Hey everyone, we got to Atlanta! Praise the Lord! We left Nashville around 7am this morning and got to Atlanta just in time to have lunch and go out on our first Mission Project! Our first project was going to Atlanta’s ‘Underground Mall’, which is exactly what it says, an underground mall! While we were there we were encouraged to share Christ with someone we didn’t know, what a challenge! You would be amazed at how our kids came through, almost all of them appoached someone and many ended up praying with people! It was awesome!
After that we were able to go through the Martin Luther King JR, Museum. What an amazing man of God! You need to listen to some of his sermons, I heard ones today that I never knew even existed! He makes you want to go out and live with Passion! Funny, isn’t that what we all really want? To live with Passion? And here is God saying, “follow me with Passion and see what happens!” yet we make excuses or let time go by and never get to experience the joy of living with a PASSION! HOW SAD! I pray we here in Atlanta will come back with Passion, because I believe that is what will really lead to true LIFE in HIM! Life is too short to just live!
Please keep praying for us, there are so many oppurtunities to witness, but also so many oppurtunities for God to open OUR eyes and OUR hearts! I think we are going to be witnessed too more than we witness to others!
Tonight we are able to get to bed a little early, but tomorrow is going to be packed. The food isn’t great, the accomodations are lacking, but God is here with us and we are excited about what HE wants to do! We miss you all and wish you could be here with us!

Having fun in HIM!
Pastor Matt

ps…everyone is still alive and good! Just HOT!

So today was the first day of our TSM 2008 Mission Trip! To say the least it was not the best start! I arrived at Enterprise rent a car at 7:30am only to find that they did not have any of the 3 cars I had booked back in March. They assured me they were near by and took me to the first Van…in CAROL STREAM! It took 40 minutes to get there and another 25 to get back, therefore getting me to the church at 9:20am! I was hoping to leave at 10am and still thought we might actually pull it off as Enterprise promised me the other van and car would be at the church by 9:30am.
Well to say the least, the other van got to the church at 10:15am and the car was upgraded to a minivan and that got there at 11:40am. So we got out of Naperville 2 hours later than I had planned! What a day to practice ‘Gumby’ (being flexible on mission trips because plans always change!). To make matters worse, the route we were taking to Indianapolis was a route I could drive with my eyes closed! My family and I have probably driven that route 10 times in the last 10 months, and I have NEVER missed a turn. But still I missed the I-294 exit, putting us behind another 30 minutes! We finally got on the route at about 12:45pm and made it safely to Nashville at 8pm.
After arriving in Nashville we met up with my Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky who guided us to downtown Nashville to eat at ‘Hard Rock Café’. We had a great time there eating together and then walking the Nashville strip.
Now it is 11:40pm and it feels like 3:30am! The guys are already asleep and the girls are getting there. I just keep reminding myself of the verse, “do not worry about tomorrow…” So I am headed to bed confident that tomorrow will work out fine! I know God is going to work even if our schedule doesn’t. We had a great time together today, we didn’t lose anyone, and everyone is excited about tomorrow! In Youth Ministry, that is about all you can ask for!
Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will get up at 6am and head out around 7am so we will get to Atlanta around 12noon. We should get there just in time for lunch and the afternoon outreach they have planned. Continue to pray for us and check our TSM Blog for more updates! Everyone is fine and having a great time!

Having fun in HIM!
Pastor Matt