You've heard plenty so far this week about the odd jobs we've been working on for Port Sulphur Baptist Church.  We've had fun doing this work, and we're glad we can help with these things, but our primary purpose for coming was to provide music for events around Plaquemine's Parish. Pictures from our block party at Ms. Goose's, and pictures from the PSBC Revival, are on the website.  Last night, we had our first "Back to School Blast" at Venice Community Church.

Venice is about 35 miles south of Port Sulphur, and sits between the banks of the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico.  They don't call it the "end of the road" for no reason; just a few miles past the town of Venice, the road stops! Venice Community Church was completely destroyed in the storm.  The building has been rebuilt, but it's still just a shell, and the congregation hasn't met since before the storm.  A new pastor (from Alaska!) has been called for this congregation, but with the congregation dispersed, some rebuilding is necessary.  We took our band equipment, the moonwalk, popcorn and orange drink, and a bunch of door prizes down to the building shell and had a big party for kids in the area.  We were a little worried at first--when it was time to "start", we had no partygoers!  But God always provides, and within a half hour, we had about 15 kids--approximately half of the kids who live in that part of the parish.

We had fun playing music, but more than that, we had fun interacting with the kids.  Julie Carr is terrific at engaging kids and getting them involved in what we're doing.  We taught them how to sing "Ain't Nobody".  They even got some practice time with Glenn before we did it for real!  Greg made lots of new friends manning the moonwalk, and Glenn, Mitchell, and Stephen played lots of frisbee!  Melody was a big hit as the keeper of the prizes, and Molly had popcorn--'nuff said! Stephen even gave away a set of his drumsticks as a doorprize! John Anthony loved his new drumsticks, but he asked Stephen to hold on to them for him so he could go play!

It's hard to convey in a blog entry or a group of pictures just how special it was to be part of an event like this.  We have talked as a group this week about how we have to change our notion of success.  We tend to think that if we don't pack the house, then an event hasn't been successful.  But for the 15 kids and the few parents who came to the party last night, it was a success.  We don't always know what God is trying to accomplish; if one kid that we saw last night comes to Christ, then we've accomplished something.  We may not see the fruits of our labors this week, or on our next trip--in fact, maybe we never see them ourselves.  But if we are answering God's call, and faithful to the work he has called us to do, then we can be confident that he'll work through us to do what HE wants to do!