What a week!

I've been a little off all week. Most of our core team from the Baton Rouge Dream Center have been out of town (scoping out some churches in Los Angeles for outreach ideas), so Craig and I have been doing our best to hold down the fort.

The team flew out early Thursday morning. After spending a couple hours at the warehouse, I headed back to the Annex where Craig and I taught an Elevate class and then took them on street outreach. Friday morning we had Ladies Thrive. I had the opportunity to speak to the women about self-control and discipline. Our volunteers did an awesome job of filling in the gaps and covering my mistakes. We have the best volunteers in the world! Surviving Friday, we headed straight into Saturday for our Men's Bar-b-q. Truthfully, Craig and his crew did all the work for that. We girls mostly packed groceries and hung out in the a/c. About thirty or forty men fellowshipped outside; eating charred meat, shooting hoops and spending time together. It was cool.

I think on Sunday I took a nap.

Fast forward to today (Tuesday). I'm at my house doing laundry, checking emails and such. I wonder vaguely where I set my cell phone down. A while later I go to the washing machine to switch my clothes over, and there it is...my shining clean cell phone. Lemme tell ya, not a happy camper.

So, my phone is broke...I don't know any of the 300+ numbers I have stored in there...and no, I didn't back it up on my computer.

On the up-side, the team is back from L.A. They're full of ideas and (if possible) more passion for the hurting. So tomorrow we get to meet and find out what God plans on doing with us next. Tired out, broke phone and bigger plans...what a great time for God to show up and show off. I love serving God! All glory to Him.

Youth Camp (nuff said)

I know I haven't blogged in a while but it hasn't been for lack of stuff to report. We had youth camp last week and, I'm happy to report, once again God pulled me through. I'm not sure why I'm so overwhelmed by kids...I'm sure God will show me when it's time. At any rate, here's how camp went:

We bussed in about thirty kids from across the city. The kids came from inner-city, Juvenile Court referrals, foster homes and OCS. Most of these would be deemed "problem children", but I gotta tell ya, I've had way more problems with 'normal kids' than we did with this bunch. We went over the rules every morning (no guns, knives, profanity, sex or disrespect) and they did their best to follow them. All good.

Ang Musso did a kickin' job teaching the girls a new dance. We had the females in a hip-hop class while the guys worked on their football and basketball skills. Ang enforced her strict 'no booty zone' rule with an iron fist and taught the girls that they could have fun without being vulgar. It took some time but they caught on. JP and Pastor Johnny were all but limping by the end of the week. I think the pace of the games were a little quicker than they remembered. JP's team ended up winning the tournament; a fact I'm sure he'll be happy to tell you about.

This is what I watched God do in three days: He took thugs, dealers, and wanna-be rollers out of their environment into the house of God and changed them by His Presence. We didn't beat anybody with bibles or preach hellfire and brimstone. We loved them, brought them to a safe place and gave them the truth about the Gospel. In God's presence, through dance and sports, there were decisions made that affect eternity. How cool is that?

I love that HPC put's it's money where it's faith is. I love that we built a sports complex that gives us a venue to change lives. I love that we're building a worship space that will provide more people the opportunity to have an encounter with God and His people. I love that Pastors Dino and DeLynn are willing to reach past what looks do-able and into His plan. I love my church. All glory to God!

Oh yeah, one more thing. Check out my website at donnafrank.com to see my new book. I'll write more about it later. Christ is Lord!