GodSquad will participate in the Episcopal Charities annual Walk-a-thon on Saturday, October 7 starting at Grace Cathedral. Join us for an inspirational 12 mile walk through San Francisco , and visit the EC partner agencies working on behalf of the homeless, poor, displaced and ill. Funds raised through the walk-a-thon will benefit the social ministries of Episcopal Charities.
* Providing meals
* Building transitional and supportive housing
* Teaching job skills
* Offering recovery programs
* Providing childcare to single working parents
* Creating programs for people with developmental disabilities
* Tutoring at-risk youth
25% of the GodSquad funds raised will return to the GodSquad mission trip budget.
When: Sat, Oct 7; be at Grace Cathedral by 7AM - return home 3PM (breakfast & lunch provided)
Where: Grace Cathedral, 1100 California St , San Francisco
More inforamtion & forms: http://www.episcopalcharities.org/walkathon_06/index.html
Each participant (youth & adult) needs to collect a minimum of $35 in sponsors. Make announcements during Sunday services, ask for a blurb in church e-newsletters, be available during coffee hour to collect sponsorships, ask your family and your neighbors to support you.
Be sure to download the registration and sponsorship forms linked below.
Contact your youth minister by Sunday Oct 1 to confirm participation participation. Travel arrangements will be organized by congregation.
Episcopal Charities Walk-A-Thon Weblink
Each youth & adult must complete the Participant Registration Form
Collect donations & keep track with the Sponsor Form
We're talking the long way - check out the Route Map
If you need help asking for sponsors here's a sample Sample Request for Donation Letter
Post the Flyer of Event around your church!
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Reunion!
Mark your calendars! Bring your friends!
What? The Mission Trip Reunion
When? Sunday 9/17 from 4-6p
Where? St. Paul’s, 1924 Trinity Avenue Walnut Creek
Who? All Mission Trippers (open to friends in high school)
Bring a snack or beverage to share - it's a community thang (aka potluck)!
The Mission Trip Leadership Team agreed that leftover money from the budget will be donated to a charity of Dr. George & The Rev. King's choice. You are invited to contribute cash to increase our gift of gratitude for the time we spent with these two civil rights leaders. We'll pass a collection plate at the party!
Also - GodSquad Mission Trip Blog is being promoted on www.episcopalbayarea.org - check it out!
What? The Mission Trip Reunion
When? Sunday 9/17 from 4-6p
Where? St. Paul’s, 1924 Trinity Avenue Walnut Creek
Who? All Mission Trippers (open to friends in high school)
Bring a snack or beverage to share - it's a community thang (aka potluck)!
The Mission Trip Leadership Team agreed that leftover money from the budget will be donated to a charity of Dr. George & The Rev. King's choice. You are invited to contribute cash to increase our gift of gratitude for the time we spent with these two civil rights leaders. We'll pass a collection plate at the party!
Also - GodSquad Mission Trip Blog is being promoted on www.episcopalbayarea.org - check it out!
Monday, September 11, 2006
Sammy F's Sermon (Church of the Resurrection)
Response to the Epistle
Faith. Hope. Religion. Community. Love. Service.
These are a few reasons why 35 individuals took the journey to Biloxi, Mississippi to help rebuild the houses and lives of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. We began our trip with good intentions, but I don’t think any of us knew what was actually in store for us. We got the opportunity to touch the lives of so many people, and when that opportunity arose, we did not hesitate to take it. We looked at this mission trip as a privilege, not as a right. I believe we truly experienced the difference between giving charity and giving yourself through service. Charity is given when someone feels they need to contribute. Service is based on love, and a want to personally help the cause. I, myself, feel that the God-Squad lead their mission out of service. By the end of our trip, it was obvious that our motives were clear to all of us. We had come to do the work of the lord, with our own two hands. Not only did we make friends, and have fun, but we gave all of our love through service.
Faith. Hope. Religion. Community. Love. Service.
These are a few reasons why 35 individuals took the journey to Biloxi, Mississippi to help rebuild the houses and lives of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. We began our trip with good intentions, but I don’t think any of us knew what was actually in store for us. We got the opportunity to touch the lives of so many people, and when that opportunity arose, we did not hesitate to take it. We looked at this mission trip as a privilege, not as a right. I believe we truly experienced the difference between giving charity and giving yourself through service. Charity is given when someone feels they need to contribute. Service is based on love, and a want to personally help the cause. I, myself, feel that the God-Squad lead their mission out of service. By the end of our trip, it was obvious that our motives were clear to all of us. We had come to do the work of the lord, with our own two hands. Not only did we make friends, and have fun, but we gave all of our love through service.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Rob O's Sermon (St. Paul's, WC)
Our trip to Biloxi was life-changing and heart-warming, but I’m not going to lie; we had our fair share of drama on this trip, that’s just what happens when you put 30 teenagers together for an extended period of time.
There were times when youth felt disrespected and ignored by other youth, and some didn’t know what to do with these emotions, until it was too much for them to handle, and they had to let it all out. Paul says “Let no evil come out of your mouths.” But from time to time, again, I’m not going to lie, a few choice phrases, what my mother would call “bad words” and probably what Paul would consider “evil” escaped from more than a few mouths.
On this trip, though, we did help each other out. It helped to vent. Often when someone else voiced the frustration I was feeling, it took the edge off my own. I think it put us all in a better mood and a more receptive mood, where we could help each other out. Out of these same mouths would come good words. We would talk over our problems to other youth and put our own emotions and feelings on hold for someone else’s benefit. This helped us in turn, to turn outward, to focus on the problems of others (other youth and others in the community we were staying in), and to help them out.
On the second day of work, we were told that we would be tilling a lawn and then raking out all of the loose grass and vegetation. It sounded like very tedious and boring work, but we tried to keep an open mind as we drove out to where we would be working. The first thing I noticed when we got there was that it was a very nice neighborhood, many of the houses were the same size or bigger than the ones in Walnut Creek, and except for the lack of grass the homes appeared to be completely unaffected by the hurricane. I wasn’t the only one who noticed either, many of my friends were complaining saying thing like, “we might as well be mowing lawns in Beverly Hills”. So it was clear that from the start that not a lot of people felt very passionate about our new job assignment. The general grumbling, after a morning simmering in the sun, turned into a dull persistent buzz of discontent. The work was getting done very slowly, due mainly to all the complaining. Instead of raking, people were standing around and talking about how they didn’t want to be there. After four hours of accomplishing only a circle of tilled dirt, we went back to Camp Biloxi. Back at camp, the venting continued, but this time a few adults and other youth made some statements that changed everybody’s perspective. “We don’t know these people or their circumstances. Maybe there is a real need for what we are doing here.” “If we complain less, the work will get done faster.” “If you don’t want to be here, work hard, get the work done, and we’ll move on to someplace else.”
We realized that we shouldn’t question what work we are doing or what work needs to be done. That’s not why we went there. We should, as Paul put it in Ephesians 4:25: “Let no evil come out of our mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need….”. So, we went back to work tilling the lawn. Very few people complained and the work got done a lot faster. By lunch time the entire lawn was tilled, front and back.
When we helped each other with the work, as well as mentally and emotionally, we were able to grow more cohesive as a community, get more done, and have a better mindset about what we were doing, The experience, even the struggles we worked though, strengthened our faith in each other and our belief that what we were doing together was for good.
The experiences I had during the ten days on the Mission Trip taught me the following:
We are stronger when we work together. We are stronger when we use our words to build each other up. We are stronger when we trust that what we are doing together is good. And, together and strong, we can do a lot of good for others. Good that could be uplifting, even life-changing for those we helped in Biloxi, and also for us.
There were times when youth felt disrespected and ignored by other youth, and some didn’t know what to do with these emotions, until it was too much for them to handle, and they had to let it all out. Paul says “Let no evil come out of your mouths.” But from time to time, again, I’m not going to lie, a few choice phrases, what my mother would call “bad words” and probably what Paul would consider “evil” escaped from more than a few mouths.
On this trip, though, we did help each other out. It helped to vent. Often when someone else voiced the frustration I was feeling, it took the edge off my own. I think it put us all in a better mood and a more receptive mood, where we could help each other out. Out of these same mouths would come good words. We would talk over our problems to other youth and put our own emotions and feelings on hold for someone else’s benefit. This helped us in turn, to turn outward, to focus on the problems of others (other youth and others in the community we were staying in), and to help them out.
On the second day of work, we were told that we would be tilling a lawn and then raking out all of the loose grass and vegetation. It sounded like very tedious and boring work, but we tried to keep an open mind as we drove out to where we would be working. The first thing I noticed when we got there was that it was a very nice neighborhood, many of the houses were the same size or bigger than the ones in Walnut Creek, and except for the lack of grass the homes appeared to be completely unaffected by the hurricane. I wasn’t the only one who noticed either, many of my friends were complaining saying thing like, “we might as well be mowing lawns in Beverly Hills”. So it was clear that from the start that not a lot of people felt very passionate about our new job assignment. The general grumbling, after a morning simmering in the sun, turned into a dull persistent buzz of discontent. The work was getting done very slowly, due mainly to all the complaining. Instead of raking, people were standing around and talking about how they didn’t want to be there. After four hours of accomplishing only a circle of tilled dirt, we went back to Camp Biloxi. Back at camp, the venting continued, but this time a few adults and other youth made some statements that changed everybody’s perspective. “We don’t know these people or their circumstances. Maybe there is a real need for what we are doing here.” “If we complain less, the work will get done faster.” “If you don’t want to be here, work hard, get the work done, and we’ll move on to someplace else.”
We realized that we shouldn’t question what work we are doing or what work needs to be done. That’s not why we went there. We should, as Paul put it in Ephesians 4:25: “Let no evil come out of our mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need….”. So, we went back to work tilling the lawn. Very few people complained and the work got done a lot faster. By lunch time the entire lawn was tilled, front and back.
When we helped each other with the work, as well as mentally and emotionally, we were able to grow more cohesive as a community, get more done, and have a better mindset about what we were doing, The experience, even the struggles we worked though, strengthened our faith in each other and our belief that what we were doing together was for good.
The experiences I had during the ten days on the Mission Trip taught me the following:
We are stronger when we work together. We are stronger when we use our words to build each other up. We are stronger when we trust that what we are doing together is good. And, together and strong, we can do a lot of good for others. Good that could be uplifting, even life-changing for those we helped in Biloxi, and also for us.
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