CIA: Compassion In Action

Last weekend was an exciting one for team Haiti, as it was 12 Stone Church's CIA (Compassion In Action) on Saturday- The first time the Haiti team worked together! Last saturday over 1,O0o volunteers sporting matching gray CIA shirts were deployed to various locations in Atlanta and Gwinnett to do some kind of work in communities that need them the most. As for the Haiti team, we were among several who were sent out to a rough neighborhood in East Atlanta to pick up trash and tires that littered the road where children played and gangsters converged. As we worked that day, we were encircled by children of the neighborhood on donated bikes that they had earned by picking up three bags of trash each. It was like watching the embodiment of God's hand at work there through the O'Mara's bike ministry. The couple that hosted us for that day (and made a mean bowl of chili at lunch break) named Becky and Tim O'Mara, had moved into that neighborhood specifically for the purpose of cleaning it up and shining God's light into the dark places that dwell there and on Saturday we were blessed enough to do a little 'shining' there too.

We began by meeting at 12 Stone Church, all 1,O0o of us, to be debriefed and led through an amazing time of worship then be given the location we would be carpooling to, and set off by the carful to begin our work in the East Atlanta neighborhood. Once we arrived there we were given work gloves if we had none, and pepper spray in lieu of any grumpy dogs we might encounter along the way. After testing the pepper spray in the air by giving one "harmless" squeeze of the bottle, we rendered it extremely effective after the invisible mist of pepper spray hit a few of the Haiti team members in the face who were hanging out down wind, and sadly caused some extreme discomfort and watery eyes for about twenty minutes. But don't worry, it was pretty funny. :)

Becky and Tim gave us a map of the neighborhood with a course plotted for us to walk, picking up trash that's on the side of the road and bagging it along the way. Trash bags and claw-grabber things distributed, the Haiti team made good time as we quickly and efficiently rid the small neighborhood of its garbage, all the while laughing and joking along the way as we were in the presence off good company. We found all kinds of "treasures", and our own Deidrick Overby and Corbin Klett had a trash collecting contest... I'm not sure who won, although Deidrick did pick up a dead squirrel. Yuck!

It was a beautiful thing to see that day: college kids- a generation normally so caught up in themselves and egocentricity, now defying the stereotype in the name of Christ to take a Saturday morning and pick up trash in an impoverished neighborhood. The families saw what we were doing for their neighborhood and, I'm not gonna lie, it felt good when they thanked us. Here's a little bit of what they were seeing:

Our Second Meeting!

Last night we congregated together once again for the second meeting in preparation for our mission trips coming up in December. Just as last time, the teams entered into the room at 12 Stone Church to find aesthetically-pleasing decor resembling their countries origin on their team's table, this time accompanied by tasty foreign snacks. I myself couldn't help but break into a box of coconut cookies, while others on the Haiti team all passed around a liter of pineapple soda. I was only awakened from my state of coconut bliss when people began to stand up all around me; it was time to worship.
After a few amazing worship songs led by the talented Katie Morgan, we all felt spiritually awakened and ready to receive the message that pastor Miles Welch of our Water's Edge ministry was about to give. As he spoke, his message unfolded to be about opportunities in our lives... "How you make, manage, and miss opportunities will determine your life", said Miles. He went on to prepare us for "7 Opportunities in Short-Term Missions", and get our hearts and minds ready to be molded in ways we may not expect (or even want) when God does his thing on this mission trip. I won't write all seven of the points he made about opportunities we would see on this trip, but a few of my favorites include:

The opportunity to re-clarify our life's purpose for Him on this trip. To solidify God's calling on our lives. While on this trip, we will be asking ourselves "Is this more important that anything I could be doing at home?"

The opportunity to experience God as a provider. It's amazing to see him provide the finances and resources for this trip that we could never provide by ourselves.

The opportunity to grow in our servant heart. "When we begin to go to church to serve, and not be served."

And the opportunity to deepen and sharpen our prayer lives. "Pray because there is a God with the answers!"


I only put those few up for the sake of brevity, but each of the seven opportunities rang deeply within every one of us going on this trip, as a new commission to those who have never before done a mission trip and as a needed reminder to those who have. After Miles was done speaking the teams split up into their own groups, and got together for some team-only bonding time. It was then when we shared our testimonies with the rest of the group. As each one of us told our testimonies of how Christ came in or moved in our lives, we got to know each other just that much more, and we got to see how God is such an amazing person to each one of us in his own individual way. Each meeting the group continues to grow a little bit and get to know each other a little bit more.

Thank you for reading, and please continue to pray for us on the Haiti team. Please pray that we will continue growing and maturing and never stop seeking God in everything we do; all the way up to the day we board the plane and after. God Bless you all, and have a great week.

Prepare for Takeoff

Good evening Ladies and Gentleman, and welcome aboard flight 316 non-stop to the warm island of Haiti! This is your pilot Sarah Rice speaking, and Jesus is my co-pilot. Please fasten the Belt of Truth securely around your waste, and sit back as we prepare for takeoff…

Let the adventure begin.

Alright, alright, I couldn’t help myself. J You’ll have to forgive me if I begin to throw out cheesy lines like that one bumper sticker you just can’t quite peel off. It’s just too fun. Allow me to introduce myself:

My name is Sarah Rice, and I have the honor of being the Haiti author (one of them, anyway, for I’m sure this page will soon be graced with other team member’s thoughts as well). I go to Water’s Edge at 12 Stone, and love every minute of it. I can’t wait to go on this trip with my awesome team and see what amazing things God is going to do in our lives and the lives of the Haitian people we will reach out to. For the sake of keeping this blog focused on the Haiti team as a whole, if you want to know more about me you’re welcome to click my bio and do so.

On August 9^th the teams had their first official meeting! It was very encouraging, because all the teams seemed to mesh very well and God was tangible in the room that night. The four tables for each team were decorated with the countries flag, a few objects that represent that country, and individualized nametags with fun facts about the country on the back. Did you know that Haiti’s currency is the Gourd apparently? I’m not gonna lie folks, the Haiti team had the most chemistry… not that I’m biased or anything. As a matter of fact, we had SO much chemistry that once all the teams were deployed on an ‘ultimate icebreaker’ game to find clues and beat the other teams back to the room, we won. Of course. Now you may find a slightly different variation of the story on the Liberia team’s blog, who came in second and claims we cheated in the process of the game. I beg to differ, and I hope that you spare the Liberia team the same sympathy that the Haiti team has, as it is hard to accept defeat gracefully I’m sure.

So… who is this award winning team? Feast your eyes on these champions:
Starting from the top left we have Deidrick Overby, Sarah Rice (me), Katie Klempner, Daniel Oehrke, Emily Tuten, Holly Colgan, Eric Echols, and Corbin Klett. Bottom row left to right is Emily Fischer, Melissa Johnson, Sam Laubscher, Joshua Bohn, and finally our trip leader Yanni Illiadis. Wow we are good looking.




And now with a little personality thrown in:







There you have it. The amazing blazing Haiti Team! We are all so excited to go on this trip and each one of us are above all else excited to see God move in ways like never before. I am personally so amazed at the individual gifts of each one of these people, and we can’t wait to see how God uses each other in unique ways as a tool for his Kingdom. We believe that God allowed each of us to be carefully selected for the Haiti team for a reason, and we can’t wait to find out what that is.

So, dear Haiti blog reader, will you please pray for us as we start this adventure? The journey doesn’t start when we set foot in Haiti, on the contrary, the process starts now, here, and in each one of our hearts and minds as we begin the spiritual transformation process that it will take to be tools for God’s kingdom while we share Jesus’s love in Haiti.

That would be the first thing to pray about: That we will continue to grow and mature exponentially before we set foot in the country. That we will each take the next step in our walk with Jesus, and that we will be prepared mentally, physically, and most importantly spiritually for the things we will witness in the barren and torn country of Haiti, which so desperately cries out for a savior. The brokenness of Haiti and the acute desperation of the people call for strong spiritual warriors, and please make it your prayer that we will be just that. In a place where there is little clean water and lots of depravity this verse stood out to me the most:

“He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.” Rev 21:6

Please pray that we have the ability to not only nourish their bodies, but feed their souls as well. And thank you for your prayers. I can’t wait to continue to update you on the status of the Haiti Team, and I’m glad you’ll be reading along for our adventure.

So Ladies and Gentleman, please keep your head back and your seat in the upright position. Keep all hands and belongings firmly secured beneath the seat in front of you, and please remain seated while our God is in motion.