The Youth at Deep Freeze

Adam and the youth went on their annual winter retreat at Camp Berea this past January. Here's what he has to say what went on...

"The student ministry (Impact) got back from there annual winter retreat a couple weeks ago, Deep Freeze at Camp Berea in Hebron, NH. While the crowd was a little smaller this year we still all had a great time. We got off to a great start because this year we made it up there Friday night. Last year if you remember we got a random snow storm in March that kept us in Andover on Friday. So this year we got to experience all three days which was very exciting. We were also blessed with great weather for our outdoor activities and games; no negative wind chills this year. Praise God!! The most popular activity for the retreat this year was paintball, everyone played and enjoyed running around the woods trying not to get hit. We also had a good time playing in a massive dodge ball tournament; our team name was the Lumber Jacks. But more importantly we had a very dynamic speaker this year and a very good worship band. The theme for the weekend was Legacy: How do you want to be remembered? The students were challenged to live their lives in a way that they would be known as God followers. We had a few students who really celebrated their commitment to Christ, and another who committed his life to following Christ, not just being a nominal Christian. God did an amazing work in the student’s life. Jessica and I were so blessed to see God working on their hearts throughout the weekend. We had many good one on one conversations with each student to help them process how God was moving in their hearts."

The Youth at Place of Promise

After collecting non-perishables at GracePoint in November, Adam Herndon (our director of youth and family ministries) took the youth with him to deliver the bounty! Here's his version of the events...
"What a great experience we had two weeks ago. Upon arrival to the Place of Promise we received a very warm greeting from the residents and founder. The students were a little taken back by there greeting and openness. We had the opportunity to meet some of the residents prior to bringing in the food. Then the residents and the students worked together to bring all the food in. Once inside we went through all the bags to put everything into categories. As we were unpacking the residents and workers were so grateful and thankful for the food. This gave the students some real perspective on life. They had never seen anyone so grateful for everyday items before. It really opened their eyes to peoples needs even in their own backyards. As we were going through the bags the kitchen workers and owner were so excited to see every item on their list for their thanksgiving meal (that is for about 30 people) and then some. The entire time we were continually humbled by their thankfulness. The one thing that struck me the most was one of the kitchen workers excitement about a huge box of elbow noodles. He kept saying how much he had wanted some elbow noodles and even had been praying for some, That was a real answer to prayer for him, a box of elbow noodles, I wish you could have seen his excitement. How truly blessed we are, I can’t even image what it would be like to have elbow noodles on my prayer list. That was a truly humbling experience that keeps running through my mind. As the students were unpacking and the longer we were there talking with the residents, you could see a change in the faces of the students, they really saw the fact that they were meeting needs of these people. Afterward I took all the students to dinner and we processed, the students were so energized afterward and kept saying they want to go back there and help out some more. God did a work in the students heart that night. Please remember to keep these people in your prayers."