Leaders BBQ

*The Fun Picture

These are some of the fine folks who work with our High School Students. We had a BBQ at Brookside Park on wed. and as you can see we had fun. A few stray children made it into our picture can you count them all?

*The Professional Pic

Bridge Night!

Last week was the last e22 of the semester. We have a short break and start up again JUNE 9th. 6:30pm in the Equipping Room.

We closed the identity series and the semester with the Gospel. It was a simple message from scripture using Luke 15 the story of the "Prodigal Son." Many know the story of the son who leaves the father and goes off and lives like a rebel, and many high school students often venture out in rebellion so it's easy association. Prostitutes, parties, and whatever money could buy. The turning point for the son is in Luke 15: ¹⁶He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. Feelings of remorse follow but don't change his position with the father... He is still at that point distant.

The parrellel (but not the main point) is that "feeling bad" doesn't change your standing/position with God. Knowing you've done wrong doesn't bring you home it just hopefully leads to that. Those feelings need to be followed by actions.

¹⁷"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' ²⁰So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

We used the bridge illustration of the cross. It's through Jesus and the cross that we can "come home." Jesus said in John 14:6 "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." We can "come home" by...

1. Admitting we have sinned / we are lost / and deserve to be punished.

2. Believe in Jesus. Put your trust in the cross as payment for your sins

3. Confess and Commit. Confess Him as your Lord and Commit to living for Him!

The next step was to writing your name on a post it note and stick it to the bride you were to walk as kind of that visual sign that you were "home." The bridge was nothing special, just a big plank between two buckets, but the responses were. 12 new students stood up to profess for the first time that Christ was Lord and Savior. it was so great to have the stand and be prayed for. At one point one of the students who stood created such a rush of joy that his friend and prayer warrior just burst out in applause. His friend had "come home!"

This is a stack of all those who are a part of e22 who claim to be Christians. You can be in prayer for these and the dozen new believers. It's our desire to partner with parents and the rest of Cornerstone Church to help these students to be deeply rooted in Christ!

Dear Mr OtterBox cellular telephone case maker,

Dear Mr OtterBox cellular telephone case maker,

I've been in the phone demolition business long before you came to town. I washed phones, lost phones, and yes even smashed phones (I'm not proud of it). I thought their would be no hope for me when it comes to phones. My longest relationship was with the NOKIA "brick" complete with the snake game, and we only lasted about 6 months. It seemed like re-entering contacts was becoming a part time job. I was hopeless... that was until your promises.

"Ever had nightmares about breaking your precious iPhone?" Yes, Yes I have. Some wake at night at the thought of falling off a cliff, but for me it's a big Nokia phone wearing a band-aid while chasing me. So I think can this case really improve my sleep? "Put those fears to rest by getting your hands on the OtterBox Defender Series for Apple® iPhone®. With our patented case technology, you will sleep easy knowing your phone is safe and sound. (otterbox.com)" So I took your advice and bought the case. I put my fears behind me and rested in your website's assurance. That was until one day last week.....

You had to know that one day someone would put your precious phone case to the ultimate test. It could happen to anyone after a long day right? I'll have you know that leaving your phone on the top of a tow-behind trailer isn't to hard to do, but I'll admit that was my fault. You Mr. OtterBox cellular telephone case maker have to take full responsibility for what happened next.

My precious iPhone was enjoying the wind in it's face, and why wouldn't it after all it was secure within your case and your promises. Things got a little crazy while merging onto the interstate and the phone took a fly. Be it the impact or the cars that would pass that direction something went wrong. I left you two together for 15 minutes.... 15 MINUTES!!! And you let this happen! Oh the nerve. Your just like the others. I leave you with the image of your shame.

May you Rest In Pieces... Mr. OtterBox Cellular Telephone Case (and iphone)

**Note: That this post is strictly for comical purposes and by no means does it reflect my true appreciation for the people at OtterBox. ;)

Staff Day

What does this look like to you?

A. a picture with me and the president which got cut off?

B. two teenage girls in front of a fancy mirror?

C. Isaac and Wendy playing at an e22 staff meeting?

Now from the picture below it may look like Wendy and Isaac (worship leader) are playing Dance Dance Revolution at Perfect Games in West Ames. But really it's so much more then that. (For the record let it be known that Isaac crushed Wendy)

This was part of out 1 1/2 day e22 Staff Day aways. With summer nearly upon us we had a lot to talk about. So we took some time to get together and plow through teaching schedules, missions, eball, worship, leadership, ect ect. Also just time together in the Word, in prayer, in worship, and in Perfect Games. It was much needed team time together before things really get crazy.

It's our desire as a staff to see this ministry grow and see many more students come to know and grow in Christ. But then again don't we all share that same desire? Looking forward to Escape tonight. Prayerfully God will show up and do something so blog-able.

Garage Sale

Who knew that helping students go over seas was so easy. It's spring cleaning with a purpose.

Step 1: Find the trailer site out at Cornerstone that looks like this. The trailer on the top right of this picture will in 3 months double as the Iowa City Church! For now you can put your garage sale items in it.

Step 2: Find a trailer with the e22 sign on the side. That's the key. Trailers that are full have had the signs removed. These signs are professionally made with 72pt Times New Roman. This is to protect against scam artist. The unique signs ensure that no one brings a personal trailer to our sight and have you mistakenly load it with your valuable bell bottom pants or grandmas fruit juicer with the faulty switch. Beware. Check for these signs! Can't trust the world today.

Step 3: Unload your stuff. Giving to High School Missions is that simple.

If you are looking to get in on the purchasing take not that our Garage Sale is May 15th. Saturday from 8am -1pm. Most items will be sold at free will giving/donation. 3206 Magnolia Circle (North Ridge in Ames).

Sr. Night

We had 22+ Sr's at Escape last night. I was blown way as they all got up on stage (or nearly all) and performed Billy Joel's "Piano Man." Consequently they had 1 sheet of lyrics and 21 confused, yet swaying, Sr's. The highlight was Adam Duvick's harmonica solo.

Pictured to the right is Devin Leland, Luke Haverkamp, Brianna Goodman, and Nathan Lubinus. The 4 shared some insight with the underclassmen. Their desire to see their high-school's won to Christ was made evident. It seems to be a passion that has only been re-fueled with graduation fast approaching.

Giving the Sr's control of the night and the teaching was actually a pretty sweet thing. It's pretty safe to say that we will be extending the invite to younger class's to coordinate e22 some week. The idea is to call them to "more" then give them a platform to do it from. And the fact that it gives me a break in the teaching schedule is a bonus!

Brianna Goodman wrote a song last week about the journey to finding truth. I kept waiting for her to get nervous... as it has it I'm still waiting. God had given her a song and she was going to sing it. Not even her brother in the front row (Rowen pictured with his skate board under his chair) was going to shake her. It was AWESOME!

All together it was a pretty good night. We ended with some good bye's to fellow staffers who will no longer be with us starting June 1. Mitch Nims and Clint Robinson. Mitch has completed his 2 year internship with e22 but thankfully is sticking around Ames. Clint is all things worship for the new Iowa City church plant. Not enough time or strength left in these fingers to begin to talk about their service and contributions to Escape. More to come in future post.

Sr. Banquet

The Sr. Banquet in two words: Cody & Food

Food: Sam’s club was the store of choice for putting together this year’s menu. Where else can you go to feed such and army on such a budget? Why anyone would need a 5-gallon bucket of sunflower seeds, a personal vending machine, and/or a pallet of chewing gum… I’ll never know. But if you are looking for 50lbs of Pork Loin this is the store.

We slow cooked some loin on low for a little over 2 hours. My wife baked about 70 potatoes, 15lbs of corn, and bought enough lettuce to feed a family of rabbits for life. (If you over buy on cold stuff know that Sam’s won’t take it back, unless you smile real nice ;) ) I’m under the assumption that everyone received enough to eat. Austin Vier and Dakota Tennant nearly shared an 8lb loin between the two of them. It was both impressive and disgusting.

Cody: I daily grow in respect for Cody and how God is using him. It was so encouraging to hear him talk about most every Sr in attendance and there were 14! He was the right guy for the job having been the leader since their freshmen year. Aside from the laughter that filled the room Cody brought one last charge to this Sr. Class.

“Jesus, Jesus, Jesus” is the name that Cody whispers to his 6 month old son. He’s expressing his desire for Jacoby’s first word or name out of his mouth is Jesus. Cody was setting up his point, “The only thing that matters is that you know Jesus.” Jobs, fame, friends, and even family will fade away and in the end the point is that we would know and be known by Jesus. That’s a message simple enough for Jacoby but deep enough to stir the most mature Christian’s heart.

Ministry 101

"Ministry is Relationships" is what my former mentor Mark Arant always says. Doing Ministry often requires you to go beyond the classroom and get out in the field (some times literally when hunting season rolls around).

So a group of us guys went to grab a trailer for our upcoming missions garage sale (May 15th 3206 magnolia cir) . The guys worked hard pushing the trailer out of a garage and for the most part avoiding the parked cars in the drive way... for the most part. So a reward was in order. Food is out of the question because you can't buy enough food to feed these guys, but for $1.19 you can buy enough drink to hold them over. We swung into Kum & Go and everyone picked their beverage of choice. I went with Mt. Dew. 248g of carbs. 880 Calories. 248g of sugar = 1 gut ache.

At this rate in high-school ministry I should gain an extra 2 lbs a week. My wife is not too thrilled about my current diet habits. It helps to inform her that winter will be here in 9 months and I'm just getting a head start storing fat reserves.

Pictured L to R (Peter, Isaac, Carson, Grant)

Welcome

This will be the new blog spot for Escape 22 High School Ministry of Cornerstone Church of Ames. As you can tell that's a mouthful, lets just call it Escape. The desire would be for this to be a more intimate look at the lives of students and staff of Escape. It'd be our desire to communicate with you readers about all that our glorious God is doing here at, in, and through e22!

-Stan Hayek e22 Director