Category Archives: SPARK

SPARK 2012 – B Light!

Posted on February 29, 2012 | 1 Comment

 

It’s hard to believe that Spark has already come and gone!

We began the Spark weekend with a fabulous kick-off on Thursday night with several hundred students and adults checking-in and devouring fajitas!  It was extra special this year to have almost 50 students from Tallowood’s Burmese Church to join us for Spark.  (Hmmm, I hope they liked the fajitas?!)  We didn’t waste any time during the first main session as students came excited and expectant for the weekend and jumped right into worship with the Jeff Johnson Band.  Brad Jones from Passion City Church in Atlanta  shared the powerful truth that Jesus really IS the Light of the World.  Before we can B Light, we have to KNOW the Light – we need to KNOW Jesus!  From there, our students spread out all over the building into their different grade groups to discover their host home for the weekend.  The students spent time after each main session unpacking and discussing together in their host home groups led by seven amazing facilitators; 6th-Tony Robinson, 7th-Kevin Harris, 8th-Jacob Robison, 9th-Harlie Raethel, 10th-Will McCartney, 11th-Scott Young, and 12th-Tommy Brown.  Before we knew it, Thursday’s SPARK session was over and it was time to go back home to pack, finish homework, and wear their Spark shirts to school on Friday!

No doubt, Friday morning meant 25 host home families were busy with final preparations, house cleaning, grocery shopping, and a trillion other details to be ready for the their homes to be overtaken by a bunch of excited students!  Our host homes are the heartbeat of Spark, and the weekend simply would not be possible without the servant hearts of men and women who choose to serve Jesus by bravely opening their home and their lives to be a picture of the gospel.  Next time you see these folks, give them a pat on the back and say, “Thank You!”

Friday afternoon our students finally finished school and headed back to Tallowood for a spaghetti supper and another great night of worship, teaching, and time in their grade groups.  At last, our hosts took a deep breath and headed out the Tallowood doors with screaming kids in tow!  Every host home has their own stories to tell, but I heard about one group of girls that were all quietly reading books when it was time for bed and had to be told they only had 10 more minutes to read before lights out!  And yet, another home group went to play night Frisbee with “mom” and “dad.”

Saturday was an incredible day that began with grade groups meeting in homes all over Houston discussing how to “B Light” in the world.  It didn’t take long to put the lesson into action as all of those groups began arriving at the SunBlossom Garden and the SunBlossom Mountain apartment complexes where Tallowood’s Burmese Church has already been shining the light of Christ to their Burmese neighbors in southwest Houston.  What a sight it was to see students all over the place passing out flyers, cleaning and painting in individual homes, repairing fences, power-washing sidewalks, picking up trash, playing with zillions of kids, leading Bible clubs, and serving over 600 meals!  Whoa!  It was an incredible sight to see!  The true Light of the World was shining all over the place as our students loved and served with their whole hearts and shared Jesus.

We came back to the church that evening to celebrate and continue to worship, learn and share together.  It was especially awesome to celebrate as Lauren, one of our 6th grade girls, bravely stood up to say that she wanted to believe in Jesus for the first time.  Wahoo!

Sunday morning brought a lot of sleepy kids back to Tallowood bright and early for one last time to hear from Brad Jones who challenged us that if God made us to B Light, we need to leave the lamp store and go out and light up places that are dark!  We need to let the light of Christ shine in our homes, neighborhoods, schools, sports teams, etc.   After a final prayer in each grade group, we headed to the 11:15 a.m. Worship Service to worship with the whole body of believers.  Like I said before, I can’t believe the weekend passed so quickly, but I am thrilled that the Light will keep shining brighter and brighter in the days and years to come!

-Rebecca

To see more pictures from SPARK, click HERE.

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Posted in High School, Middle School, SPARK

SPARK 2011 Recap

Posted on March 2, 2011 | 1 Comment

What an amazing weekend we had at Spark 2011 as we discovered the truth that in Jesus we can be Forever Changed!  Thursday night we combined 200 excited students, 52 generous hosts, 90 interested parents, 1 incredible worship band, 1 challenging speaker, 7 relevant facilitators, 20 friendly volunteers, a great kitchen staff, and an AMAZING GOD for a great night of giving diapers and baby shoes, eating mexican food, being challenged to give $30 to Abby Tracy in Uganda, worshiping together, hearing the story of Zaccheaus, and running to our grade groups to unpack the story and get ready for the rest of the weekend.  Whew…and that was just the first night!

Friday night students showed up more than ready to give their $30 (and lots more!) to add water bottles and turn on light bulbs to give a cup of water in Jesus’ name and light Abby’s house!  We continued to worship with Jeremy McCasland and band, and Clay Scroggins again opened up God’s Word to the story of the woman with a desperate need who put her faith in a God who could heal her completely. Grade groups and smaller home groups spent time sharing and praying together and then headed off to their host homes for some sleep, well, at least a little sleep.

Saturday was a full day with a morning session, small group discussion, lunch, and so many different mission projects blessing our neighbors in the name of Christ.  6th – 12th grade students collected canned goods, sold lemonade to raise over $350 for Abby Tracy, painted jewelry boxes for Tallowood widows, delivered diapers and baby shoes to the Pregnancy Help Center of West Houston, painted with little kids at a community center, completely cleaned out Dr. Fran Ramsey’s house (which raised $2000 for the water well and electricity!), made and delivered lunches to homeless people, did random acts of kindness, and prayed for orphans in Kenya.  Wow, Jesus was busy living His life through our students!  After a bit of free time we got back together at church on Saturday night for worship, teaching, and discussion…and more and more students running up to give money to fund the water well and light Abby’s house!

Even though we were sleepy on Sunday morning we were up for Curtis Jones’ challenge to let God work through us in really big ways!  Students and adults continued to give and give, and by 11:00 a.m. on Sunday morning every water bottle was displayed and every single light bulb was brightly shining!  In less than 4 days Spark participants gave $4,500 to fund the water well AND another $4,250 to bring electricity to the home for Abby and her boys! Wow, can you believe it?  Actually, as of Monday, we had collected over $9,000 total!  God is good!

-Rebecca

(Check out more pictures from the weekend HERE)

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Posted in High School, Middle School, Missions, SPARK

Tallowood Challenged to Provide for Abby Tracy’s Ministry in Kampala, Uganda

Posted on March 1, 2011 | Leave a comment

For the past few years we have been tracking Abby Tracy and her God given ministry of rescuing street kids, prostituted women, and handicapped homeless people on the streets of Kampala, Uganda. God has called this 24 year old to Africa with a passionate vision for doing exactly what He has called all of us to do; see what is going on in the world, realize how it ought to be from God’s perspective, and join Him in reconciling and restoring lives to Himself.

Over the past year, the Lord has provided 22 acres of land for them to begin building a permanent location for the residents of her boy’s home. In the next few months they will begin building a house for her 16 boys with the hope of increasing that number to 32 in the years ahead. We at Tallowood have the opportunity to join God in His work through Abby by providing money for a few of her basic necessities. Part of the “Worship in Action” emphasis over the next two months is to provide $9,000 that will help build sustainable fish ponds for Abby’s ministry. This will provide needed protein for the boys to eat and also a commodity that can be sold to help sustain the ministry’s needs.

We in the youth ministry are also joining in with the need by raising money to dig a water-well on the new property. We need $4,250.00 to complete that task. We are also asking our students during the SPARK weekend to bring money to help provide electricity for the house that they are building at a cost of $4,500.00. Let’s pray and ask God to use us to completely affirm these needs as together we can be a part of rescuing the perishing and caring for the dying in Kampala. You may never make it to Kampala to help with the need their physically but all of us can go there in prayer and with our financial resources. Thank you so much for your prayerful consideration of the need.

-Jerome

***Update:  Through our students, hosts, and parents at SPARK, God provided more than we asked for.  We raised enough money to dig the water well and to provide electricity to their home.  Praise God!

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Posted in Missions, SPARK