Today’s post comes from Evan Smith, a High School student who just went on a short-term trip to New York to partner with New York City Relief.  This is the kind of stuff we hope happens on our trips.  Amazing!

New York City Relief Bus

I went into this trip with zero expectations and my palms up to whatever God put in front of me, and man did He surprise me!

…It was the second location we were supposed to serve at, Newark, New Jersey.  We had already served Harlem earlier that day and with only 5 minutes in between to eat, I remained hungry.  Yet, with a quick prayer and some loud worship music in the bus as we headed to the site, I prepared my heart and mind.

About 10 minutes after arriving, I started to get anxious about meeting someone.  Just about that time, a man with a shopping cart pulled up about 10 feet from the window.  I walked over and asked him if I could get him some soup, maybe some bread, or a cup of tea.  With his eyes filling up with tears, he said “a kid your age would want to serve an old man like me?” I quickly responded with “I would be delighted to serve you!”  After handing him his dinner, we pulled his shopping cart over next to the bus and Trevor Blossom and I began to converse with him.

His name was Ernest Frankie Jr. and he was about 82 years old (roughly) and had lived in the building adjacent to the site for 28 years.  I had never seen a man with such big faith! He quickly expressed his frustration with the kids our age; that they never want to talk to the older generations.  He stated that there are so many things that we can learn from our elders if we’d only take the time.

As our conversation progressed, I began to notice that Ernest had a bible verse for everything he or I had to say.  And when I started to tell him “you better get inside before you freeze to death!,”  He responded with “I could stand out here all night talking about God, he warms me from within.”

Ernest will always be a part of my prayers and a part of my heart.  As we wrapped up our conversation, I asked Ernest if I could take a picture with him so I could always remember to pray for him.  He said he would be honored and followed it by a flood of tears.

This is a picture of Evan, Ernest and Trevor. Ernest wears the purple hat every day to remind him to pray.

If you were to tell me a week before that a man influenced by poverty was going to have bigger faith than me and teach me something about God, I would have said your lying.  It’s amazing how short term mission trips like the New York City Relief Bus, can change your perception on faith, life, and friendships.

…I knew God was going to touch my life, I just didn’t know how, what He would say, or who He would put in front of me…

This story was written by a New York City Relief short-term trip leader from Grace.

It’s hard to put into words what this trip meant to me. I’m not even sure I know completely all the ways that God is using this experience to change my life, but I’ll try.

Let me start by talking about the sign on the door of the Hope Center [at New York City Relief] that says “Warning: Working on the Relief Bus Will Change Your Life.” Honestly, I was skeptical. I’ve prayed countless times for God to break my heart, and I wind up feeling very unchanged. I came on this trip because I wanted to help, but it was mostly an intellectual thing -doing the right thing because I knew it was the right thing to do. But then something happened.

In Harlem, I met some amazing people. I’ll never forget one man in a wheelchair who was so cold that he was shaking. He was being pushed by a younger gentleman and they broke my heart. I wanted to do whatever I could to help them. It really wasn’t about my head and what I thought anymore. It was about my heart and love. I wanted to give whatever I could.

The whole weekend, I kept getting stared at by Jesus in the eyes of everyone around me, whether it was the people we were “serving” or the ones I was “serving” with and He was more beautiful than I could have imagined. (I put serving in quotes because the people in New York ministered to me as much as I ministered to them.)

I got home, I have made a commitment to live a more simple life. I took a long hard look at what I have and decided I don’t need anything else. I have asked one of my closest friends to be an accountability partner to me and make sure that I am living in a way that helps others to live as well. I have also actively sought out friends who are committed to the poor and signed up to volunteer with a couple of ministries.

That’s how the trip affected me. Thank you so very much for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this team. It really helped me to live, at least for one weekend, like the person I always wanted to be.

This post was written by Matt Gay. Matt and his family have been involved recently in many Outreach activities, from leading the Hamilton County Food Pantry Drive to attending a New York City Relief Trip. This is Matt’s reflection from his recent NYCR trip:

I’ve seen a lot of cool things in my life. Being an ex-professional football player in the NFL, I had the privilege to see NFL legions like Joe Montana and Marcus Allen up close. I caught passes from Joe and even intercepted his passes in practices. I’ve seen the world! I played in the World Bowl while I was in the NFL Europe. I have scored touchdowns and heard the crowd cheer my name in stadiums from Kansas to Germany. I traveled to Japan with the Kansas City Chiefs and played for the Dallas Cowboys in Texas stadium. I’ve seen Prime time Deion Sanders pull up in his tricked out bass bumpin’ golf cart. I have also seen Emmitt Smith practice with the utmost intensity. I have also experienced Michael Irvin cracking jokes in the locker room. Although I have seen and experienced all of these, what we would consider, really cool things. They are nothing compared to what I saw last weekend in New York while I was working on the New York City Relief Bus.

The coolest things I saw and experienced there were lives being changed and impacted right on the streets of New York. We were praying for people and their situations. God was using us to bring people to Christ. We were a bridge of help and hope to the community. People would walk up to one of us and ask for prayer, while on others you could see the need on their faces and you knew they needed Jesus in their life. We were even ministered to by many of the people we met, and we thought we were there to help them. God had plans to help us as well. It was a trip I will never forget and a trip I can’t wait to take again.

As I mentioned earlier, I have seen a lot of cool things in my life. but the coolest thing I have seen up close and personal was this…

This is a photo of Steve Buczkowski praying on his knees in full submission to God on a street in Newark, New Jersey. This was in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the country. When I saw this, I knew I was a part of something special. People knew they saw someone and something special when they visually witnessed Jesus heal cripples instantly or take disease away from the sick with a word. That is how I felt when I witnessed Steve pray the way he did. God was in that situation. God is in this photo. God was in that neighborhood and God is working in the ministry of the New York City Relief Bus. That is the coolest thing I have ever seen and ever done in my life. All the rest was garbage and a waste of time in comparison!

Matt Gay

Today’s post comes to us from Kirsten Johnson, a Grace attender and recent participant on a New York City Relief short-term trip.

Serving on the relief bus will change your life…it certainly has changed mine!

God knew just what I needed just when I needed it…About 2 years ago I had one of two life changing moments…I was a divorced, 31 year old mother of a 3 ½ year old son.  I grew up in a Christian home and knew I wanted the same for my son Brennan.  I had recently made some bad decisions and had also ended a six year marriage.  I was not attending church regularly.  There was this day where I so vividly recall God asking me what I was waiting for…Brennan was almost 4!  I thought well that is a good question.  When was I going to form this Christian home?  When he was a teenager?  God truly told me that day that I needed to make my life what I wanted it and we went to church that weekend.

The second life changing moment was within that first fews weeks at Grace when there was a video on the New York City Relief Short-Term trip.  Words can not describe what happened that day in church.  God tugged on my heart in a way I have never experienced or maybe never noticed.  I leaned over to my mom and said I am going to do that.  I went home that day, got on the Grace website and signed up for the February 2008 trip.  There is a sign in NYC at the Hope Center that says DANGER…Serving on the Relief Bus will Change your life.  It truly changed mine…I learned in that four days that our role was to love people. I can do that!

After the NYC trip God continued to tug on my heart more and more…I started serving dinner at the Wheeler Care Center for Women and Children in November.  I love it!  It’s really not glamorous.  I didn’t bring someone to Jesus that first meal but I got to serve about 50 women and 10 children filled with amazing moments of eye contact and smiles which were each an absolute blessing!

Brennan helps me rescue food from the Noblesville Panera Bread one Wednesday a month.  What a blessing this organization is!  We go to Panera about 8:55 p.m., right before they close, and pick up all the food that they have left.  We go to Third Phase food pantry, load it into grocery carts and take it in.  It has been really amazing to see Brennan grow through this experience.  At first he went in to Panera with me but then waited in the car at Third Phase.  Now he wants to carry things into Third Phase so he can help me and so he can see everyone.  He will even tell you all about what we are doing with the food and who it is for.

In June we began joining the Grace folks at Wheeler on Sundays serving dinner to the men and then playing games.  If you haven’t had the opportunity to serve at Wheeler I recommend just giving it one chance.  I will admit to you that even after a trip to New York and serving at the women’s shelter I was nervous about how it would go playing games with the men after dinner.  Immediately the first time I went I thought what on earth was I worried about?  It was wonderful and a really great opportunity to connect with people.  When we go now Brennan has his entire game agenda planned out prior to dinner.  It is something we both really look forward to.

I will hopefully be leading a trip to New York next June and I would love to share this experience with you if you are interested in being forever changed!

Some people raise the question–are “mission” trips or “Short-term” trips worth the time, energy, and money that go into them? Can’t we just help people in our own backyard?  There are lots of people here that need help!

And we would say YES!  There are lots of people in our neighborhoods that need help–and we are doing our part at Grace Community Church to help them and know them.  But there is a slice of the Kingdom of God that a person can participate in when you get outside your own culture and context that is unlike anything else.

Currently have we have trips in Ukraine and Colombia.  Trips from Mississippi, Toronto, and New York have just returned, and still later this summer trips will be heading to New York, Japan, and Costa Rica.

Here is a link to a blog the team kept while in Ukraine.  I warn you, the stories from Ukraine could bring a tear to your eye.  The way God showed up at the camp they put on for disabled kids was awe inspiring:

Grace Trip to Ukraine.

This weekend you will find trip leaders in the lobby for some trips coming up later this year.  If you have never been on a trip, maybe it is time for you to follow God on an adventure like this.  Here are a few stories from the team that recently returned from serving in New York.:

My most precious moment from Saturday has been on my mind ever since…There was a little boy in a wheel chair that came to the bus with his mother and grandmother.  I instantly noticed him and asked them if I could help them get their soup and drinks since they were pushing a wheel chair.  They went to the location under the tent where they would eat and I brought them three soups and iced tea.  This little boy was so sweet.  We believe he may have had cerebral palsy.  I wanted to take him home with me and be able to love on him like I would my son Brennan!  I was able to help him eat his lunch, my mom brought him some chocolates and he and I talked.  He was 10 1/2 years old, his birthday was in October, his favorite color was blue and he liked Spiderman.  :)  We had spent time coloring on the sidewalk with the other kids and sadly this was something he obviously could not do.  I asked him if he could spell his name and he spelled it to me while I wrote it on the sidewalk in blue sidewalk chalk.  His name was Yimbert…:)  I then wrote my name on the sidewalk as well.  I asked him if he would like his face painted and he smiled and said he would like a spiderman on his arm.  How sweet is that…:)  One of the things that we have each really struggled with is the kids.

Jo was very touched by the people that we saw at multiple stops during our trip.  The bus has a routine schedule so every Friday they go to Harlem for lunch and the Newark projects for dinner.  Every Saturday they go to the South Bronx.  The purpose of this is so that people know where they can get food and many people come to multiple stops.  There was a man named Rafael that was in Harlem on Friday and the South Bronx on Saturday.  There was also a man named Angel that was waiting for us at both Harlem and the South Bronx when we arrived at the stop.  Angel sat on the bus with us at both locations from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  He had developed a deep friendship with the folks on the NYC Relief bus.  One of the NYC Relief bus leaders would take Angel to movies, dinner, etc. and was taking him to the Social Security office on Monday morning to help straighten some things out.  Angel was maybe forty years old and was born with some learning disabilities.  At some point when he was younger his brother beat him with a baseball bat causing significant brain injuries..it truly saddens me to think about that.  Angel is just the sweetest person that really enjoys being around the relief bus.  We drove him home on the bus yesterday and I can tell you that we are all sad to see him go…

My mom shared a story that touched her at the beginning of lunch in the South Bronx.  She was serving the iced tea from the bus and had this moment where it was as if time stood still.  She was looking out on the sidewalks and saw all of the activities that our team was involved in.  My dad was talking to an older couple whom he carried soup for, others on our team were praying with people, some were playing with kids, others were handing out clothes, hygiene items, information on shelters, rehabilitation programs, etc.  Mom described this as a really incredible moment taking this all in…

For more stories from New York, Click here.