Wanna See More Pictures

If you are interested in seeing more pics, and are not on Facebook, click on the links below to go to the media galaries at the remixyouth website.

Mission Pics v.1

Mission Pics v.2

A couple more pictures or our trip

Remix crew Out Singing with Cerebral Palsy Home
Saturday Workday cleaning the Soup Kitchen at St. Johns
James in Action at VBS on Friday Afternoon.
Sunday - Day of Rest and Rejoicing in Central Park
Our Monday Workday - Finishing up helping out NYSUM

Home Sweet Home

We pulled into the church on Monday Night at 10:20pm. It is a bittersweet feeling as it is great to be home, seeing and spending time with the family, have my own room back, etc. But it was such a great time with the youth and leaders of this team, that I miss them already. I am praying that the revelation that God gave to us, and the impression God's spirit made on us would not end, but would have a lasting impact. Please pray that God would seal the hearts of the students as they enter back into the real world.

Also, if you are planning on attending the Shareholders Banquet on August 23rd at 6pm, please email me at devin@thce.org to RSVP

We will Soon be home

Hi everyone... Wow, the week went so quick. I can't believe it is over. We are packing up our rooms after a great workday today. One team spent the day at World Vision, working in their warehouse. This is a nonprofit organization that is set up to meed the needs of the 10,000 homeless kids in the streets of NYC. The other team spent the day at 2 ceribral palsey houses working hard on landscaping and other outside needs. Again, it was a great day, and I am so thankful for God's grace to us.

We are hoping to leave at 6:30 or 7pm, and pending on traffic, we hope to pull in the church at 10pm. We will pass the cell phone around in each car and let you know how close we are.

If you read this at all before 10pm, please pray for our safety!!

In Christ Pastor Devin

Pushing through the fatigue, Excited for Rest!

Yesterday we had our last full day of ministry with NYSUM. We woke up Saturday Am, with very little sleep. It was clearly evident that if given the choice, many of the teens would opt for the "rest day" to be Saturday instead of Sunday. However we did not have that choice. We were encouraged that God wouldn't give us more than we could handle, and that we would really have to depend on His strength for the day!

AM Teams

- One team partnered with another church who held a "Lord of the Harvest" festival. there tasks were ushering and providing clowns and facepainters for the kids. Also Elie Pastor Barry and Major were out on the streets inviting people to the festival. While in that process, they were able lead a man to Jesus!!!!! God is so good!

- Another team went to "St. John's Bread of Life" for a workday. Those students were asked to clean the entire kitchen which was about the size of the commons room. It included degresing all the ovens, the exhaust fans, cleaning the grill, dusting the entire dinning area, etc. For those who have ever worked in a professional kitchen, it is not an easy task. Again, our kids worked hard, they stayed positive, and really did a great job!

PM Teams.

The night ministry went absolutely Amazing! Have the team ministered to women in a rehab home (Similar to teen challenge) and the other half ministered to a coffee house for homeless in manhattan.

At the end of the night, the Kids realized that though we are week, we God calls us to push through, he is our provider of all Good things!

Sorry this is short. We are leaving right now to relax in NYC and see the sights. We are going back to Brooklyn Tabernacle for a 3:30 service and then out for dinner. We are excited for a rest day. Kids slept in, and we are feeling refreshed already!

Pray for safety as we are out today. Pray for no rain and good weather. Pray that we have a time of joy as we rest in our Lord. Pray that the service today would seal all the good things that God has been doing in our hearts!!!

Love to you all

Pastor Devin

Quick update for Friday August 7

It is currently 1:46 am. We just shut the lights off and the students were in bed about 2o min ago. It was a very long but beneficial day. The following is a quick summary

AM TEAMS

- Another day at "POTS" kitchen for all the students who didn't go yesterday. Served over 200 people again with smiles and joy. Kids worked in ways parents wouldn't believe!

- VBS, day 3. Another amazing day of reaching the young kids at First Church of God. This church felt so blessed by the ministry of our kids that they planned a special service for us after the VBS to show appreciation. This included thank you cards, special songs and a lot of thoughful words. It really touched our hearts~

PM OUTREACH

- We all split into 2 teams to go and reach homeless at night with food and toiletry kits and tracks. Some Students had really great conversations and time of prayer with the people. Others had very challenging conversations about faith in God. We sensed "spiritual warfare" starting around 5pm, and we knew why. But God is good, and we trust the word that were said, and the prayers that were heard made an eternal difference in the lives of the people we met.

REFECTION TIME

- we met back at NYSUM around 11"30 and shared our "God sightings", along with some of our brokeness we had for those people on the streets who are hurt and hopeless. After hearing the kids handle it with maturity and understanding, I AM TRULY AMAZED AND UNDERSTAND WHY HE HAS US HERE IN NY. God totally took the level of Ministry and difficualty of getting out of our comfort zones up 5 times compared to what we would be doing in Costa Rica. And I see God using it to sharpen and mature these students.

GOD IS SO GOOD!

PLEASE PRAY FOR US TOMORROW. FATIGUE IS AN ENEMY. WE HAVE ONE MORE DAY UNTIL OUR DAY OF REST. PRAY THAT WE CAN FINISH WELL. PRAY THAT WE WILL BE PROTECTED. PRAY FOR GODS HAND ON US AND HIS WORD IN US!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

PASTOR DEVIN

It was a Stretching time, It was the best of times!

Just ending the day (Wednesday) here in NYC. In awe of God's goodness and faithfulness, and how he is using these students.

A summary of the different ministry and work that we completed today......

VBS..- Day two. This day we were more prepared, knowing the age range better. The students did amazing and they served in puppets (Emily, Erik, Andre), giving the lesson (Dayna), teaching the craft (Victoria), and helping with the craft and game times, (Davey, Cierra, Taylor, Major). One quick story is on day one there was a boy, who was completely out of control. We tried to love him, and at one point Casey took him aside to talk with him. It didn't seem to affect him. When we had reflection time on Wed. night, we shared how bad this little boy was (I think his name was jayln). When new students served today, a couple of them were looking for jayln to reach out to him. But didn't notice any boys mis behaving. They said today he was so good, that he totally blended in with everyone else! Its amazing what God's love can do!

P.O.T.S. Soup Kitchen....(Part of the Solution)....the other team in the morning served at a small soup kitchen for homeless or anyone who wanted to come. It was this little tiny eating area for the people, with six small tables. The tables only sat 22 people in total. It was very fast moving, and we fed 150 people in the first hour, and 275 total. The Students worked really hard (harder than I would ever expect!) and it was a great time giving to those who have nothing. Loving them, smiling at them, serving them food, pouring their drinks, treating them special. Alot of them really appreciated it and I could tell it made a difference!

In the evening (After dinner) one group went to another cerebral Palsy home. This home only had 5 guys and 1 girl, and there was 14 of us. It was a great time to sing with them, dance with them, play games, and just love them. These people get no attention, and as we were singing "your love is deep" doing silly hand motions, I was really amazed how much God loves these 6 people who the world forgets. The students each took turns to share what Jesus meant to them and it was an honor to do that!

The other group got to go to Times Square....but not how you would expect. They dressed up as clowns, and walked around time square allowing people to take pictures of them, and interacting with the people. They had bibles, tracks, and lots of love. They also had to ride the subway in NY in clown gear. Yes, going to Costa Rica is a cultural experience, but this was a time where they faced their fears in clown outfits. Again, God gave them strength, passed out lots of bibles, and had some really great times to talk with people in NYC.

Tomorrow, the two groups are going to flip in the morning, one again at VBS for day 3 and one again in the soup kitchen. Then we are all going to go out and reach more homeless tomorrow night.

We need prayer for....

• Strength, as we will be out late tomorrow night
• Protection as we minister tomorrow night
• Divine encounters with the people God wants us to encounter.
• Hearts of compassion....For the people that we serve. That we would keep our eyes on the needs, and not ourself!

Thats it for now. I better get some sleep as 5:30 comes quick..

In Love,

P. Devin

Some Pics from Monday, More Coming

(Reflection Time at the end of Monday)
Our team serving in the Kitchen for Dinner
Our team who went to the United Nations on Monday

A full and exciting Day 1 in NYC!

Today was adventure, as it always in when you are in missions. But God is amazing, heart for people and compassion for people is so much greater than ours. We are just his vessel of what he wants to do.

Durning the Day, our group of 28 people split into 2 teams. Team 1 went to a VBS, and team 2 went to the United Nations to join a prayer meeting that they were having.

The VBS required lots of flexibility, since we were ready to do a program for 7-11 year old kids, and instead had 3-7 year old kids. So everything we had planned had to be restructured to that age group. Our students did great, and so did Pastor Josh and Dave Biddle. As Pastor Josh kept the kids attention, Dave Biddle was coming up with idea's for the kids of that age, and was giving it to our students and Pastor Josh! The Church members were really touched by us going out and serving, and we are really looking forward to 2 more days of VBS.

The other group who went to the UN had a surprise too. They were expecting a big prayer gathering, huge hall, lots of flags, etc. Instead they were led into a tiny room to pray with only 10 people. They prayed with them for about a hour and left. But encourage that they could be an encouragement to some of the UN employees.

In our debriefing time, the students were sharing how its so "God" that he takes what we think is going to be a huge trip to Costa Rica, and the shrinks it down to NYC. And then takes the huge thing of going to the "UN" down to a little room and just a few people. And the students shared how they think God is trying to teach us that it is in the small things that Gods works the greatest. I really felt that it was a divine revelation for the kids!

We all got back around 3ish, relaxed till dinner, and then split up again. One team went to Ceribal Palsy apartments to minister to those less fortunate. We Sang them songs, talked with them, and just showed them love. Each person with Ceribal Palsy had a mind of a 4-6 year old. So we sang songs with hand motions, got the puppets out, and sang a couple of our church favorites for them. We came back around 8pm, and the other team was still out, so we took some time to pray for them as they were serving.

Team 2 went to a homeless shelter to pass out food, and talk with people. It was really amazing to see the kids when they came in, and how they were effected after not only seeing homeless people, but talking with them, listening to them, and praying for them. it was truely touching, and we knew God really worked through them. I attached a short clip of one of the kids testimonies via video, but read 2 others testimonies first

Tonight we went to the homeless shelter and I believe that all of us were touched and moved. The men and women were on different paths of life than we were. If things have worked out a lot better in their paths of life, they wouldn’t have chosen the drugs, alcohol, and intense sadness that came upon their lives. We saw many people who were in need of many things. All I could think about was what I personally wanted to give to them. I noticed that Pastor Barry was just standing looking at all the men and women, and in the corner of my eye I saw a middle aged man walk up to him. I turned my head and I heard that man ask Pastor Barry for his bible. Pastor Barry looked at his bible and gracefully said “yes”. He had such an amazing look on his face when that one book of words reached his own hands. It was just amazing to see all of these people being helped and having our blessings. I truly believe that we encouraged them to pursue God and make something true and big about their life. - Taylor Bagley

Today we participated in a VBS with pre-k kids, It was exciting to play with the kids. All of the kids where having fun and participating with the activities that we presented. The children enjoyed the puppet show that we put on. Once we began to pack up the teacher asked the children to grace us with a song. The four of the children stood up in front of the class and began to sing, It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Later that day our group went to a homeless shelter, when we first got there the group was timid and shy. Once we pulled out the sandwiches, waters, and hygiene products people began to crowd around us. Most of the people just wanted what we brought with us, but others were pulled to us with a deeper desire. We began to pray for the people who came to us, I was touched by the way the people opened up to us. When we came back to the NYSUM facility we all shared our god sightings, today was a touching day for me and I’m looking forward to the rest of the week. - Andre Scotland

Thanks so much for your prayers. PLEASE KEEP THEM COMMING! We NEED THEM. We need prayers for....Wisdom, Strength, Boldness, Safety, Power, Love, Compassion, and focus! Tomorrow we are at a Soup Kitchen and VBS in the AM. In the evening we aren't quite sure what we are doing. Please pray for us! Thanks.

I just want to thank Andrew Lemon, Christian Simanca, Pheobe & Angela Wurst, Eric, Steve, and all the others who held REMIX without us there! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

In his Grace, and by his Grace,

Pastor Devin

We arrived at NYSUM SAFELY!!!!

Hurray! We are in Queens! We arrived safely at NYSUM today at 2:45pm. We got our stuff in our rooms, picked bunks, and then headed right to orientation. At orientation we got to understanding of what exactly NYSUM does, and all the rules we need to follow here.

After our hearty spaghetti dinner, we took the Subway to the Brooklyn Tabernacle. For those of you who haven’t heard of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, it is a very large, beautiful church that has been founded on Prayer. They started a Tuesday night prayer meeting years ago, with just a couple people. Now hundreds of people come out each Tuesday night to pray. Actually there was probably about 1500 people just to pray and worship God. It was really powerful and encouraging. The pastor spoke a brief 10 min. message on giving of yourself. He said that as we step out of our comfort zones and “pour out” ourselves, God then pours into us and through us. It was really encouraging cause it was exactly what we needed to hear. Another cool thing was that the worship pastor opened the service with the same scripture reading as Pastor John Shared on Sunday Night. Cause of that, all the kids know that even though Costa Rica didn't work out, this is where we are suppose to serve. We got back to NYSUM around 10:45 and had a time to talk together as a group about our day, and the service. And now it is time to call it a day.

Please pray for Strength - especially the leaders. We will probably only get 5 or 6 hours sleep a night!

Pray for the Kids as the serve the VBS service tomorrow, and as we go out to the Homeless shelter tomorrow night.

Pray for saftey, and wisdom for all of us. Pray for more of his Holy Spirit to empower us.

I was reminded of a saying based on Romans 8...."God doesn't Call the Equipped, but Equips the Called!!!" May Jesus Equip us for what he has planned tomorrow!

As I mentioned before, if you have any encouraging words for someone on the team, or the whole team, email it to me at devin@thce.org.

Leaving Tomorrow at 10am!!! - Prayer Requests!

(Team Members Not Present in the Picture - Taylor Bagley & Pastor Josh Torres)

We are all excited to be leaving tomorrow morning. I am sure half the kids are still packing there stuff, and sending out all those last minute text messages! Please pray that we are safe while we travel. I am very thankful for Rob, Dave Jacques, and Grantely Smith for driving us to NYC. Pray also that no one forgets anything and that there is no setbacks!

Also, please pray for the leader's families who are staying behind. Jess Blankenbiller & Kids, Christina Torres, Sophia & Adam Brown, Rita Leinheinser, Sidney Biddle.

Tomorrow Night we will be going to the Brooklyn Tabernacle for their Tuesday Night Prayer Service. Please pray that God would speak to the youth and leaders as we take time to pray and "tune" our hearts to his. I pray that God would give us a heart for the people we are serving!

The following is a schedule while we are in NYC So that you will know how to pray. Each day we will be split into 2 teams.

Tuesday, 8/4 Estimated Arrival at NYSUM: 3:00pm
4:30pm – Orientation – Room B3
PM – Brooklyn Tabernacle Church Prayer Svc – both teams

Weds., 8/5 AM
Team 1 - First Church of God – VBS Program
Team 2 – UN Prayer Walk
PM
Team 1 – The Living Room – Homeless Shelter
Team 2 – Staten Island Survey Evangelism

Thurs., 8/6 AM
Team 1 – First Church of God – VBS Program
Team 2 – Day Laborers Ministry
PM
Team 1 – Cerebral Palsy Friendship Evangelism
Team 2 – Times Square Clowns – Street Evangelism

Fri., 8/7 AM
Team 1 – POTS Soup Kitchen Ministry
Team 2 – First Church of God VBS Program
PM
Team 1 and Team 2 – Homeless Ministry

Sat., 8/8 AM
Team 1 – St. Johns Bread & Life Work Day
Team 2 – Lord of the Harvest Service
PM
Team 1 – Apples Core
Team 2 – The Living Room – Homeless Shelter

Sun., 8/9 VISIT Local Church in the AM, Relax and see NYC!

Mon., 8/10 Cerebral Palsy Work Day (9am-3:30pm) Teams 1 & 2
7:00pm – Departure back to Calvary Assembly of God

Team Building Training at Marsh Creek.

On Sunday, the Missions team spent the day together in preparation for our trip. We spent the Morning at New Beginnings Church, where we had the opportunity to perform a drama for them. We then traveled to Marsh Creek State Park were we ate, and also did lots of fun team building activities. It was great to see the kids working together, encouraging one another and coming together as a team. We ending our time reading through the story of David and Goliath. It is a popular bible story, however it was interesting to read that originally, David wasn't going out to the battlefield to fight. He was just going out to take food to his brothers. He wasn't going to fight, just to serve. We were encouraged that even though our plans changed up, we are going to go and serve NYC in any way God calls us to.

Fun Fair at Calvary AG!

This Saturday was our Annual Fun Fair at Calvary AG. This presented another "Training" opportunity for our Missions team as we were preparing for our missions trip. Most of the students helped run the wide variety of kids games and blow ups. Some students were daring to work with Pastor Josh (Children's Pastor) and walked around as clowns bringing joy to the many children who were there. The Children's Safety and Fun Fair was a great success and it was an honor to serve as a team!

Plans Change, From Costa Rica, to NYC

Plans Change, From Costa Rica, to NYC

As many of you know, we have been extremely excited about going to Costa Rica as a missions team, to serve the people of BriBri. However, I got a call last week from Experience Mission, cancelling our trip due to Swine Flu issues that were concentrated in the BriBri reservation. This was sad news, but we really feel that God still had a plan for us. So we are now Going to NYC to serve with "New York School of Urban Ministry" (NYSUM). We will be leaving on August 4th, returning August 10. The students have taken the news well, and feel that it isn't were we serve, its how we serve, and its who we serve (Jesus)! Please pray and check out this blog for updates.

Below is the letter that was written and is being mailed out to all of the donors!

July 27, 2009

“In his heart a man plans his course,

but the LORD determines his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

Dear Donor,

I want to start by personally thanking you for donating to the Calvary Assembly of God Youth Missions Trip ’09 to Bribri Reservation in Costa Rica. Your donation was very appreciated and we have been extremely thankful to all the donors who gave towards this mission.

I got a call last Tuesday (July 21) from Experience Mission, which is the organization that was planning our trip. They called to let us know that there were four confirmed cases of H1N1 (Swine) flu virus in the Bribri reservation. Some of the cases being a young boy who was part of the VBS program they were doing. They also informed us that Costa Rica as a country was having a new outbreak of Swine flu, and from July 15 through July 24th, there has been about 250 new cases and 8 new deaths. Because of this, the Missions Organization cancelled our trip to Costa Rica. I was upset when I got the phone call, but also knew that safety had to be first priority when it comes to making decisions about the Youth of our Church and was fully supportive of that decision.

I have been really excited about our team of 20 students and 8 adult leaders. We have been training together and I know the God has a purpose for us during that week, if not Costa Rica, then somewhere else. After many days of prayer and leader meetings and 20 phone calls, we choose another ministry opportunity.

On August 4th our team will be traveling to Queens NYC to partner with New York School of Urban Ministry (NYSUM). We will be doing a variety of Urban Ministry and service work. Some of that work will include; soup kitchen outreach, homeless shelter outreach, church VBS ministries, coffee house ministries, construction work projects, etc. We will be Leaving a day early, and coming back a day early (Aug 10th). I was really amazed at the peace the kids feel about this trip, and the way they understand it is not about who we serve, its about how we serve.

We wanted to contact you and inform you about this change since you are one of the donors of our trip. Our money that was used for our flights will be held on Credit for up to one year, and will be used (Lord willing) on an overseas missions trip next year. Our money that we paid to Experience Mission will be transferred to NYSUM to cover our costs in New York. So technically, your donation will go towards two missions trips, one this year, and one next year. If you are not content with your donation being used for NYC instead of Costa Rica, and would like a refund, please call our church office and we will accommodate that request.

Thank you again for donating and supporting the youth and leaders at Calvary Assembly of God. Please pray for us as things have changed so recently and we don’t feel quite ready for this trip. But we believe that God strengthens the weak and uses the least likely, and we are excited to be his followers, no matter where he leads us!!

Sincerely

Pastor Devin Blankenbiller

Youth Pastor, Calvary Assembly of God

Serving In Kensington

This Saturday, July 11th, our Costa Rica Missions team partnered up with the Southeastern Section of the Assemblies of God to help them with an outreach for the community. It was a great time to serve the people in Kensington Philadelphia, knowing that we are training to go and serve others in Costa Rica real soon! We have this time available to us, since almost all of our financial needs have come in!!! Praise God!