Ziegler Spirit Week

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Our God is awesome and yet we are continually dumbstruck by His power as He prepares the path before us! We praise God for His goodness.

Grace Falls’ Pastor Buff McNickle and Pastor Alonzo Johnson of Northeast Community Outreach continue to partner together to reach the hurting of the northeast as they combine their experience, gifting and resources to spread the Light and love of Jesus Christ.

This has been a tremendous week as we have been invited to host School Spirit Week activities at William H. Ziegler School in the Frankford neighborhood in North Philadelphia. Principal Spina and the teaching staff have graciously adjusted their schedule to accommodate us as our team helps students to celebrate the end of the school year through fun activities, while teaching valuable life-lessons.

We recognized that God was preparing our steps when we discovered that the ThinkOrange.org materials that we subscribe to for the Children’s Gatherings at Grace Falls also have materials that have been developed for use in the public school system!

Using this valuable resource this week, we have been featuring a character trait, animal and color of the day. Activities and discussion-stimulating opportunities have been developed to build on the traits of Hope, Individuality, Self-Control and Friendship.

With the help of summer interns Taylor and Jenn, plus volunteers Kyleen and Toby of Kentucky, Ed of Florida, and Vallie, Allison, & Catherine of Alabama, the students have been allowed to take a break from their school work, appreciation has been shown to the teachers and support staff, and everyone has seemed to have a good time!

Principal Spina indicated that he would love for the team to paint a mural of the United States in the school’s recreation area. Members of our crew prepared the outline and then each teacher selected a student to represent their class who would participate in the painting process. Principal Spina explained that “ownership” eludes most residents in this community, so it will be important for these students to feel that they own this artwork and will treasure the investment they have made by contributing.

Early in the week, the Student Leader Team was invited to a pizza lunch. When asked what their greatest concerns for their neighborhood were, comments included:

• Graffiti on the walls and the dirty streets made their neighborhood feel depressing.
• Because it is not safe to play outside, one boy told how his father has set up a basketball hoop in the basement so his dad could have a safe place to teach him to how to play.
• At least seven of the 15 students had witnessed a shooting.

Yet, through simple activities such as bouncing a beach ball to one another, several students expressed that they had never had such an exciting time at school! They also cheered and laughed as teachers were invited to participate in a dance-off!

• Please continue to pray for this team during the remainder of the week.
• Pray that the students will remember the valuable life-lessons being presented.
• That trust will be established and deeper relationships can be built in the future.
• Pray especially for the activities on Friday as the team meets with 8th grade students and cast a vision for their future as they prepare to enter high school.
• Pray for provision as we have incurred greater expenses than anticipated.

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See the entire album here.

Introducing Summer Intern Jennifer

My name is Jennifer Kingsley, but most people know me as “Jenn.” I am 21 years old. Born and raised in Tampa, Florida. I am going on my fourth year in college, and recently accepted into nursing school! I am a very adventurous person. I love being outdoors and seeking new places. I grew up running track, specializing in hurdles. Fun fact, I was a state finalist in my event during my high school years. Since college, I have found a new love for beach volleyball.

On a more personal note, my faith was made real in May of 2015. Although that may not be a long time, the amount of things that the Lord has taught me in this short time, has stretched me immensely (My story is extensive, but I would love to share it with you sometime). Since that day I have experienced the constant unconditional love, mercy, and grace that my Savior has given me. Now I feel the all consuming urge and desire to share that kind of love with others.

I have been an active member of Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Florida, where I hold a position in leadership in the college-age ministry and have been active in their outreach ministries. I really have a heart for serving by coming alongside individuals and encouraging them through life-on-life discipleship.

A few months ago, I learned of the opportunity to be apart of Grace Falls as a summer intern and to serve in New Jersey. I was immediately intrigued to learn of just some of the ministry work that is being done in this community. I was given a chance to take a weekend trip to visit and experience what I was going to be involved in over the summer. Let me tell ya, I was blown away! I got a taste of ministry like I never have before. Immediately, I was plugged in with a fantastic group of women who share a mutual passion for women who work in the adult entertainment industry. The stories and fellowship I shared with this group sparked a desire to be apart of this ministry.

I am really looking forward to all of the opportunities that come my way to further the Gospel in the South Jersey and Philadelphia areas this summer. I come expectant, seeds will be planted, and lives will be changed in the name of Jesus.

Your Plans Or His?

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From the breaking of the daylight Help us see the world through Your eyes Finding beauty in the broken Trusting promises You've spoken

CHORUS You've got plans to give us a future and a hope We are not forgotten We are not alone Plans to lead us home into Your heart You are always with us Everywhere we are

On and on Your love will never stop Shining down upon us Never letting up On and on Your love will see us through Even in the shadows We will trust in You

VERSE You stay loyal for a lifetime Through the shadows and the sunlight When our worries overtake us We believe that they won't break us

If you are making plans for your life and you are not seeking God then you probably won't be successful at what you are attempting to do. God doesn't usually bless your plan for your life, in fact He seems to take delight in upsetting the plans that we have made without Him, just when you begin to move with your plan it can all fall apart in a heartbeat.

 "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the LORD. "And My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:8-9

We all have dreams, we tell our kids to dream big, we all have ideas about what we want to be when we grow up or how we want our life to turn out. God did not put you on Earth to live for yourself and He didn't put you here to make your own plans. There isn't any good reason that I should settle for my plan when His plan is for me to do far greater things than I could even imagine.

Are you in a place you never expected to be? Has God taken you on a path you never would have chosen?

God has not deserted or forgotten about you, usually it is the other way around, we forget about Him. We get ourselves into circumstances that were not chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him and it isn't working out so well.

God knows exactly what He is doing. Most of the time we need to slow down and wait for him so that we can hear Him speak into our life over all of the noise. You need to realize that He is desiring to accomplish more in you and through you than you could ever think or imagine.

Spring Break Bowling

We had a great time rewarding the children that participate in our After School Homework Help program. The children had a great time with unlimited bowling during their spring break. The children worked hard this year to get better grades and really deserved this bowling and pizza celebration.

Buff and Cissy McNickle and Tami Webb had additional help from Ron Lewis from the Pleasantville Community Center, Tabitha visiting from Albertville, Alabama and Adam Ingvaldsen and Taylor Lightsey visiting from Hudson, FL.

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Unstuck

Why does regret tend to paralyze us? We look back at a time, a decision, a series of choices that if we had the power to change it we would. The pain, the brokenness, the desire to make things right again seems to be as possible as counting grains of sand on a seashore. The result is a life that seems stuck. We are ready to move on but we would love to go back. This tension is one that many live in and many don’t know what to do.

So what do we do? We can’t stay stuck yet we aren’t sure how to move on? Lets take a walk to the cross where our Savior took all my regret, my pain, and the brokenness of all my choices upon Him. He knew the power of regret and the hold it can have on a life caught between what it could be and what it really is. He took the beating. He took insults. He took the pain and agony associated with the cruelty of the crucifixion and He died for me.

A sinless man, a Holy God did for me what I could never do for myself. He set me free not only from the penalty of my sin but showed me a path out. A life free from regret and living stuck. A life whose slate has been wiped clean by God’s amazing forgiving grace.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

-Colossians 2:13-14

Here is my choice today in light of this amazing truth. I am going to live UNSTUCK. Knowing and believing that God has willingly cancelled everything that REGRET urges me to hold on to…wanting and wishing to change…I am letting it go. I am going to quit punishing myself for debts that God has already canceled! FREEDOM is waiting at the foot of the cross.

Passion Week

Passion Week, also known as Holy Week, is the time from Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday which is also called Resurrection Sunday.

Passion Week became the name for this week because in this week Jesus revealed His passion for us in the suffering that He willingly went through on our behalf.

After everything that he has done for us we should be passionate in our worship and in our proclamation of His Gospel! As He suffered for us, so should we be willing to suffer for the cause of following Him and proclaiming the message of His death and resurrection.

A CHRONOLOGICAL LOOK AT HOW JESUS SPENT HIS LAST WEEK:

Saturday and Sunday

Jesus drew near to Jerusalem, arriving at Bethany six days before Passover, on Saturday. Jesus was anointed at Simon the leper's house. On Sunday, a great crowd came to Bethany to see Jesus.

Monday

The next day Jesus entered Jerusalem, visited the temple and returned to Bethany. It was Nisan 10, when the Passover lambs were selected. Likewise, the entry into Jerusalem was the day when Jesus presented Himself as Israel's Paschal Lamb.

Tuesday

On the way from Bethany to Jerusalem, Jesus cursed the fig tree, and in Jerusalem He challenged the temple practice of selling on the premises. Some religious leaders began to plot ways to kill Him. That evening Jesus left Jerusalem, presumably returning to Bethany.

Wednesday

On the way to Jerusalem, the disciples saw the withered fig tree. At the temple in Jerusalem, Jesus' authority and wisdom was questioned by some religious leaders. That afternoon Jesus went to the Mount of Olives and delivered His discourse to those assembled. Two additional things occurred on that day: (1) Jesus predicted that in two days He would be crucified at the time of the Passover; and (2) Judas planned the betrayal of Jesus with some religious leaders.

Thursday

Jesus and His disciples prepared the Passover lamb, and they had their seder meal together. Jesus shared heartfelt words with His disciples and offered an intercessory prayer in their behalf. They arrived at the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus suffered in agony awaiting what was to come. Later that night Jesus was betrayed and arrested. He was tried first by Annas and later by Caiaphas and other religious leaders.

Friday

Early in the morning, Jesus was tried by the Sanhedrin, Pilate, Herod Antipas, and Pilate again. He was led to the cross and crucified at 9 A.M. and died at 3 P.M. and was buried later that day. Jesus died at the time when the Passover lambs were being sacrificed.

Saturday

Jesus' body was in the tomb during the Sabbath, and the Pharisees hired Roman guards to keep watch of the tomb.

Sunday

Christ was resurrected from the dead. His was the first of many resurrections to come, in which it was a type of first fruits offering. (First-fruit offerings were made on the day after the Sabbath.)