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Home Sweet Home!

Saturday, 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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3 days into Chicago Tour 2011!

Sunday, 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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Playing Catch Up

Thursday, 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

Monday, 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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Happy New Year

Sunday, February 13th, 2011
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So so so much has been happening with our Shining Light community now that it’s 2011!

After ringing in the New Year with our Nexus New Year’s Eve Gala, we were off to a wonderful start at rehearsal getting ready to incorporate our new drama and song selections “Born to Rock” and “Rock What You’ve Got”.  We have now successfully preformed it twice! Our Northwestern secure facility performance was it’s debut, and I can speak for everyone when I say the excitement was overwhelming for us and the audience responded really well!

We got a tremendous amount of feedback from the men at Northwestern by mail! So many of them sent us letters of encouragement and appreciation shortly after our preformance. It is always such a pleasure to hear from those who felt compelled to action by the spirit and hope of Jesus Christ.

Here is an excerpt from on of the letters:

Hello Shining Light! Thank you for coming to Northwestern Academy for your program, I really really appreciate it. It made me think about what I need to do to get back home and do what God wants of me. I make a lot of mistakes in my life. I was involved in a gang. I sold abused drugs, my friends and family tried to help me, but they weren’t enough. I am convinced by you to live God’s way, listen to his word, and be the best person I can be. I am a Christian but I haven’t been praying lately. I am going to start praying again today…                                

  Codie, NW Academy

It is inspiring for many of us to hear such a strong message in response to our ministry. It’s also a nice humbling reminder that we aren’t just planting new seeds, we are nourishing and watering seeds that were planted by those that came before us in the audience’s lives. Especially this time of year when school work is hectic and weather leaves some of us pretty negative (guilty as charged) it’s always a breath of fresh air from the mouth of God to hear feedback like this!

After Northwestern we had another Nexus event! The anual Superbowl party! But as is Shining Light custom, we are all about having fun and building community, but Service is what we do. So just this weekend we had another show, this time in Allentown, PA at Life Church open for the public and local ministries. I also felt lifted up by this show. The audience was attentive and supportive of our presentation and we enjoyed a sincere and authentic talk-time as well!

It seems lately that the themes of peer pressure and how we spend our time have been a constant theme, and the questions probed by those in the audience afterward were no exception.

Jeff has been teaching us and focusing small groups a lot on how we use our gifts of time, talent and money to further the kingdom and not our own selfish goals. This ties very intimately with peer pressure because so many times we can buy into the American dream that’s all about me, and what can help me, and what do i want for me. Being a follower of Christ challenges us to go against that grain and current to stand up for what HE wants. Being in Shining Light is always an encouragement because we’re all striving to make our lives less about me and more about HIM. It’s always nice after a hard week to join together to recharge, recenter and be prayerful for the next batch of challenges we will receive through the week.

I continue to be thankful for this ministry opportunity we have, even though it’s getting harder to stay as comitted as my life progresses and college changes and get’s harder. I never regret my decision to stay, even though I know that I could be doing a million other things. It is safe to say that 2011 holds big things for Shining Light, and I am prayerful that God continues to go before us and pave the road so that we may just choose to follow His lead.

Until next time, dear friends,

Be kind to one another.

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New York City!

Sunday, December 5th, 2010
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I can hardly believe that it’s December already! How the months fly by in homework assignments and papers! I have certainly been busy, and the same can be said for Shining Light!

After the excitement of Teen Challenge, we had a wonderful preformance at North Western Academy Boot Camp. For many of the new members this was their first time in a boot camp, and everything (thankfully) went off without a hitch! We’re going through a bit of transition this year and having to find tasks for everyone to do! So many wonderful new people have joined us that we now have a surplus of ready hands during setup/tear down. NW was the initiation of training the new members in all of our set up tasks! Many of them took to it brilliantly and displayed a comfortable grasp of what we expected from them in New York when we set up again.

Only a few weeks later we were off to NYC! The Lord went before us to the Big Apple, and we willingly followed and had a wonderful experience! For the first 48 hours we were almost literally going nonstop. Leaving early in the morning to arrive at Riker’s Island in the afternoon and set up for our first maximum security preformance in the Robert N. Davoren Center! For weeks prior we had been talking up this experience and now it had finally arrived!

Our first preformance was nerve-wracking as usual, but went wonderfully without many outbursts from the audience. They were uproarous during talk time, but relatively focused, and Officer Oliver even invited one man to come and bless us with his gift of song, since we blessed them. His song got the whole crowd to join in and they were truely enjoying themselves! It was amazing to see them all unified behind the same thing, working together.

After tearing down we heading back to our old familiar resting place in NYC– the Salvation Army in Harlem! It was nice to be back to the living- on-an-air-mattress lifestyle, and the next morning you could tell who had forgotten what it was like since tour! Myself included, we were one tired group of kiddos that Saturday.

But we got up and got going and into a new facility for us on the Island! Day two was held just across the street in the very same place that the popular rapper Lil’Wayne was incarcerated in just a few months before. The audience was very receptive and respectful here, and a mix between older men and adolescents. After all was said and done and we were getting ready for dinner, you could finally see us all beginning to relax. Our two days of go-go-go! were coming to a close. Oh, and did I mention we had surprise guests? Three of last years leaders and long-time members came and spent the day with us on Saturday! It was wonderful to see Chase, Andrea, and Robert (as well as Mom and Poppa May) and for them to see how the group has grown and evolved since they’ve gone off to college!

We headed back to Harlem the long way, to swing by Times Square at night! Only a minor hiccup when one of our busses was hit by one of those hasty NYC Drivers! But once we got to the main drive and saw all the lights and people, it was beautiful! There is truely nothing like the big city at night! Some among us had never been to New York and were starstruck, pushing up against the wide windows of the bus in amazment while thousands of people poured around us on the sidewalks and pavement. It felt more like we were in a submarine, under the sea in a coral reef of amazing colors and creatures. Everyone following their own little stream, moving sussinctly and coexisting smoothly. In short, it was beautiful to see and to watch my fellow members marvel at.

The last day of our trip was spent attending a wonderful service at The Journey Church, and then enjoying a leisurely monument find in Central Park! We split up into small groups and dissapeared into New Yorks back yard! It was a fantastic time to bond as a group just as we were, tired and all. We were all in search of 5 landmark monuments in the park, and we were supposed to take our picture with each of them. It was a fun time, were I handed over the reigns and the girls lead, and we wandered as we wished.

Afterward, we were homeward bound, and the satisfaction of the trip was something we carried with us through the following weeks.

More on what’s been happening in a day or two, Kelly and Matt say I need to space them out. =) I guess this one did get a little lengthy… Oh well, tune in for another installment of SL Blog!

Thanks for reading! Stay warm out there!

-Eva

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Preparation Pays Off!

Monday, October 4th, 2010
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Well, dear friends, I know I haven’t held to my once a week blog goal, but I will continue to try!

Fresh from our first preformance at Teen Challenge, it’s hard to look back at the rehearsal weeks we have had since I last wrote and compare the two! Both have been so awesome for completely different reasons!

Obviously we have been preparing in our rehearsal times for all of the choreography and vocals, which has been stressful and fun. But more than that we have been preparing our hearts and minds to do this ministry. By now we have communicated that the experiences we will face are going to challenge us to see life from someone else’s perspective, and many times we will not like what we see. We wrestled with the way we think and view our audience and the way God views them. In my small group we flipped it around and also discussed what they expect from us and their view of us before we even walk in the door.

The next week we discussed the nearness of God, and how we can sometimes let our momentary feelings sweep us up and then to ease our guilt, we tweak our morals. Through these weeks we’ve been doing what has affectionately been titled the “Small Group Shuffle,” where we try to find the right combination of people in each group to benefit everybody. Though we try to keep conversation more deep than shallow, it was a challenge to open up to people without certainty that next week you can build on the foundation you set the week before.

When we finally got settled and our groups became more concrete we began to truely dig into who God is. We discussed who He is in our eyes and who He promises he is to us. We talked through how God is personal; He thinks, plans, feels, creates and does all of this with us. After setup was complete we watched a video that helped us step out of a Christian perspective and view the world through another person’s eyes. A man who doesn’t believe in God, but leads a moral life and is a good person presented his view on life and religion, that made a lot of us stop and truely examine the importance of knowing what we believe, and why we believe it.

After a change in venues for our Teen Challenge show, we thankfully ended up in Tri-County Worship Center. And with optimistic hearts we set out for what will undoubtedly be the first of many awesome Shining Light shows! Despite yesterday being a twist on the usual Teen Challenge show, it was clear that God went before us, even before we knew we would have an abrupt change in plans.

The new members were nervous and downright frantic at times. They were so conscerned with the choreography and where to be when; it was a flashback for me of my first show, and how nervous I was. “Which song is next??” “Where do we go now?” and “I totally messed up!” could be heard in whispers in between numbers. But afterward as I walked around and asked a few new members how they felt, they were excited and eager to tell me that they enjoyed it! It was a huge relief to finally see weeks of preparation finally create the whole show and have it just pull together like that!

The pastor at Tri-County spoke breifly and his brother actually taught a lesson after our preformance. It was a passionate sermon from the book of Hebrews encouraging us to prepare our own hearts before trying to minister to others. I thought this was a very appropriate message especially for my fellow peers in Shining Light. Even the best intentioned among us can get too caught up in commitments and loose sight of the true reason they do it– Jesus.

We look forward to more fun at rehearsal next weekend, and I will try to be more dilligent about posting!

Until next time, folks!

Peace & Blessings

Eva

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A New Beginning

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
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Greetings Friends! 

That’s right; it’s a new season, and a new writer! I’m Eva, and you’ll be hearing from me a lot this season! I am 20 years young and a junior at Messiah College, studying Psychology. This is my fourth year in Shining Light and my third year as a small group leader.  

Though we already miss our retired members, we wish them all the best and our prayers follow them in each of their respective directions. We have confidence that they will thrive and continue to grow in faith through all their pursuits and look forward to their potential return to see our public shows (HINT HINT)!  Personally it has been an adventure just staying in the group when so many of my close friends have come to the end of their SL journey. A challenge, but an exciting challenge that is surely helping me grow as a member and a leader. Those who remain will not forget the memories we built together. Together we all added to the great growing culture that is Shining Light, and are forever a part of this ministry. 

I digress, we’re already two rehearsals in, and the new energy is infectious from our new members! The first rehearsal was lots of fun and helped us get to know our new peers. I was impressed with how quickly all our members (new and old) picked up on the choreography and vocals for our exciting new celebration song!  It’s awesome, and I am excited to see how it all works together in the show! 

This Sunday we brushed up on some of last season’s songs. Though the new members are clearly feeling overwhelmed, it was comforting and encouraging to see those among us continually supporting them and reassuring them that it gets easier. It was also great to see that even though it was completely foreign to them, they were still trying! Our new guys are still being timid but that’s understandable. 

This Sunday at rehearsal we also had our first small groups session. It was wonderful to get back into that type of community! I’ll warn you, it will be evident in my writing that I have a huge love for small group time. So after a summer of Shining Light withdrawal (so to speak) it was awesome to get introduced to my new group of girls! I am hopeful that the season will be fruitful and a real place for them to feel comfortable. After all that is a crucial part of Shining Light– being a safe place to really bounce ideas around and wrestle with the hard things in life, and to hold each other accountable for our choices. I am eager to jump into the lessons this year and really challenge the girls to think and assess their faith and how it affects their lives every day. 

This coming week we have our auditions for the dramas as well as solos! I am so excited to see our new members or maybe returning members (who’ve finally worked up the courage) come out and help contribute specifically to our show! I am eager to see what each person brings to the roles, or songs. In only a few short weeks we’ll be on stage in front of Teen Challenge, which is so exciting, but hard to see at this point. There seems to be so much left to do before it is possible! Thankfully God always provides all things, especially time! 

I’m sure that we’re all mutually thankful for God’s provision, especially now that school has begun and some of us students are already beginning to feel a little stressed and stretched thin. Time is one thing we can all continually pray for and be thankful for! 

Sorry for the lengthy post! I’ll be aiming for one post a week and to keep them relatively short, though with the business of life, I will promise neither. 

I hope everyone’s week is going splendidly! And you are all finding joy and peace in the beautiful weather we’ve been having as fall approaches! 

Peace & blessings, 

Eva

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