Well, it has been a while since I have written and I think that my future opportunities to write may become even slimmer. We have two performances over the next two days (Thursday and Friday) and then Sunday starts our 14-performances-in-14-days run. We will have two performances one Sunday and a travel day the following Saturday, but every other day has a performance. We will cover Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio over that stretch.
For those of you not familiar with how the Academy works here is how our arrival at a church starts. Basically we arrive, meet the pastor, then unload all or props, tech, and set pieces, then set everything up. The South team has us beat currently with set up time, as they were forced to set up in 30 minutes due to a flat, but everything worked and they saw two people saved. Our team still has not seen any fruit like the South team has, but with 8 performances under our belts, I am certain we our getting the message out, and planting seed for others to water and develop.
Tear down is quicker, but often happens in parts as time allows. Sometimes we only get to partially tear down, before we are whisked away to hosts homes for the evening. When we return in the morning, we are able to finish tearing down before we head off to our next destination.
We have had a great deal of free time these last two weeks, but we have also gotten to serve in other ways, and even gave to mini performances at a retirement home, and an ARC center for those with disabilities. The ARC center was probably the most enthusiastic audience we have seen, and will definitely be remembered. We spent The Fourth here in Covington, KY and headed to the Creation Museum today (I guess its now yesterday :). It was a great experience and I wish I had gone while I was still in High School (hint, hint, to those back at Calvary :P ). It was defiantly worth the trip, and I hope I can return sometime when I can have more time to explore.
Please keep us in your prayers. Seth, our team leader, is loosing his voice and we are praying he regains some of it by tomorrows performance, but if not then we may have to step in and fill in his rolls, at least as far as the performance goes. Susan, one of our team members has been battling an infected wisdom tooth for the last two weeks and finally was able to have it removed during our free time this week. She is still in a lot of pain form the surgery though so pleas keep her in your prayers as well. Thankfully I have had no personal illnesses yet, but many of our team has coughs or sore throats which do not help with all the singing that our play includes.
But through it all please just pray that people will see the message of the great commission, and not us when they see us perform. We are merely being used by God, and we need to be certain that, as a team, that God and the message are our focus. As a praise, we have not had any car trouble yet, and so far we are the only team that has not fallen pray to a flat or lost AC.
Thank You all again for your support, and I know that your prayers are protecting us this summer.
John
For those of you not familiar with how the Academy works here is how our arrival at a church starts. Basically we arrive, meet the pastor, then unload all or props, tech, and set pieces, then set everything up. The South team has us beat currently with set up time, as they were forced to set up in 30 minutes due to a flat, but everything worked and they saw two people saved. Our team still has not seen any fruit like the South team has, but with 8 performances under our belts, I am certain we our getting the message out, and planting seed for others to water and develop.
Tear down is quicker, but often happens in parts as time allows. Sometimes we only get to partially tear down, before we are whisked away to hosts homes for the evening. When we return in the morning, we are able to finish tearing down before we head off to our next destination.
We have had a great deal of free time these last two weeks, but we have also gotten to serve in other ways, and even gave to mini performances at a retirement home, and an ARC center for those with disabilities. The ARC center was probably the most enthusiastic audience we have seen, and will definitely be remembered. We spent The Fourth here in Covington, KY and headed to the Creation Museum today (I guess its now yesterday :). It was a great experience and I wish I had gone while I was still in High School (hint, hint, to those back at Calvary :P ). It was defiantly worth the trip, and I hope I can return sometime when I can have more time to explore.
Please keep us in your prayers. Seth, our team leader, is loosing his voice and we are praying he regains some of it by tomorrows performance, but if not then we may have to step in and fill in his rolls, at least as far as the performance goes. Susan, one of our team members has been battling an infected wisdom tooth for the last two weeks and finally was able to have it removed during our free time this week. She is still in a lot of pain form the surgery though so pleas keep her in your prayers as well. Thankfully I have had no personal illnesses yet, but many of our team has coughs or sore throats which do not help with all the singing that our play includes.
But through it all please just pray that people will see the message of the great commission, and not us when they see us perform. We are merely being used by God, and we need to be certain that, as a team, that God and the message are our focus. As a praise, we have not had any car trouble yet, and so far we are the only team that has not fallen pray to a flat or lost AC.
Thank You all again for your support, and I know that your prayers are protecting us this summer.
John
