I hate mission trips

Not really, but it got your attention didn't it?  My only problem with a mission trip for a high schooler that sees the world in black and white and absolutes is they see a mission trip as just that.  A trip to do missions.  It sends a bit of the wrong message don't you think?  You plan and prep and fundraise and pray and do all of the things to get ready for the trip that you should be doing every day of your life.  The danger of a mission trip is that it can communicate that is the only time you are to do missions or to share the gospel.  We all know that is not true, but don't you agree it is a danger?  We talked about that this evening.  We also continued to share about the value of this specific mission trip and how fantastic they all were this week.  They grew in their relationship with Christ.  They grew in their relationships with each other.  They even grew in their boldness to share what Christ has done for them.  The challenge that was left for them to accept was to make their life their mission field.  They spend so much more time in their classes, in the jobs, on the sports field, with the family...  Why is that not their "mission trip"?  Why don't they put as much time, effort, and prep into life as they do this week of their life?  Please be praying that this can become the launching pad for a life of missions.  Not necessarily in Africa or New Orleans, though that would not be horrible.  Rather, they see their life as a chance to, "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching."  (2 Tim 4:2)  This continues to be an amazing week.  Thank you for all of your support.

-Posted by Jeff Bachman

All work and no play makes WSM a dull something or other.

I think it is pretty clear that God has us in a great place for the week.  These kids are working hard in all different areas.  I heard a student tonight talk about how important it is to spend time in God's word, and that they were going to be intentional about when they spend time reading the bible and praying with God.  It continues to be a great week and I know it will only get better.  Tonight we decided to treat our team to dessert after a fantastic night of homemade taco salad that was so good we ran out of food!  There is a little place near the Mississippi River in the French Quarter called Cafe Du Monde.  They serves the best Iced Coffee and Beignets.  Don't know what a Beignet is?  It is dough that is deep fried and covered with more powdered sugar than should be legally allowed.  Someone asked the question, "Does it taste good?"  I could only think to tell them if you deep fried a car tire and put powdered sugar on it, it would be delicious.  Probably the best part of a beignet is the powdered sugar fight the typically breaks out after about 3 minutes of consuming the dessert.  I am proud to say that I started this one and Fletcher and Shae were the recipients of my wrath.  You see, you tell someone that you want to take a picture of them enjoying their beignet.  When they hold it near their face, instead of taking the picture you blow on their dessert.  Amazing cloud of powdered sugar dust goes everywhere.  From there they got the revenge and began to share the love with other people in our group and others that were innocent bystanders.  Sorry man and lady on a date at the table next to us!  Regardless, all of our stomaches are a little bit bigger and our hearts are a little weaker from the fried, but we are much happier for the journey.  Thursday, here we come!

-Posted by Jeff

Often times, when I am talking with parents, I hear about their children in a way that I have never seen.  Meaning, that they see a side of their children that I never get to see.  They are never comfortable when they come to church so they don't let their guard down.  Or maybe, church is the one place they feel that they can be themselves and so sadly their parents never get to see a side of their own kid that we are blessed with.  Regardless of what you see in your children I am here to tell you that these students know how to serve.  And they do it with a smile on their face.  I cannot even being to list all that they have done and it is only Tuesday.  I will attempt to give you a glimpse.  They have build a green house for plants, they are being a servant to their team, they cleaned up trash that is STILL laying around from Katrina, they are being gentle, mudding and sanding drywall for a home, they are being selfless, building a fence, cleaning animal cages of abandon animals from Katrina, building shelves, working alongside people who don't know Jesus. They are your children and the next generation of our church.  You should be proud of them.  They know how to work hard, work for others, and love God.  That should be better than a "Student of the Month" bumper sticker.

We are living in the dash

When you see a grave site or the length that something was in existence, there is a start date and an end date. So for example if we were talking about the popularity of Miley Cyrus or the Jonas Brothers you would see the dates 2008-2009 (hopefully). That means that they had a music career (and I use that term loosely) between those dates. What happened in between those two dates is up to the people involved. Today our tour guide pointed out a beautiful thought. Hurricane Katrina happened in late August of 2005. That would be the start date. Sadly, there is no end date...as of yet. There is still destruction. There is still trash in the streets.  Now the good news is that there is still aid being sent here.  And there are still people coming and making a difference.  The Well Community Church and wellstudentministries is a part of that.  That is what is affectionally called "Living in the Dash".  What that means is that the end has yet to be determined.  We don't know how the book is going to finish.  What we do know is that we can have a hand in making the ending happen sooner, and making it be a happy ending.   We are not only living in the dash, we ARE the dash.  WSM is a part of a 250,000 person history that has given their life, time, gifts, and heart to a cause that is bigger than any one person or even any one city.  We had our eyes opened today that the work is not yet done.  There is still more to do.  We will not finish the work in the week that we are here.  What we will do is make that dash shorter.  We will hurry the end of the story, and allow other stories to begin.  God is using 22 men and women from the Fresno area to change the life of people that they have never met before.  Your prayers are needed and felt.  Thanks for all you have done in your support.  God is using those who you faithfully sent to live powerfully for God over here...in the dash.

-posted by Jeff Bachman

List of missionaries

I was asked for a list of the people on the New Orleans Team. As promised I will provide the list right now. Thanks for your prayers and support. It is already felt.

Jeff Bachman
Jacob Frazier
Stacey Dykstra
Jessica Budke
Tarah Gregg
Carson Abbot
Michelle Anderson
Chad Bengston
Robert Donat
Michael Grelich
Rebecca Grelich
Drew Goorabian
Fletcher Klassen
Jacob Nikkel
Austin Nikkel
Tim Prendergrast
Joshua Ramsey
Trevor Short
Jordan Smith
Hannah Smith
Noah Thorton
Shae Thysse


Either one will get your update.
To God be the Glory,
Posted by Jeff Bachman

We made it!

Once we get our feet on the ground we will post here with more pictures and stories, but I wanted to make sure that all those who are reading know that the NOLA team made it safe last night about 1 AM our time (11 PM in Fresno). We got up this morning and were escorted to a French Pastry Shop by our fantastic host Pastor Greg. Today will include a tour of New Orleans with contextualization of what this town has been through in the past years and where they are at now. After that, it is an afternoon of work projects with Common Ground Relief, a non-profit organization much like Habitat for Humanity.

We are a man down...

I found out some disappointing news this evening.  Tim Souza, a sophomore at Clovis North, was signed up to be a part of our NOLA team.  He was instructed by his doctor to drop out of the trip for medical reasons and his own safety.  Obviously if it is what is best for him, we will encourage him to not go and heal at home, however there will be a hole in our team.  Please be praying for Tim.  He is having issues with his spine and different bone development.  I leave it that vague because I am a youth pastor and not a doctor, not out of privacy.  Please call, talk to him, and support him during this difficult time.  Tim will be a part of our team regardless of his location.  Our prayers are with him and his family and we will celebrate what God does now in Fresno and NOLA.

We FINALLY found tickets

One of the biggest things that I was concerned about as we have been working towards taking 20 students and 5 adults to New Orleans were the ticket prices.  That is the big ticket (pun intended) item of our trip and an expensive ticket would mean more money.  A year ago we priced out tickets and were able to get them even cheaper then that.  If that is not enough, we were also able to get them with the team flying out of Fresno instead of LA, SF, or Sac.  How awesome is that?  I will tell you what, the trip is coming close and I look forward to updating all those who read frequently.

See you in NOLA!