Sleeping On The Bus

We still have sometime to go, but at least we all have been able to get some sleep.

This has been long trip, but I have to say that I could not be more proud of our students. They have shown love, patience, and maturity during this week. When there was strife, I saw grace. When there was disappointment, I saw strength. Most of all, when there was distraction, I saw them persevere through prayer. I am proud to pastor this group of teenagers, and I look forward to the 09/10 school year. God has incredible things in store for our teens this year.
Pastor Chris Wallace
Youth Pastor
Victory Church
www.victorychurch.ws

Rain, Rain, Go Away

I love Florida rain... when I am not stuck standing outside in it for an hour, that is. We all are drenched! It will make for a funny story, though. Seeing a group of 11 students, 1 college student, and 2 "grown" adults standing waiting in the rain for a trolley that obviously has been delayed by some natural disaster.

Everyone had a great attitude, and we were all able to laugh at how ridiculous we looked. I have been so proud of our teenagers.

We will be on our way home in a couple of hours. We should be rolling up to Victory Church around 8 pm on Sunday Evening. Just in time to say hi to the students that will be heading home from Unite. We will see y'all there!

Final Fine Arts Day

This is it! The results are in, the week is winding down, and we are ready for a very long drive tomorrow. Our students have been great this week. Their focus on God and their attitude towards each other was great. I know that we are going to have a great drive back to Pennsylvania. See you soon!!

Day 4

Today was spent watching our team do a wonderful job on their Small Human Video, and then we spent the rest of the day watching some really awesome performances from other churches. Our students were able to see other ways that people are doing ministry around the nation. It is incredible how a competition like this can birth so much creativity for the purpose of ministering to the world.

I pray that we take these ministry "lessons" and put them into practice. I know that our students have a desire to minister. Now, we get to go home and do it!

Unmistakable

Our small group, Unmistakable, rocked it out. Seth, Courtney, Tori, and Cayla clearly demonstrated God's desire to save us from ourselves and our struggles. They showed how God has the power to overcome any mountain. Way to give God your best!

Day 3

Today was a great day. Our Large Human Video, this is where people act out scenes to a song, performed today. They did a great job! Also, we had Courtney and Hannah do their vocal solos. Wow, both of them sounded awesome. I know that people were blessed by their worship.

Tomorrow, we are looking forward to seeing our Small Human Video group performing at 9:00 am. We're prayin'!

Unite Drama Team

Wow! Our students really got the job done. Even when Ashleigh slipped at the end she was able to play it off. It looked like it was part of the skit. But the best part of the whole experience was seeing our students go and pray with another group that they would do well. Our students showed God's heart and not their own. I am incredibly proud of our students. Not for their artistic ability, but because they have kept their eyes on God.

Courtney's Solo

Courtney persevered through a soar throat as she worshiped God. She sounded great!

Hannah's Solo

Hannah really got into her song, and she blessed the room by reminding us of how much God loves us.

First Day of Performances

This was a good day. I was able to see two of our teens preach the Word with conviction and knowledge. We were able to spend the day with some great parents that have traveled the whole way to Orlando, Fl to support our teenagers in this endeavor, and we were all able to go out to Downtown Disney and have some fun at the Rainforest Cafe.

After walking through a down pour, where I had a rain jacket and the other guys did not, we made it to the restaurant where we were informed that we would have to wait an hour and forty-five minutes. Forty-five minutes goes by pretty quickly when you have guys that will run up and join a dance off that is already in progress.

It has been a long and wonderful day. It is lights out for the team!

Disney Dance Off

Here you are seeing Seth, Stephen, Drew, and Josh in an impromptu group dance off at Downtown Disney. I love these guys! Go ahead and laugh. I am!

Jeff's Short Sermon

Jeff really challenged the room to live beyond the ordinary. Great job, Jeff!

Stephen's Short Sermon

Stephen did a great job speaking on living in God's moment. Are you living for God's moment?

Registration Day

There are a lot of people here at this Fine Arts Festival.  7,500 students are registered for this year's Fine Arts Festival.  This made for a 4 hour line at the registration table.  We took shifts on the line so it wound up being a pretty relaxing day.  We were able to see people that we know from Pa, as well as, meet new people from all around the country.

Now that we are registered and ready to go, here is the schedule:

Tuesday

Stephen 4:20 pm South 210 E

Jeff 4:28 pm South 210 E

Wednesday

Hannah 9:08 am North 220 D

Courtney 9:16 am North 220 D

Unite Drama Team 10:20 am North 320 C-D

Thursday

Unmistakeable 9:00 am North 310 C-D

We are praying that as our students use their gifts to glorify God that the people that are watching would be blessed.  I am so proud of how our students have kept a ministry focus.  It would be easy for them to focus on winning alone, but they have continued to focus on God through devotions and accountability.

We ended the day at the evening worship service.  Jeff Deyo led worship, Phil Stacey was performing preservice (yes, he was on american idol), and Mark Vega brought the message.  The time of worship was intense, and the message didn't slow down.  Our students were encouraged to give it all to God and to allow the scars of healed wounds be a testimony to the world.  So many times we continue to have guilt or shame over our past, when we should be sharing our faith and the testimony of how God's grace has healed us.  It was a powerful time of worship and prayer.  

I know that this is going to continue to be an incredible week!  

 

Fine Arts Arrival Day

What a trip. Thanks to Elite Coach it was a very enjoyable 22 hr drive. Most of our students were able to get a decent night's rest on the bus. Bob, our main driver, has been incredibly gracious and patient with our students and leadership. Even when the bathroom was overused (you don't want to know what that smelled like).

We are here at the Residence Inn. The students are excited to go out to Checkers for lunch, pool in the afternoon, and glorifying God through their varying talents this coming week. We will continue to keep our eyes focused on God. He will decide how far we go in this competition. I know our students will be giving 100% of their focus and energy.

We will be getting a schedule of performances tomorrow, Monday, afternoon. I will post times and performances as I have the opportunity to do so. You can also follow shorter, but faster, updates at http://twitter.com/pmacwallace.

We are here! Time for some hot breakfast and warm showers.

We just crossed into Florida!

We are in the bus!