Operation Barnabas is in full swing. Orientation is complete and the teams are on their way. Here are links to a few of their posts over the last few days.
Orientation Day 4: The Bread and Couple of Other Things
(June 22, 2017) Day 4 was full of new and exciting opportunities for our Operation Barnabas students! Students learned how to share a testimony, participated in each team’s talent show, and partook in communion together.
The day began with immediate 3 Group practice following breakfast. After tackling some programming and more of our Romans 8 speech choir, students heard from Tristan about how to prepare and present a testimony for a group of people. Grace College then provided a delicious lunch from Ortho City BBQ (with incredible mac ‘n’ cheese – check it out sometime), and proceeded into devotional/object lesson prep. (Read more.)
Team Atlantic: Depart-y of the Year
(June 23, 2017) Well, that’s a wrap, folks.
Oh. No. We’re not done. Quite the contrary, ladies and gentlemen. Today, Team Atlantic wrapped up orientation, which means that our tour has officially begun! After our first official program, Team Atlantic made the drive to Westerville, Ohio for our first stop.
Our day started with 3 Group Review. During this time, Team Atlantic students showcased all the puppets, skits, dances, and mimes they have been working so hard on the past few days. Following this, we packed our bus with all our programming elements and drove to C.E. National for one final lunch with Team Hoosier.
During this lunch, Operation Barnabas students also were able to eat and interact with staff from C.E. National, meeting many of the faces behind the programs the organizations offers. After lunch, students from both teams said their goodbyes, and Team Atlantic departed to their first program at Grace Village, a retirement community in Winona Lake, IN. (Read more.)
Tour: The Journey Has Begun
(June 23, 2017) Tour has finally begun!!!! Our students have worked very hard, and are ready to start reaching world. Team Hoosier started out as just strangers in a group, but now that they have gotten to know each other, it feels like a family. So we started our day out with our 3 Group Review, and each group showed their teammates each of their dances, skits, puppets.
Once finished we headed over to our first location, Combined Community Services. There we put on 2 OB Programs for the local kids and parents in the community. It was a very encouraging seeing kids like Jordan Farabaugh playing and talking with young kids while they enjoyed fun games and crazy balloon animals made by Abby Vance. All our students got a chance to use the “Cross Illustration” with all the kids from the local neighborhood, and the gospel was shared with each one of them.
We then headed to 909 Student Ministries to have youth group with the local students from the church. It was a great chance for our students to interact with students their age, and use some of the tools that they learned by Ed Lewis during Orientation. They played basketball, volleyball, ping pong, and some just sat and talked. One student that really stood out was Grant Ostermeyer. Grant spoke to almost every leader and student, really showing what a true “Barnabas” looks like. We then heard a testimony from Rafael Martinez, and enjoyed a skit based straight out of the scriptures in Isaiah 53:7-10. Later we enjoyed ice cream with the youth group, and then headed back to CE National for some team time. (Read more.)