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Happy Birthday Pastor John
In celebration of Pastor John's 50th birthday, (and fulfillment of a long-time dream of his) several men gathered to play a little tackle mud football last Saturday. With tempteratures in the low 30s it was a cold day for football but that didn't stop them from playing. And as Pastor John said, the two oldest guys on the field connected for the final, game-winning touchdown.
Pastor John's final tackle football experience certainly led out with a bang and some seriously bruised, or perhaps broken ribs. But it was a great day of fun and celebration for fans and players alike and ended with some great barbeque and fellowship.
Tuesday night homework help
Tuesday nights we continue to offer homework help through our partnership with KIPP Central City Academy. This school is located right next to the Melpomene housing project and has been generous enough to let us hand out flyers and pick up students on Tuesday nights.
Students are then able to do their homework in a safe and quiet environment and receive help if they need it. We also provide dinner before sending the students downstairs to SLAM, our junior high youth night.
Not only does this increase our numbers at youth night, more importantly, it allows us an opportunity to share the gospel with a greater number of students. It also gives us some consistency in who we are seeing come each week.
Students who return each week are excited to share their good grades and many have formed connections with specific volunteers. We have several church members who help out each week, as well as UIM staff. We are hoping to increase our church volunteers throughout the year to make it run entirely by the church. Please continue to pray for our students, that they would work hard and have a desire to achieve great things.
Haiti earthquake update
As some of you may know, Castle Rock Community Church has partnered with Vision of Hope Ministries to support their work in Haiti. They are based in Cap Haitien, which is across the country from Port-au-prince, where the earthquake was it's strongest. We sent a team from our church last year and are currently in the process of planning a return trip.
Check HERE for an update from Pastor Henoc and visit Vision of Hope Ministries website HERE to find out what is going on as information becomes available. Please also join with us in prayer for the millions who have been greatly affected by this tragedy in and already struggling nation.
It's truly winter in New Orleans
We have had hard freeze warnings here in New Orleans the past several days. Pipes are bursting, plants are dying and the homeless shelters are filled to capacity. For those who think it's warm here all the time, it's just not so. We really can get cold enough for ice, however, this is the coldest it has been here in quite some time.
Most homes here aren't prepared to handle this type of cold and aren't insulated the same way that they are farther north. Pipes are located under the house and because many homes are set up for flood protection, they do not have the protection necessary to keep pipes from freezing and bursting.
We've had several house fires from people using space heaters or more non-conventional methods to try and stay warm. Please pray that people would be able to stay warm and that they would be safe while doing so.
There is, however, at least one good thing about weather this cold. The ever resilient roach which seems impossible to kill, well, even they die when covered in ice.
Check out our new videos
We've recently added two new videos to our website! They are currently posted on YouTube while we work out some details regarding posting them here.
You can see our National Project 2010 promo video here, and the one the features "God of This City" by Chris Tomlin, here. Both videos will also be available on our Mission Team Opportunities page located to the left.
UILA Global Wildlife Adventure
Students, teachers and volunteers from Urban Impact Leadership Academy visited the Global Wildlife Center near Folsom, Louisiana December 22. There are 900 acres and more than 4,000 exotic, endangered and threatened animals from all over the world. The animals roam free and come right up to the wagon as you pass by.
The students were able to feed and pet the animals as they listened to the tour guide provide several facts about many of the key animals they saw. The camels, llamas and zebras seemed to be the high point for many. The giraffes were a bit shy but a few people got to feed them if they were quiet enough to attract them.
The field trip was and end of semester trip that highlighted much of what the students had been studying in biology throughout this past semester.
Castle Rock Christmas "Singspiration"
Castle Rock Community Church held its annual Christmas "Singspiration" Sunday night. This night of fun and celebration includes a "karoke" time for anyone to come up and sing their favorite Christmas song, special music by our worship team and our children's Christmas program.
This year our kids put on an evening newscast to tell all about the events leading up to the birth of Jesus. In a short amount of time all of them learned their lines and put on a near flawless performance. God is good and not only to our kids learn about performing and public speaking, they hear the Gospel story and have the chance to present it to friends and family.
From all of us here in New Orleans, we'd like to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you for all of your prayers and support in 2009. We look forward with great anticipation to how God will use us in 2010.
Teddy Bear Tea
Castle Rock Community Church and Vineyard Christian Fellowship from Kenner, Louisiana, partnered this past weekend to put on a Teddy Bear Tea for young girls in our neighborhood. More than 30 girls, and some mothers, attended and enjoyed face painting, having their nails done, decorating cookies and teddy bears and a time to put on fun hats, scarves and jewlery.
They also heard the story A Tale of Three Trees which tells of three trees who have dreams of becoming very important things one day. Each tree ends up very different from their dreams, but each one is part of the life of Jesus.
It was amazing to watch our girls interact with each other in this different and sophisticated environment. They all took it very seriously and clearly enjoyed a chance to be girly and pretty. So many of these girls may have never had the chance to attend something like this, and even one of the mothers said it was her first tea.
A great thanks to all the ladies from Vineyard who put so much hard work into making this happen. It was a wonderful event and such a great opportunity for our girls!
Castle Rock celebrates Thanksgiving
Castle Rock Community Church held it's annual Thanksgiving dinner on November 24. This meal has always been a time to reach out to those in our community and to share a meal together. This year's event was another great success. We had a full house and an abundance of wonderful food.
Ms Bertha blessed us with a beautiful song as a reminder of all what we have to be thankful for. We welcomed many new faces and were also able to celebrate with old friends. As we look back on this year and all God has done in and through the church, we have so much to be thankful for. We have continued to see lives changed as we seek to connect with God, one another, service and the lost in our community.
First Hip Hop Service a success
Castle Rock Community Church held it's first Hip Hop Service Friday, November 13. Because rap and hip hop music are so prevalent in our community, we decided to try and reach out to a different demographic than we reach on Sunday mornings by offering a service filled with Christian rap and the gospel message.
Jeremy, Dingo and Jolly all grew up in the church and were on hand to perform several songs and Youth Pastor Tyrone Christoph presented a message. A wide variety of people came out for the service and most hung around for snacks and basketball following the service.
We plan to continue to improve this service by asking for imput from those who were present and those who might be interested in coming to this non-traditional church service. We plan to have another Hip Hop Service in January.
A trip to Green Bay
Youth Pastor Tyrone Christoph (right) and Director of Operations Terry Sistrunk (not pictured) recently visited Green Bay Community Church to share more about our youth programs, National Project and various other things we have coming up this next year.
It's always a blessing to be able to share what God is doing here with people from around the country and we are so thankful to all the hospitality Tyrone and Terry recieved. They both came back from the trip very encouraged and excited about continuing their work here in New Orleans.
UILA students get a hands-on biology lesson
Urban Impact Leadership Academy students recently received a bit of hands-on biology experience. In the past few weeks they've had an opportunity to dissect both a bull frog and a starfish at Tulane University.
Students have been learning all about different animals and how those animal's systems work. This lab gave them a chance to do a little more in depth exploring and get out of both the classroom and their textbooks.
Most students jumped right in and were eager to help cut and remove different parts, but some students took a little longer to warm up to the idea. By the end of the lab, though, everyone was fully engrossed in the project and they were able to work together.
20th Anniversary Celebration
We recently celebrated our 20th Anniversary with a weekend of celebration of what God has done in our neighborhood during the past 20 years. Several former staff and friends came from out of town and it was so good to talk not only about memories, but where the ministry is headed in the next 20 years.
Friday was filled with shopping for the ladies and golf for the guys and culminated with a cookout and a concert at the church which was a chance for Castle Rock members to reunite with friends from the past.
Saturday lunch was a time for current and former staff to get together and was followed by the challenge circle at the Melph housing project. The challenge circle has been at the core of what we do for the past 20 years and it was fun to get so many together to run it for the weekend.
Perhaps the highlight of the weekend was the banquet Saturday night where Dr. John Perkins was the keynote speaker. He has also been an integral part of the ministry and has helped lay the groundwork for urban ministry across the nation.
We also celebrated those who have followed God's leading and have made this ministry run for the past 20 years such as founder Glen Schrieber and long-time board memeber Alfred Young. We also honored Miranda Truehill, wife of the late Reverend Marshall Truehill who first introduced Glen to the housing projects in Central City.
We presented a "Lifetime Achievement Award" to George Nyholm who has been with the ministry from day one. He has served countless hours as a volunteer and he has been a blessing to all who have had the pleasure of knowing and working with him.
Thank you to all who came to celebrate and those who helped make this weekend such a success. To God be the glory for all he has done during these past 20 years, the lives he has changed and the blessing he has given those who have been a part of it all. We look forward to another fruitful 20 years!
Urban Impact Leadership
Academy Students Thrive
We are very proud of all 6 of our UILA students who have worked very hard to meet their goals for the first quarter of this new school year. Students must complete 9 Paces each quarter in Social Studies, Science and English. Algebra is a separate curriculum taught as a class. Paces are part of the curriculum currently used by UILA. These Paces are similar to a chapter in a traditional textbook.
Principal Wendy Gerhardt is encouraged by the willingness of students to work hard and learn new study skills. For many students this accelerated pace of learning has been a big adjustment. It is not uncommon for students to have 3-4 hours of homework at night.
Please pray for our school, Principal Wendy Gerhardt, teacher Duane Gidney and our wonderful full-time volunteer Dominique Batiste.
Four Youth Accept Christ at Youth Night
We are really excited for the four youth who accepted Christ at high School Bible study two weeks ago. These young men have made the most important decision of their lives. Please pray the roots of their faith would go deep. A big thank you to all you have stood along-side us and invested in these youth. May God be glorified.
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