Two Performances, Two Little Children

Dear Prayer Team,

I know I say this every week, but WOW! What a weekend we had! Friday night, Dustin, Will and I met up with the bus near an exit off of I-5 on the way to Camp Winema which is on the Oregon coast. It was nice to climb aboard "Ginger" again. I've been getting used to riding in separate cars to the venues, which is nowhere near as much fun as going on the bus together. We're still selling the bus, but we'll use it from time to time until it sells.

We arrived at the campground after dark, got everything loaded in and did a sound check. Then we lugged all of the stuff to the bunk house. It was about 9:45pm when we got settled. Luke, Serena and Tyson were in the room above us, but the other five of us all slept in a big room downstairs. I felt like a kid again....except the part about my back not agreeing with the bunk mattress. We sat on our bunks and Josh told us some really lame jokes, and we shared some riddles and laughed a lot until we started dropping off to sleep. Snoring? ...Yes there was some but I won't mention any names. I guess Tyson did some singing throughout the night too! We woke up, took a walk up to see the beach, had a delicious breakfast and got ready. They were having an auction to support the campground and we were part of the program.

We had a very fun concert, talked for a while, prayed with a prayer team member, packed up, had lunch, and as we were heading to the bus we noticed this big slide that we'd been admiring all morning. It was one of those half tube slides where you sit on the burlap bags. It was two stories tall and it looked like it may have been a waterslide at some point. Since the rest of the campers were in the auction, we seized our chance to recapture the glory of our playground days. We ran up the two flights of stairs, sat on our burlap bags and sped down the slide. It was just about this time that one little boy and his mom came over and decided that we weren't going to hog ALL of the fun, so he grabbed a bag and raced us to the top. Then, Dustin came back from dropping his stuff off at the bus and noticed what we were doing. Even though we were winding down, he would not be denied. He ran up the steps and went down the slide about 5 times in 5 minutes. We could see that we had reached the point when it was time for us to spice things up a bit, so we all gave Dustin instructions like, "Hey! Do you think you could sit up WHILE going backwards or would you end up banging your head on the slide?" This was the kind of encouragement he did NOT need. He laid the burlap bag onto the slide, turned around and laid down on his back, head first.

It was then we heard the lone dissenting voice of reason.

"That's not a good idea. Nope! That's NOT a good idea!"

I looked around to see who was being the old fuddy-duddy.

"NOT a good idea at all!"

I kept looking and couldn't see who it was that was trying to ruin our fun.

Finally, as I aimed my gaze downward, I noticed a very serious looking six-year old, shaking his head saying, "That's REALLY not a good idea!"

As it turns out Dustin was just fine. No bruises at all, just a nice little raspberry on his forearm, but I was really struck by something in that little boy. He had all of the good parenting and confidence that he needed to stand up and say what needed saying even though he looked up to us, and even though what we were doing seemed like it might be fun. None of that seemed to matter, his mom told him NOT to horse around on the slide and he wasn't going to back down from voicing it. The next night before a memorable concert at People's Church in Salem, I met another little boy of about the same age. We had met he and his mother in the music room where we got prepared for the concert when he showed me a special Moroccan leather wallet that was given to him by a friend or relative who had done missionary work in Spain. I was fascinated by the way it folded in on itself, and the boy seemed very proud of it. During the concert, the music minister made a plea to the congregation for support on our behalf. The little boy took it to heart. After the program, the boy and his mother slowly made their way through the large crowds in the lobby to meet us by the product table. His mother said, "He wanted me to find you. I think he wants to show you something." He carefully withdrew the special wallet from his pocket and opened it up to show me that there were some coins inside that he wanted to give to RESCUE.

These two children taught me a lesson, common to both experiences. Childlike faith is not just obedient, it's also quite tenacious. One can be a bold witness of the things they are completely convinced of. One is capable of amazing, sacrificial giving, when they don't filter out and explain away the convictions and directives that God has placed in their heart.

Lord, help us to become as these little children.

A Decision To Be made, And A Moment of Pure Joy

Dear Prayer Team,

It would be difficult to come away from a weekend like we had, even with all of the challenges in our personal lives, without feeling extremely blessed.We're blessed to be alive to experience such a beautiful weekend; blessed to work with such a wonderful, hard working, and creative team of people; blessed to meet and fellowship with God's kids, wherever we meet them; and blessed to be able to be an agent of God's reconciliation with those who may not know Him or who have fallen away from a close walk with Him.

On Saturday, we had an outdoor concert at Light Of Life Lutheran Church in Aloha, Oregon (part of the suburbs of Portland). It was quite a sunny day,and we had the blessing of setting up our stage area in the shade, so that we didn't get too hot. They had a German sausage barbecue and the people from the church and some of the local neighbors just pulled up their lawn chairs and blankets. We had a really nice time together. Afterwards at the product table I met a man who was profoundly affected by one of our new songs (He Won't Let You Fall From His Hand). He told me that he had been discouraged by a situation that happened in church a long time ago and thatwhile he still loves the Lord, he just hadn't been sure if he should venture to trust fellow believers again. I told him that the particular song he was speaking of was written in the middle of a very difficult stretch of road that I had while ministering in a church, and that I truly understood his plight and have had to fight the urge to cut off the church and to focus inwardly. I said, "The great part is that through that situation God has been building the strength within me to have an open heart to the people of God wherever I meet them. There are so many blessings that you miss if you aren't in a church."

He removed his sunglasses to reveal eyes that seemed to plead with me for assurance that he could really trust that God would see him through it all.Then I noticed the tears that seemed to water the scorched ground of a heart, seemingly cut-off from the sweet fellowship of the saints of God. I believe he made a decision that day and I am praying that he'll follow through with what he knows to do.

Sunday night we sang at Tri-City Baptist Temple in Gladstone, Oregon. Our concert took the place of their normal evening service. They were such awarm group of people. We had several personal friends that came to the concert there. I got so tickled as I noticed, for the first time that I can remember, people's mouths were kind of gaping on songs like "TheDifference" because of all of the weird vocal parts and percussion happening all at once.

Afterwards I had record numbers of people wanting to hear the duck voice that I used during one of the comedy bits. A couple and their twenty-something son, Andrew, came up to chat with us. Andrew has Down's Syndrome and although he was very well mannered he just seemed so thrilled by the concert he almost couldn't contain himself! As his father chatted with us, I noticed him quietly trying to sing some really low tones. His chin seemed to dip lower and lower as he sang. He kept looking over at Joshua to see if he'd notice him, and when Josh told him that he sounded really good, he positively beamed! We all shook his hand and he politely said "hello" to each of us, then he pointed to each of us individually as he counted, "One, two, three, four, five...", and then, with a sly smile on his face, he pointed to himself and said, "...SIX!!" What a wonderful moment of pure joy!

Men's Round Up and Doreen's Letter

Dear Prayer Team,

*Note: Because of my crazy schedule, we have decided to change the day ofthe week that the prayer bulletin is sent out. Instead of Wednesday evenings, Susan will send them out on Thursday evenings. Thanks for your patience.

We had such a wonderful weekend being fed with the Word, having such amazing and responsive audiences, and meeting so many encouraging people! Dustin andI were talking about how wonderful it is that God is allowing us to minister while at the same time bringing us into situations where we get to hear such wonderful preaching that seems to go right to the heart of our personal walk with Jesus. I can't even describe how overwhelmed I was by the response of the men at the Men's Roundup. I really feel like we encouraged many in their faith.

I'd like to share a wonderful little story that Doreen shared with us. She is trying to set up a mini-tour in the Baker City, Oregon area because there is an opportunity to minister in a prison there. She got word of this opportunity when the chaplain from the prison contacted her because a particular inmate kept asking him if he'd ask RESCUE to come to the prison. The chaplain was a bit skeptical and wondered if RESCUE would be relevant to the younger inmates there. Doreen talked to him for 10 minutes about past concerts that RESCUE had done that ministered to young people, and she sent him the "Live" DVD. When it arrived the young inmates that work in the chaplain's office played the DVD all day long!! That was all he needed to see. He is very excited to see us come and minister to the inmates there. Pray for us as we try to book other dates around that area so that we can pay for the gas and the many other costs of taking a trip like that.

Thanks for Prayer Team Support

Dear Prayer Team,

After another wonderful and productive week at Cannon Beach and a nice long holiday weekend, we're back at it. "Over" is furiously working on arrangements for the group and we are busy working on learning them.

We all feel so very blessed to be a part of this ministry, and while we all contribute, it is always very clear to us that God makes the ministry MUCH more than just the sum of it's parts. The encouragement that we have received from various members of the prayer team wherever we go, is such a comfort to us. It feels like God has placed Prayer Team members for us all over the country so that we don't just feel like we're travelling to do a concert, but that we're going to see our friends.

Thanks for being such faithful friends to RESCUE!

We love you!