Category: Travel

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August News And Updates

  By Missions, News, Travel

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AUGUST NEWS AND UPDATES

What a whirlwind of a month! I can’t believe that August is already gone and we are into September 2 days now. Let me take a few minutes and catch you up on what the end of the summer has been like.

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The German Team at Fernbank Museum

It wasn’t long after George Camp in Miami ended that we traveled back to meet the German team traveling back from Montgomery, AL. Vision 2 Hear and New Vision Church were hosting the team of 13 from Germany for about 9 days. In that time with the mission team, we attended a Braves game, the Aquarium, Coco-Cola Factory, Fernbank Museum, among many other adventures. It was an awesome experience to host these students from Germany, develop some new relationships and hopefully open a door for a future trip there in the next year or two. For more information on the German Team and all they did, read this link: German Team

Saying good-bye to Jan-Niklas

Saying good-bye to Jan-Niklas

It was with much sadness that as the German Team left, so did our German Intern, Jan-Niklas Schmidt. Jan-Niklas served as an intern for close to 6 months, traveling with me and working with our church in the band and youth ministry. He did a great job I must say! He was a great worker and huge asset, helping drive sometimes, performing in sign at different venues and just being a friend to kids and students wherever we went. Jan-Niklas was a blessing to have with us for the season and now he is back in Germany, preparing for his schooling which begins soon. To read more about Jan-Niklas and his time with V2H, check out his blog here: Becoming Jan-Niklas

Within a couple of days of Jan leaving, I traveled with three others to Dallas, Texas for a wedding ceremony. A former Intern, Nick Poole, got married on August 10. Nick had spent a year in Germany (which is how we got hooked up with the German team and Jan-Niklas in the first place) putting together baseball camps. He has done several camps now there.

Nick used to live in Snellville, GA and was among the first to be traveling with me as an intern. He started signing through his church ministry called Power Signs and went on to do a lot of work with George Camps, the Nigeria mission project and other performances throughout the US. Nick left V2H and graduated from Liberty University with a degree in Youth Ministry.  He’s always been a  good friend of the ministry and like a brother to me and I am very happy for and proud of him. We had a great time at the wedding for he and Maribeth Gillis and I wish them the very best for their new lives together. For more pics and info on their wedding, check out this page: Nick’s wedding 

It was a week later that another former intern, Shane Vicry of TN got married. As many of you may know, Shane traveled with George for about a year and was the one that we officially started the intern program with. Nick had been doing all of these things previous to Shane but Shane was the first “outsider” that stepped into the program. As with all of my interns, we had lots of fun, too many stories to share, and meaningful times together.

Since leaving V2H, Shane graduated from Bryan College and worked as a car salesman in TN. He and his new wife were married on August 17th. I wish them both the very best as they relocate to Washington DC for Maddie to go to law school…are they crazy??? I’m sure they will do just fine! For more on their wedding check out this page: Shane’s Wedding

A few days after the Shane’s wedding, I left for NC. My mom was in the process of purchasing a new home. For the last few months, we have been house hunting as she is ready to make a move into a newer, more stable home. With all my travels, I have only been able to look online, so it was imperative that I go look at this place before the closing on August 25.

The Korean church and WAVE Team

The Korean church and WAVE Team

While in town, I met with the youth group at the Korean church, worked on a couple of new songs with them, prepared them for the Parkview performance and spoke at Sunday service for the Korean congregation.  As I already noted in another post, we launched a new WAVE team and had a great time of ministry at the Parkview choir worship night.

Upon reviewing all the info, seeing the house firsthand and of course praying, with great gratitude, Mom closed on the house on August 25 at 10am with no issues. Now she has a great place to live, host her small group Bible study and fix tons of Korean food! Over the next few months she will move out of the old home and we will make decisions around the first of the year as to what to do with that place. Thanks for your prayers for her and us as we continue to transition her to a new life and new home.

Upcoming Events

With school back in session, life takes on new and different work. I am still serving at New Vision Church but no longer as youth pastor. I resigned that position back in May so as to allow the church to have a regular person that could meet with students regularly. I am now serving as the creative arts/mission pastor. I am grateful to my pastor, Alan Parker and the church for their continued support of me and the work I do with Vision 2 Hear.

I am leaving this Sunday for a two week stay in Miami, where I’ll be the worship leader and key speaker for three schools as they host their Spiritual Emphasis weeks. The first week will be with Christ Fellowship Academy in Palmetto Bay and the second week, I’ll be speaking and leading at King’s Christian school in the morning and Miami Christian in the afternoon. On the weekend in between, I’ll be at my good friend, Phil Underwood’s church in the Keys. Trevor and I will be performing in their evening service.

Jorge Serves in Iceland

Jorge Serves in Iceland

Regrettably, we are canceling the 14-4-14 effort. There has been so much going on with V2H in the states and with Jorge in Iceland, Romania, and El Salvador, that we have not been able to get things together to bring a group of this size together to get them here in December. Jorge has been traveling abroad for 6 months and most recently interviewed for a job here in the states in Woodstock, GA. It’s very possible that he may get the job and of course, that has also given us reason to not push to try and make 14-4-14 happen; just so much change going on.

But with that, Trevor Jenkins (the newest intern) and I, along with a couple people from my church are heading to Nicaragua on October 18-the 27th. Jorge will meet us there to lead some leadership workshops and work on helping in the village of Padre Ramos. Then Jorge, Trevor and I will take the bus back to El Salvador and be there from the 27-November 4. In ES, we will do some of the same leadership training for our WAVE Team there and work with my friend Mario and help him with his church plant.

Then just after Thanksgiving, it looks like I will be joining a couple of guys from my church to lead a team to India. We will possibly be gone from November 29- December 11. While there we will be working with an orphanage that my church sponsors, traveling to several churches planted by our friend Pastor Rajendra, and speaking numerous times in those churches.

Please keep me in your prayers as I seek to stay connected to all of our teams, coordinate these trips and minister in the various ways God is opening up for me. If you would like to help contribute toward the expenses of these mission projects and make a donation, anything you can give will be a huge help! Costs for NICA/ES will be about $1000 more to cover me and Trevor and India will be about $2000. If you’d like to make a donation, you can do so online by following this link: donate

Thanks so much! I’ll keep you posted as things move along with V2H!

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New Vision Church will host the V2H WAVE Conference this year October 3-5. Cost is $25.

 

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North Carolina Makes New WAVE

  By Ministry, Missions, News, Travel

NC WAVE TeamOver the last few years I have been traveling back and forth to NC to visit with my family. During that time, I have been able to establish a good working relationship with the Korean Church in Havelock, NC, where my mom attends. From time to time, I  would not only speak to the congregation but perform some on the WAVE team songs…and of course, the people loved it.

Through the course of time, I also reconnected with some friends from high school and church, who also have kids and were interested in learning signs and performing. Some of them have even learned enough over the last couple of years to perform with me in Miami and other locations in NC.  But because of my travels, the ages of the kids and the newness of the concept for the church, we never really pursued formally making a WAVE team…that is until now.

I have been traveling to the Korean church and working with the students there on a fairly regular basis for over a year. When I am there, we usually meet and practice for a couple hours and then occasionally like for George Camp, they would have an intensive time of practices.

It was about a year ago that the “team” had its first “real” performance at Parkview Baptist Church. The Korean choir had been invited to sing and they let us use some of their allotted time to perform a couple songs. Everyone loved it and the response was great. Since then, the group was meeting about once-a-month to work on songs, or whenever I was there.

2014-08-24 19.17.42We just performed a week ago at Parkview again for the annual worship night. The team performed Lay Me Down and Jesus Paid It All. The response was even better this year than last year! Seeing that the kids were interested in really learning more and being willing to work, I approached Noah Tucker, a sophomore at Croatan High School to see if he would be willing to lead the team for weekly practices. He jumped at the opportunity.

 

 

This past Saturday they had their first official meeting and began working on a few songs. We already have another performance scheduled in Oriental, NC on October 12. Please be praying for this team and all our WAVE teams as we launch into our new season! I am very excited about what God is going to do through this WAVE team and our partnership with the Korean Church!

 

 

 

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Africa Building

  By Ministry, Missions, Travel

Since my 3rd trip to Nigeria in 2004, World Care Ministry and Vision 2 Hear have been working tirelessly on constructing a building. Finally the day has come and the building is complete and being used! We give God praise and glory and are thankful for the many people who carried blocks, mixed cement, dug out footings, and chopped down brush. For all of you who traveled to Ututu over the last 9 years, here’s pictures to celebrate over.

The school is meeting currently with 150 students enrolled. Another clinic is being built on the property and God is moving among the people. George plans to return to Nigeria once again in March of 2014 view the building personally. If anyone is interested in making the trip, please contact for further information.

 

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Korean Church and NC WAVE Team

  By Ministry, Missions, News, Travel

 

The summer has officially come to an end. I am back in Atlanta after a good long summer and I have to say God has done some wonderful things!

Wrapping up my ministry summer was a little “vacation” in Newport, NC, near where I grew up. I visited family and friends and even had a little performance opportunity.

For close to a year now, I have been working informally with the Korean Church in Havelock, NC, teaching their youth, hosting events, and building a WAVE team. Since my mom attends this church, we schedule things for the kids when I am in town for visits.

Last weekend, the Korean church had been invited to attend a worship sing-a-long night at another church and I was invited to share a couple of songs with the kids on the WAVE team. Even though I have been working with the WAVE team for a while, they have never done anything outside of the Korean church so this was a pretty big deal.

When the evening came, we were slotted last of the visiting churches to perform. I wasn’t sure how things would go, as much of the music from the night was “conservative” to say the least. Not that I have anything against that style (having grown up with it) but I knew that anything we were gonna be doing was not only gonna be a little more “edgy” but also completely different.

The Korean congregation did a dance in their beautiful customary clothing and sang a song and then we were up.

The time came for the first song and of course we had a little technical difficulties! I explained who and what Vision 2 Hear is, my background and that I had grown up in Morehead and graduated from West Carteret in 1987.

Once the music started, people seemed to be with us but it was still too soon to tell. Like A Lion roared measure after measure and people clapped along. Was this really happening?

By the end of the song, God’s presence was surely felt! People were praising God and some even seemed to know a little sign language and even most of the congregation tried to sign along at the bridge!

When we did You Raise Me Up, the congregation was singing along and seemed to be mesmerized by the music and motion. Of course the song is an emotional one to say the least but our team was engaged and the audience seemed to be captivate by the whole thing. At the end, there was a roar of clapping that lead to a standing ovation. Now this was certainly not what I had expected! In all my years of touring, performing and speaking, I have only had a few standing ovations. This was a definite indication to me that God had touched people’s hearts!

After the service ended I was able to make some contact with the regional missions director and several people who had direct connections to deaf people. We also talked to a few people who were “touched” and brought to tears from the songs! I can only praise God for the way He used us that night. I also have to give thanks to God for allowing me and the newly formed NC WAVE team such an awesome first experience together! I trust that as God opens doors for us all to perform more in the future that God’s Spirit will move through us just as mightily!

 

George

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El Salvador Nicaragua Trip October/November

  By Ministry, Missions, News, Travel

 

The summer had many highlights but nothing really compares to travel outside of the country for 3 weeks! Traditionally, V2H tries to make across cultural international trip each year. This summer, V2H traveled to El Salvador and spent 14 days and then another 6 days in Nicaragua. It was during this time that I began to realize some of the dreams and goals we had as an international ministry start really taking shape.

During my time in Nicaragua, we began talking about forming another WAVE team. We already have a vibrant and flourishing team in El Salvador and now the possibility of expansion was on the horizon once again! Wow! And could we possibly bring the ES team to be part of the expansion? Jorge Campos had actually been to this place once before, meeting some of the locals and introducing them to some of what we do. The initial seed and thought came from our friend Scott Kirschner who has made several visits to Nicaragua. With Scott’s help in arranging for this trip and working alongside Tony and Debbie Jones, founders of the camp we stayed at, Jorge and I were able to deepen the possibility by spending time laying some foundation and framework for the future. Now we are both looking to return with the ES team in October and November to launch our second “Spanish” team. The dates are a little flexible at this point as we are still working on details but it is certainly an exciting time in our ministry to be able to see two international expansions within 10 years! Praise God!

Please be in prayer as the US side needs to help generate funds to bring the ES team to Nicaragua in order to make this expansion complete. If you’d like to support this mission financially, you can give through www.paypal.com using glv2h@yahoo.com as the recipient. Your gifts are tax-deductible. Thanks so much!

 

 

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SPEW: Christ Fellowship

  By Discipleship, Ministry, News, Travel

It’s hard to believe that 12 years ago I started coming to Christ Fellowship as a guest speaker for their Spiritual Emphasis Week. And I have been invited back for all these years since then except for one when there was some transition within the school and church. Over those years I have seen some great kids, teachers and staff at Christ Fellowship. I sincerely appreciate all the people there and have such fond memories of being on their stage performing and leading everyone in worship.

This year was no exception to adding to the wonderful memories. What a privilege it was to be asked back again by “popular demand” to kick off the school year in Vision 2 Hear fashion! Joined by Trevor Jenkins from Conyers, GA and various members of the Miami WAVE Team, we were able to lead in worship and help set the tone for the entire school year. Using songs like the never old Lawnmower Dance to more recent classics like Monster, the kids were hyped with energy. But nothing can match hearing the voices of a couple hundred kids singing This Little Light Of Mine and How He Loves or No One Like You.

The week went by fast and I can’t believe it’s already over! I’m really thankful for another year at Christ Fellowship and y desire is that this year they will all allow Christ to be their Number 1!