Several of us were at Festival Latino downtow Columbus with Grupo Amor today, “Telling People Their Future.” 

Grupo Amor Cristiano, our Hispanic daughter church that meets at Northwest Chapel, will have a booth at Festival Latino downtown Columbus on Aug. 14 and 15.  You can help by

• Prayer walking the festival
• Setup / Tear Down of the booth
• Sharing the Gospel with English speaking visitors
• Praying for the team in your own home (starting now!)
• Following up with those that make a decision for Christ

Shifts run from 12:00PM to 4:00PM and 4:00PM to 8:00PM both days.  Please feel free to sign up for as many as you’d like.  For more information please contact Juli Bryant or email mmat-members@northwestchapel.org.

The many shops made the day fun as well. It’s very comical and fun to barter with the different vendors. Everyone got their souvenirs for themselves and others. One neat vendor, the best one by far, took regular ceramic plates and just with his fingertips and paint created wonderful works of art that no other vendor could match.

After we got back, we went back to pastor Teo’s church for a party that he threw for us, out of his gratitude. It was a very good experience, as the family we built the house for arrived and yet again gave their thanks. Pastor Teo is a great man and has a wonderful church here in Ensenada.

This morning, myself (Caleb Yutzy), and Martin Guerena went body surfing and saw a whale’s tale splash down. That was one of the first time I was truly speechless. Susan had a bit of a spell yesterday. She blacked out for a number of seconds but appeared fine. Just for precautions sake, her and Jon went to a hospital in San Diego, which with her comidic attitude explaned they had no HIPPA law. She is perfectly fine now though but please keep her in your prayers for the flight back. All the houses and the soup kitchen were finished in time. We had ceremonies yesterday and today which were very touching and brought tears to most of our eyes. It really makes you realize how much you have back in the states. They are so greatful and thankful to have just this small house that most of us would use as a shed. Through some help from God, we got a new refrigerator and a new gas stove for the soup kitchen. Pastor Teo and his wife were very greatful and shared some words of thanks and encouragement at the dedication. We are excited to see how the soup kitchen will be use for God’s glory. Our hope is to impact hundreds in the community. 

Although we are having the time of our lives here in Ensenada, we are all very anxious to get back home to all of are families who love and support us. As we travel back, we again ask for your prayers and support as we cross the border, that everything goes smoothly, and as we fly that all will go well too. We thank all of you for your support and prayers already, we could not have done this without you. This has been a great experience for all of us, and many of us want to come back next year. we will be leaving sometime in the afternoon to go back across the border. Depending on the time, it could take us up to 3 hours to cross the border, due to traffic. Our plane leaves around 11pm Pacific time. We will arrive at Northwest Chapel around 930am. Again we all thank you for your support and can’t wait to tell you all our amazing stories of our adventures in Mexico. Phillipians 4:13 says, ” I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” That was truly proved this week.

Drywall is fun

kitchen. Everyone have been coming back very dirty from all the hard work, and are excited they have almost completed their goal for the week. Today we were excited to learned that at V.B.S.  18 kids accepted Christ! The dental team has worked non-stop, working even past dinner. They have seen 40-50 patients a day, and hope that continues to finish the week at about 200 patients for the week. We have had minor incidents here and there but they could have gone way worse. God is truly watching over us and blessing us. One phrase that has been used over and over by the staff here at YUGO and by our team and other teams here is “God will do something amazing tomorrow”. So far He has yet to let us down. Whether it’s how united the teams are, extra help coming at just the right time, or being able to appreciate His handy work, He has truly been amazing.  The people are so nice and the scenery is breath taking. We are surrounded by mountains on 3 sides of us, and on the 4th side is a beautiful beach.

Today YUGO had a local taco shack “cater” dinner. They were the best tacos many of us had ever eaten. Although a Mexican meal has not been the norm. We have had fettuccine alfredo, cheeseburgers, American bacon and eggs, and other meals that we would have at home.

David Carrick Delivering a message of Hope at the church service

Wednesday evening we went to Pastor Teo’s church for their Wednesday night service. Once again God showed us unity by combining both Mexican and American voices to worship him. The service was “Muy bueno”! We have one more day of work to finish up the house and the soup kitchen tomorrow.  We are having a welcome home celebration at the house, to welcome the family. Friday we will dedicate the soup kitchen  and the church workers that will work in the soup kitchen. Friday we are also going to La Buforda . It is a tourist attraction and another beautiful part of Mexico. It is the world’s second tallest blow hole ( where the ocean hits a part of a cliff that is hallowed out with a hole on top that water shoots out). There is also many markets and souvenir shops around in that area.

One of the things that has become our nightly tradition has been our late night runs to Wal-Mart. People have needed supplies and different items to continue their outreach. No one has been sick yet, which has been a blessing. We are all so blessed to be apart of this trip and experience. Many of the teens and kids have been playing soccer with a couple of the local kids after the work days. They have been setting up a field in the middle of the street that YUGO is located on. They watch out for cars and have fun. It’s been fun watching them interact with each other. They have so much fun, it seems at times, like they’ve known each other for years. God has truly been here and blessed this place and the work we have done. It’s so inspiring to see what He can do when we just give it all to him and let him work. Truly,” God is good all the time.”

~Caleb Yutzy

LJ and a happy patient at the Clinic

"Dr. J" working hard on some troubled teeth

We have arrived saafely in San Diego, though we are tired as we arrived late and have an early morning.

We are joining San Diego GBC this morning for Sunday School, hoping to pump them up in Missions. After that we drive across the border into Mexico.  We’ll enjoy a lunch by the beach on tbhe way to Ensenada, where we meet up with the mobile dental unit and begin setup for the clinic. After that we move into YUGO for the week.

Please pray for us as we cross the border. Please pray for Teo as he recovers from eye surgery, that he doesn’t do too much.  Pleaase pray for Lynn Roose as it looks like they have had a water in the house situation back home.

The team will work with Pastor Teo Huerta and his wife Rosario at their church, Lirio de Los Valles (Lilly of the Vallies) as well as a daughter church of theirs, Una Luz en la Montana (A light on the mountain) which is located 20 minutes south of Ensenada in a community called El Zorrillo (the skunk).  We will build the house and soup kitchen in El Zorrillo and hold the VBS and dental clinic in Ensenada.  In addition to Pastor Teo, we will again be working with YUGO Ministries and a new partner, Mexican Medical and their Mobile Dental Unit manned by missionaries Dave and Lynne Johnson.  We will also have the blessing of working with Rosa Churchill, a GBIM missionary from Ensenada and long time partner with Northwest Chapel Missions.

The Rosales family will be moving from the house you see in the picture above to a beautiful home like this in just a few weeks.  It will be a blessing for all as we get to know the family more and have the privilege of handing them the keys when we are finished.

Please pray for our team in the following ways.

• Safety both as we travel and while on the ground in Mexico
• Health
• Team Unity
• For us to be used by God to help the community
• The people we will minister with.  They are part of the team, too
• The people we will minister to that God will soften their hearts to His Good News
• The lives of the people on the trip – that God would change us from the inside out
• Opportunities to share God’s love and forgiveness through Jesus Christ
• People to come to know and commit their lives to God

Please follow us here over the coming weeks as we prepare to leave and follow us while we are there for up to the minute news from the missions team.

From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you for the support that Northwest Chapel has given to the development and successful launch of ClearView Church.  Thanks for your prayers and financial and personnel support.  ClearView wouldn’t exist today if it weren’t for your vision, faithful support, encouragement, and prayer.  I give special thanks to you for your perseverance in tilling the hard soil of northeastern Franklin County with us.  I am confident that God will bring a great harvest of missionaries and new churches as fruit of your efforts with us.  Ephesians 3:21!

ClearView has much to celebrate.  As you know, God blessed our Grand Opening celebration with a strong attendance of 162.  Even more than this number, my heart was delighted at seeing the faces of friends in the audience, new people plugged into service, and a great response to the mailers (that you helped us put together)!  God gave us a beautiful day and much to celebrate!  We were excited to have 85 people return on October 18.  Now we’re working hard to assimilate these guests into regular attendees and invite them to join us in our mission of loving people to a clear view of Jesus and His mission. Thanks for continuing to pray with us!

With love and appreciation,

Andy Wirt, Church Planter

The following is a note from Andy Wirt, church planter at Northwest Chapel’s daughter church in New Albany, ClearView Church.  Andy writes about what God did on October 11, ClearView’s Grand Opening Celebration.

Sunday, October 11, was a milestone for ClearView Church! After more than two years of hard work, our start-from-scratch church plant celebrated it’s Grand Opening! The celebration was full of fun, new faces, great music, an official welcome to the community from Mayor Ferguson, and a message detailing why ClearView exists. We had a great day of energy…one that was truly a culmination of a lot of work and many answered prayers. God gave us a beautiful day outside for the festivities that followed- free pizza, grinders, salad and ice-cream along with activities for children (face-painting, games, and bounce houses). All-in-all, I think all of the 162 in attendance sensed God’s presence and had a great time.

Personally, I’m not sure I’ve ever felt so satisfied (vocationally). The day was just a clear movement of God in many ways. I left feeling that I/we had so much to be thankful for and that God was/is just really, really good to us. Here are a few things I’ve contemplated this week that I give praise to God for:

• I am so pleased with our ClearView team. I’ve been amazed, over the last few weeks, how people have come together, new people have plugged in, and we’ve made significant strides to improve all of our critical systems (Sunday worship, KidView, Wow Factor, Set-up/tear-down, etc.). There has been great energy, wonderful commitment, and excellence from people that are truly excited about ClearView’s vision. In some cases, families that have only been with us a few weeks carried out vital roles to make our Grand Opening a success.
• The decision of our team to rally and move locations has proved to be truly wisdom from God. Moving to New Albany High School has acted as a rallying cry for our crew and I believe God used this transition point to create a sense of urgency in us that was needed to make this final push towards the great goal of a large Grand Opening.
• Things on Sunday went really smoothly. Considering that we just implemented sound and video into our services over the last 4 weeks (since we started meeting at the High School), we’ve had to train people, troubleshoot, and figure out our systems in these areas in a compressed amount of time. God was truly good to us in how well the program went. Also, our greeters and children’s workers were on the top of their game and all facets I observed (and got comments on from others) were excellent.
• We were pleased with the attendance. Even though I had prayed for 200, I think 162 is full of miracles. It was SO exciting to see a full house and so many smiling new faces. There was a great buzz of excitement in the air…and I think our team felt a great sense of praise to God for answering our prayers for a good turnout.
• God worked through the marketing He helped us put together. Well over half the audience came due to a post-card or billboard or other form of promotion. It was exciting to see a lot of hard work in this area pay-off.
• It was personally gratifying to me to hear a lot of positive comments about the message I shared. I loved putting this talk together because it was a simple explanation of our purpose statement: ClearView exists to love people to a clear view of Jesus and His mission. I shared from the Bible about why we work to love people (because Jesus did, God does, and mission requires it), that we want to love them to Jesus and then help them adopt Jesus’ mission as theirs. I heard a response from several people that they felt compelled by this vision and want to help ClearView fulfill it! Praise God!

I’m sure there is more that I could share. But, if you are a regular blog reader and have prayed for us over the last 2.5 years as we’ve worked towards this special day- thank you. God has answered your prayers and done a great work. Ephesians 3:21.

From Andy Wirt:

The day has come!  For two and a half years, we’ve worked to build a team to launch a healthy new church in northeastern Franklin County, OH.  After much sweat, some tears, a lot of memories and learning experiences…the day for ClearView’s Grand Opening Celebration is here!  This Sunday, October 11, we’ll celebrate God’s work in ClearView at our new location- New Albany High School.

We’ve worked hard at letting the community know about our Grand Opening service.  Northwest Chapel helped us prepare three, 38,000 piece mailings, and we’ve purchased ads on a billboard and in newspapers.  Our people are actively inviting their friends.  Our promotions have stimulated many interesting spiritual conversations!  God has created a buzz about ClearView in the community and we see Him doing exciting things to prepare us for this Sunday.  I’ll try and communicate more fully all that God has been doing over the last few months in a follow-up note (coming in the next few weeks).  But, for now, I’d like to ask you to pray about this weekend.

Here are some specific ways to pray:

• That God would lead spiritually seeking people to our Grand Opening event.  I just finished having coffee with Randy, a man who e-mailed me after receiving one of our promotional fliers.  By his own admission, he recognizes something is missing in his life.  His family is looking for connection and he is looking for answers to his spiritual questions.  I had the chance to get to know him and share the Good News of Jesus with Him.  Pray Randy comes to know Jesus and that others like him would check out ClearView as a result of our invitations.
• That God would move in the hearts of people the ClearView team is personally inviting.
• That God would answer the prayers that have been prayed for many years by hundreds of people (you!) around the world for ClearView’s Grand Opening.
• That God would be honored by our hearts and all that happens on October 11.
• That God would use us to love people to a clear view of Jesus and His mission.
• That God would burden us with a continued excitement and challenge over the call to love people to Jesus and figure out how to develop missionaries in our context (no matter what does or doesn’t happen on 10/11…this is our mission).

Needless to say, we are really excited about this weekend.  We’re asking God for Ephesians 3:20 type results.  “Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever” (Ephesians 3:21).  Thanks for praying with us.  Any fruit God brings is yours!

Feel free to check our Blog for more information and updates on what God has been doing.  I’ll try to post a Grand Opening summary there by Weds. of next week.