Other grades are as follows:
10th Grade – October 17
11th Grade – November 7
12th Grade – December 5

The meeting will be held on Sunday, August 22, at 5 pm in room 254. This will be a good time for you find out information about our student ministry and to ask any questions that you may have. Please plan to come, and contact Dave Covington if you have any questions.

Sunday evening we went to another village and showed The Hope Project. This village was quite different than the first and more difficult. As we approached this village, everyone living there was skeptical and standoffish.  We walked through the village and tried engaging with the locals. As we began the video many of them came over to see what was going on. Immediately following the video a local pastor shared about Christ. Doing ministry at this village was eye-opening for our team as we experienced the weight of ancestor worship and paganism.

Monday we had the privilege to go to a school and perform puppets shows. This was really fun as our team told the life of Christ through puppets. In this school there are over 600 children, and they loved the puppets. Almost every time a puppet came out they would start chanting, “I want this one”, “I want this one.” They laughed and enjoyed the story time.

Last night we went into the village of Damongo, where we’re living, and we showed a video about Moses. During the film a few from our team began talking with locals and telling them about Christ. Each person talked to was a Muslim. It was great to get to share the Good News with these people. One eye-opening thing was that once the video began, a Pastor began talking about Christ and immediately everyone left. The only ones standing there were our team, the pastor, and maybe 12 locals, mostly children. As they walked away from hearing the Gospel our hearts broke. However, we were also encouraged because this village has a great need.

Today, Tuesday, is our final day in Damongo. This morning and afternoon we will be going around Damongo talking about the video from last night and sharing the Gospel. We will conclude our time here tonight at our home with kids from the children’s home.

Please pray for:

• The individuals we shared the Gospel with last night during the video.  Pray that their eyes would be opened and that the Spirit would soften their hearts.
• Pray that our team finishes strong. Everyone is getting tired and homesick.
• Pray that as we go through the village of Damongo today that we can continue to be a light in this dark community.
• Pray for safety as we begin our 3 days of travel back home.
• Pray, finally, that as we leave we will see magnification, glorification, and new creations.

Every Saturday, the market comes to town, and this afternoon we walked through the open market and talked with people. This was a great experience for us as we saw young and old. This market had tons to look at and experience. We closed our day out by having a cook out and watching a movie at our home. We had the local pastors over and some girls from Holland that have been volunteering at the local orphanage.

Tomorrow will be a thrilling day as we have the opportunity to encourage fellow believers in three different locations. I, Matt, will be preaching at a church in the morning. Immediately following that we will go to another church and our three young men Alex, Nick, and Logan will be preaching. Later in the afternoon we will all go to the orphanage, and Tricia and Tracie will be teaching the children.

Please pray for us as we proclaim the Gospel and encourage the church in Ghana.

We went into the village from the day before and had an outreach. Upon arriving there we split the children into three groups. One group had story time, and we asked them questions about the video from the night before and taught about Christ. They got to answer questions, and when they did, we gave them stickers. The kids would put those stickers all over their faces and on top of their heads. Another group would be at games. Most of them want to play soccer. The third group had a time to make salvation bracelets as well as hear the Gospel. That was somewhat chaotic at first, but we figured it out and they absolutely loved it.

When we finished, we had a unique opportunity to go into the natives’ main living quarters. We split into three teams, with an interpreter, and talked with adults about the video from the night before.  The majority, if not all, of these are Muslims so this was a wonderful time God gave us to spread the Gospel and talk about Christ.

To conclude the day we went to the local orphanage and watched a movie with the children. When we walked into the main room they were singing and playing drums. Their worship was so beautiful to hear as they sang “Hallelujah” at the top of their lungs.

Our team is sharing Christ boldly and showing our friends in Africa the love of Christ. Please continue to pray:

• Pray for people from the village we talked with today to understand the love of Christ. Pray that the Spirit of God would draw them to Himself.
• Pray that as we go through Damongo over the next few days in the market and on the streets that we can build relationships and share Christ.
• Pray that God would grant our team a deep heart of compassion as we continue to minister and love people.
• Pray that the strongholds of Islam would be torn down in these people’s lives.

We love you all and miss everyone. Our work here seems endless, but we are not weary because of your prayers and support. Continue to fight for us with your unending prayers.

Today was a wonderful day. We went through training all morning with a converted Muslim, Ahmed. He shared his testimony and then talked with us about Islam and how to share our faith with them. It was training that all Christians should experience. He is the Pastor at a church in Kumasi, Ghana.

His church has about 400 members, and 80% of them are converted Muslims. He was fantastic and very informative.  Just before lunch we went to an orphanage and got to minister to babies and children.

After lunch, we went and met the chief of Damongo. We went into his house and were able to ask him a few questions. Immediately after visiting with the chief, we went to a village about 30 minutes away. We spent most of the afternoon playing with children and having fun. Once it got dark, we watched The Hope Project, a shorter version of the Jesus movie. I would say that about 200-300 people were there watching this movie.  We also showed pictures we had taken beforehand while we played and had fun. They absolutely loved the pictures and being on the screen.

Tomorrow morning, we will be going to the same village and doing a follow up on the movie. This is going to be a great opportunity to share Christ with the children and hopefully adults. Tomorrow afternoon we will go to another village and start over with building relationships and showing the film.

Our group is serving well. It has truly been eye opening for the team and a learning one as well.

Pray for:

• Rest as each day becomes full and cumbersome. Also, as the week gets longer, everyone will get more and more weary.
• Our time in the village tomorrow doing follow-up. This will be a great time for us share the Gospel and minister.
• Boldness as we proclaim Christ to Muslims in the villages.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, our team will be meeting with another man who came to know Christ after following Islam for most of his life. He will be sharing his testimony and training us before we go out and share Christ in the villages. We will also be going to an orphanage and showing a Jesus film in a village tomorrow evening. We are excited to begin building relationships and assisting our missionaries.

Please pray for:

• Our missionaries as they seek to serve Christ. He said that God is opening many doors, and it is becoming difficult to know which ones to take. They are seeking wisdom as they serve.
• Pray for us to have opportunities to share the Gospel as we go to villages and an orphanage.
• Pray that our eyes will be opened as we travel. Pray that we will see as God sees.
• Pray for our bus driver, Benjamin. We don’t know is he knows Christ or not.
• I will send updates as we have the opportunity. Thanks for the unending support and prayers. We are grateful, and the team is doing a fantastic job.

Each day we had the opportunity to have Matt Chandler, lead pastor at The Village Church, teach the Word. In the mornings he spoke about Solomon in Ecclesiastes and talked about the pursuit of pleasure. In the evenings he talked about the gospel. It was a great thing for our students and adults to be reminded of the price Christ paid as well as introducing some of our students to this reality for the first time.

Aaron Keys led worship every day and really helped everyone there realize that we have a choice of whether to worship in comfort or to worship biblically. Each morning the students also had Bible study led by our adult leaders. The leaders this year did a fantastic job, as usual, in teaching the Word and loving students.

As we went to the beach, God, through His creation and through His Word, changed lives. It was a remarkable experience and one that we believe will mark our students for a long time. I want to thank the church for the chance to take our youth to a camp that desires to make Christ center stage.

Ask a student what God did while they were at camp, and I think you’ll be amazed at what you’ll hear!

You can see photos of Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 on Facebook.

His emphasis in the youth ministry will be with middle school students (grades six through eight). God has called Dave to reach and teach our middle school students and his passion is evident by his interaction with each and every one of them. This position will help the youth ministry accomplish:

• A more focused age appropriate ministry for high school and middle school
• Relevancy to sixth through eighth graders in Bible study, programming, and missions
• Enable the sixth graders to be an active part of the body
• Intentionally shepherd age groups with a proper growth strategy: children > middle school > high school

Dave will do a tremendous job and will use this summer to get to know middle school students. If you have any questions regarding middle school events or scheduling please contact Dave via email.  I look forward to serving our students and families with Dave as we “know, serve and share” our Savior together.

You’ve got it; IT’S ALL ON ICE!  We have the ice rink reserved for our group for some great games and fun memories.  We’ll also go to Gatti Land in Round Rock to eat and have fun before heading to Chaparral.  Sign up ends on June 20, so make sure you turn your $10 in, preferably cash, to reserve your spot.

Your $10 only covers our time on the ice, so each participant will need additional money for Gatti Land.  There will be a parent release form that must be completed by each reserved student that can be downloaded here.