9:00am this morning was the launch of our summer science camp. Thirty-nine children have registered, with more on a waitlist. When I dropped our son Jordan off at 9:05 the center was already full. Kids were busily creating cutouts of themselves in flight gear to add to our wall mural. This morning they did a lot of "getting to know you" activities, as well as some "getting to know the rules" exercises. This afternoon they are learning about gravity and conducting their first round of scientific experiments. As our family shared breakfast with four of the six summer interns, I seized my chance to ask them for specific prayer requests. Looking a little overwhelmed, they told me "pretty much everything." So there you go. Hopefully you have some good time set aside!
Monday, June 29, 2009
Blast off!
9:00am this morning was the launch of our summer science camp. Thirty-nine children have registered, with more on a waitlist. When I dropped our son Jordan off at 9:05 the center was already full. Kids were busily creating cutouts of themselves in flight gear to add to our wall mural. This morning they did a lot of "getting to know you" activities, as well as some "getting to know the rules" exercises. This afternoon they are learning about gravity and conducting their first round of scientific experiments. As our family shared breakfast with four of the six summer interns, I seized my chance to ask them for specific prayer requests. Looking a little overwhelmed, they told me "pretty much everything." So there you go. Hopefully you have some good time set aside!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Next Door...
Streetlamp Studio, our performing arts ministry, is working on their first full-length play called "Next Door". This will be the longest production they have undertaken so far. The play's setting is a familiar one for all of us who live and serve here in this neighborhood. It will take us through a journey between two neighbors in a South LA community, exploring each of their stories and what it means to be a neighbor. It will give us a picture of their efforts to communicate and relate across very different circumstances and views. We anticipate an exciting and thought-provoking drama, rich with great performances. And we hope many of you will come see it! Please pray that God will guide their writing and rehearsing to communicate the beauty and challenge of his greatest commandment.
Streetlamp Studio is also doing major work on their organizational infrastructure this summer. Please pray for their team as they sift through their archives, organize finances, and persevere through the tedious, non-artistic tasks that are necessary to make their work viable.
We will keep you posted on performance dates, times and venues for "Next Door."Stay tuned...
Sky's the Limit Prayer Focus: LAUP Interns
Praise God that tonight's parent meeting went well! It was a joy to see parents eager to hear more about the program paying close attention and asking questions.
Tomorrow morning Lauren will meet with our summer interns from the Los Angeles Urban Project. These six students from Occidental, UCLA and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will be the primary teachers for the Sky's the Limit camp. There is so much to do with them in just one day -- everything from starting to plan their classes to a detailed training in the history and goals of Adventures Ahead, teaching and discipline techniques, etc. Please pray for this time.
Please pray for our interns throughout the summer as well! The students wear many different hats, including supervising other volunteers, forming primary relationships with the children they teach, leading field trips, making sure that kids remain safe, and planning and leading lessons. Doing all of these things together in a small space can be a challenge. So pray for their work.
Pray as well for the spiritual formation taking place in the lives of our interns this summer. While working with us, they are also participating in an Intervarsity summer project called LAUP (Los Angeles Urban Project). They spend time in prayer and study, learning about God's heart for the poor and the oppressed. They also live in community and seek to grow in discipleship through their relationships with each other and with their leaders. Like other summer mission trips, this experience is a time of especially concentrated growth and challenge. For many students, LAUP also represents the beginning of a call to longer term service among the urban poor. Let's pray that the students could experience the fullness of all God has for them this summer.
Please also keep the start of classes on Monday in your prayers. On Monday Lauren will also be speaking to the owner of the computer store down the street about using his parking lot for some of the science experiments. This could be the answer to our prayers for more space! So keep this conversation in prayer as well.
Thank you again for your faithful partnership in intercession. This work would not be possible without you!
Tomorrow morning Lauren will meet with our summer interns from the Los Angeles Urban Project. These six students from Occidental, UCLA and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will be the primary teachers for the Sky's the Limit camp. There is so much to do with them in just one day -- everything from starting to plan their classes to a detailed training in the history and goals of Adventures Ahead, teaching and discipline techniques, etc. Please pray for this time.
Please pray for our interns throughout the summer as well! The students wear many different hats, including supervising other volunteers, forming primary relationships with the children they teach, leading field trips, making sure that kids remain safe, and planning and leading lessons. Doing all of these things together in a small space can be a challenge. So pray for their work.
Pray as well for the spiritual formation taking place in the lives of our interns this summer. While working with us, they are also participating in an Intervarsity summer project called LAUP (Los Angeles Urban Project). They spend time in prayer and study, learning about God's heart for the poor and the oppressed. They also live in community and seek to grow in discipleship through their relationships with each other and with their leaders. Like other summer mission trips, this experience is a time of especially concentrated growth and challenge. For many students, LAUP also represents the beginning of a call to longer term service among the urban poor. Let's pray that the students could experience the fullness of all God has for them this summer.
Please also keep the start of classes on Monday in your prayers. On Monday Lauren will also be speaking to the owner of the computer store down the street about using his parking lot for some of the science experiments. This could be the answer to our prayers for more space! So keep this conversation in prayer as well.
Thank you again for your faithful partnership in intercession. This work would not be possible without you!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Sky's the Limit Prayer Focus: Parent Meeting
Preparations are also continuing at full speed for the Adventures Ahead summer program, The Sky's the Limit!
Tomorrow (Thursday 6/25) at 6:00 pm, Lauren will lead a meeting for the parents of the participants. This is a time to communicate important information about field trips, program policies, and other details and to answer any questions the parents have. Please pray for Lauren's preparations and presentation, and for the logistics that need to come together for the meeting to take place.
This will also be a time for vision casting -- sharing with parents our goal of seeing transformation come through education, gaining exposure for our program, and beginning even now to encourage summer families to continue to participate in the after-school program during the year. Please pray for this, and that the meeting could be a time of relationship building with parents. Lauren is hoping to build deep relationships with many neighborhood families through this program, and the meeting can be a natural time for parents to get to know her and each other.
Please also keep the following general requests in prayer:
Tomorrow (Thursday 6/25) at 6:00 pm, Lauren will lead a meeting for the parents of the participants. This is a time to communicate important information about field trips, program policies, and other details and to answer any questions the parents have. Please pray for Lauren's preparations and presentation, and for the logistics that need to come together for the meeting to take place.
This will also be a time for vision casting -- sharing with parents our goal of seeing transformation come through education, gaining exposure for our program, and beginning even now to encourage summer families to continue to participate in the after-school program during the year. Please pray for this, and that the meeting could be a time of relationship building with parents. Lauren is hoping to build deep relationships with many neighborhood families through this program, and the meeting can be a natural time for parents to get to know her and each other.
Please also keep the following general requests in prayer:
- Good communication with the tutoring center's neighbors
- Arranging the space to fit the maximum number of students comfortably
- Equipment: 3 of the 5 computers are not working completely correctly -- pray that these can be fixed so students can use them for experiments! Similarly, one of the air conditioners does not fully cool its space.
- These next 24 hours will be very busy as Lauren seeks to finish everything needed for the program. Please pray for her and for all the work that is to be done.
Getting out of the City
The Church of the Redeemer youth group meets at our tutoring center each Wednesday night for Bible study, discipleship and fun. This summer they will have regular meetings in June and July, then take a break for the month of August. Many of these kids are graduates of the Adventures Ahead tutoring program and live in the immediate neighborhood. We asked Elliot Ling, Church of the Redeemer's youth pastor, to share some ways you can pray for these middle school and high school students. He writes:
"In these last two months our lessons will focus on compassion, mercy and care for the needy around us. Most of our kids are living around or below the poverty line, yet loving the poor is still quite counter-intuitive. Pray that the Holy Spirit would break through and reveal Jesus in a new way to the youth. At the end of July, 7/24-7/26, we’ll be taking the kids on their first ever youth group retreat! It is such a blessing to have the opportunity, for a weekend, to be with our youth outside of the city and away from the distraction of everyday life. The youth have been working hard to raise funds through bake sales and garage sales and it looks like we’re almost fully funded! That said, we certainly need your prayers:
- good communication with parents
- traveling mercies & safety at camp
- soft hearts that are open to God
- logistics, details, final fundraising
- spiritual protection
This is our first attempt at something like this and we're fully expecting the enemy to bring opposition. With that, we greatly desire your regular intercession in the weeks leading up to the retreat and throughout the weekend itself. Please let me know if you'd like to be one of our intercessors. The prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective!"
If you would like to make a commitment to intercede during the youth retreat (7/24-7/26) please contact Elliot by email: elliot.ling@gmail.com
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
When Justice and Peace Kiss
Streetlamp Studio has recruited 7 interns to work with them in the coming year! These interns are recent college graduates, mostly from the greater LA area. Their first project will be a production we all know & love called When Justice and Peace Kiss. The team plans to reach out to approximately 20 new kids in the neighborhood to get them writing and performing original poetry, music, rap and dance.
Please pray for this year's When Justice and Peace Kiss production. Below are two specific needs.
1) We are looking for the location that holds at least 100+ people as well as the finances for it. The venue is always the most expensive part of these productions.
2) As this production grows in popularity there are more kids who want to participate but don't make the age cutoff of 12 years old. Please pray for wisdom about how to incorporate these youth in an engaging way so they still feel part of the crew.
1) We are looking for the location that holds at least 100+ people as well as the finances for it. The venue is always the most expensive part of these productions.
2) As this production grows in popularity there are more kids who want to participate but don't make the age cutoff of 12 years old. Please pray for wisdom about how to incorporate these youth in an engaging way so they still feel part of the crew.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Sky's the Limit Prayer Focus: Preparation & Place
Here is the lovely skyscape I wrote about yesterday. This is the main room of the tutoring center. The center is mostly one large room, with a small office, a bathroom, and--out the door down some stairs and through a narrow yard shared with neighbors--another room that was once a converted garage.
This small space will hold 36 students plus up to 15 adult volunteers at any given time. Pray for wisdom for Lauren as she figures out how to best organize the space and rotation of groups. As the days gets warmer and active children get restless, pray for a spirit of peace and a space that is large enough to contain all of the learning and excitement that will be happening each day. Also pray for positive relationships with surrounding neighbors.
Please also pray today and throughout the week for the ongoing preparations and logistics that Lauren is finalizing. She is working hard to create grade-specific math and reading curriculum with daily lesson plans based on hands-on activities. She is also coordinating a crowd of volunteers to provide lunches for the children. Each individual, family, or bible study group that signs up volunteers to make nutritious and tasty sack lunches for all 36 children one day, or once a week. Praise God that most days are now covered! Keep asking him for someone to make lunch for field-trip Fridays.
Thank you for your partnership in prayer! We believe that as we lift up these prayers for preparations and place together, real power is released and real change will happen.
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