youth art team meets culture fest 2013

The Youth Art Team set up a table the other night at Waterloo's Culture Fest and displayed a little teaser for their December 2013 photo exhibition.  Each student from Youth Art Team picked one of their photos from this Spring's project to be represented at the Culture Fest.  Check out a few photos below:

Staff/Board Community Day April 22, 2013

Yesterday, 50 Orchard Hill Staff/Board Members hopped on two buses and went out into our community for the day.  The three objectives of the day:

1.  To lay the biblical foundations for the following principles of serving:  Christ-centered, relational, wholistic, development.

2.  To listen deeply and look more broadly around our community.

3.  To build our staff/Board relationships and to have a fun day together.

Here's a peek at our day together:

 We hopped on two of Dolly's party buses for our excursion. 

Travel time offered a little chance for conversation, a multi-cultural awareness survey, and taste testing fun foods from Mexico and Bosnia.

We started the morning at the River Loop Public Market in Downtown Waterloo.  

Over some pastries and coffee, Julie Kiefer spoke about the Public Market, we did a diversity exercise, and we read/discussed part of John Chapter 4...Jesus and the Samaritan at the well.  

Who do we spend our time with?  This exercise helped us examine the levels of diversity in our relationships.

Across from the Public Market is the Youth Art Team's peacock mural.  

Heidi shares the foundational principles of Youth Art Team.

Our next stop was La Cosecha Hispanic Vineyard Church in Downtown Waterloo.

At La Cosecha, we listened to pastors, Jorge and Nuriz, share about their calling and  ministry to their congregation.  

Next, we were off to the Salvation Army for lunch.  

The Salvation Army provides a community lunch five days a week.  We joined other guests for a meal together.

Faithful servants at the SA lunch line.

After lunch, we stopped by the Salvation Army's Family Activity Center and listened to Lindsey and Megan share about the after school and summer programming available for the young people of the community.

Tim B. interviews Rick, one of the chaplains at Tyson Meat Packing Plant.  Tyson's is a faith-friendly environment, and Rick shared about his ministry among employees...many of which are immigrants to our community.  

Judy M. shares with a group about the journey God has taken her and George on with relocation into the neighborhood.  

Emma shared about Christ's work in her through the loving support of Christian Community.

Stained glass window in the new Almond house dining room

The group took a "Before" tour of the home recently purchased by Mike and Laura.  They also prayed in various rooms of the house.

Brian shared with the group about the Jobs for Life ministry that he leads.  

We closed out the day with worship and closing remarks in the OHC sanctuary.  

Fuzzy joined us to lead us in worship of our great God and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.  

partnership prayer walk

A sunny and wonderful morning to gather with friends from Harvest Vineyard and Orchard Hill Church to share pancakes together and to prayerwalk throughout downtown Waterloo.  Prayerwalking is such a powerful way to connect us with God's heart, to bind us to each other, and to grow God's heart within in us for our community!  We closed by saying the Lord's Prayer while stretching out as far as we could across the 4th Street Bridge...a sign of Christ's power to reconcile across divides and as a commitment to build bridges through our partnership!  Thanks to God for Patti and Brian, members of our partnership team who planned this powerfully good partner experience!

more pictures from Haiti

Oh, the children.  Their beauty was everywhere.  

We had the pleasure of getting to know Evelin as we served beside her family to pour a concrete floor for one of her neighbors.

The top soil is so thin in this region of Haiti.  Just below a thin layer of dry dirt, is a soft limestone that seems to go forever as you dig.  Despite the difficult growing conditions, UCI is modeling and teaching ways to farm successfully.  They have a whole garden of cabbage that are growing and thriving.

Elakin is just one of the teen boys that is a part of the church and the missional work  of UCI.  I look forward to seeing his faith and leadership develop in the coming years.

Sustainable food sources for local Haitians is a priority for UCI.  You see potatoes, carrots, beets, and greens  here about to be cleaned and made into something delicious for the team.

Darwin, a member of our team, worked alongside three Haitian friends all week as they cemented posts around the perimeter of the university.

A beautiful phenomena one afternoon...a perfect sun dog ring around the sun.  

Larry, my dad, is sitting here with Nelson, an ex-witchdoctor who has become a follower of Jesus and  is sharing Christ's love with his community.  

The bakery in Bohoc has the most delicious bread...especially when eaten  warm from the oven.  

My daughter Sara's favorite part of the trip was playing with the primary children during their recess time.

Jimmy, right, teaches his brother, Favo, how to build cabinets for the University cafeteria kitchen.  Jimmy learned the trade in Port au Prince and has been working with some of our team this week as well.

UCI has recently hired an accountant.

Team members stop and pose here with the principal of UCI's primary school.

Arivol was a fantastic friend, brother in Christ, and interpreter for us during our stay in Haiti.

These little guys, as well as most of the children, loved the camera and  loved seeing themselves right after  a picture was taken.  

somebody's watching

During my time in Haiti, I didn't realize how much I was paying attention to JeanJean and Kristie's leadership.  Without a lot of intention, I was watching and learning from their leadership.  I watched how JeanJean moved in groups and in one-on-one's.  I noticed his speaking habits and his listening habits.  I heard him talk about how he gets up around 3 a.m. each day to study, as that is about the only time when things are quiet and still for him.  I observed how he reacted in moments of alarm (one of our vans pulled out from the side of the street and hit a motorcyclist in front of the market.  The three on the moto had some scrapes, and it gathered quite a crowd with a lot of excited voices.  I watched JeanJean take charge, and he ended up asking one of his drivers to take the three to his house to get cleaned up and bandaged.  I also saw him stop the singing at church, remind everyone to keep focus on the one we worship, not the music, and exhort everyone to pray on the spot for a young woman in the congregation who was struggling in the service and in need of prayer.) I observed how he developed young leaders around him...when he stepped forward and when he stepped back.  I watched him with his family, and I watched him have fun and laugh with a whole variety of people.  I also noticed how he involved the Orchard Hill team, how he encouraged us, how he created several opportunities for mutual listening and learning from one another, and how he fostered a strong sense of partnership.

I also watched Kristie as she homeschooled her daughters, kept the schedule of events lined up, cared for the employees, the OHC team, and students (both college and primary), and how she organized and kept a pulse on everything that was happening.  I listened to her laughter and watched her play throughout the week.

I noticed both Kristie and JeanJean's flexibility and their never-ending stream of welcome and hospitality and kindness. I watched their commitment to each other in marriage and ministry.  I watched their relationship with Christ and their unshakeable convictions in the Word of God.

None of these are actually things I set out to look for or study.  I'm around strong leaders everyday back at OHC, and we spend a good share of time in leadership development conversations.  But because we were in such close proximity to each other all week in Haiti, there were leadership observations and learnings that came with shadowing UCI leadership for 8 straight days.  This surprise takeaway has me considering my own character, personality, style, habits as a leader.  It's causing me to reflect some on what people who are watching are receiving from my faith walk, life, and leadership.  Somebody's watching you, too....what are they observing?

mutuality in partnership

I loved seeing the blessing of mutual partnership while I was in Haiti last week.  Orchard Hill and UCI have been building a healthy partnership of respect and trust over the past eight years, and it's beautiful to see!

Orchard Hill does not assume from Cedar Falls, IA, to begin to know what UCI might need in Haiti.  We wait to hear from them about what resources, skills, projects they'd like our help with as they progress in their development.  This year, we packed several extra large suitcases to take with us...all with supplies and resources that UCI requested when we asked them to make a wish list.

I also love how the money we've given toward the primary school, university, and things like concrete floors all help employ Haitian locals and are indigenous-led as well.  So, so good!  And I loved seeing Mick, Joel, and my dad help coach carpentry skills to three Haitian men through the week, and Darwin walked with three other Haitian men as he shared how to plant fence posts around the perimeter of the university.  As the week continued, the work changed hands from our team of mentors to the Haitian team of workers. Awesome.

I also loved all of the mutuality that took place in Bible study and worship settings.  At the pastor training, JeanJean and other pastors shared about their churches and the ways that Satan works to deceive and attack.  We also shared about our church and the ways that Satan likes to work in our culture.  In worship, Pat preached at an early 5 a.m. worship service, while Mike preached the next morning at another 5 a.m. worship service and at the baptism.  I gave some Christian Community Development resources to JeanJean, my dad and Sara helped give hymnals to the newly baptized believers one evening in church.  All of us in return humbly received from the praise and worship, the devotion and passionate faith of our Haitian brothers and sisters as they walked long distances and awoke early to gather for prayer, singing, and teaching.

It will be so, so good to see how God continues to help ALL of us grow through this partnership!