Web Presence Update

Well, in about two weeks we have made our mark on the web. When you type "Main Street Chapel" into Google Linda's video comes up as #5 entry on the first search page. Nicole is #6. A Wikipedia listing also shows up for Main Street Chapel, but I don't know how long this will last. The editors of Wikipedia decided Main Street Chapel wasn't notable enough to be in their encyclopedia, so they deleted my entry! I guess we are going to have to show them :-)

Give Away Help

Last night a mix of college students and community youth worked together to get the Give Away squared away. It took forever, but they got it done :-) I wasn't there because I had to work, but Dorcas said Nolan got things going and everyone worked hard. We are ready for Sunday, except for the 400 hotdogs Tyler, Nolan, Joe and Daniel are donating. We are expecting to have quite a few hungry people! Hopefully the weather is nice.

Church in Da 'Nati (Cincinnati)

Here is a picture of our church with a few of our youth standing in the front of it. It isn't much. Just a two story building, but a ton of stuff goes on in that building. We had 82 people in there just a month ago. People literally bounce off the walls. Of course, they literally bounce of the wall (sometimes they leave holes) even when it isn't packed. For some reason that is the game when they are flirting. Pound the person you like into the wall :-) I haven't figured that out yet. 90% of our church is under the age of 25 (me too!) and most are unchurched. It has been an awesome ministry to lead and I like seeing the changes our youth are making in their lives. It won't be long until they are making changes in other people's lives.

More Give Away Prep

Today we spent getting ready for next Sunday's Give Away. Here is the team that helped. Dorcas is taking the picture. It is a free yard sale we do to build a reputation in our community as a caring church. We got everything in order except for the clothes. There is still an enormous pile of clothes to sort through and get ready for next Sunday. We need to get some fliers made up as well to pass out. Our teens did a great job of getting the word out last year.

Give Away Prep

Today was spent getting ready for this Sunday's giveaway. Our give away is like a free yardsale. This will be our second give away. Our first give away was the first Sunday in December 2007 and it seemed to be a big hit. We had over 150 people come into our church and everyone was saying that they hadn't heard of anything like it before. The picture is two people who came. On the left is Vickie. She was a prostitute at the time, but I recently heard she is in a program that is helping her get off drugs and learn some job skills. I forget the other lady's name. I think the Give Away was a major step in building our reputation in the community. It created a little bit of a buzz and people thought about it for a short while after it happened. I think that doing another one could help to strengthen our image to the community as a church that wants to help. A lot of times this is the image churches want the community to have of them, but they never really do anything to make it reality. I am curious how well our give away is going to do. We have just as much stuff as last time, but it is a different time of year. In December it was cold, so people wanted clothes and Christmas was right around the corner so they might have been getting presents. June is a little different. Its hot, so people may not be as interested in clothes and there aren't any other reasons like Christmas presents to get stuff. Still people like free stuff and downtown people need stuff. It seems like it won't make that much of a difference. I don't know! I guess we will find out. Anyways, today we had a van load and a half of stuff leftover from the God's Bible School & College yardsale to take down to Main Street Chapel. It was hot work, but Nolan, Tyler and Daniel helped, so it went pretty quick. They seem excited about it. It seems people are willing to volunteer to help with stuff when it seems like it is really helping others. Plus, they got a free lunch out of it!

Driver's License Experiment

A few months ago I promised Justin I would help him get his driver's license this summer. I called my insurance company and they said I could add him on for free as long he only had his training temps. So, today we decided to try to take the written test. I let him know Monday to start studying. He read through the whole book which is a big accomplishment for him :) I quizzed him a little bit and we decided to go ahead and give the test a try. I figured he would probably fail, but maybe God would intervene and he would pass. Well, that was as far as we got because he did not have his orginal social security card. He had a photocopy of his S.S. card and a birth certificate (the middle name didn't match), but the driver's bureau said it wouldn't work. So we spent 2 1/2 hours downtown at the federal building to get a printout of his S.S. card. I will keep you updated on Justin's progress.

Main Street Chapel/Teen Power

The ministry I pastor (sometimes I feel more like a social worker:)) is located in the heart of Cincinnati's inner-city. The neighborhood is called Over-the-Rhine. It is known as one of the worst neighborhoods in Cincinnati. I have been helping in the neighborhood for 5 years. I started pastoring when I was a sophmore at God's Bible School & College. I got to know Dorcas (my wife) while working at Teen Power. A growing youth ministry got started while we were students, so we decided to stay and continue to work with the youth after graduating and establish it into a full-fledged church.