An awesome end to an awesome summer!
Last weekend was amazing! We had 29 high school youth spend the weekend at church as they came together for our annual Heart and Soul Weekend.
On Saturday, the youth were broken into teams and sent out in the Peoria community to serve the Lord. A team was sent to help with the American Cancer Society’s first “Walk-N-Roll”. Their leaders were so excited that we were there helping and many times expressed their appreciation. Another project was a car wash that benefited a local organization called Paws Giving Independence (PGI). In the end we were able to raise $600 for PGI which will sponsor at least 1 service dog for an entire year. Finally, our youth were sent out into the community and knocked on doors giving people information about Redeemer’s ministry and asking for food donations to fill our pantry at Redeemer. Through their hard work, our youth were able to collect more than 600 items for Redeemer’s pantry!
On Sunday, we concluded our weekend with a powerful worship service at 10:45 a.m. The Service was designed with themes and songs from the 2010 National LCMS Youth Gathering. After the amazing Worship Service was over, we celebrated with some pizza in the Life Center as youth and adults who attended the Youth Gathering were able to share pictures, videos, and stories of how God impacted them during that experience.
This summer our kids have had a lot of great experiences and have certainly done their best to serve, love, and praise the Lord! It has truly been an awesome summer and I look forward to seeing what God is going to do with our kids this school year. They know what God has done for them in Jesus, and they are fired up! We are going to provide a lot more opportunities for them to grow in their faith and share that faith with others! Get ready… This is NOT the end, it’s just the beginning!