I don't know if anybody is still reading my blog (not that I knew that anyone was before but that's beside the point), especially since I haven't posted in three months. But, for anyone out there in the cyber world who is actually reading this, here is my update.
For the last three months, I have been enrolled in the Ignite program (getignited.org), housed on the lovely campus of Life Pacific College. It is a discipleship program created to help young people discover who they are to be and what they are to while giving them a collegiate atmosphere and hands-on serving. Now that that has turned into some kind of campaign slogan, let's see if I can explain this in a way that actually sounds like me. I am here with 34 other people and we do practically everything together. We take freshman level Bible college classes together with our own Ignite professors and go on ministry outreaches in the area. We are split into four ministry teams, which are the people we do the outreaches with. The kinds of outreaches we do are the DreamCenter in LA, LA Mission, The Oasis (hang-out and Bible study for teens in Hollywood gangs and other teens), church clean-up, Foursquare Missions Press, Pick-and-Pray (picking up trash and praying where the team chooses to go), and THINK Together (afterschool program at a local elementary school). Every other Sunday we serve at a church in the kids department. I was at Christian Assembly in Eagle Rock helping out with the toddlers and pre-schoolers. The week that we weren't serving, we were visiting other kinds of churches. We visited the Spanish church La Iglesia en el Camino, the black church Faithful Central, the newly planted (as in 2 years ago) Warehouse church, and the local church CCV. I have made so many new friends and have learned so much in last few months. I have never once regretted my decision to come.
This Friday we leave for our mission trip to Kansas City, Missouri. We'll be working River Christian Fellowship church with an inner city church they have as well as the River of Refuge, a home for the working poor and future campus for Ignite in 2012. We will also be working with an outreach to the homeless and a group of us (including myself) will be going to do worship at a prison. It should be lots of fun, especially at the River of Refuge where we'll be doing deconstruction work . . . in 30 degree weather! Pray that none of us freeze. :)
But I have missed all my old friends from school and church. So I apologize to all my friends who I have not kept in touch with as much as I would have liked. Do not think that I have forgotten you. I want to keep our friendship if at all possible. So I hope to see you all sometime during Christmas break. I miss you all.
