches and facilities along with the general public to come join us for the evening!

After that we had two more shows that were both open to the public to close off our season. We brought it close to home at Lebanon Evangelical Free church and then finished our year as usual at Teen Challenge Training Center. I always love Teen Challenge because we actually get the chance to sit down with the guys who live on the mountain and ask them real questions and gain wisdom from their life experiences. When we separated into small groups we had a unique chance to get to know our audience. It was a really rewarding and enlightening experience.

After the show we got to continue praising our God with some worship songs and then two testimonials from the audience. It was beautiful to hear how God moves in their lives and how much things change if we only turn over the reigns to the God of love and pledge to give all  glory to Him everyday. 

This end of my Junior year in college has been a busy and stressful one. Growing up seems like it never gets easier, and the pressures to conform to the world never get lighter. Being able to come to Shining Light every weekend and make intentional time in service to and for God has been a rejuvenating blessing in my life time and time again. No matter how exhausted I get, (in every sense of the word) it is never too great that I can’t give more.

More updates really soon— NEXT STOP:

SHINING LIGHT TOUR 2011

GREAT LAKES/CHICAGO!

 

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Glenn Mills

February 21st, 2011
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Hello again!

I know, you all may be shocked and awed because I am writing for the second time this month, but we have been very busy at Shining Light, getting our message out and about! It’s been lovely having shows all the time, but truth be told I cannot wait to get back to rehearsal next weekend! It will be nice to have real devotional time with our small groups to reflect on what we have experienced of God in the weeks that have passed us by so quickly!

Take yesterday for example. We had our Glenn Mills School performance. Glenn Mills is a school for juveniles in the West Chester area and we have only ever traveled there once before. The facility is a beautiful plot of  brick dormitories and buildings perched atop a hill all gathered around a giant castle-like chapel. It has a very rich history of giving boys a second chance to get they’re act together.

Set up went off without a hitch, and we were well on our way to a great evening spent in adoration of our God. We had several changes in the program to make up for absences but despite the adversity, everything was done flawlessly– To the relief of many, whom the pressure was on this past week to learn new dances, speaking roles, and just general movements of the program. Many worries and fears were answered last night with the triumph that only God can provide! And boy, did He ever go before us and prepare our way! The responses from the men in the audience were so inspiring it was unreal! They were right there with us, understanding the pressures of everyday life, but fighting against popular culture. It was definitely a breath of fresh air to hear that they got us, that we are still relevant to our audience, and that God was given glory through our labor.

With joyful hearts we packed up our show and headed out for the night. Eagerly anticipating next week when we gather again and will have chances to download really all that these past few shows have meant to us.

I am overwhelmed with thankfulness and joy today. Thankfulness that I get to see the Kingdom of God at work, and joyful that my hands get to have a part in it.

I pray the same spirit of peaceful joy to you as well!

Until next time, friends!

Be kind to one another.

-Eva

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