Our lesson was about being a gift to God. People are valuable and God cares for each one the same.    It is awesome to be a part of a church that reaches out to the community.  This year particularly, even during a recession that has shook many in our own congregation, I saw people with the heart of God give of themselves to bless others that are less fortunate.  Church members donated turkeys and other food items which were given to a parent from each site.  Volunteers went beyond the call of duty.  At one site, a couple of our volunteers baked cakes and knitted together stockings for all the kids.  The night of the blizzard, volunteers battled the weather to make sure the kids didn’t miss out on Power House Christmas.  Lives were touched.  This year I saw God’s love demonstrated.

See pictures of our event on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=photos&ref=ts&gid=68532346215

We have 3 more sites in Grand Rapids also 2 sites in Lansing next week.

If you want to come out to help just give us a call for information @ 616-261-3778.

• December 1st – Alexander Elementary 7 PM
• December 3rd -Traditions Apartments 6:30 PM
• December 7th – Sun Flower Apartments 7 PM
• December 8th – Clancy Street Ministries 6:30 PM
• December 10th – Acts Gospel 7 PM
• December 10th – Grace Korean Church 7 PM
• December 14th – Lansing 6 PM

Come out and join us!

We have some up and coming events for summer; Camp Ao-Wa-Kiya is coming up real quick June 15-19 we have 3 kids from Alexander going and two leaders along with two of our teen volunteers. The Springhill Camp is at the end of the summer break for the kids and will be August 17-21 and the rest of our sites will be sending their kids to this camp. It gives more of an opportunity for those sites that started their season a little later to pick out campers and to help them with fundraising for their campers.

The Adopt-A-Camper program is coming right along RezKidz offering is now at $761.13 and donations from Adults are at $662.92.

The carwash was a success and the kids who were there raised 309.77!!! We want to thank all those who helped support this cause by getting their cars washed and for their generous

donation. We also would like to thank Walgreens for letting us have our carwash fundraiser in their parking lot.

So here’s a list of summer activities for Power House:

• Camp Ao-Wa-Kiya June 15-19
• Car Show July 19th
• Springhill Camp August 17-21

PLEASE STAY TUNED FOR OPPERTUNITES TO BE A PART OF FUNDRAISING AND HELPING OUT WITH THE CAR SHOW

We baptized 29 kids including our 4 Power House kids.  In my opinion, the two most powerful events that we have here in Rezkidz/Power House is camp and baptism.  I love it!  After the kids got baptized, we laid our hands on them and prayed for them.  When it is all said and done, the kids had a special reception in their honor decorated like a Birthday party.  It was another awesome event.  Check out a few pictures from the event.

If you aren’t currently volunteering with Power House, but are interested, feel free to drop by the meeting.

jonl@reslife.org
(616) 534-4923

Each location had different attractions. At most of the sites we were able to get a money machine. Instead of putting money in the machine. We put paper in there. The paper would blow around and the kids would have to grab as much of it as possible and push it out of a little window. (We should have called it the candy machine) The more paper they grabbed and poked out of the window the more candy and prizes they won. One site had a local rapper come in and rap. A couple of sites that have large teen attendances were able to acquire some Christian rap CDs. These were given to the teens. (We’ve been having an explosion of teens this year.) Other sites had more of a laid back atmosphere where the kids and parents could come in, eat, and have a good time.

At Traditions apartments, the Christmas party was inside of a small apartment. So to get all the kids in, Sheldon and Lisa had to do 2 shifts. Half of the kids went to the first session and the other half to the second session. It was quite interesting.

Thank you volunteers and Reslife for making Power House Christmas 2008 a great success!

So far each site has been very diverse and added their own special flavor to the mix. On Tuesday, December 2nd, Clancy Power House held their Christmas. Clancy split up into two rooms. The teens and older kids went into one room and taught Pastor Jon the game of spades, and the younger kids were in the main room playing games of their own.

Sunflower’s Power House Christmas was on Monday, December 8th. They along with ‘Adopt A Block’ put on a great party with an open house type of feel. ‘Adopt A Block’ partners with Power House at Sunflower Apt’s. They have such an awesome heart for “community”, and reaching and helping families. ‘Adopt A Block’ never does anything small. They’re always thinking outside the box, or maybe it’s just that they are getting back to the basics. Their heart for community and family really is the picture of what God means by love your neighbor as yourself. Thank you ‘Adopt A Block’ for all that you do, partnering with Power House, and letting us minister the gospel to the kids and families you help.

Sunflower had a more relaxed atmosphere with lots of parents and adults who enjoyed the family style set-up. There were pictures with Mr. and Mrs. Claus and Christmas music. The kids and parents, alike, enjoyed the money machine. It was great seeing the diversity of people smiling, eating, and having conversations with each other. It’s wonderful to see how God brings us all together.

Alexander’s site was Tuesday, December 9th, and it was a great turn out. We had extra help from the DenBesten family and Mark Tanner and his family was also there. Mark was the paparazzi, taking a lot of pictures so we can share all the fun we had.

At Alexander we had Emayus rap for us, he rocked the house. The kids loved him; the way he throws a rhyme for Jesus is just crazy! He’s truly gifted and anointed. Shout out to Emayus! He was so gracious to help us out and do a guest performance for our site last minute after our other guests were unable to come because of another commitment.

We had a nice group of kids (very respectful) and it was good to see them arrive with some of their parents. We had 83 in all 97 if you count the volunteers. We were so pleased to end our year at Alexander with 14 decisions for Christ at our Power House Christmas. That’s what it’s all about!

All the kids that attended have a gift from Power House and everyone in attendance received a slice of pizza. The money machine, blowing colorful paper around in it, was a big hit at our sites so far. Thanks to a donor, we have the use of this fun piece of equipment to play with at our Power House Christmas.

I can’t wait to attend some more Power House Christmas’! We have 6 more left, if you want to count Mel Trotter, and I do, so I will. I am so pleased to be a part of what God’s doing in Michigan. I say Michigan, because we are branching out. He is the vine and we are His branches. I am just so blessed to see how God is expanding this ministry. When I started we had 6 sites and now we have 9 actively running and one that’s about to start up again, along with another new one that will be starting in Feb. in Lansing. That’s 11 sites all together. That’s almost double our number.

Well, stay tuned for more on Power House Christmas!

Char Chandler

Power House Intern

(This is a picture of the first site that we did.)

The team that we went out with do 3 sites a day, 4 days a week. They work 6 days a week, but do sidewalk 4 of the 6 days. Saturday is their bus ministry day. Sunday they have church. They were preparing for a big event the Sunday that we left. One thing that I noticed was that the Metro staff was energetic and had great attitudes. They were just as energetic on Saturday was they were when we arrived. Enjoy some pictures:

(Outside the window where we stayed.)

(The building where we ate and slept.)

(It was a cold day. This sidewalk Sunday school was literally on the sidewalk.)

(Our crew sorting candy.)

(A 9-11 memorial that I thought was cool.)

(Time Square)

(Some of the crew riding the subway.)

(The stage at Saturday bus ministry.)