Lift Camp is coming up July 20 – 24! The deadline to turn in your money and forms is this Wednesday, July 1! Here is a list of what you need to turn in:

LIFT CAMP PERMISSION SLIP
Download it here.

EMERGENCY MEDICAL FORM
Download it here.

WAIVER AND RELEASE FORM
Download it here.

ONLINE REGISTRATION & FORM SIGNED & TURNED IN
Do that here.

We’re back this Wednesday! Come on out at 6:30pm as we start “Breaking Down Revelation”!

Today was our last day of serving and ministry. We started off the day by serving our church. We partnered with Tony Brown to help with custodial work throughout ABT. We cleaned The Temple Auditorium top to bottom and then moved over to The Bridge and did the same. We also worked with Kirk Kemppel to finish the project we began on Tuesday in the control room at the top of The Temple Auditorium.

Pastor Ed came down to Connect, thanked the students and prayed for the food that was provided by Subway. Eat fresh! Thanks so much to the Jarvis’s!

Next we went off to our last day of 5 Day Clubs. We had 12 more decisions for Christ between the clubs! That makes 48 for the week!

After dinner, (Papa Johns!) we had amazing time of reflection and worship for about 2 hours! God has moved this week through our students. They are on fire for the Lord in a way that I’ve never seen in a youth department at ABT! Mission Akron week may be over, but now our team understands that its ALWAYS Mission Akron. Senior High Connect isn’t the future of ABT, they are part of the present!

Check out some photos here from the day.

We’re off to the Alive Festival all day tomorrow. Don’t forget to follow our hour-by-hour updates on Twitter! twitter.com/connect316

Another incredible, inspiring and life changing day. We began our day at the Haven of Rest Ministries in downtown Akron. We spent the morning volunteering in various areas from landscaping to laundry and bedding to food services. So much needs done to make that ministry run as smoothly as it does. What a pleasure to serve there! Its only by the grace of God that we aren’t living somewhere like that.

Ukali White was given the opportunity to speak at the chapel service. He brought a powerful message that brought 6 people to a saving knowledge of Christ!

After lunch, which was a huge make-your-own-taco/burrito buffet, we headed out to our 5 Day Clubs. 2 more souls were added to the kingdom of heaven (1 at Mason Park and 1 at Summit Lake) and all of the relationships between the kids and the students grew even more.

We all came back to ABT for dinner. Lauren, a resident at the Abah House, spoke to the students and shared her powerful testimony of how Jesus changed her life in a dramatic way! God doesn’t make junk and she is living and breathing proof that our students could relate to.

God is good!

Check out some photos here from the day.

Don’t forget to follow our hour-by-hour updates on Twitter! twitter.com/connect316

We started the day knowing that we were probably getting wet and dirty at Abah House. We did. But we finished all of the landscaping and construction despite the weather. The students spirits stayed high and they finished the projects with smiles on their faces!

After coming back to ABT for some much needed showers (we smelled!), we had lunch and took off to our 5 Day Clubs. God held back the rain for each one as we dropped them off and more souls were added to the kingdom of God. We’ve had a total of 28 people accept Christ through the efforts of our students so far this week.

Then to dinner, which was amazing as usual. Let me just speak for the entire Mission Akron team when I say that we have been so well fed this week by our kitchen crew and from the donations of our church congregation. We appreciate it so much! This may be the first mission trip that I will have gained weight on!

After dinner it was up to The Bridge for our mid-week rally. It started with a slideshow showing what we’ve done this week and then an amazing time of worship with The Bridge Band. Jamey Ragle then spoke and challenged not only the students, but the congregation in a powerful way. The students we’re blown away!

Another amazing day that the Lord made!

Here is the slideshow:

Check out some photos here from the day.

Don’t forget to follow our hour-by-hour updates on Twitter! twitter.com/connect316

Wow! What an amazing day! We started the morning asking ourselves how we can let God work through us in a better way. He answered loud and clear.

Our first project was here at ABT in the Temple. We moved a ton of old equipment down from the highest part of the building. Lots & lots & lots of stairs. But the time and money that we helped save the church was worth the hour we spent.

At 10am we took off to Stan Hywet Hall for a tour. What an amazing place! And to think its in Akron!

After lunch it was back to 5 Day Clubs. Some amazing and heartbreaking stories. But this was the best part of the day, because very single club had at least 1 child put their faith and trust in Jesus as Savior! One of the clubs actually had 6 kids commit their lives to Christ all at once! The students have done an amazing work in there area in only 2 days and we have 3 more days to go!

After dinner we went back to the Abah House for 3 hours to continue our landscaping and construction. We made some great progress with the retaining wall and the new patio in the back of the house. We should be able to finish everything tomorrow morning when we go back.

Please continue to pray for good weather as we continue this week!

Check out some photos here from the day. We were only able to get pics of 1 club yesterday and 2 of the other clubs today. We’re going to get to all of them by the end of the week.

Don’t forget to follow our hour-by-hour updates on Twitter! twitter.com/connect316

We began our day with a devotion where the students were challenged to look at how God can use their abilities for Him. After beginning our day with some quiet time with God, we packed up and went to the Abah House over near Firestone Park.

Abah House is a Christian home for women who have been homeless, incarcerated or living at risk and whose lives have been tainted by bad choices. Click here to read a story about it.

While we were there we started landscaping and working on some construction projects inside and outside of the house. We’ll be going back there tomorrow evening and Wednesday morning to finish up. The students again worked hard and get made a lot of progress.

After lunch, we headed out to our 5 Day Clubs in the inner city. God showed up in a big way! Our students were pretty apprehensive at first, but once they got there it was obvious that God had these clubs set up for them. 2 kids accepted Christ today and a lot of seed was sown. There are too many stories to type about or I would be writing this blog all night! So you’ll have to wait til the Mission Akron service on June 28 to hear some of them. I will say this to ABT, be proud of what your youth department is doing! They are out of their comfort zone and loving it. The impact they are making in just 2 days has been awesome. And to think they still have 4 more days of Kids Clubs to run! We’re praying for God to keep working through us.

After dinner, former Starboy (motorcycle stunt team that started in Akron) Jim Frazier came into Connect to speak to the students and share his amazing testimony. A life of drug addiction, alcoholism, fame and fortune; redeemed by the blood of Jesus! Amazing and inspiring!

Check out some photos here from the day.

Don’t forget to follow our hour-by-hour updates on Twitter! twitter.com/connect316

Today was a lot of work. Both ministry and labor. We spent the morning hours at Grace Park in downtown Akron. Its across the street from the Haven of Rest. A lot of homeless and down and out souls that need to hear the hope that we have in Christ and the love that He gives. We handed out free doughnuts and coffee to whoever came by and took some time to minister to them. We also took trash bags and cleaned up the entire park. Just like yesterday, our students worked hard and cleaned up that place like new! At around 10am we sang a few worship songs and gave an invitation. A few people stuck around to talk further. God definitely moved through the park and through our students.

We ate lunch on the bus, and then headed out to the COMPASS Center that is run by True North Ministries for mentoring juvenile delinquents. We painted about 4,000 feet of fence over about 4 hours! We had a cookout with burgers and hotdogs and headed back to ABT for devotions, showers and preparations for tomorrow.

Check out the photos from today here.

5 Day Clubs start tomorrow. Please pray for good weather, safety and favor with the people we encounter.

What an awesome group of students and adult leaders we have for this week! We had a pretty productive first day. Only one project because of the half day, but it was well worth our time. After checking in and little bit of laying the ground rules for the week, we headed out to Peggy Oeschger’s house, widow of Dr. Dave Oeschger who was such an integral part of ABT for many, many years.

We had 14 yards of mulch donated by Mulch Makers in Barberton to move and spread. We only had about 3 hours to do it! Not only did we finish in time, we finished an hour early! With Larry Knight helping to lead the charge, the students really worked hard and I didn’t hear one complaint. When God’s people come together with a common purpose, we can do amazing things!

Check out some pics here.

Tomorrow we will be at Grace Park in Downtown Akron ministering to the homeless. Pray for souls to be touched and lives to be changed for eternity through the love and service of our students.

Stay tuned to connect316.com during all of Mission Akron for daily updates & photos from the trip! You can also follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/connect316 for minute-by-minute progress updates!

For those that are part of Mission AKron, be sure to meet in Sr. High Connect between 11am and 12pm this Saturday as we begin our mission! You can enter through doors 5A and 5B.