new orleans

about this tour

The New Orleans Team has the privilege of helping in multiple ministry opportunities.  During that time we will be doing various service project type jobs. It could vary from painting, cleaning, and disaster relief. On Wednesday night our worship team will have the opportunity to minister to a local youth group in the St. Bernard Perish. On Thursday night the team will be traveling to downtown New Orleans where we will be ministering to the homeless. That Friday the team will also be heading up a youth rally in the same area for many youth groups. We are very excited about this opportunity we have to share the love of God with the people of New Orleans. Keep us in your prayers because we shall need it. God Bless!

dates

Mar 10-17

the team

Rain Soles, Sarah Auman, Trevor Barron, Jade Bousaab, Daniel Bricker, Shelby Campion, Justin Churukian, Angel Claudio, Ryan Dunkelberger, Rebekah Fannin, Jodi Fisher, Josh Garland, Ashlyn Howerton, John Humphreys, Zach Marbut, Kevin Marin, Kristina Mastro, Jaret Miller, Sam Sutton, Celina Theophilus, and Leah Williams

ministry updates

3/16/13
What a week it has been! Our team is on the road and headed back to Columbia this morning. Last night was such a great way to end the trip. We started our day working on miscellaneous tasks around the church, that included some groundskeeping jobs for the guys while some of the girls helped clean inside and take care of the little babies that were hanging out at the church. After all that, around 2pm, we headed over to spend some time at the healing house with Papa Keith and Mama Cindy. It was so great hear all the wisdom they had to impart to us. They were a huge blessing for all of us on this trip. After we had finished talking and going over our personal favorite stories from the trip together, we headed back to the church to get ready for the youth rally that Living Cornerstone Church hosted. Joshua preached again and our worship team played while the rest of the family ministered to the students who responded to the alter call that Joshua gave. It was such a powerful service for us and the students. After the service, we got to spend time with the youth and little kids that were there for the rally. We shared so much love and joy with them (which mostly came in the form of jumping on inflatable bounce houses and running obstacle courses).. but they loved it, and so did we. It was one of the most exhausting nights of the entire trip, but more than worth it. When all the kids had left and we cleaned up a bit, Papa Keith and Mama Cindy were able to pray for us individually and we all walked out of that sanctuary encouraged. We have had a lovely week here in New Orleans and we shared so much light, love, and encouragement. I am incredibly proud of our team and I love them all so much. We were so united the whole week and together we saw the Kingdom of God advance. The Lord did a work in all of our hearts and in the hearts of those we impacted and I wouldn't trade this trip for anything. I love my family. I think I speak for our whole team when i say The Lord did a huge work through us and there were countless people that experienced the love of Christ because of our team and this trip. God used each one of us in a unique way and I saw love shown in more ways than ever before. We are all abundantly blessed and as we leave the area I'm reminded of Romans 10:15..
"And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!"

Mar 14 11:52pm Submitted by Daniel Bricker

Our team had an adventurous day in downtown New Orleans. We coupled sightseeing with evangelism and street ministry and had an amazing day in the city. Before we started we met at the healing house to pick up papa Keith and mama Cindy and they gave us a basic overview of how to do street ministry in a city like New Orleans. From there we headed into downtown which was about a 15-20 minute drive from St. Bernard Parish. We saw all kinds of famous sights in the city and surrounding areas including Audubon park. There we saw the revelation tree, which is a massive oak tree in the park where we played and climbed and learned who were the brave ones on the team. Most of us watched from a safe distance...
After the park, we drove around the city and had lunch at a local restaurant downtown. The managers were kind enough to turn on some New Orleans jazz so that we could dance and we even created a harlem shake video with Papa Keith. We did some more touring and shopping in the French Quarter markets and then regrouped for dinner at another famous restaurant downtown. Needless to say, we ate well today and all enjoyed the authentic New Orleans cuisine. When we had finished eating we headed to Jackson Square and got ready for more ministry. Some friends of Papa Keith and Mama Cindy met us there and we got some instruments and began worshiping right in the middle of the city. It was glorious. Some people gathered to join us and others walked on by but we just kept seeking The Lord and what He wanted to do tonight. Some of our team members went out to talk and pray with locals while the rest of us stayed and conversed with those who stopped to listen. We fought some spiritual warfare and God showed up in the midst of all the darkness that was around us. We were bold and seeds were planted. I'm so proud of our team. It's honestly been a blessing serving and worshiping with them so far this week

March 13 11:56pm submitted by Daniel Bricker

Today brought many new memories for our team in New Orleans. We got to sleep in a little extra this morning and then woke up and had some time for prayer to intercede for the youth service. After prayer we got to watch Pastor Rustin cook crawfish for our lunch. It was quite and interesting experience that had our team in awe (mostly because of the delicious smell)! We had tons of crawfish for lunch mixed with corn, sausage, potatoes and mushrooms. The best part of the whole meal was learning how to eat the crawfish, which consisted of eating the meat out of the tail and sucking the juice out of the head... It's sounds a lot more disgusting than it tasted. After lunch the worship team practiced and the team got ready for the youth service. The students arrived and we got to spend some time playing dodgeball and getting to know them, then we headed into the sanctuary for service. Josh Garland brought the Word and did a spectacular job preaching to the youth about the masterpiece they are and the God who created them. As a team we are so proud of him! At the end of the service the youth group practically attacked our SCSL family and we made so many connections. It was so great for all of us to pour out and show God's love to a younger generation. After everyone left the church, our team went out to a small diner with Papa Keith and Mama Cindy from the healing house. It was great to spend time enjoying each others company and talking about the weeks events so far. Now its time for our team to get some sleep and get some rest for tomorrow when we will get to spend some time in downtown New Orleans doing some sightseeing and street ministry. Until tomorrow...

Mar 13, 12:58 am submitted by Daniel Bricker

Another productive day in Louisiana for our team! We began with breakfast and some prayer time, followed by our morning meeting to go over the days events. Today we split up and worked on two different service projects. One group worked on repairing the fence of a nearby house, while the other group headed to another house to rip out some damaged bathroom walls and insulation. After we regrouped and had a delicious lunch of red beans and rice (a New Orleans favorite), the guys went back out to finish putting up fenceposts and pouring cement. Later in the afternoon, after everyone got cleaned up and rested, we all got ready to head to the healing house. The healing house is run by Keith and Cindy Stone and is an outreach that provides prayer and healing ministry to those who need physical, emotional or spiritual healing. We had a time of acoustic worship and then our team was able to minister to some of the visitors at the healing house. We are all so excited for what God is doing in New Orleans!

Mar 11, 12:52pm Submitted by Daniel Bricker

Last night our team arrived safely in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana after a long day of driving, and were greeted by Pastor Rustin and his family at Living Cornerstone Church (our home for the next week). We had plenty of time to get settled in and accustomed to our new surroundings. After we arrived at the church, we had a short meeting with Pastor Rustin, who told us a little about the history of their church and the area surrounding it. The church building was completely rebuilt following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and aside from some minor water damage from Hurricane Isaac, has stood strong ever since. We also learned about a flood wall that was built after Hurricane Katrina and surrounds St. Bernard Parish. This wall extends about 20 feet high to protect the area in the event of any future tropical storm flooding. After learning about the area and the church, the team settled in and we enjoyed dinner together. We then regrouped back in the main sanctuary for our evening debrief, and enjoyed an acoustic worship and prayer session to finish off the night before bed.
This morning we all woke up and had breakfast and some personal prayer/devo time in the sanctuary before we began working. Our main service project that we will be working on today will consist of cleaning out a warehouse at the church and prepping it so that it can be used for the youth rally this Friday night. Our team is so thankful for the opportunity to be here and we are all so expectant for what the Lord is going to do through us this week!