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

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.

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

The wonderful food staff provided us with Hawaiian chicken and banana strawberry smoothies to celebrate our Luau theme. One word covers the food at our nexus Luau; delish =)

Back to rehearsal next week..our first show is right around the corner! =)

I just realized that I ended all of my paragraphs with a smiley. There are reasons to be stressed everywhere I look. I’ve got a full load of classes, a job, my involvement in Shining Light, and a social life. There are SO many opportunities for me to just be down and out about a ton of different things, but I’ve come to realize that God is so much bigger than those things. They are insignificant compared to the love He has shown me. Joy is plentiful in my life..maybe it has something to do with this verse I found while looking through my Bible last night..

“And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life-that is indeed a gift from God. People who do this rarely look with sorrow on the past, for God has given them reasons for joy.” -Ecclesiastes 5:19-20

Have a splendid rest of the week =)