Reflections from Cleveland

I wanted to write a reflection on my first short term mission trip for several reasons but maybe the most important one is so that I can always look back and see how my thoughts have changed. Being that my trip to Cleveland, OH was my first, it will always hold a special place in my heart. The lessons were numerous and it was very cool to see God show up in so many ways. In the end, I hope this post encourages you to journey out and see all that God is doing!

My Church, First Baptist North Mobile, entered into a partnership with Gateway Heights, which is a new church plant in the Cleveland Heights area of Cleveland, OH. Our partnership, as usual, only exists by the grace of God. Gateway Heights is located in a trendy area of Cleveland in what used to be a theatre that showed pornographic films. You often hear that God is redeeming all things, but I was blessed to see it firsthand! Not too far from GHC is a neighboring city called East Cleveland. East Cleveland is a poverty stricken area made up of mostly African American families. While other churches in Cleveland have avoided this city, GHC refused too. They strongly believe that God has called us to share His love with all peoples and that He seeks to see this city redeemed as well. GHC has done amazing work in East Cleveland in just three years and FBNM has been a big part of that. Together we have done block parties, canvased the neighborhoods to record needs of the residents and other projects as well.

FBNM and GHC would team up again in 2014 to further impact the city of East Cleveland. I was so blessed to be a part of it and overwhelmed at all the grace that was showered upon us. GHC has plans to plant a church in the city of East Cleveland and so everything up until this point has been done to foster lasting relationships. This year was no different in that our goal was to put on a basketball tournament for young kids so that Ben, the pastor GHC has selected to lead the church plant, could make more inroads with the people of East Cleveland. Our word for the week was flexibility and as it turns out would be an important one.

Our team arrived in Cleveland on Tuesday. We checked in and then headed out to meet with some of the GHC pastors to get an overview of what the week would entail. On Wednesday we got up early and headed to the gym where the basketball tournament would be held. After being there for a bit and only having a few kids show up the leaders decided that because a lot of the kids were in summer school that we should change the tournament night time. While this may not sound like that big of a deal, it really opened up a lot of free time for our students, which is generally not something that you want. We decided instead of going back to the hotel that we would go canvas the neighborhoods and pass out fliers for the tournament. It was intimidating yet fruitful to go around knocking on peoples doors and inviting their kids to come play while at the same time letting them know why we are there and that we care. Moving the tournament to night paid off big as lots of kids showed up. It was really neat to see the FBNM students and leaders start to build relationships with these young people. The good news of Jesus Christ was proclaimed to all the participants and the first night of the tournament was in the books.  

Now that we had adjusted to the tournament being at night Thursday looked a little different than before. Our down time had shifted to in the morning so we headed out to a nearby park to walk a long Lake Erie and spend some time in God’s creation. We headed out from the park back to GHC to split up into teams for some other planned projects. GHC needed help getting their building cleaned for Sunday as well as a landscape project for a house that they acquired and intend on selling. A family that attends GHC decided to give away a house in nicer neighborhood close to the church. GHC along with other teams from FBNM have been working over the past year or so to get this house ready to sell. Currently GHC’s worship leader lives there. Our job this year was to do some landscaping and cleaning around the house. After our projects were over we headed back to the gym for night two of the basketball tournament. Once again there was a good showing of young people and our team was able to continue to build relationships. Ben (the pastor who will plant the church) was able to proclaim the gospel again, as well as build meaningful relationships with lots of kids and parents. Much like the first night, the second night was a success all the way around.

Friday looked a lot like Thursday with landscaping projects in the afternoon and the basketball tournament at night. The one exception was that we got to walk the streets of East Cleveland just praying for the city and the people there. It was definitely one of my favorite experiences of the whole trip. Friday was also special, in that you could really see how much the people of East Cleveland appreciated us being there. It was so neat to see racial barriers destroyed as they have no place in the church. Christ died for all peoples. I was really blown away by how quick relationships were formed just on the basis of showing that someone actually cares. One of the biggest things that I will take away from this trip is the power of loving on people in Jesus name. On Saturday we spent the whole day at Cedar Point Amusement Park, which was just insane. This is just a quick overview of what we did in Cleveland and cannot even begin to detail all that God did.

It seems appropriate that I finish up this post with a few thoughts on what I experienced in Cleveland. There were lots of things that impressed me but two stand out. The first would be the seriousness of the conversations on the bus as we traveled to and fro. I have heard story after story of short term mission trips being Christian vacations and I never got that feeling about this one. The students were engaged with biblical conversations all over the bus. They were telling each other their stories and really paying attention to what the leaders had to say. I will say that the leaders on this trip were phenomenal in consistently speaking about heavenly things. Students imitate their leaders, and when the leaders are serious about the things of God it rubs off on the students. I saw that first hand this week. The second thing that really stood out to me was the students desire to do all things to the glory of God. Immediately our schedule was messed up, which made things difficult, but our students were very good about being flexible. There was very little complaining. The students who were with me while we did landscaping, canvassing and prayer walking were awesome. Specifically speaking of the landscaping project, I was really impressed with how hard all the students worked and they did so without whining about it. I was very proud of them for taking a seemingly meaningless task and seeing the bigger picture of why they were doing that task. I cannot overstate enough how well they handled whatever circumstance was thrown at them because they started to understand that they joy found in Christ is unshakeable. It really made my week. 

I will have one or two more posts with thoughts on other issues that came up during our week in Cleveland.

Blessings,

Drew