Tommy Morelock Student Ministries Pastor

Mexico Update #15 – Service Recap

tommy — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:04:20 +0000

Our mission trip is getting farther and farther in the rear view mirror, but as a group we have worked hard to not lose sight of all that God taught us. Last week we gathered as a group one last time to look back on the trip and more importantly to evaluate how our time has been since we got back home. It was interesting to hear how their experience in Mexico has affected their everyday lives.

It was great to build houses for homeless people and show the love of God, but more importantly I pray that God would continue to use this experience to shape our students for a lifetime. May they forever be changed!

If you were unable to be at church on July 25th to hear some of our students share about their trip, click here to listen.

Tommy

Helping Your Kids Own Their Faith

tommy — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:53:20 +0000

Today I came across an interesting article called “Helping Your Kids Own Their Faith” by Jim Liebelt. Below is an excerpt from the article. Click the title above if you’d like to read the entire article.

Many of today’s churched youth grew up going to church. From their tender years as toddlers, they have been indoctrinated with the beliefs of their community of faith. This is a good thing—and is called being “brought up in the instruction of the Lord,” (Ephesians 6:4). Many of these kids, (I know, as I was one of them) enter into their adolescent years being able to spout memory verses without end, give correct explanations of Christian doctrine, know how to refute errant views, and generally make their parents proud as punch. Nice Johnny. Good Johnny. Christian Johnny. But, take Johnny away from the church walls, away from home, put him into his school situation, or with friends, and a different side of Johnny may appear: a Johnny who is little different behaviorally than his non-Christian peers. Consequently, the important question becomes, why is it all too common for “church kids” to grow up knowing a lot about Christianity, and yet seem so dull spiritually? Where is the “real faith” that will see kids through their adult lives? I believe that the answer in many of these cases is that teenagers never make a successful transition from having an “unowned” faith to having an “owned” faith.

Back from Vacation

tommy — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:45:16 +0000

We are back! This past Saturday we got back from our first real family vacation. Most of our “vacations” are often spent visiting family, but this time we were able to get away. Our trip started in Jamestown, NY where I was a youth pastor for four years. We were able to see friends, go on a plane ride, visit the church, and take in a wonderful wedding. Congrats again Bre and Dan! We are sooo excited for you guys as you begin your new life together.

After Jamestown we took a beautiful drive to Penn Yan, NY, which is located on Keuka Lake. While there we swam, played at three different playgrounds, hiked at Watkins Glen (picture) and took a trip to Rochester to visit the Museum of Play – Kaitlyn loved the Sesame Street and Berenstain Bear sections.

We really had a great time. A trip like this really reminds me that I serve a great God, and have been blessed with an amazing family and wonderful friends. Thanks God!

Mexico Update #14 – Heading back to the US

tommy — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:41:07 +0000

Today we leave Mexico. We have had a great trip, but are ready to get back to the US. Our plan is to start driving to the border around 10:30PT, which is 1:30ET. So please keep us in your prayers as we travel. Most likely we’ll have to wait in line to cross the border for about an hour or two.

Lastly, pray for our students as they enter back into the US culture. After being out of it for a week they will most likely be stretched just coming back. So yeah – thanks for the prayers.

Mexico Update #13 – Complete Surrender?

tommy — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:33:24 +0000

Yesterday ended up being a pretty crazy day. Our morning talk took on a little different shape as Eddie, the director of Caravan wrapped up the entire week. His message was challenging, stretching, and made many of our student uncomfortable. My response to that is GREAT! I’m glad our students didn’t necessarily agree with everything he said. I’m glad they were thinking critically. I’m glad to see that some of them are beginning to take steps to making their faith their own.

There are SO many people around the world who haven’t heard the name of Jesus. There is no Bible written in their native language. There is basically no one and they’re waiting for someone to come. Who will go? Is it wrong to primarily only pray, “Lord, send someone.” Sure that’s not a necessarily bad thing, but how many people pray “Lord, I’ll follow you with no strings attached”? I think when it comes to surrender most people, including myself struggle with giving God complete control. Some may say “God, I’ll follow you anywhere as long as it doesn’t involve living in a remote part of the world being a missionary.” So their “surrender” is already less than 100%. Others might say, “God, I’ll follow you as long as I don’t have to move away from my family.”

How hard is it to find a “follower of Christ” who is able to give in to complete surrender? What would that look like for me? What would that look like for you?

Mexico Update #12 – by Juliet Barrett

tommy — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 05:45:18 +0000

Wow. I look at this screen and cannot choose from the hundreds of stories I could share with you: Stories of friendship, of laughter, of guilt, of compassion, but mostly stories of growth. There are the usual stories of laughter and friendship that can only come from trips like these where you’re forced to see people at their worst and except them for it but right now, I want to share a more personal struggle that has more recently become a triumph. Although God has gifted me with spiritual gifts such as leadership and diligence, I’ve never been one for doing the whole “kid” thing. I’ve never really enjoyed working in the nurseries and I find it really difficult to relate to kids on a personal level. I knew coming into this trip that this particular struggle of mine might hinder the work of God through relating to the kids of the families we would be building for. The past two days were as expected when it came to the families. I introduced myself, and then continued to work my hardest at building the house and encouraging our crew, but never really connecting with any of the families. Up until today, all of the kids had been ten or younger, which made it hard for me to talk to them, especially considering the language barrier. But today, today I got to have that connection I had seen others make with the kids during the week. I didn’t know how much I craved that relationship until God blessed me with a fourteen year old friend named Dolce. It happened so naturally that I didn’t even realize the bond we had formed until much later in the day. It started out simply because I came upon her and her brothers playing with one of our saws. At first I was completely freaked out and worried for their safety and my first reaction was to take it away from them. But upon watching the fun they were having just by messing around with this simple tool, I decided to take a different approach. I did indeed take the saw, but instead of putting it away I showed them instead how to properly use it. They boys laughed at Dolce as she fumbled and squeaked with the practice wood I had given her and yet she persevered, determined to show us that she could do it. I found myself smiling as I recognized the same determination in her that I often display myself when a daunting task challenges me. After our sawing lesson was over, I proceeded to show her how to hammer nails properly and amusedly watched as she used her new found skill to create a make shift frame of sorts. When she finished, she was obviously proud of her creation and I found myself beaming with pride as I saw how happy my simple lessons had made her. After that, she stuck to me like glue, sitting by me at work, laughing at my horrible Spanish, and even helping me finish a few of my jobs! At one point, despite my broken Spanish and her broken English, we even talked about boys! Though we were separated by age, culture, and language, we found a common ground and it all boiled down to plane old simple, girl talk! I felt so blessed to have been a small part of her life today and grateful to God for having given me the opportunity to experience the fellowship I’d watched others experience! It was an amazing feeling to know that I didn’t only make a difference in her life physically, but that we were able to connect on an emotional level as well! God is good. There really isn’t much more you can add to that, so I won’t.

Buenos noches amigos!

By Juliet Barrett

Mexico Update #11 – by Dawn, Abby, Jaz, & Mikaela

tommy — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 05:07:43 +0000

Today at our build site, the father of the family we were building for, told us that he was going for a job interview and that he would be back to help when it was over. As he was leaving, we decided that we needed to pray that he would be hired for this job. So our whole team stopped working and gathered on the site and began to pray that Robert would do well in this interview and get a job to help support his family. As we were praying, PG (the pastor from the other church) walked him to his car and also prayed over him about the job situation. The team did not know he was doing this, and he did not know what we were doing. In about an hour and a half, he returned home with great news that he had received the job. We were so excited that God answered our prayers so quickly, what a testament of God’s greatness!

By Dawn, Abby, Jaz, Mikaela

Mexico Update #10 – World Vision staff member speaks

tommy — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:19:11 +0000

Finally we made our way to our evening group teaching time. It was done by a guy who is on staff with World Vision. Our students really enjoyed his sense of humor and challenge to care for the least of these. Some of our students felt led to pursue child sponsorship. One of the interesting things about World Vision is that they allow churches to adopt a village. So if a church would like to push child sponsorship they can make sure that all of the children come from the same village. It really is a great way for a local church to make a difference in one community over a long period of time. Hmmm?

Well that was our day. Thank you for your prayers and please keep lifting them up. We definitely need it. If you’re wondering how you can pray, then ask God to stretch us, challenge us in the spots of our lives where we need it most, and that God would give us what we need to do His will.

Thanks!

Mexico Update #9 – A Day of Normal & Crazy!

tommy — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:15:37 +0000

Tuesday was a very interesting day. It began like any of the other days…wake-up…devotions…breakfast…teaching…and load up the trucks to head out for the work-sites.

This is where things get a little crazy. Two out of our four groups had a pretty normal day. We worked hard, got back to the dorms, and loaded the trucks for the next day. After that we had time to get our first shower of the week (most had their last shower Saturday night or around 4am Sunday), and then had pizza at Ma Ma Mias – it was very good. When we got back to the dorms at 7pm for our evening meeting we found out that our other two groups hadn’t made it back yet – Enter CRAZY…

The other two groups worked right next to one another so they loaded up all of their supplies onto the same truck and began following it to the work-site. About 30 minutes into their drive Caravan’s truck broke down. After about 2 hours and the help of a friendly, Christian Mexican mechanic, who happened to be walking by, they were ready to continue to the work-site. Finally the group arrived a little after noon. Usually at that point groups are getting close to finishing the last wall. On top of the truck problems one of the families who were making lunch for the group had a bunch of problems with her gas skillet. She had a leak and it even caught fire a few times. Praise God that a few of our guys on our team knew how to fix it for her…so a really late lunch for one of the groups as well.

Our last two groups finally arrived back to the dorms that night around 7:30. They were dirty, tired, hungry, and still had to load their trucks for the next day. At that moment I decided to take that burden off of them by having our other two groups load it for them. By the way, they were more than glad to do this. I also knew they wouldn’t have time to get showers or go out to eat, so I jumped in my van and picked up Ma Ma Mia’s pizza. Yeah as you can imagine they really enjoyed it.

See Update #10 for the conclusion of our day…

Mexico Update #8 – by Dylan Troyer

tommy — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 05:18:21 +0000

So far there have been many great experiences, including bonding time with Tommy as we fake loogies and poor water on girls . Also, the lunches made by the families have been amazing. Home-cooked is so much better than eating-out, but the prices here are fantastic. To get two tacos and a drink it is $3. FANTASTIC! Me and my homies Trent and Daniel are having a great time playing card games and soccer. Daniel’s hammering skills are amazing and Trent loves to remind him of that. Another thing I enjoy is stealing Daniel’s candy with Trent. We love to take his bag at night, take some, and then put it back and say we didn’t take any . By the way, his “Warheads” are amazing! Yesterday at the taco stand everyone tried the “intestine taco”, but I was the only one to try the “head-meat” taco which was interesting to say the least. Van rides are extremely bumpy but extremely entertaining. Our leader is Tommy and he tends to entertain us by putting the front tires over the speed bump and flooring it in the back to make us all hit the ceiling. Overall, the trip has been an amazing experience so far. And also, hi mom and dad .

By Dylan Troyer (typed by Trent Chamness)