Allow Us Introduce To You...

We are delighted to have added Lue Williams and James Powell as staff members with our Technology Center!

Lue Williams is a native of St. Louis, who relocated to Chicagoland about five years ago after "the most beautiful women he had ever seen walked into his life". He has previously work experience in teaching computer courses and servicing computers. He increasingly sensed his gifts and abilities would be best utilized if they were paired with community service. Lue's personal mission and vision aligns with our mission and vision.

Also, with our Community Technology Center becoming busier by the day, Lue's computer background is a valuable asset to the community of which we're apart. Lue now oversees the Open Access service portion of our Tech Center and is developing a resume-building curriculum which will soon be offered on Saturday mornings. Resume construction and fine-tuning has been a need the community daily tells us about. We are grateful, therefore, for Lue's enthusiasm and ability to meet this need.

Lue has been married for a year now. He and his wife are expecting their first child in December!

James Powell was born in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago (just South of Woodlawn) and still considers this city home sweet home. Powell was first introduced to Sunshine when he "wanted to sign up for Internet use at the local library but, the next available reservation was the following day at 6 p.m.! The clerk gave me a flyer for Sunshine Gospel Ministries' Open Access program." Shortly after, Powell learned about the scope of programs Sunshine provides and inquired about staff opportunities. He continued to stop by for Open Access where in time he began to be introduced to various staff members.

At the time when Powell first entered Sunshine's doors he admits to "lacking drive and purpose" and experiencing some of the greatest challenges of his life. His new, part-time involvement with Sunshine as our technology center's adult class instructor is a service he described to me as, "Life changing for the students and I, both being dramatically impacted." Between the opportunities at Sunshine and his home church, he is invigorated with new avenues by which he can "share the good news of Christ and the salvation that his sacrifice has brought and will provide for those that will receive such a wonderful free gift!" Amen.

The energy the Lord has instilled in these two men is equally as exciting to Sunshine!

Join in the Fun!!!

We are hosting another volunteer training session on Saturday, November 3 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. If you know of a college student or young adult who might be interested, please spread the word to them. Listed below are the programs in need of volunteer and the time of their operation:

Club 2-5-2 Tutoring Program (2nd – 5th graders)

Tues,Wed, Thurs afternoons from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

ReCharge Youth Bible Study (age 7 thru high school)

Thursday evenings at 7 p.m.

foCus (hip-hop outreach service for 13+)

Every 3rd Friday at 7 p.m.

Adult Technology Classes

Monday - Thursday mornings from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Interested students or young adults?

E-mail Dave Clark by Thursday, November 1

dave@sunshinegospel.org

Operation Jumbo Candy Drop

Apologetically, this story should have been told earlier. However, those who receive our print newsletter did read it (this is a plug to give us your mailing address so we can keep you updated). So, please allow me to tell this story retroactively...

...Earlier in the summer, a local repair man came to fix our broken, walk-in refrigerator. And as conversations often do, a conversation about the refrigerator’s repairs led to a conversation about the man’s other job – a mechanical job fixing private airplanes. As the workman expanded on his responsibilities with planes and his ability to fly them in order to detect problems, Charlie Reid, the Cove's Director, concocted the idea of a massive candy drop from the air to the kids down on the ground at camp.

It was a secret and…a hit!
Nevermind, a great story to bring home.

Operation Candy Drop was only one festivity our campers enjoyed this summer. There is also archery, boating, lyric dance classes, basic photography, swimming, and crafts. Plenty to stay entertained. I wish this page offered more room for all the Kodak moments this summer supplied.

As thrilling as Operation Candy Drop was, there was an even grander story that began to play out in the lives of our campers.

“Who’s Tha King?” was the theme of this summer’s residential camp. Each chapel session the campers listened to a story of a leader in Scripture who had to choose which masters he/she would take direction from – an earthly, temporal god or the Eternal God. Examples of both choices were given and at the end, the campers were challenged to ask and answer this question for themselves. The lessons on kingship directly corresponded with the salvation message. Over 40 campers accepted Christ as their personal Savior throughout the summer!
Without taking away from the momentary thrill of Operation Jumbo Candy Drop, the immensely awesome story is Jesus’ sacrifice for us and what that daily means for us. We rejoice in power of the Gospel to make us see clearly who is truly worth serving.

Close Call

As sent by Charlie Reid, Sunshine Cove Camp Director, late last week...

Folks,

Just a quick update from Sunshive Cove to let you see a bit of what has been taking place at camp. August was very rainy! You can check out the pictures to see how high the lake got.

Also, check out the tree that fell during a storm a couple of weeks ago. it was giant one, but just missed Spruce lodge! Thankfully, the Lord kept it standing past our summer season, and let it fall when we (almost) have time to clean it up. Dave Phillips did most of the cutting, and a work crew from Bethel College came to split and stack the enormous amount of wood…

Sunshine Packs Its Bookbag

Summer wouldn't be complete if it did not include a block party. Hot dogs...candy...games... prizes... music ... and Mayor Daley Jumping Jack Inflatable House. (Before it was even blown up, the kids had formed a line in expectation.)And...backpacks? Yep, Sunshine coupled the local block party with our back-to-school backpack drive. A variety of brand-new backpacks filled with school supplies were graciously given to us by Willow Creek Commmunity Church in Barrington. Over 100 backpacks were given to area youth, many of them attenders of our Summer Blast Vacation Bible School. So now, I suppose, the summer is complete.

Summer W-rap Up

It's been too long since we've updated this blog! We know! But, I'm guessing your house looks a little like our "house" these days. Sunburns are fading, backpacks have been bought, school supply lists are a thing of the past, and each member of your family is trying to make a new schedule of games, clubs, appointments, and meetings a routine. But, since I am one who cannot get enough summer sun or the leisure summer so well imposes, I'm going to take you down memory lane, recounting our staff's activities as a way to give you a picture of our summer days. Join me?

Dave Clark finished his season coaching the Warriors, our high school basketball team. They ended the season with a 5-4 record, but that stat hardly reflects the improvements in perseverance and discipline they made. We are quite proud of our team and of Dave, who I can tell you from personal experience, was the most animated coach in the league, giving his full attention to the team.

Dave also spearheaded the annual trip to Bozeman, Montana at the end of July, with some of the young men from our community (in fact, some of the same guys who were on our basketball team). Six youth and two staff families (the Roys and the Blodgetts) made a 2-van, 22-hour caravan out West! Word back here in the city is that they are not coming back to Chicago. No, really, just like years past, they greatly enjoyed their time in the Word together, devotioning together alongside rivers and overlooking Canyons. Their hosts from Springhill Presbyterian warmly opened their doors & showed the guys the ropes to outdoor, mountain fun.

Ann, as she always does, sufficiently held down our fort. (My, we are going to miss her when she relocates to L.A. this fall!) She brought Woodlawn moms of Wednesdays to our Sunshine Cove Camp in Michigan, where the parents had an inside look at the kids' days at camp. The other days of the week, Ann teamed up with our other staff members, bringing Bridge Builder teams to their various site visits across Chicago, making corresponding phone calls and flyers, and taking a field trip to the water park and to the Clark homestead in Michigan (pictured below). She took upon herself for us, the anxieties associated with group dinners, birthdays, and the vast amount communication it takes to keep our staff on the same page we travel to and from camp all summer.

Vince taught another semester of After School Matters classes in business and web design to local high school students, all while continuing the major communications and messaging upgrade, which includes hosting our own e-mail and website. He also made sure our evening classes in computer literacy and Microsoft Office applications continued to be held for area adults. Our summer intern, Dave Perkins, and a part-time instructor, Jonathan, offered some relief along the way.

Pete and Nikki Blodgett (our newlyweds) came back from their honeymoon only to dive immediately into youth activities, like the Summer Blast program we'd wrote to you about in our last update. And, alongside that summer outreach endeavor, is our weekly ReCharge discipleship group, which we continue to hold and which we have plugged in approximately 30 more youth. Pete held another hip-hop Friday - an event we call foCus. This outreach will regain its consistency throughout this school year.

Aaron, besides celebrating the arrival of a baby girl into the Roy family, also led our Bridge Builder program. This week-long urban ministry school, as I would describe it, reached roughly 200 participants from churches and college campuses around the country.

And the rest of us of here in the city...we keep the family checkbook in order, plan the parties, go to meetings, write the family Christmas newsletter, greet our guests as they spontaneous arrive at our door, and make sure to periodically call "Aunt Brenda" in Washington with an update on the family. In actuality, my guess is that our duties would be a bit uninteresting if we outlined them. I think you can read between the lines though. :wink:

As you can see, our life on a large scale mirrors your life. Just as you are preparing for a new routine of activities, so are we.

Leaving a Legacy

We recently co-sponsored a discipleship conference called the Legacy Discipleship Conference. The focus of all of the workshops and general sessions was to grow as and to make disciples of Jesus Christ. More specifically, conference attendees were able to choose from four different workshop tracts: Basic Doctrines, Hermeneutics, Evangelism, and Community Impact. All of the general session speakers focused on what it means to “make disciples.”

We were reminded that the command within the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) is to “make disciples.” We are instructed to “go,” but this is not a command. As Herb Hodges puts it in his book entitled “Tally Ho The Fox,” “The verb means ‘as you are going’ or even ‘since you are going (pg. 39).’” What that means is that we don’t have to “go on a trip” in order to fulfill the Great Commission. We should be fulfilling the Great Commission “as we go” to work, to school, to the store, etc. “As we go,” we are commanded to make disciples.

The question then becomes, “what is a disciple?” A disciple is a student, a pupil, a learner, a follower. In other words, our command is to make fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ with a vision for impacting the world. The Great Commission reminds us that God has “the nations” on his heart. It is truly an amazing mission and vision. Hodges later asks:

"Christian, is your vision God-big for his glory? Where are the plans, the dreams, the visions, the strategies for total world impact that truly tax the miracle resources of God? Where is the strategy that requires ongoing miracles for its sustenance? Where is the vision that is so big that human resources (whatever the kind or amount) cannot possibly sponsor it? The only eternity-sized vision any of us will ever need is in the Great Commission given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ (17).”

At the Legacy Conference it was evident that God is doing a work within the urban centers of our nation, raising up world changers for his Name’s sake, who are committed to the Great Commission and who have the neighborhood and the nations on their hearts. I was humbled and challenged over the course of the 3 days there. There were approximately 350 youth and young adults in attendance at this multi-site Chicago based conference. Please pray for all that were in attendance as we continue to build on the momentum that the work of the conference created.

For more information you can check out the Legacy Conference website. This year's conference was from August 14-16.

Matthew 28:18-20
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.”

Written by Dave Clark, City Team Leader for Sunshine. Dave is celebrating his 30th birthday today! And, he has been spending his last few days preparing for and training others for the our after-school tutoring programs.