My last post of 2007

A few of the teen girls at the Christmas Party


Amazing Kitchen Girls for the Christmas Party


Pastor Mike Getting Down at the Block Party

So I thought it would be fitting to write a final entry of 2007. This is the year, God opened amazing doors for me sent even more amazing people into my life and finally allowed for the opportunity for the deepest desires of my heart to finally play out in "real life." If it hadn't been for the Mayors Office letting me down in the spring who knows where I'd be today.

It all started that amazing day in May when I decided to find out what Metro Kidz was all about for myself. I met Pastor Mike Kemper who has changed my life in so many ways. June God allowed my biggest dream (at the time) to come true, He provided the space, money, people and resources to pull off one of the biggest events ever, and something I'd been dreaming about since I returned home from Tampa Bay almost six years ago, a block party in the inner city, a celebration in a neighborhood that needs love and grace like you wouldn't believe. This day was more amazing than I ever imagined it could have been, it's because of the people God has blessed my life with to help me pull off these crazy events. When I think about this day my eyes still well up with tears of Joy and I get goosebumps...this was a day that will NEVER leave my heart.

Fast forward a few months, to the day that Pastor Mike told me I could take over, run and coordinate the Metro Kidz program. My ears couldn't believe it, I've been coordinating the program for almost six months and I've been at Charm City for almost a year. I can't believe it. We've had the first ever Metro Kidz Charm City Sock Hop, which was a success and more fun than you could have EVER imagined! November we served close to 250 people in a little more than two hours at the annual Charm City Thanksgiving dinner, when once again God blessed me with amazing friends who joined us, served with us, and got to be a part of something Big happening at Charm City. That night friends were made, God was shown in huge ways and at least one person came to know the Lord. There was fellowship like none other.

Then there's December, in which life got a little crazy for me, but God was so good and allowed the Christmas Party to be an amazing success even though I lost almost two weeks of planning and coordinating. We had near 300 kids come through our doors that night and at least 45 volunteers from all over the place, and once again God rocked our worlds. We were able to show God's love in a huge way to kids and families from the neighborhood. We were able to connect with people we've never met before and allow them to experience only a litte of what Charm City is all about.

As I close out 2007, I am so grateful that God has allowed me these opportunties, has given me a place to live out the dreams, desires and burdens of my heart, that He has blessed me with such a huge support system of friends who are willing to step out on faith with me and who pray with and for me. I am so lucky!

So I leave you with some with one prayer, that 2008 would continue to be amazing and God will continue to pour blessings over this Ministry :)!

Thank you Friends and Readers for making 2007 so Great!

Christmas Party, New Year and other fun things

Good morning friends! Well it's been awhile since there's been a real update because things have been so busy, but I am happy to announce that we pulled off the Metro Kidz Christmas Party without a hitch, we had a ton of kids that night and a ton of volunteers came. I am so thankful for everyone who came to help that night, from my friends at Light Company and Fusion, to my friend Eric and his bible study friends to our friends over at the Gilman School, I looked around the room that night and I couldn't help but let my heart smile. The entire past week, I've had the opportunity to hear the amazing stories from the people who were there to help, and the kids who recieved Christs love that night.

The only thing that troubled my heart were the ladies who were there and who didn't have their kids but were begging for gifts for their kids, but the truth is they would have sold them on the streets for money. It's so sad for me to think that a few kids would be without Christmas because these people needed to sell these toys on the street for a few dollars to get their next fix. Even today I think about some of the kids I work with and I wonder what their day is going to be like today, are they going to have a nice dinner, are they going to get a new toy to play with (I know that's not the real reason for today, but some of them don't understand that yet), and I wonder if there mommy or daddy will be with them today or if they'll be all alone. I wish I could just bring them all home with me and share with them a traditional Christmas dinner, sing carols with them, take them to see the lights and have a blast.

So aside from the Christmas party happening there were some other big decisions made this week, construction will begin on a new project that will be happening late January early February, I'm not going to spill many details yet, but watch for my prayer letter for all the details. But in the meantime you can pray for guidance and wisdom for those involved, for the people who'll we'll be serving and for the many opportunities to share Jesus this will bring us! The Wilson brothers Shaun who goes to Fusion with me and his brother are heavily involved in this project and I truly believe that we asked God for a miracle and he sent us these servants!

Well keep checking back, my goal for the new year is to get back to posting normally again! Merry Christmas my friends!!!

Gift Wrapping, Christmas Party, MissionsTeam

Goodmorning Friends! Wow it's been a while since I updated but I've been gone pushing two weeks, but enought stuff happened in the past four days to be able to write a blog that makes up for all the missing ones :)!

Friday we picked up the toys from Toys for Tots, we got so many amazing toys and it is such an amazing ministry. The people who we dealt with were amazing from begin to end. Friday night we had a mini wrapping party, and sorted and wrapped half of the toys, honestly if I have to wrap another gift between now and Christmas I might cry (just kidding)! It was nice to spend time fellowshipping with a few other MetroKidz volunteers, which for the record I must state I have no idea where I would be without them.

As I picked up the toys on Friday I couldn't help but get more and more excited about what's happening this Wednesday night, it's going to be amazing my friends/supporters are going to be able to experience something special with me. Apparently anywhere from 150-300 kids show up for this party and they all get to hear the story of Christmas and it's true meaning :)!

This past weekend I hosted a missions team of about eight middleschoolers from the Perry Hall area, they helped finish the wrapping and then I took them on a small walk through the neighborhood. As we were walking through the neighborhood, I watched a true drug dealer at work. He had the cars lined up on the street like it was some kind of drive thru, and to watch him work it was amazing he hasn't been caught yet, it would be so easy to catch someone like him. Someone came up thru the middle of the street to buy from him and just stopped his drive thru line and walked in the middle of the street to make the exchange, I was truly taken aback, he honestly didn't care who was there, who was watching. Don't get me wrong I am not naive I know this happens, I sometimes sign kids in on Wednesday nights and watch similar exchanges take place, but I just couldn't believe that the police are having such a "hard time" catching dealers, they make it so easy! As we continued on the walk, we walked past the memorial at Killah Hill, we stopped for a moment and prayed. It was amazing the conversations that are had with kids who have never experienced the inner city.

I thank God everyday for allowing me to have this burden I have for the inner city, I prayed with a drug dealer, he came to church, I loved a homeless man he came to church and didn't want to sit near the heater to get warm he wanted to sit with the kids and I, this summer I met Suni and Peanut at the block party, they've been coming to church, I'm so excited that God has given me the ability to love these people and invite them to Worship God with us.

So I have a few prayer requests before I sign off....

Amanda I think I've spoke of her before, her mother died of a heroin addiction and full blown aids on Wednesday evening. It's really a difficult time for her right now, but she's been clean for a few months now and watching her mother die gives her more initiative to stay sober. So please continue to pray for her and her children during this hard time for them.

Patrick is my homeless friend, he's been beaten so bad his wrists are broken and he can't hold them up. He's so worried that people aren't going to love him because he's dirty and he feels the need to tell everyone that even though he stinks, he's not infected and he's clean, it breaks my heart that he feels he has to explain himself. Just pray for guidance and protection for my friend.

Glenn he's got a powerful story, that I will share someday, but just pray he stays on the path he's on right now so that he can continue to fall more in love with Jesus. I am so glad our paths were crossed and he's coming to church.

Finally for Wednesday that God's love would just be shared in such powerful ways that these kids would know exactly how much we and God loves them.

If you're interested in coming to the party or volunteering drop me an e-mail colleensamantha@yahoo.com

Always Serving Him-
Colleen

Blog Break

To my dear readers, I just wanted you to know I've had a family emergency, I'll be away for a few days, but posts should be resumed sometime next week. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.