By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 5, 2025 9:37 PM

The MBC Student Ministry mission team traveling to World Changers in Cleveland, Ohio have arrived on site!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 5, 2025 9:41 PM

Now that everyone is situated, we are getting our opening instructions and introductions to the World Changers staff.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 5, 2025 9:45 PM

Singing the World Changers song!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 6, 2025 10:47 PM

MBC adults plus Brayden and Rufio sharing a meal around the table before we went separate ways to worship at different churches in the Cleveland area.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 6, 2025 10:48 PM

PK, Savannah, and Abby are in the same crew doing a sports camp this week in addition to additional ministries each afternoon. But today, our crew - the Gospel Groupies - stopped for ice cream.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 6, 2025 10:51 PM

Pastor Carney from a local church in Cleveland is our Guest Preacher and is bringing it! Great messages based on Jonah's story. Pastor Carney reminded us that we have an assignment from God and that the storms in our life derive from our disobedience. His encouragement was "if you want the storms to go away you have to get close to Jesus and starting talking to and about Him."

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 6, 2025 10:55 PM

Every night we conclude with Church Group Devotions, and tonight we asked ourselves "why did we come here this week?" and "what do you expect God to do in/with you this week?" We also go around the horn sharing our Hope (God-moment), Dope (awesome), and Nope (bad/forgettable) moments with our group.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 8, 2025 5:12 PM

On the first work morning, all the crews gather together for a devotion and prayer before we head off to our different sites.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 8, 2025 5:15 PM

Eliezer and Olivia are on the same crew doing some demo on a porch before its rebuilt later this week.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 8, 2025 5:19 PM

Kaylie and Stella are on the same crew whose task is to repaint the "biggest house" of any project at World Changers! Or so they say...

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 8, 2025 5:27 PM

Brayden and Rufio heard that one of the non-construction projects was to help Celebrate Recovery and a ministry they have which is very similar to RuraLove back home. Taking a break after reorgranizing an entire warehouse (which only took 1 day after the plan was to take 2 days to do it).

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 8, 2025 5:31 PM

Eloize and Camden got exactly what they wanted! To work a VBS! Here they are leading worship with the kids.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 8, 2025 5:33 PM

Savannah and Abby are on the Sports Camp Crew but they took some time to do the Church Clap dance with the other adult leaders and some of our camp participants.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 9, 2025 9:55 PM

Ryan and Autumn are part of a painting team that is helping spruce up a local church. Autumn may have put her initials on the wall...

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 9, 2025 9:59 PM

Camden and Eloize making some kind of banana split-like things at their VBS session!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 9, 2025 10:01 PM

During our sports camp today we were supposed to be playing kickball but Abby was chasing people with the hula hoop while Savannah was playing bubbles and chalk with some kids up front. After our sports camp, we went to a local nursing home and Savannah did her favorite thing - painting a woman's fingernails!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 9, 2025 10:04 PM

Olivia helping to cut the wood as the rebuild the porch.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 9, 2025 10:04 PM

Stella couldn't reach high enough to paint a spot so Kaylie lifted her up. Literally!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 9, 2025 10:08 PM

Worship was a little different tonight. We participated in a concert of prayer - a time of intentional prayer, Scripture reading, and singing. What a powerful time for our youth ministry family!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 9, 2025 10:10 PM

After the concert of prayer, Brayden had two calls to make. First, to put his faith and trust in Jesus Christ for the first time! Second, to his mom to tell her the big news! Praise God! He continues to work.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 9, 2025 10:41 PM

Before VBS today, Eloize and Camden's group went prayer walking through the neighborhood. Here they are praying for a resident!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 9, 2025 10:48 PM

Abby is sharing the Gospel with a little girl at Sports Camp who didn't feel like she was worth anything because she thought she wasn't any good at soccer.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 9, 2025 10:53 PM

We were waiting on everyone to be able to leave for our afternoon/evening off and apparently Eloize had her stylist team getting her ready.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 9, 2025 11:16 PM

Here are some photos from our night out in Cleveland at the beach of Lake Erie, bowling, and dinner at the Happy Moose.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 11, 2025 10:47 PM

Thursday, the lift finally arrived and Kaylie and Stella took to the skies to pain the "Big House"

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 11, 2025 11:00 PM

Camden playing some games with the VBS kids.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 11, 2025 11:03 PM

Thursday night worship. Because my praise is a weapon. It's more than a sound.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 11, 2025 11:11 PM

Brayden and Rufio worked so hard they fell asleep! And they may have found a PlayStation 2 and a new (to them) Xbox.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | July 11, 2025 11:20 PM

Gospel Groupies (PK, Abby, and Savannah) finished up sports camp  by walking kids through the beads of salvation. Our site had 14 kids put their faith and trust this week!

We finished up sports camp then headed over to another site to help move some firewood, and we ran into none other than Rufio!

Then in honor of July 11 (7/11), we stopped at a local 7/11 station and got our free slushies!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 2, 2025 7:31 AM

This is the MBC Student Ministry team heading to MFuge down at Ridgecrest in North Carolina. Super excited about this group and what God is going to do this week!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 2, 2025 5:58 PM

We have arrived at Ridgecrest and praying it up with LeAnn, our church group host. MFuge, here we go!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 2, 2025 6:30 PM

Arrived and doing our photo op with our "Into the Light" shirts!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 2, 2025 11:36 PM

A little taste of worship tonight led by The Museum.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 2, 2025 11:40 PM

After a great time of worship and a great introductory message by Pastor Graham about "getting the soil ready for the rain from God", we took our Church Group Time to pray with and for each other.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 3, 2025 9:15 AM

Full Day 1 is here. Morning Cel(ebration) is a time to set the stage literally and spiritually for the day ahead! 1300 voices lifted to Jesus!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 3, 2025 12:00 PM

Every day after lunch, we gather with our ministry track groups for what they call Site Send Off. There is hype, cheer, devotional time, and prayer as we head to share the Gospel with Asheville and the surrounding community!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 3, 2025 6:32 PM

One of our groups went to Lake Tomahawk to share the Gospel and pray for people. Here's Abby!!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 3, 2025 9:00 PM

Ashlyn, Stella, and Eli are in a different group on the Evangelism Track. Out in the Asheville community sharing Jesus! Honk if You Love Jesus!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 3, 2025 9:00 PM

Not just songs. Surrender. Not just a moment. Movement. Great to see our students in true, authentic worship.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 3, 2025 9:05 PM

During our Church Group Time, we had the opprotunity to hear our Church Group Host, LeAnn tell her testimony. She is an amazing young woman with a powerful story and powerful worship!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 3, 2025 9:10 PM

Finally, we have some MBC Student Ministry Gear. While a cool shirt, it is a symbol of how we are family (brothers and sisters in Christ). We also couldn't help ourselves but put nicknames on the back

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 5, 2025 10:48 AM

It is very common in this youth ministry and the whole church to give people nicknames. Emily is known as Brownie and Bella is known as Cupcake. Yesterday for lunch and dinner, respectively, we had brownies and cupcakes! (And somehow Caroline aka Bubbles shows up in both pics! UPDATE: Based on the gigantic plate of pudding Caroline had Thursday at lunch "Puddin'" is now a secondary nickname.)

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 5, 2025 11:05 AM

One of our groups walked the streets of Downtown Black Mountain praying for people and sharing the Gospel. Eloize (aka Wheezy) praying for our mission.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 6, 2025 11:18 PM

Another one of our groups was in Downtown Black Mountain praying for people and sharing the Gospel. Kyla with the sign while Ashlyn and Stella were dancing for Jesus! ???

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 6, 2025 11:21 PM

On Thursday, Demarcus and Abby and some of our Site Group had the opportunity to lead a young man, Kayden, to Christ!! Interestingly, PK, Natalie and the other leader - Jason from Georgia - all captured a picture of the event from various places around the park.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 6, 2025 11:33 PM

Friday morning, Rufio, PK, and Eli awoke with a Hallelujah!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 6, 2025 11:33 PM

One of the staples of Fuge is Mega Relay, and it is exactly what it sounds like...a mega relay race. Here is our crew decked out in their Christmas stuff, and Emily's team won - so she gets center stage in the photo.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 6, 2025 11:38 PM

While Emily's team won Mega Relay, Autumn tried to soak PK with water...

and she lost!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 7, 2025 8:54 AM

Mrs. Kendall and Stella finished Mega Relay and still going strong!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 7, 2025 8:59 AM

Let out the lion inside of us to worship our Lord and Savior in power and FREEDOM!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 7, 2025 9:03 AM

Pastor Graham brought it this week! Encouraging and challenging us all to live out our faith saying: "We have all of God that we want of Him."

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 7, 2025 9:06 AM

Last night, we collected the missions offering going to the North African and Middle Eastern unreached people groups and prayed over it as a group.

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 7, 2025 9:20 AM

Here are the wonderful adult leaders serving with the students all week long!

Top photo: Pastor Kris (PK), Mike (Wazowski), Demarcus (Kilt), Chris G (Mr. HeeHaw/John Deere)
Bottom photo: Kendall (Mrs. KK), Natalie (Dory/NatGeo/HeeHaw), Cortney (Whoopsie)

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 8, 2025 8:16 AM

What a great week, but it is time to return home and fully step into the light. Here's us and our Church Group Host, Leanne!

By Kris Hutchinson (PK) | June 8, 2025 8:17 AM

A little photo collage to capture the whole team as respective classes (6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and Adults).

Another MFuge in the books...

The experiences of social ministry in the parks, evangelism on the beach, and serving residents in the nursing home gave us a lot to think about and a lot of valuable experience as we head home.

The wonderful, Spirit-filled worship by Chuck drew us closer to Christ this week. And the messages from Pastor Aaron challenged us to reflect on our lives and be revived so that God can use us to revive His people so that others may come to know Him as their Lord and Savior.

Can't wait until next year!

*Header Thumbnail is our group with our church group hosts: Maddie & ___

Today, as is Fuge tradition, on the last full day, is MEGA Relay Day. And it is exactly what it sounds like - a giant, mega relay race.

And this one was interesting because we did at night (which is always crazy) and because the group that won had 3 of our students in it! Although, there is some debate (at least from PK and his group) about the validity of the timer here...

Tonight, we talked about the importance of being obedient and worshiping the Lord using King Hezekiah's removal of pagan objects of worship and ushering back in the celebration of Passover as an example.

This begs the question of are we obedient to God. It also challenges us to reflect on is our life one of worship to the Lord.

Today, the second full day of MFuge, was interesting to say the least. In the opening celebration, Eloise was selected for a game on stage. It was our second full day on site and our various groups continued ministry on the beach, in the park, and in the nursing home. The craziest thing was that during the band's rehearsal the fog machine, at least that is what we think did it, set the fire alarm and that led to a unique, wonderful night of worship outside in front of the library.

Day 2 of Bible Study, and the sermon, focused on Confess and Repent of Your Sins. After 400 years of silence from God with no divine revelations or prophets, John the Baptist initiated a time of revival as the forerunner of Jesus. His preaching focused on repentance. The key verse of the day is Acts 3:19, "Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out."

The challenge for all of us is do determine what sins we need to admit and turn away from.

Today is the first full day of Fuge, and our team already has the reputation for being the "most hyped" during worship! This is coming from the Fuge staffers themselves. One of them ate lunch with us, and when we told her what church we were she said, "Oh, you're the hyped ones!" (It also turns out that this staffer is the oldest daughter of the pastor who now pastors my old church - Round Hill Baptist!)

Today we hit our sites for the first time. Our team was divided up amongst four different groups doing everything from ministry in parks to serving in a nursing home and beach evangelism (literally walking on the beach talking to people about Jesus, handing out tracts, and praying for people). And Abby got to play a game on stage during Morning Worship.

On site, we experienced some difficulties as our beach evangelism group received some strong resistance from a couple of people, and not just people who were disinterested. They were hostile to the faith. One of our park groups experienced incredible openness and receptivity. Some guys from another church went straight up to two guys playing basketball and engaged them about faith. One of them had a ton of questions but simply doesn't believe. And oh by the way, Mrs. Natalie, actually called BINGO numbers at the nursing home.

Worship and Bible Study focused on praying and turning to God. Through Samuel, a prophet of Israel, God ushered a time of revival for the Israelites. His story begs us to answer how prayer is an active part of our life.

Our team made it to Regent safely and ON TIME...AGAIN!!

We are here on the east coast of Virginia (aka Virginia Beach area) and are part of a group of 180 people from Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee taking part in the first ever Fuge at Regent. Literally, we are the first group in the first week of the first ever summer of Fuge Camps at Regent University!

Chuck Hooten is leading us in worship and his heart for worshiping God and coming before the King of Kings is moving. He has already led us into focusing on being in a posture of prayer and submission as we worship our King.

We are excited to be here and learn from Pastor Aaron Schwartz (Restoration Church in Nashville, TN). He is teaching us how revival is not an event, it is lifestyle. He encourages us to be present before God understanding that revival starts with us before God emptying ourselves and letting Him pour into us.

Tomorrow we get into the full schedule and work of being God's people and serving His people!

Stay tuned for more details...

We had a great week at World Changers and are headed home.

Our team was amazing this morning and woke up on time! So we got the road early and head back to Virginia.

See you all tomorrow (Sunday)!

Well, what a start to the day…

Cloudy. Heavy rain. Forecast of hail.

Around 10am though what did we get? Sunshine! It was also Abby’s BIRTHDAY!!!!
(And of course we sang to her!)

Parker and Savannah finished the deck/ramp/stairs and then we’re moved to a new site where they shoveled cement and did various other things. All I know is Parker showed back up with dirt all over his face.

Mrs. June and Ashlyn started off at the roofing place cleaning up debris. Then they went to multiple sites to redo/rebuild stairs to fit the spaces better. We also learned that Mrs. June apparently was the real crew chief correcting the measurements between steps. It was also great to hear Ashlyn pray over the lunches during the week.

Mr. Chris and Abby started out pressure washing a porch their crew spilled paint on during the week. Then they arrived at a site where the homeowner ended up yelling at the crew about the projects they were engaged in. Mr. Chris took the boys in the crew to a site where they pulled weeds and dug up bushes. Then the crew regathered and did various painting and landscaping work.  Then Mr. Chris got lost and ended up in a different township.

PK and Camden went back to the Marina where we finished four total docks. We did receive some pushback from boat owners because we were getting dirt on their boats while power washing. We concluded our site work by returning to a house we had been at earlier in the week and hanging shutters and painting high trim on the corners of the house.

During Project Celebration and worship we reflected on everything that happened throughout the week and Abby was featured in the official Project Cam (we will link to that when World Changers posts it). We had a wonderful evening of worship concluding the week with a reminder from Pastor Andrew that just as Boaz was Naomi and Ruth’s redeemer, Jesus is our redeemer.

After packing up some of our stuff, we helped the World Changers staff unload and pack up their stuff. Then it was off to bed for a 5:00am wake up time.

Heading back home tomorrow!

We finally had a day to work in the sunshine.

The rain really set us back with some of the projects, but we finally had a clear day.

Projects continued. Parker and Savannah’s crew made great progress on their deck/ramp. Pretty much the only thing they had left was to put the hand rail on.

Mr. Chris and Abby went back to their original site to finish painting the trim. Once complete they were moved to another site to paint some lawn decorations and pull weeds.

Mrs. June and Ashlyn spent time picking up debris from the roofing project and had to go rebuild the stairs from the day before. And Mrs. June led the installation of a toilet!

PK and Camden had a glorious day at the Marina…

We power washed some of the docks and met some interesting guys who worked at the Marina. We had a chance to talk to one guy who had a lot of frustrations with  the church.

In the evening, we had a special Concert of Prayer. It was a wonderful time of thoughtful intentional worship challenging us to handle our business with God, pray through Scriptures, and be more Gospel aware. It was a wonderful experience for our group!

Well, tomorrow is the final day.

Today, we worked again. In the rain!

We survived the rain, thunderstorms, built shelters, found shelter under carports and the branches of trees. Some of us were actually inside so it didn’t matter as much.

Our students are doing a tremendous job. Parker and Savannah are working on a deck but when rain came Parker built his crew a make shift shed to stay dry. Too bad they then had to take it apart after the rain stopped.

Ashlyn and Mrs. June built a set of stairs for an elderly widow inside her garage. That lady apparently has been an amazing host and has welcomed the crew into her home and engaged in lengthy chats with different crew members.

Abby and Mr. Chris are painting up a storm (pardon the pun) and while waiting for the first coat to dry a Rita’s ice cream run occurred.

Meanwhile, Camden and PK were outside in the rain power washing two homes…and no ice cream!

The rain canceled our beach trip and dinner/worship/church group time on the beach. But we still had a great dinner of hot dogs, burgers, potato salad, Mac & cheese, etc.

At worship, Ashlyn read the scripture from the stage and Savannah prayed! It is so awesome to see our students gain confidence in leading worship!

Pastor Andrew preached on Ruth 3 highlighting Boaz’s patience in doing things God’s way.

The night concluded with an epic 3 v 3 basketball game (guys vs girls) which saw PK scoring 4 baskets, Mr. Chris hitting the game winner and Savannah and Abby running off the court every few minutes. Our game also included an epic race for the ball between Parker and Savannah which almost turned into a train wreck! Bottom line: great night!

Supposed to be sunshine tomorrow! Day 3 of sites!

First full day on site.

The morning seemed fairly smooth for everyone. The afternoon saw some interesting things from Savannah being a snake handler, Parker being “decked” out, Abby having a painting party (which may have included herself), Camden and Ashlyn both leading devotions for their respective crews (and Ashlyn praying for her project’s homeowner out loud for the very first time!!!), Mr. Chris leaving trash bags at Walmart, Mrs. June being super encouraging and engaging with the project’s homeowner, and me (PK) being “holey” and “soleless” (My jeans ripped at the knee, I had a hole in my shirt, and one of the soles fell off my supposedly new boots…).

The afternoon went well once we returned and in the evening had a great time of worship where we talked about our mission offering “one more child” (onemorechild.org) and Ruth chapter 2. Pastor Andrew reminded us that God works through seemingly everyday events and people to accomplish His purpose.

All I can I say in closing is Bedtime was a welcomed time!

Second Full Day tomorrow!

We arrived with no trouble at all. Leaving in the wee hours of the morning helped us get around DC and up to Neptune (NJ) several hours early. So early in fact, that we were here before the World Changers staff was ready for us.

We got checked in and settled had some preliminary meetings before we ate dinner and headed to Asbury Park Boardwalk. We spent some time taking a big group photo and walking the boardwalk with the hope of talking to people as we went.

We did have a group ask where we were from and when Chris Poland asked if she went to church, she said she was Jewish and began inching away from us while her friends kept talking with us.

We concluded the night with worship, Gospel-sharing training, and a message about Ruth chapter 1 reminding us that God’s way leads to life.

Now we await tomorrow. Our first full day on sites. Our crews have been assigned, roles decided, and students trained up. Here we go!!!!

Our camp director, Tyler, has been great and we titled today's post is titled after one of his phrases all week long based on our Yee-Haw Mega Relay theme.

A wonderful week full of memories, laughs, tears, and bonds. We are excited to see how God will move in this team and our group and our church and our community as we head back into Louisa County.

Hitting the road soon and heading home.

P.S. And we got Fuge socks!

Today was the last full day of Fuge and it is time for Mega Relay!!

Mega Relay is exactly what it sounds like, a giant relay race.

It has been a great day full of fun and memories. However, the biggest thing I want to highlight is our missions offering time. Our header image is our students praying over their offering for Portland church planters and the Embera people in Panama.

Pastor Cliff reminded us that we do not "go" anywhere; we are SENT to be image bearers of Christ. Part of imaging God is not having it all together but beginning to put our life in order for Gospel flourishing.

Coming home tomorrow...

Let me be clear, Fuge is really a youth summer camp. What we do with MFuge (a track within the larger program) is spend several hours on a ministry site. This is a great place for students who are young or never been on a mission trip to get a taste of what missions is like.

Today, we heard several cool stories about our students sharing the Gospel on the streets on Asheville. Camden recounted a story where he and several of his teammates were sharing with a man who absolutely rejected the Gospel and talked about how much he didn't like/need God.

Abigail told a story about how a lady she met at her site the previous day returned to tell her what an impact she (Abigail) had made on her.

Autumn and Brayden participated in a Sherpa Walk which was a great lesson in faith in Christ, listening for His voice in the midst of chaos, and the role of believers and leaders in keeping people pursuing Him.

Another fantastic worship. Kellie and Kristen are loved by kids and adults alike. But what is so amazing is their true heart for worship and praising King Jesus.

Pastor Cliff gave another great sermon about Adam 2.0 (Jesus) and how Christ declares us a new creation and gives a new status in relationship with God and with others as image bearers of Christ.

Overall, it was a very good day, but it came with the realization of what we are really doing for many of our students. Door-to-door prayer walks. Cleaning appliances and messing up our clothes. Worshiping and feeling God's presence!

Today carried a heavy feeling. Not in a bad way, but in a "getting real" way. Many of our students saw things and experienced things that rattled, encouraged, and enlightened them.

One example, is from Parker. He told us the story of how a former military officer was in the nursing home he has been serving in. Parker's realization that this man who led thousands of soldiers was now confined to a nursing home with limited cognitive ability.

It reminds us of how our worldly accomplishments are temporal.

We had an amazing night of worship. We talked about Genesis chapter 3 and what we typically refer to as The Fall. This event altered the world forever, and it initiated Jesus' Rescue Mission. We were reminded that GOD WANTS HIS CHILDREN BACK!

Our church group time where we came together after worship led us into an amazing conversation about the difference in worship here and back home. But it culminated in how we can worship with this kind of energy, passion, and devotion back home regardless!

We reminded the students that the Bible says that "young people" can be an example to the believers in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.

What a great night!

On another note, we realized we are not very good at volleyball...

Today is the first full day of Fuge, and our youth ministry has a running joke about Gold Stars. Gold Stars are 100% arbitrary points given to (and taken) from students for some legitimate reasons and mostly silly reasons. Think the old game show Whose Line Is It Anyway - the points are made up and don't matter.

That said, we walked into Morning Celebration and one of the Fuge Staffers was dressed as a Gold Star!

Today we hit our sites for the first time. Our team was divided up amongst five different groups doing everything from children's ministry in parks and neighborhoods to serving in a nursing home, and helping clean and organize a local church facility.

On site, we experienced some difficulties as two of our sites discovered that children are still in school this week which makes it hard to do children's ministry work. We also got to see up close the reality of life in a nursing home (and realized a 100-year-old man is a boss at cornhole). That means really good at throwing bean bags through a hole in a piece of wood. We also found out that some churches have several-years-old moldy green beans in refrigerators that need to be cleaned out.

**Note - we do not have many photos/videos of site as Fuge has asked us not to do this due to privacy and safety issues.**

Our theme this year is In His Image - talking about God's original design of us and how that image has been distorted. In looking at Genesis 1, Pastor Cliff talked about how being created in the image of God is multifaceted: 1) Gives us value, 2) Gives us the capacity for relationships, and 3) Gives us a job to do (often seen as our calling).

In the evening, we spent some time together as a group playing some of our favorites games: Brazilian Uno and Spoons...

And for the first time EVER, a student beat me (PK) at Spoons!!!! Shout out to Savannah.

So tomorrow (June 7 is Savannah Day). I still have great socks - the Kool-Aid Man!

Check back tomorrow...

P.S. - I am looking into why we can't post comments. Everything is enabled properly in our settings.

Our team made it to Ridgecrest safely and ON TIME AGAIN!!

We are here in the Black Mountains of North Carolina and it is good to be surrounded by 1300+ people from all over the United States (and from as far away as Florida and Mississippi). Kellie and Kristen are leading us in worship again and their heart for worshiping God and their intentionality for every song in their set is amazing. They do not just sing songs that are popular, but rather every song is chosen intentionally to fit the theme and is prayed over before building it into a set.

We are excited to be here and learn from Pastor Cliff Jordan (Movement Church in Richmond, VA)!!! He is teaching us how God's Word is a serious business and that even though life doesn't always look like it, we are created in the image of God who brings order out of chaos and beautifying the emptiness.

Tomorrow we get into the full schedule and work of being God's people and serving His people!

Stay tuned for more details and more crazy socks...

Today we head home after a great week of worship and service. It was challenging in several ways, but rewarding.

The relationships built within our group and rekindled with other groups we have met in the past are priceless. It reminds us all that we are not alone. There are Christians young and old fighting to share the good news of Jesus all across the country!

We also received the news that we raised over $7,000 for a church plant in St. Louis and the Ebera people in South America.

From left to right:

• Missions Offering Total
• Pastor Derek Idol
• Friends from Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in Mississippi

Today was Mega Relay day at Fuge. And it was at night.

This is one of the staples of Fuge. It literally is a giant relay race!

Aside from Mega, we had our final day on site. Even though we were all spread out in different groups some wonderful things happened. Where I personally was we partnered with a local organization to hold an event in the park. We engaged with local kids while also helping establish strong rapport with their local organizations and authorities. One boy we spent a lot of time with this week even asked when we would be back. It was very difficult to tell him we weren't coming back the next day...

We had another great night of worship and Pastor Derek brought a very strong message about Matchless Forgiveness and challenged us to do some "forgiveness business" right then, tonight, or as soon as we get home.

Coming home tomorrow!

What a day...

Overall, it was a very good day, but it came with an unexpected departure for one of our team members and thunderstorms. The rain did hold off until this evening after we returned from site.

This morning, first thing, we had to say goodbye to one of our team members due to a family situation back home. That honestly created a very crazy morning for me. However, we got him connected with his family and wished him the best as we continued on.

There are not many photos from today due to the rain and because one of the sites where we are working does not want us to take pictures of the children.

However, a great day digging into the Word. The nuance of the "Matchless One" theme was forgiveness - through the eyes of Joseph in Genesis. We were challenged to forgive (and seek forgiveness), resolve conflict quickly, and be sensitive to where people are coming from, especially since we really don’t know what is going on in the background of someone’s life.

We also discovered that Parker has a knack for finding old pulpit Bibles on site (two so far)…

Today is the first full day of Fuge, and today we hit our sites for the first time. While our team was divided up amongst three different groups we did everything from children's ministry/evangelism in parks to helping sort goods in a local distribution center.

Our theme this year is Matchless One - talking bout how Jesus is unmatched in history. There has never been anyone like Him nd there will never be anyone else like Him.

Today we focused on the idea of sacrifice through the account of Abraham and Isaac. One big idea that rang out for me personally is how many of us think we are/have sacrificed but the truth is we have not. Sacrifice is intended to cost us something. It should have life altering impact.

One of the pictures you will see below includes our church group host, Caitlyn. She is truly one of the best Fuge staffers I have ever worked with in the 6 years I have done this. Her heart for the Lord, her excitement for our students, her prayerful Spirit - she even called the week before Fuge nd prayed with me over the phone, nd her enthusiasm for Fuge exceeds anything I could ask for.

In the evening, we participated in Night Life - which this year was a programmed party led by the emcee using silent disco headphones. Let's just say that June and The Boys took to this way better than I imagined.

Check back tomorrow...

Fuge 2022 has begun. We made it to Harrisonburg in plenty of time and did NOT miss any turns this year!

What an interesting start to the week...

Our host site is brand new to FUGE and there were some logistical difficulties between them and the FUGE staff. When we arrived keys for everyone (and I mean everyone 860+ people) were not ready. Apparently, one of the host site's staff members quit a few days ago and seems to have been the one who may have been responsible for getting our keys and rooming straight! Not 100% sure about that, but that narrative has seemed to become pretty strong.

But before we even arrived our team faced setbacks due to COVID and other schedule logistics.

However, we pressed on. We now refer to ourselves as Mrs. June and The Boys.

Once we finally got in our rooms and ate dinner, we settled in for opening celebration, Bible Study Groups, and worship.

What a wonderful night filled with reminders about how Jesus is MATCHLESS. Nothing compares to Him. Our camp pastor for the week is Derek Idol and our worship leader is Jerod Espy.

One of the things that always moves me about FUGE is the hundreds of students and adults who literally come from all over the country for this. One group drove 15 hours just to be here. And there were three Group Leaders who have been brining students to FUGF for 22, 27 and 30 years! (I am at 6 in case you were wondering...)

All in all, a good start and all the team is excited to begin tomorrow morning with the 1st FULL DAY!

*Feel free to comment to this post and I will pass it along to the team.*

Today we head back home after an amazing week of worship and service!

The photos below are of us and some of our new friends:

From left to right (and top to bottom):

• Savannah and Abigail with Kellie from the worship band: Kellie and Kristen
• Mr. Doodles painting (silly puppet video played every morning; another student painted this and now it is in Pastor Kris' office)
• Fuge staffers
• MBC with Emmy (our MFuge site director) and Huey (our Church Group Host)
• MBC with Emmy and Huey and Heather (a new friend from another church)