Despite the rain that came during the week, PowerPlant was a great week for almost 100 students that came from all over the country to minister to the people of the Cleveland area.
Cleveland was truly showered with the love of Christ when the students from West Heights Baptist in Pontotoc, MS, Amissville Baptist in Amissville, VA, Hickory Grove Baptist in Independence, KY, and Parkside Baptist in Columbus, Indiana showed up on Saturday, June 21, 2008 to reach the people where they were and to show them that there is hope in this dark world.
Hickory Grove Baptist was paired up with New City Church, which is being planted by Dave Bever. They spent the first part of the week going door to door informing people about the community carnival that was being held. “If you pass out 2000 flyers, you can expect to have about 10 percent of those people show up, which is 200, The Lord blessed us, and we had over 800 people show up” said Bever. The carnival was a huge success not only in numbers, but it also allowed New City to see that there is a desire to know Jesus in that community. New City Church is ten weeks old and is still looking for ways to reach out and this helped in huge ways to make the people aware of the Church plant.
PowerPlant was a huge success for the city of Cleveland, and the students that attended were truly able to see that the Church is not a building, but it is the people.
Yesterday was the first day of ministry sites. Students had the opportunity to show Christ to those in the Cleveland community. Some of the ministries included a soccer camp, football game, passing out flyers for block parties tonight, and playing with kids in a community park. Through all these ministry sites, the students saw God at work.
Last night the students participated in the Concert of Prayer. Concert of Prayer is a worship service that invites students have one on one time with God through praying different ways. This consisted of praying out loud for their church planters, a time of confession, and a time to praise God for all that He has done and is doing in their lives.
Today, students have already attended their training sessions. During their church planting training students were able to hear from God's Child, a well known Christian rapper from the Cleveland area, and what God is doing in his life.
Please continue to pray for the students and their ministries in the Cleveland area. Pray for their church planters and that they will continue to be encouraged by the students.
Here are the youth groups and the church plants their paired with for the week:
Amissville Baptist paired with Gateway Church
Hickory Grove Baptist paired with Forward Church and New City Church
Parkside Baptist paired with Village Chapel
West Heights paired with Mosaic
Hello from Cleveland! Things are off to an awesome start! Ninety students from Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Virginia drove in on Saturday afternoon; that night the students had an awesome opportunity to attend a hip-hop church in the city of Cleveland.
Sunday morning the students had the opportunity to meet with their church plants and worship with their body of believers. After worship, they were able to see their church planters vision and prayer walk their areas where they will be serving this week.
Please pray for God to work in these students lives this week. Pray for the church planters and their ministry, and how the students will be helping them this week.
