The CCJ Blog

God Bless the U.S.A.

2009-07-04T18:02:00.004-04:00

May God continue to bless the United States. Could America be blessed because we're the most generous country in the world? Or does He spare it for the righteous sake? After spending a week in Haiti, I am more THANKFUL for:

A beautiful Home

Electricity...Fridge, washer-dryer, air conditioner (and heat), an indoor stove, TV, etc.

Clean water & Sewers...running water, clean bath water. I can even brush my teeth in it!

Green grass and a lawn to mow.

Windows to wash and a lake to enjoy with a pontoon boat.

A job and enough money to buy what we Need and a lot of stuff we don't.

Family with a long life span and good health and still thank God when they're not.

A BLESSED church to worship God in with wonderful Pastors and friends.

____________________________________ Etc. etc. etc. etc. & etc. !

Fill in the blank for yourself and thank God He chose to let us be "Born in America" !

House Of Hope "Almost Ready for Children"

2009-06-30T13:29:00.004-04:00

I' m posting these pictures in hope that you'll get as excited as we are. The HOH is almost ready for kids! Hopefully by fall some of our children will be starting school at Blanchard. We still need to dig a well and get a generator and purchase funiture and appliances before we open.

This is Patrick with Allison Breininger and her daughter, Maya, age 2 1/2 yrs. old. They were staying at our hotel awaiting signing final papers before taking her home to Minn. It was taking longer than hoped and they we running out of toys to entertain Maya, so Patrick shared one of the Matchbook cars that he'd brought down with her. She stole all out hearts partly because she's the age of the children we'll be taking into the HOH to raise.

This is my granddaughter, Kalah, with one of the children in the nursery at the church in Blanchard. He was dancing to the worship music and Kalah feel in love with him. He also is the age of the children we will be supporting.

This little angel was also at the Blanchard church. She's holding Livia's teddybear that Darrel brought to Haiti for Livia. There's just something in the smiles of theses little ones that makes you feel like you're looking into the face of God and getting hugged by them is just indescribally pure love.

Haiti Mission Trip Pictures

2009-06-29T22:54:00.009-04:00

It's good to be home but we all left our hearts in Haiti. We got alot done. Soon, it will be home for several children whom otherwise wouldn't have a change to grow, feel safe, go to school, learn about Jesus, learn to support themselves and hopefully make a difference in their country.
We want to say thanks to everyone who helped send us. We gained more than we gave! Thanks for your prayers...continue to pray for the House Of Hope. We still need to dig a well and get a generator. The children are ready.....waiting for a place to call home, with loving parents.

Blog pick me up - Post 3

2009-06-26T11:40:00.003-04:00

We got bumped off the page so I'm reposting the game :).

So here's the deal...I'm posting links to movie screenshots. If you think you know what movie the screenshot comes from. Post a comment. The first person to answer correctly gains 5 points. I'll keep a running tally as to the overall score...the first person to 100 points wins. You can, however, only post one answer at a time. Once you recieve a response from me, you can guess again :). That keeps anyone from posting 5 different guesses at once.

Here's the kicker. CCJ staff and their families are excluded from winning the prize. However, they can guess, rack up points, and frustrate others who are trying to be the ultimate victors!

Not all movies will be recent, not all will be well known. I'll do my best to post at different times during the day and a variety of genres. In closing, my decision of awarding points is final...confusing, vague or misleading screenshots are par for the course. Sticklers for the truth will need to start their own game ;).

Haiti Team

2009-06-26T01:24:00.003-04:00

We're home! Praise the Lord for a safe and productive trip. We have many exciting stories to "share." (The quotation marks are an inside joke....guess you had to be there.)

We completed painting the inside and outside of the orphanage.

It's 1:30am.....I'll post more pictures later. Right now, I can't wait to sleep in my own bed.

Thanks to everyone who lifted us up in prayer and helped us financially. We couldn't have done it without you.

Haiti '09: Day 8 (Thursday)

2009-06-25T23:07:00.001-04:00

The crew is on their way home. Pray for safety and happy reunions.

Haiti '09: Day 7 (Wednesday)

2009-06-24T18:22:00.006-04:00

A HAITI UPDATE FROM DARREL:
I thought I would try to give you an update on our week in Haiti. This has been an amazing week for all of us and for the House of Hope. Of course you know the week started off with us arriving with only two of our bags. The awesome thing is that all of our painting supplies were in those bags. God provided for us so we could get to work and the rest of the stuff didn't matter much. The team really worked hard and today we were able to leave the House of Hope compound knowing the whole building was painted inside and out. It is so hard to believe this dream we had a few years ago is coming to a reality. In the next month the kitchen will be finished and the well will be dug. After that we only have a few loose ends to tie up and we will be ready to open. Leon assures us it will be filled right away and there will be a waiting list beyond that. We will begin with 6 to 8 boys and 6 to 8 girls. I am just in awe about how God is pulling this off.

Thanks to all of you who have helped and prayed for us and thanks to a great team down here in Haiti. They have worked so hard. We did get to spend a day at my favorite spot on earth (Wahoo Bay Beach). Tomorrow we fly out. Please pray for safe and good travel. We can't wait to share all about our trip with you all. God bless and have a good rest of the week.

Haiti '09: Day 6 (Tuesday)

2009-06-23T21:15:00.002-04:00

More from Darrel's Facebook:
"This little girl Miya is staying at our hotel. She gets to go home to her new adopted family soon. She is the exact age (2 and a half) of kids who will be entering the house of hope orphanage CCJ is starting.

Hotel Guard.

Haiti '09: Day 5 (Monday)

2009-06-22T16:26:00.004-04:00

Darrel says via Facebook

This morning: "back to work .... Things are going great."
This evening: "hottest day yet. Great day of work. There is at least one coat of paint on everything and two on most. The plumbing and electrical is far along. House of Hope will be up and running in no time."

Here are some more photos I stole from his Facebook page:

Haiti '09: Day 4 (Sunday)

2009-06-21T21:49:00.004-04:00

The gang went to Haitian church services today. This is a photo from Glenda of her granddaughter, Kalah, with some Haitian kids.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.

UPDATE: Here's two more from Glenda.

Also, looks like Glenda and Ken's computer is back up. Glenda says, "I laid hands on my computer and prayed for God to fix it and gave it a nights rest and yesterday morning ....IT WORKED! Praise God."

Haiti '09: Day 3 (Saturday)

2009-06-20T21:36:00.005-04:00

As Darrel said in the previous post's comments, blogging is sparse in Haiti because a good Internet connection is hard to find (sorry, Ken, about your laptop - that stinks).

Here's some updates from Facebook.

Darrel:
"Ready to begin work" (7:30 a.m.)
"Loving dinner tonight. We had great fish" (7:30 p.m.)
"The gang is going to 3 Haitian church services in the morning."

Some More Photos:

Stay tuned ...

Haiti '09: Day 2 (Friday)

2009-06-19T22:30:00.005-04:00

Looks like the Haiti updates will come via Facebook status updates. For those of you not on Facebook, here are some sparse updates.

From Darrel:
Update # 1: "No luggage yet but we had a great first day on the job."
Update # 2: (Two hours later) "We have our luggage..... Praise God."

From Glenda:
"Just got back from painting the orphanage. A few are in the pool....who happen to have swimsuits! Got a lot done today. Put on primer paint. After I get some rest and cool down, I'll try to down load pictures."

More to come ... hopefully.

Photo via Darrel's Facebook.

Haiti '09: Day 1 (Thursday)

2009-06-18T22:40:00.002-04:00

According to Holli (Darrel's wife) "our crew in Haiti has no luggage. None of it made it there. They will check with the airport tomorrow to see if it has been found."

Hopefully, the luggage will arrive soon. Keep them all in your prayers.

UPDATE: Glenda e-mails and says ...
We had an uneventfully good trip. Got here with 4 of our 24 pieces of luggage, Kalah's and Christina's 1 each and 2 full of paint brushes and rollers and L and XL t-shirts to paint in. Praise God. The rain kept us off line last night. Going to work today (Friday) and go back to airpot to see if our luggage is back this afternoon. God is GOOD!

Generation Change 2009

2009-06-14T15:18:00.004-04:00

Pictured is the first graduating class of 'Generation Change.' This is basically a shortened Financial Peace University for students. This class will begin their adult lives with knowledge that so many others never had and, hopefully, they will hold on to what they learned and use God's principles for their individual financial lives.

Congratulations to these students for taking the class and finishing up.

From left: Chelsea Reinbold, Ricardo Ramos, Melissa Allen (instructor), Jade Dorsam, Malia Reinbold, Kacie Cooke, Patrick Deel, Ryan Shipman, Justin Vertin & Alex Zehr (instructor).

House of Hope

2009-06-13T19:32:00.004-04:00

I am so excited! Five more days. I wonder what color paint Pastor Leon got for us to paint the House Of Hope. Yellow is my favorite color. The guys will be putting in plumbing and electricity. I will be posting pictures and updates again. I'll bring back a bracelet for the posted comment who guesses the right color.

CCJ Summer Carnival 2009 Photos

2009-06-07T22:06:00.002-04:00

See the full photo album on CCJ's Facebook page. FYI: You do not have to be a Facebook user to see the photos.

Thanks to all of the great volunteers (there were too many to name one by one) and organizers of the day. What a great time and opportunity to spread the love of Jesus simply by giving something back to the community we live in.

Camp Illiana

2009-06-01T16:50:00.004-04:00

I enjoyed visiting camp today. The kids are having a great time already. (Uh...looks like the dorm dad's are too!)

It certainly is off to a good start. The temp was hot but there was a cool breeze and those who got to go to the pool today appreciated the cold water.

Darrel & I had the missions class this morning, talking about Haiti. We were so excited to see how interested the children were in our work there. They had lots of great questions for us.

Pray for good weather the rest of the week and for the strength of the workers, esp. Darrel who has way tooooo many things going on this week!). And the hearts of the children to be receptive to the Lord and for their safety.

College Bible Study

2009-05-28T09:54:00.002-04:00

The summer community college age Bible study has begun. We meet at CCJ Wednesdays at 9 PM. This year’s overall theme is “I Am Not a Fan” where we are focusing on becoming a deeper committed follower of Jesus instead of a casual fan. We had 14 for our first study and we hope to see more. For questions email darrel@ccjasper.com or cathy_scherle@yahoo.com.

CCJ on Twitter

2009-05-27T22:14:00.005-04:00

CCJ is now on Twitter. Resistance is futile!

Don't know what Twitter is? It's kinda like the status updates on Facebook (which CCJ is also on, if you didn't know). Twitter consists of condensed, brief and to-the-point blurbs about things that are happening. It's a great way to get up-to-the-minute updates, etc.

Go sign up today and start following CCJ.

Blog "pick me up" - post 2

2009-05-24T21:46:00.002-04:00

Since my initial post was getting pushed pretty far down, I thought I'd put another one up :). So here's the deal...I'm posting links to movie screenshots. If you think you know what movie the screenshot comes from. Post a comment. The first person to answer correctly gains 5 points. I'll keep a running tally as to the overall score...the first person to 100 points wins. You can, however, only post one answer at a time. Once you recieve a response from me, you can guess again :). That keeps anyone from posting 5 different guesses at once.

Here's the kicker. CCJ staff and their families are excluded from winning the prize. However, they can guess, rack up points, and frustrate others who are trying to be the ultimate victors!

Not all movies will be recent, not all will be well known. I'll do my best to post at different times during the day and a variety of genres. In closing, my decision of awarding points is final...confusing, vague or misleading screenshots are par for the course. Sticklers for the truth will need to start their own game ;).

ReThink: Serving Slide Show

2009-05-24T18:22:00.003-04:00

This was shown during "God Of This City" on May 24, 2009 to highlight the events of the previous Sunday (the day of community service CCJ dubbed "ReThink: Serving").

Happy Birthday, CCJ! (and Darrel, too)

2009-05-21T12:13:00.001-04:00

Today is CCJ's 9th birthday. It also Darrel's birthday. Happy birthday to both!

Getting To The Heart Of The Matter

2009-05-21T09:41:00.004-04:00

Has Christian America Come To An End?
By Mark Driscoll
Pastor, Mars Hill Church

Has Christian America come to an end? That question has been hotly debated since Newsweek published their recent feature story reporting that the number of Americans claiming no religious affiliation has nearly doubled since 1990. Additionally, the percentage of self-identified Christians has dropped ten points in the past two decades.

As an evangelical pastor with one of America’s fastest-growing churches in one of its least churched cities, I do not find the report surprising or discouraging. Newsweek missed the subtle — but vital — difference between Christian America and Christendom America.

Read the rest >>

I grew up in the Bible Belt (Tennessee) and I am extremely familiar with the so-called 'culture wars.' For instance, the church I grew up in had record burnings in the early 1980s, we watched "Hells Bells: The Dangers of Rock and Roll Music" in the early 1990s and we watched a video about abortion in Sunday School class. We did the "Pure & Sure" thing. We did the door-to-door campaigning against liquor by the drink in my hometown as well. So, yeah, I'm steeped in the 'culture wars.'

Having a background in this, I've heard so many times that we need to "take America back." This response (the article above) reflects my views about the matter. I think we've lived under a false impression for a long time and the recent polls shouldn't discourage so much as clarify what has really been going on for decades in our country.

Christendom America is comprised of those people who have not had a truly transforming experience with Jesus Christ and are living lives virtually indistinguishable from those who are non-Christians. The confusion is that it was common in Christendom for people who did not practice Christianity to profess Christianity. This was often done for social reasons, such as living in a culture that expected church affiliation, being born into a religious tradition and assuming it was simply part of one’s identity (like a cultural or racial connection), or personally, socially, and vocationally benefitting from being connected, even loosely, to a church or denomination. Researchers such as George Barna have documented the fact that, as Jesus himself said, not everyone who says he or she is a Christian is in fact one.

OK, did anyone else have as much fun as I did on Sunday?

2009-05-19T22:29:00.004-04:00

I worked at the county museum, and I had a blast!

We cleaned up display signs and chairs, painted walls, swept and dusted - stuff like that. It was my first time painting! And I met some more CCJ folks who I didn't know before.

Who'd of thunk serving others would be such a great service to me too?

How was everyone else's sites? What did you do?

CCJ @ 9: Front Page Photo Details

2009-05-17T13:37:00.003-04:00

Here are the details from the photo group on the front page of ccjasper.com this week.

First row from left:
2000: The early days in the Jasper 8 Theaters (picture scanned from from Saturday feature that ran in The Herald in late 2000).
2001: Building dedication for the warehouse building on Cathy Lane. The building was formerly owned by Canteen and was a full-on warehouse with oil stains, a not-so-lovely smell and uncovered walls.
2004: Sunday services on a Strassenfest parade float in August 2004. This was the first year the band played on a float.

Second row from left:
2005: Fall kickoff in late August 2005. This is the first year the inflatable jumper appeared at CCJ.
2006: Easter services at Jasper Middle School. CCJ was growing and didn't have enough room for Easter so services were moved to the JMS Auditorium.

Third row from left:
2007: First Sunday in current facility. Feb. 4, 2007.
2008: Additional staff helps CCJ. Mark came aboard in mid-2006 and Ryan joined us in early 2008.
2009: Breaking ground for building expansion. A week or so ago.

Feel free to share your thoughts on life at CCJ these past nine years in the comments.
What are your favorite memories and what are looking forward to seeing God do with the church in the future?