This is the story (so far) leading up to the planned kids ministry day in Walthill, NE next month. It is something that’s been in progress for coming up on a month but has remained secret for the most part until this week, so that its announcement could coincide with our presentation to church. This is kind of long, kind of personal in places so bear with me, but is really to be a testimony to what God has done so far in making this ministry possible and an anticipation of what else he still will be doing.

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From Saturday, June 6th through Saturday, June 13th, six of us from church joined with people from two of our sister churches in Nebraska as well as staff from Mission to the World (hereafter “MTW”), our denomination’s mission agency, for a week of service projects and VBS in Walthill, Nebraska. This was our church’s third year of involvement in this project so many of the names and faces were familiar from previous years. This year, though, it seemed like we really got to know specific people better and had greater understanding of what the lives of many really consist of. We heard the kids tell of what “normal” is to them, and in many cases that involves broken families and/or a lack of positive attention and healthy role models. It had become clear that the VBS for just an hour and a half each day for five days was among the high points of the entire year for some of these kids. Each year leaving is hard because the kids are sad to see us go and in the past it’s been a full year before we can return. This year was no exception. One of the team members from the participating church in Lincoln described a child who was “brokenhearted” when told we wouldn’t be back “tomorrow” on Friday, as throughout the week when the kids would leave VBS they would ask and be told that they could come back at the same time tomorrow and we’d be there.

Saturday morning, while driving back to Omaha with a friend from church the conversation turned to the topic of stories of specific kids in the community, but after recalling things about various kids we’d met for the first time (or seen again, for me with some of the kids) and discovering we really shared in a burden for the kids of the community, it seemed pretty clear that we should try to do something. But how? There was no precedent from past trips, no invitation to come back separate from a MTW project, and it wasn’t something that could just come together… could it? Could it?

Later in the day, after I’d gone home to my apartment, started unpacking, and had the first time in solitude I’d had all week, I remember reflecting on various things that had happened throughout the week and the thing I couldn’t move on from was VBS. At some point that afternoon or evening I realized that it would not be right to just let it go after being burdened for the kids in the community, and decided to try to do something. At that point I wasn’t sure what, but I intended to try something. It seemed more clear that evening as numerous people in my small group study at church asked about the trip and for some specific highlights and I realized that right along with the deep realization of the brokenness in the community this year, the emotional needs of the kids in town were something that wasn’t going to be quickly forgotten. I vaguely recalled a time in the past, probably more than fifteen years ago, the church I was part of then organized a “kids day in the park” as a way of reaching out to neighborhood children in the Omaha suburbs. This seemed like a good enough way to reach out once more to the kids — go back and just spend time with them, serve lunch, have fun activities, play sports and games, and just hang out.

So the next morning (June 14th), mind made up to go for this as far as possible, I presented the idea to one of the elders at church (who was also the project leader for the week-long trips the past 3 years). He liked the idea and agreed to check in with MTW as well as some people on the reservation to see whether it would be feasible. The next couple days were a frenzy of email activity with questions to answer and a few concerns to alleviate. With the excitement to make the idea a reality, the waiting periods seemed to drag on forever while anticipating necessary approvals. By the end of the week the responses received so far had been favorable and it was starting to look much more like a real event that was going to happen and not just a wild idea. It was next to amazing to see how in just a week’s time an event that was really nothing more than a passing idea had become pretty close to reality. At this point the two other church groups in Nebraska that we had served with earlier in the month were notified of the intent to return in August. Although we’d been considering at least three different dates, in discussions with the local government August 8 emerged as the preferred date and this is what we decided to plan on in moving forward.

Planning activity slowed toward the end of June due to more attention needing to be put on the report to the congregation on our time in Walthill from June 6-13. This involved a Keynote (like PowerPoint but cooler) slideshow consisting of photos and info divided up into sections by topic and speaker, plus a music video of selected photos. Lots of back and forth collaboration was needed to get everyone’s sections incorporated so from the end of June right up to the day of the presentation itself — this past Wednesday, the 8th — this was the primary thing time was spent on.

We did find out that there was to be a board meeting on July 6th where our plan would be reviewed, but as the date neared that seemed like a lesser priority as it was not to actually be a decision made but just a review to inform them of our plans.

July 6th seemed like it had the potential to be disastrous when a schedule conflict came up suddenly and was to greatly alter the plans. By this point so much had been accomplished and things were moving along so well that there was no question as to whether the event was still going to happen; it was going to as long as God allowed it to; I was going to do whatever it took to still make the event happen, but it wouldn’t have been the same. It didn’t seem right either, so I started to wonder if this was really the right date for the project. Things didn’t make sense or line up. I made a few quick phone calls, not really expecting to get what I would have considered a good answer but determined to try everything first. With the first phone call I got approval on the church level to move the event a week later, to what would have been the rain/weather delay date. The second phone call, however, to someone in Walthill, resulted in a voicemail. I hoped it would be a matter of minutes or hours until I got an answer and could consider the switch to August 15th official, especially prior to the board meeting that evening, but by end of day it was pretty clear I would not. Later in the evening I decided to try sending an email message to one of the people in the Walthill village office just to check the schedule, see if they had any concerns about us making the change, and see about just finalizing the change if there were no other concerns.

The thing I now see about this in retrospect is that somehow during the few weeks of planning and preparation that had transpired between the start of the project and then was that the focus had started to shift away from God working out the details of something that he had clearly been involved in from the start, and instead to a reliance on planning and organizational skills. It took a while for me to “get” this because throughout Monday, especially in the evening when I wasn’t hearing back from anyone in Walthill, my attitude was not one of waiting or trusting but instead frustration that things weren’t “on track” for the project. God’s hand in the project has been evident so far, with reminder after reminder of this. So why was it so hard to just believe?

Ever have times when it’s almost funny to see how things work together? Tuesday morning was pretty much amazing to see how things happened. I got a response to the email I’d sent the night before and discovered that there was a major tribal event from August 6-9. That’s right, it would have completely conflicted with the plans for the 8th. We could have gone up to hand out fliers on the 6th or 7th and seen nobody, or gone on the 8th to set up the events and not had much turnout. Certainly wouldn’t have seen the tribal kids we’d really wanted to go back to. It would have ended up being a big disappointment and without the sudden need to change the schedule there’s a good chance we would have never known.

This wasn’t the last “bump in the road” as preparations for the presentation to the church on July 8th ended up being uncertain due to problems with the projectors at church that came up late morning Tuesday and threatened to not be resolved even by the time of the presentation Wednesday evening. Ended up having to modify a color profile on the computer to artificially alter the color being sent to the projectors (once they at least got a signal to begin with) resulting in things not being quite as sharp as desired… but it still worked out.

During the presentation we finally got to announce the August 15th(!) event to the church and were amazed that within thirty minutes of completion of the presentation, we’d already hit the suggested quota of additional volunteers! Despite a small turnout to see the presentation, the interest level was high in this continued work.

The music video, which has been posted in a couple places and linked to my Facebook profile (so check back in my posted items or videos to see it; there’s also a link to the presentation file itself there) featured photos of many of the kids we spent time with during VBS. Set to the song “Give Me Your Eyes” by Brandon Heath, the lyrics and photos went really well with the message we were trying to communicate.

“Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see”
…
“Well, I want a second glance
So give me a second chance
To see the way You’ve seen the people all along”

Also please refer back to the note I posted right after returning from Walthill (mid-June) recapping the trip in more detail including info on some of the specific kids we hope to see again.

At this point the event specifics have not been worked out for this second trip to Walthill this year. We’re planning food and games, but haven’t really gotten more specific yet. There’s still time, though the goal is going to be to have most of the details set before the end of this month. We would appreciate prayer as planning really picks up within the next couple weeks, and if the last few weeks are any indication there might be more unexpected hurdles to overcome. It’s seeming clear that with the ups and downs and all, there’s more going on than just the project in Walthill alone. There are spiritual lessons being taught through this effort as well. With so much already having happened so far as this event has progressed, it is going to be fun to see what God does and how he uses it in Walthill next month!

Specific details / FAQs.
–This is not a MTW-sponsored or MTW-sanctioned event. It’s being done at our own risk; MTW is aware of the event but is not formally backing it.
–This is being done with session oversight, as the elder at church who also served as our team leader is providing the necessary approval when it is needed as well as serving a a liaison with the local governments.
–At the moment, however, it is not an official church activity but rather an activity being taken on by members of the church. It is also not just “my” project though I am in the leadership and organizational role.
–Church groups from Lincoln and Grand Island will likely participate as well.
–Signup is now full for additional volunteers from Omaha. Depending on response from Lincoln and Grand Island, there could possibly be a few more positions available later, but in all likelihood the numbers from Omaha are complete.
–All can be part of the team through prayer, despite the hands-on positions being very limited.