The End of an Era
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| Amy and I with Alyssa after graduating. |
When I arrived here on the
ground at Fort Stewart 4 years ago, I was greeted warmly by Alyssa, a student
who had just completed her 8th grade year. She had been a part of
Club prior to my arrival under the tutelage of my predecessors. Alyssa and her
two sisters have always been very involved throughout our time here. We just
finished up the season of attending graduations and award ceremonies for our
middle and high school students. Alyssa was one of our high school graduates
this year. It was amazing to be present for the day she entered high school as
well as the day she completed her high school education, as well as many
moments in between. After the ceremony, friends and family were allowed to
gather on the field for photos. As we made our way through the sea of people,
Alyssa quickly found us and her face lit up with a smile as she was so glad we
were able to make it out to see her and our many other Club students celebrate
this milestone. Over the past 4 years, her family has had to endure a lot of
hardships, as her mom has battled serious health issues, and her dad recently
retired from the Army in order to care for his wife. Alyssa, along with her
sisters, Stephanie and Kayla, have voiced their appreciation many times of how
we were there to support their family through some pretty difficult times.
“Club has been our family, and we’re so grateful to be able to celebrate the
joys, as well as walk together through many rough storms; we love you Phil and
Amy and we’re not sure where we’d be without you and Club.”
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The 2016 Bradwell Institute Tiger
graduates celebrate their finale together!
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As I reflect on Alyssa’s journey, I think about the many students that have passed through the doors of Club here at Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield. It has been so amazing to see God work mightily at these two locations. When I arrived, we struggled to reach kids, sometimes only having 2 kids show up. We persevered, remained faithful and obedient to the call, and God brought the harvest. Before I knew it, God was blowing open the doors and students flooded in. Regardless of whether a student visited Club one time or came regularly for weeks, months, or years, each student has impacted our lives in one way or another.
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Amy and I with another graduate, Matt,
who will live with us until he attends
camp with us as a 'finale' with Club here.
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4 years. That’s the amount of time a student spends in high school. It’s also the timetable for a student to earn a bachelor degree. I’m sure if I thought about it long enough, I could come up with countless other journeys that last 4 years. Never in my wildest dream, did I think that God would bring me down to this area to serve these middle and high school students at these 2 locations, and move us to somewhere new after only 4 years. With so many families moving in and out, we thought we would always be the ones left behind; a constant and consistent piece of the community here. God apparently has different plans for us. Leaving is definitely bittersweet and the coming weeks will be very difficult as our time here winds down, however, we are excited to see what He will have for us as we move forward in that same manner of faithfulness and obedience.
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| Amy and I with Christian and his mother after his baptism in the insane rainstorm that hit us late in the afternoon. |
Although we are the ones moving, we want to also share with you some phenomenal God moments we’ve experienced as of late. Take Christian, a past Club kid who is now on our Hunter leader team and helps when he can at Club when he’s not working or volunteering for the Tybee Island Fire Department. It was over 2 years ago when he said to me that he accepted Jesus while attending Carolina Point with our group in the summer of 2014. While walking alongside him in the past 1.5 years, I was able to share with him the joy I felt in his decision and what the next steps looked like in his life with Christ. Glance to another student named Justin. His mom shot a text my way on Easter Sunday asking if “I were there—aka Savannah Christian Church” where they were at that moment. Sadly, I had to share that I was not, but in Chapel services on Fort Stewart. Justin informed his mom he wanted to wait until the moment that I could physically baptize him. Fast forward to getting all the pieces all together and we scheduled within guidelines of the Hunter outdoor pool and so all families and friends could be there to observe—then boom….a rainstorm resembling something torrential hit Hunter. Pool Closed. Christian’s mom had come all the way from Miami and that day was the only moment we had to get this done. After scrambling for options outside the normal parameters of pools around post, we found ourselves in the front yard of one of our other students’ homes filling up their baby pool in preparation of baptizing Christian and Justin. Don’t even worry about not having the ‘plugs’ to hold the air on the sides of the pool, we had kids hold it up! Dodging multiple local lightning strikes and raindrops, we were able to successfully baptize Christian and Justin, just as we hoped. No matter what came our way, God made the way for it to happen and to bring about life changing impact on these guys’ lives. All because we chose to stand in the gap and show up.
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| Justin (holding towel) with his family and friends as we gathered after his baptism. |
Celebrate with us:
- We got to see a record crew of graduating seniors from Bradwell Institute who have spent time with us at Club.
- Two of our Hunter teens were baptized in the midst of a major rainstorm!
Join us in prayer:
- Summer camp will be 20-24 June in Toccoa Falls, Georgia, with our record 64 people!
- Pray for the leadership team members who have shown interest in helping with the youth ministry when we depart in early July.
- Our final weeks are coming to the forefront as we prepare to say farewell to the 3rd ID and Marne Pride.
In utter obedience with our Stewart and Hunter teens in this life down in Southeast Georgia until our final day,
Phil & Amy
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