Mending and Fixing

by Nick Cleveland

So yesterday a student came into my office and met with me. It was just a check up on how she was doing spiritually. She had an agenda with three things she wanted to talk about. The second one was so encouraging I just had to share it. She was on one of our summer trips and had shared with our group about a broken friendship and some of the pain and struggle associated with it. She told me this week that she so badly wanted to make it right after the mission trip, but didn’t. Then she went on the Strongsville trip two weeks ago and on Sunday, when she returned home, was determined to finally do something about this broken friendship. She called her friend (also in our group) and they had dinner. This girl proceeded to tell me that she apologized for all the pain she had caused her friend (and was embarrassed at how she wasn’t even able to recall all the things she had done). The other girl accepted the apology and then went on to apologize for her pain she had caused in the friendship.

Sounds like a typical restoration, right? Not so fast, my friend. You see they didn’t get up from dinner and go back to being BFF’s. Instead they made what I thought was a mature decision. It was the decision to live at peace together, but not try to become best friends…at least not right now. Maybe down the road, but not right now. It encouraged me that students would follow the conviction and prompting of the Holy Spirit of God to “live at peace” and let others know we know Him by our love!

That’s our message anyway isn’t it? Restored relationships – a restored relationship with God and others!

Food, Glorious Food!

by Ben Framstad

"Food, glorious food!
We're anxious to try it.
Three banquets a day
Our favourite diet!"
~from the musical "Oliver!"

Yesterday, I was invited over to a Adam's house last night for supper. Adam is a guy in our student ministry. He runs cross country, which earns him major points in my book because I ran cross country in high school, too. Check this out - on Tuesday, the guy ran 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) in 19:17 minutes!!! You try doing that. Not too many normal people can.

Anyway, his mom made this amazing GLORIOUS meal. We had grilled chicken, green beans, croissants and jam, cheesy potatoes, salad, and watermelon. Everything tasted perfect. To add to this spread, Adam's mom brought out for desert chocolate zucunni cake, with cream cheese frosting and chocolate chips on top. I'm protecting Adam's full identity so that everyone who reads this post doesn't show up tomorrow for dinner. Seriously, it was a great meal, and I was really blessed.

I can't believe how hospitable people can be sometimes. Isn't that what Jesus told us to do, though? He said that the two greatest commandments ever are to #1) "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" and to #2) "love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:30, 31). Yesterday, true love was demonstrated to me and I'm amazed. A family, who loves the Lord with all their being, took time out of their day to love me.

Donuts

by Rachel Snyder

Wow, did you know that THE Wayne County Fair will be here in 10 days?? Everyone that is from Wayne County knows how sweet the fair is…a day off school, Lerch’s Donuts, French fries, the Square Dance on Sunday night and of course the Demo Derby on Thursday. And if there is one thing I know about, it’s Lerch’s Donuts. So, to enlighten you, I thought I’d share some interesting Lerch’s Donut Facts. :)

This Wayne County Fair marks my tenth year of making Lerch’s Donuts.
Lerch’s Donuts has the capacity to make 500 dozen AN HOUR at the Wayne County Fair.
We have 12 TONS of donut flour delivered to the fair grounds during the week of the fair (for those of you that can’t figure that out….12 tons = 24,000 lbs.
We have a coffee machine in the Wayne County Fair booth that brews 3 gallons of coffee in 7 minutes.
Each of the 6 days at the fair we sell thousands of dozens of donuts.

Who knew?

Life Changing Moments

by Josh Atkins

One of my favorite blogs to read is by a pastor at Granger named Tim Stevens. I dig his unique look at culture and its interactions with the church. And most recently, he had a post that had reflected a conversation that my wife and I were having with a couple of friends on the way home from a little jet-skiing. We talked about “Turning Points” in our lives that shaped who we are today, and then I recently read Tim’s blog post with the title “Life Changing Moments” which was along the same lines.


So here are some of my “Life-Changing Moments”



1982 - I was born. Changed my life.



1987 (5 years old) - Through lessons at church and talks (you don’t have “conversations” when you’re 4) with my parents, I accept Jesus Christ into my life.



1994 (12 years old) - After 6 years of piano lessons, my parents get me a pair of drumsticks and an oversized hockey puck (drum pad) and the rest is, well, history.



1995 (13 years old) - After spending my entire life in a Christian school, I begin 7th grade at Lexington Junior High School and begin the slow process of fading into the crowd and letting my relationship with Christ sit, untouched for 3 years.



1998 (16 years old) - My dad takes the youth pastor job at Wooster Grace and I move to Wooster in between my 9th and 10th grade year. This move, I believe, single-handedly saved my life. It got me connected with some great guys in the youth group and ultimately changed the whole trajectory of my life.



2002 (20 years old) - I finally pull the trigger and change my major from Biblical Studies with a Missions minor to Health and Physical education. I see God build in me a heart for students that would carry me through the rest of my college career (including my extra year, thank you very much.)



2003 (21 years old) - As a leader at Grace College, my faith becomes my own as I struggle with my own philosophy of ministry and what is important in my life. But working with great leaders like Jack Rants and Scott Feather, I’m brought to a greater understanding of my own heart as a leader. I also meet a freshman named Amber who I begin to date in April (2004) and would marry 3 years later (Giddeyup!).



2005 (23 years old) - While student teaching at Madison Elementary School and Edgewood Middle School in Warsaw, Indiana, I realize that my heart is truly with students and look forward to having a job that would let me spend lots of time with them.



2006 (24 years old) - After much prompting from the people around me, I apply for the Junior High position at Wooster Grace and return to the place where my heart for God, ministry, and people was developed and encouraged by leaders and peers. I return to my heart in hopes that God can use me in the same way to ignite 7th and 8th graders with a passion for Him, serving, and of course, people.



2007 (25 years old) - Amber and I get married. What can I say? It has been, is, and will be amazing getting to know her and I look forward to the many years of life and ministry that we will have. I love you, lady!



So what are some Life-Changing Moments in your life? How have you seen God use circumstances to guide you and lead you to the place you are now? Think about it. It’s a great exercise and I promise, once you do it, you’ll have a greater appreciation for God’s hand and His providence. What a great God we serve!

STRONGSVILLE: A Review

by Nick Cleveland

I was spending some time with my family last week. One of my son’s favorite places to go is Toyrifix in Smithville by the Barn Restaurant. He loves to go in there and just play! As he was playing I was investigating all of the cool toys they have there. I made my way back to the scrap booking area of the store and found some stamps. One of the stamps jumped out to me. That morning I had been preparing for the Strongsville mission trip and what I might share with students and landed on Philippians 1:21. This stamp virtually paraphrased the passage. The quote said, “Dream as though you’ll live forever…live as though you’ll die today!”

Now we know that if we know Christ we will live forever, but what if you and I lived our lives like we were to die today? What kind of urgency would we live like if there was no tomorrow? I think our students displayed the kind of on-mission living we would want to live like if there was no tomorrow. This weekend 75+ students participated in at least one part of our ministry weekend. We had students serving in so many ways and living to make Jesus famous in the moment! Here’s a taste of what students of Grace did this weekend:

- painted at the new building,
- organized a hope closet at Wayne County Children’s Services,
- handed out water on W. 130th & Royalton Road in Strongsville (inviting people to come to church),
- mulching the Oaks Family Center (a pregnancy care center in Strongsville),
- blazing a trail at the Christian Children’s Home in Wooster,
- helped a family at Grace move into their nursery,
- connected with children at Sowing Hope,
- participated in the bucket brigade (walked up to random businesses in Strongsville and offered to wash their windows & bathrooms free of charge to display God’s love),
- collected wheel borrows full of canned goods to give to the less fortunate through the ministry of Village Grace in Cleveland,
- Cleaned a nursing home and visited with the residents interviewing them (asking their greatest and worst moments in life),
- launched into our new Student Ministry Center by commissioning the space (we prayed for each chair and couch in the building and then prayed the same prayer, “God help me to reach” and filled in the blanks with names of people we want to see come to know Christ!),
- and then on Sunday took the bucket brigade to the north end of Wooster and blessed many of the businesses on the north end.

While there were so many neat stories we could share from the weekend, let me share the result of intentionally blessing someone. On Sunday we had to order pizza for 100 students and it was a demanding order for Dominoes. Knowing they would deliver it to a church representing Jesus we wanted to make sure we tipped them well for their hard work. The delivery man was so amazed at how he was treated and tipped he returned to Dominoes telling his co-workers about it and shared the tip with all of them!

Seriously, if you think students are the next generation you might have missed it! Paul’s challenge to live each day like there’s no tomorrow was modeled this weekend by our high school students. I am so proud to be their pastor! They lived the reminder… "Dream as though you’ll live forever…live as though you’ll die today!”