Cypress Meadows Kenya Trip

We are 23 days from departure to Kenya and plans are continuing to come together. One of the things I’m most excited about is the community outreach event we’ll be doing.

Not only is Springs of Hope Kenya home to 30+ orphans, but every Sunday 70-120 other children from the community come out to SOHK for children’s church. That first Sunday we’re in Kenya (July 10) we’ll be leading an outreach event, a mini-vacation bible school.

The theme we sense God leading us to is “Story,” the idea that God wants to write a great story through each and every one of us. We all have past. For many of us and many of the kids at Springs of Hope, that past is full of pain, hardship, and separation from God. But along the way we met Jesus Christ. He has transformed us and given us a story of hope and overcoming.

Our past is history. Our future is a mystery.  And each new day is a blank page, a clean sheet of paper, on which God wants to write a beautiful love story and a daring adventure.

Connecting the Stories of Springs of Hope and Cypress Meadows

One of the things we hope to do through our trip is to strengthen the connections between Springs of Hope and Cypress Meadows Community Church. We’re asking children at Cypress Meadows to write down in 2-4 sentences their story of how God has impacted their life. We’ll take these stories along with a picture of each child and create a book to bring with us to Kenya. We’ll leave the book their at Springs of Hope so the children there know who some of the children are here who are praying for them.

While at Springs of Hope we’ll do the same thing. We’ll ask the children there to write their story, we’ll take a picture of them, and when we get back to Florida we’ll create a book telling the stories of the children of Springs of Hope. This book will be available for the children and families at Cypress to read so they know who they can who they’re helping and praying for, and how God is writing a great story through their lives.

Connecting SOH and Cypress Through Song

If there’s one thing our kids at Cypress love to do is worship God through song… and the energetic motions that go with them. What would a children’s outreach be without music, right?

So, our plan is to create a DVD of songs led by the kids of Cypress Meadows. On the Saturday we arrive in Nakuru, we’ll use that DVD to teach the kids at Springs of Hope the songs and motions. Then the next day when we do the outreach, we’ll have the kids at Springs of Hope lead the music. How cool will that be, not just serving these children, but empowering them to lead their friends?!?

We’ll then video tape the children of Springs of Hope leading the music and bring that video back to show the kids at Cypress Meadows.

How can you help?

• If your child is a part of children or student ministry at Cypress Meadows, you can have your child write a 2-4 sentence story of what God has done in their life and email that along with a picture to paul (at) steinbrueck (dot) org. (Please be careful not to show a lot of affluence in the picture)
• Or this weekend or next (6/19, 6/26), give permission for us to take your child’s picture, have them write their story, and include their story in the book.