Friday, April 29, 2011

Our Hope for the Summer


Fun times are in store for our high school students at Mercy Street this summer, and we hope this blog will be a way for you to stay up to speed with all the happenings. But more than that, we hope it will be a place for us to share our excitement and wonder over the incredible ways God is moving here in West Dallas. We are living in the tension! Our human experience involves so much pain and anger and beauty and laughter and grief and suffering and joy. It's the reality of redemption bursting onto the scene of a fractured world. We feel all of those emotions here at Mercy Street and we want this to be a space for us to share them; because the Spirit of God seeps into all those areas to display His beauty. He's bringing restoration through sanctification and transformation through purification. We're coming alive!

We have had a consistent group of high schoolers attending our Tuesday night Bible study and we hope to continue building momentum throughout the summer. How will that play out? Backyard Bible Study! We are praying for different families to host our Bible study on Tuesday nights during the months of June and July, and we would love for you to become more involved with our kids through this avenue. We hope to keep things fresh for our high schoolers by exposing them to new places and faces. Email Julie if you are interested in hosting us for a night this summer!

Our high school camp will be at Lakeview Conference Center in Waxahachie this summer from July 22-25. It is far enough from the city to provide gorgeous scenery but close enough for you to come hang out with us! We will leave on Friday afternoon and return on Monday morning, and we'd love to see you there. In order for students to attend, they must pay the $100 registration fee and participate in at least 2 work days at Mercy Street on May 21st, June 9th and 10th, or any Tuesday night.



Get to know some of our Student Leaders who are pictured above! From the left to the right we've got: Carmen Alvarez, Seville Smith, Timothy Thomas, T.O. Carey, Sharmonique Ellis and Adrienne Drake. You will hear more about these leaders over the summer, among others who are actively seeking to participate in the redemptive work Christ is doing in West Dallas. It is a tremendous joy to serve alongside our student leaders and we are humbled by their resolve to be counter cultural leaders in the midst of a world that is constantly vying for their affections. Please check in regularly to hear more stories and find new ways to get involved! In the mean time, may we all turn our eyes upon Jesus Christ, and just gaze into His face moment after moment after moment. Where else can we turn?