HABITS Rewind

This last Wednesday we wrapped up a great 6-week series called HABITS, and we talked about our final habit, studying God's Word. We created this video to catch people up on the previous weeks, so this is a recap of the first 5 weeks of HABITS.

Project #11

On February 23, a group of High School students traveled to Prattville Alabama to assist with the cleanup of the tornado that recently hit the city. The group included Caroline Morris, Kim Krubinski, Mallorie Gray, Josh Harris, Alan Buckelew, Jonathan Prince, Drake Fowler, Dean Fowler, Robin Bird, Tom Bird, Chris Martin, and Gregg Gray.

The group went door to door, offering assistance to the devastated community. A total of seven homeowners were helped with tasks such as carrying debris to the street for pickup, loading trucks with household property, raking yards and bagging garbage. A unique cleanup effort at one house was the assembly line formed from the house to the street to move a pile of bricks (formerly the side of the house) – from hand to hand, one brick at a time. Many homeowners declined help, but all were grateful that someone cared. When speaking with one elderly couple, we asked what they were doing during the storm. The lady explained that they were huddled in their hallway, praying to God to take care of them and their neighbors. Most all homeowners expressed how “blessed” they were not to be injured in the disaster. Many felt God’s shield of protection during the storm – there were no fatalities and very few injuries – a true miracle to anyone who witnessed this destroyed community.

We kept finding springs in one backyard and later found the trampoline where the springs came from – in the top of a tree a block away. One homeowner had two storage sheds in their backyard – neither of which belonged to them. There was a huge, 30 foot support beam skewering some swimming pool filter equipment – no one knew its origin. Tom Bird saw some computers in a swimming pool and almost went scuba diving for them (not on purpose). Please continue to keep this community in your prayers as the people rebuild their lives. - Gregg Gray

Middle School Disciple Now

Disciple Now is a great weekend that you do not want to miss out on. Over the weekend you will be with a small group that is your same age/ gender (and a college leader). It is a great chance for you to grow with other believers. It is also a time where you can connect with God through great music and teaching.

Deadline to sign up is THIS SUNDAY (Feb. 24).

Project #10

We returned to Mrs. Williams house for project #10 of Project 51. We continued the process of scraping and painting her house. Here are some images:

Project # 9

For Project #9, Lori & Sandy Enloe took Liz Hinrickson, Jennifer Shaw, Sharyn Demoss, Courtney Jordan, Cayla Crabb, Caitlyn Enloe, and the one and only (though pretty smart I guess) dude Mark Hermecz to serve a meal at Jessie's Place, a shelter for women in downtown Birmingham. They met at the Enloe’s house at 2:00 and started preparing the meal. A group of students chopped tomatoes (see Courtney Jordan for the coolest way every to chop a tomato), a group of students made chocolate chip cookies (it was very sad when they would break so we would have to eat them), and a group of students cooked the taco meat. I can honestly say the tacos would not have reached their perfection without the mad stirring skills of Cayla Crabb.

Lori said, "Before we left I prayed that the residents would not see a group of high school students but would see Jesus in our service. We knew that God answered our prayer when one of the residents said, 'Ya’ll are the happiest bunch of people I have ever seen to be serving a meal. That can’t be ya’ll…it has to be Jesus.'”

The Impossible Shot Trivia

In order to be eligible to play the impossible shot this Wednesday, you need to know the answer to this trvia question:

"What world famous band (as well as favorite band of Jeff) performed the theme song (you know...duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh....nevermind...) for Tom Cruise's first Mission Impossible movie?"

If you know the answer, you could win a Nintendo Wii...

Project #8

For Project #8, the 7th grade girls LIFE group went on Sunday to the nursing home. Before going they made valentines to give to the elderly people.

This project came really close to being cancelled because of the crazy rainstorm that we had that day but, the girls pulled through and we ended up having a pretty fun afternoon. When we got to the nursing home we split up into teams and passed out the valentines. Then we joined the deacons from Westwood at the church service that they host on Sunday afternoons. The girls sang hymns, and it seemed to brighten the day for those people just to see some young faces that care. Rachel Davis even played "Happy Birthday" on the piano! Here are some more pics from the afternoon:

(above right: us trying to sing hymns that we've never even heard before --pretty funny!) (below left: Morgan and Sammy rockin' my chemistry safety goggles, sunglasses and toboggan!)

Project #7

Saturday our Middle School CORE group went out to Mrs. Linda's house to rake her back yard. She is the caregiver for a hospice patient and her yard had not been raked for about 2 years so, needless to say we had our work cut out for us. But middle schoolers are hardcore! They worked hard all day long to finish. We ended up with about 120 bags of leaves!

As fun and productive of a day as it was, however, it was not enough to just rake the leaves...not for the middle school CORE group! No, they spent the whole afternoon plotting and scheming the most creative way to use the 120 bags of leaves that they had collected. They decided that the best solution would be to put the bags -- all of them --- in Jeff and Lori's yard. Now, because Jeff has such a caring intern, this did not happen. But I had to give them props because it would have been a nearly brilliant prank. (almost up there with the lima beans)

So that was our day. I think it was a good start for our middle school group and hopefully it had an impact on the people we were serving. Until our next project...
Lacy

Project #6

On Saturday, February 16th, a group of ten students/volunteers visited the home of Ms. Sarah Elizabeth Shackelford to assist with cleaning up her home. Ms. Shackelford is terminally ill and unable to clean her home and had requested help in October of 2007. This group of students provided the physical labor to clean the house completely…including mopping, vacuuming, dusting, cleaning appliances, washing dishes and any other job that was needed. Ms. Shackelford also seemed to enjoy the time the group spent with her laughing and have a good time, including a high five for having the same first and middle name as Sarah Box. If you ever need your house mopped, Oliver Stansell is the man….although you may need to take Sarah with him to make him do a good job. Savannah spent the entire time washing dishes in the sink and putting away the clean dishes. Everyone that participated seemed to enjoy helping.

The group that participated included Sarah Box, Liz Hinrickson, Savannah Thigpen, Josh Pike, Dianna Tingle, Nick Williams, Carson Sumpter, Jordan Martin, and Oliver Stansell.

Once we completed the project this group assisted with the project that was being lead by Lacy.

Kenneth Shaw

Wednesday Night Drama

Wednesday night we talked about being involved in the church.  Justin and Andrew introduced the topic with this humorous drama.

The Impossible Shot

For the past three weeks on Wednesday nights we have had (cue theme music to mission impossible)....."THE IMPOSSIBLE SHOT"....and now we want your ideas. Leave a comment and tell us what you think the next impossible shot should be. Who knows, maybe we will like your idea and use it on Wednesday.

Oh and don't forget, if someone actually succeeds at one these shots - they win a nintendo Wii.

Project #5

     For project #5 of Project 51, we began what will be a long relationships with Mrs. Mildred Williams, an elderly lady who lives just west of downtown Birmingham.  We are working with an organization called Serve Management and the city of Birmingham to help Mrs. Williams with a few projects around her house.  

     The biggest project is what we started on Saturday: scraping and painting the outside of her house.  The group that went to her house consisted of Jeff, Mike West, Lacy Allen, Andrew Wash, Dianna Tingle, Michael Barnes, Justin Thigpen, Samantha Creamer, Morgan Jordan, Ryan Horton, Beth Lawyer, and the last second addition of Sarah "the" Box!  We scraped and primed one side of her house.  That does not sound like a lot, but let me be the first to say that it was a ton of work scraping the old paint off the house!

     We will be going back to Mrs. Williams house for many more projects to finish the scraping and painting job as well as a few more projects.  Here's some pics from Saturday:

     Before & After:

Andrew Wash Habits Testimony

Your Grace is Enough

Project #4

It's been a long time coming, but project # 4 of Project 51 finally happened! 24 students got together at AREA 51 for a Leadership Lunch, and we all sat down and wrote to the 2 students we sponsor through World Vision.

The Student Ministry at Westwood has sponsored students through World Vision for a number of years. Currently we sponsor 2 middle school-aged students in El Salvador named Ever and Miguel.

We split into 2 groups, and half wrote Ever while the other half wrote Miguel. Here is an excerpt from one student's letter:

"...I hope you are doing very well in school! We pray for you and your family continually, and I hope that you continue to draw closer to God each and every day....God bless you always."

We hope that getting so many letters at one time is a blessing to these 2 students we sponsor. I just don't want to have to meet the translators who have to rewrite each of our letters!