We want to get our new CD and some of our new T-Shirts in YOUR HANDS as a way to say “Thank You” for your encouragement and support of our ministry! And we want to get your friends and family involved in what God is doing through the ministry of Wings.

So here’s what we’re going to do…

Our goal is to reach 1200 ‘likes’ on our Facebook page and 300 followers on Twitter by February 28.

Just follow these 5 simple steps: LIKE, FOLLOW, SUGGEST, SHARE, MENTION.

Here’s how…

1. Like WingsGO on Facebook (if you haven’t already).

2. Suggest WingsGO to your Facebook friends and family.

3. Follow WingsGO on Twitter (if you have an account).

4. Share a quick note on our Facebook wall about how Wings has impacted you or why you like our ministry.

5. Mention @WingsGO in a tweet, telling other people about how Wings has impacted you or why they should follow us on Twitter.

Whether or not we reach our goal, we still want to show our appreciation. For every 100 followers on Facebook and Twitter, we will give away one CD or T-Shirt to a follower (by random selection).

We will be announcing and contacting the recipients during the week of February 28-March 4.

Remember: LIKE, FOLLOW, SUGGEST, SHARE, MENTION

-by Ryan Hurlburt-

Several churches and para-church ministries have contemplated (or are contemplating) developing a social media policy for their organization’s staff and/or volunteers, but don’t know where to begin. This post is a brief overview of how and why we developed on for our organization. Hopefully it will help your organization through the process as well.

One thing must be understood from the get-go – a social media policy is not about control!

With the rise of social networks (like Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn) and the ever-expanding media databases (like YouTube, Vimeo & Flickr), the methods and rules of communication are constantly changing and there’s nothing you or I can do to stop it. Trying to control someone else’s online interactions is like attempting to barricade a wave from crashing on the beach.

The end-goals you should strive for when creating a policy like this should be empowering those around you to add value to your brand and what you’re trying to accomplish through it. The attitude of a policy like this must be built on trust, not suspicion; it should motivate and not discourage people to wield their relationships for good.

So why did we develop a social media policy?

1. To encourage healthy relationships and communication online between our organization and a) ministry partners & church leaders, b) financial partners, and c) ministry contacts (i.e. students from various youth groups). Our ministry recruits college-age men & women to tour around the country with our worship team, Wings of Morning. The band has opportunities to minister in many different congregations and schools all across the US. Through these events, they make several connections with younger students and maintain contact with some via social media. In fact, several of our team members have used Facebook to continue discipling a student long after an event. These relationships, as in the “real world”, need boundaries in order to grow in a God-honoring way.

2. To motivate those in our organization to spread awareness of our principles and programs through social media. The fastest, most convenient, and cost effective way to promote any brand is online. And with the rapid growth and evolution of Web 2.0, the potential to reach people with information AND involve them in spreading your message is growing faster than we can keep up with. We have noticed that AFTER developing this policy, several of our team members have become more active in promoting our ministry online. In doing so, we have also seen a dramatic increase in online giving. (Perhaps once you help people understand HOW to do something, they are more likely to follow through.)

3. To maximize the response of those our organization comes into contact with. With healthy boundaries established, relationships flourish. Clarifying the purposes and utility of social media allows information to be sent and received more efficiently. The combination of these two ideas should naturally promote new and more meaningful interaction with your brand and it’s cause.

Questions we asked before we deciding to develop a social media policy:

1. Why do you need a social media policy? How will your organization benefit from having one?

2. How will those in your organization benefit from the boundaries you set forth?

3. How will those you are trying to reach [through social media] benefit from the boundaries you set forth?

4. Is there any possibility that a social media policy could hinder or reduce your effectiveness in communicating online?

5. How will you implement your policy? Who will oversee it? How will you maintain accountability to it?

All of these concepts are very new to our organization, and we certainly don’t have all of this figured out just yet. Your thoughts, questions, and comments are more than welcome, as we’re learning more every day.

You can view/download/print a copy of our social media policy

HERE

Instead of spending our morning like a normal Sunday back home, we headed back to the soccer fields for the final rounds of the tournament. The Nicaragua sun was out in full today, ending our streak of uncommonly cloudy and cooler (mid 80’s) days. We went through our entire presentation as before, then shared the gospel. Although the crowd was somewhat smaller than yesterday (since the teams that lost had no need to return), we still saw many people respond to the gospel!

When the soccer matches started, the Gringos were up first. It was a fast and intense game, and the heat certainly did make things any easier. We lost 1-0, which was a victory in some sense because the score was so low; we played a much better team than yesterday and held our own! The most exciting part of our morning took place after the presentation and soccer game, though. Everyone spread out all over the fields and began striking up conversations about the gospel with anyone who would listen. Jackie Edwards led two police officers to Christ, several youth and children prayed to receive Christ, and many more people were left with a crystal clear understanding of the gospel and given material to read on their own. We are so thankful for and humbled by the number of people who surrendered their lives to Christ through the tournament, and the countless others who have now heard the gospel. It is only our responsibility to share the gospel and plant a seed, but it’s God who gives the increase and we give Him glory for those added to the Kingdom this week.

After lunch, we headed to a village church for their Sunday afternoon/evening service. Of all the places we’ve been this week, nowhere else have the people gotten more into the music and dramas than this congregation. They clapped and sang with every song, shouted “Hallelujah’s” during the critical points in the dramas, and prayed as a congregation for us before we left. It was refreshing to sing and perform in front of people who really understood the meaning behind everything we did!

We had to leave the church fairly quickly to return to the compound because the 1st and 2nd place teams from the tournament, as well as the workers and volunteers, had been invited to dinner at the Project Hope facility. The arrived shortly after we did and it was obvious that the soccer tournament had turned into a mud-bowl due to the afternoon rains. The players were covered from head to toe in mud and dirt, and it got EVERYWHERE! But the enjoyed the celebration we had planned! After their meal, we sang and performed the Chains drama one last time, then presented the gospel. For some, this was the third time hearing the gospel from us; and that is just what it took for many of them. Right in the dining hall at Project Hope, several players prayed to receive Christ! It was a great ending to a God-filled day.

Tomorrow is our “tourist” day. We’re heading out in the mid-morning to see an active volcano (most of our team have never seen one in person!), and then we’ll have a nice lunch nearby. Afterward, we will have a few hours to experience a local market and shop for souvenirs and gifts for people back home.

We feel so blessed for the opportunity to have served Christ in Nicaragua this week. To those that have sacrificed financially for members of our team, THANK YOU! Your generosity has allowed thousands of people to hear the gospel (many for the first time), and it has undoubtedly changed the lives of our team members as well.

This will be our last update from this blog, since we will be heading out extremely early Tuesday morning. Please pray that the lessons God has taught us here are not forgotten, and that the individuals who have recently been adopted into the family of God are able to grow and find a strong church. And pray that God will show you where you can GO on mission for Him. We’re all commanded to go, locally and globally, to extend His glory to the nations!

The Original Futbol! …That would be soccer for you Americanos. Today we kicked off the annual soccer tournament with Project Hope, one of the primary activities for this trip. The final count of teams was 267, with a total of 3000+ soccer players and an additional 1000 spectators! Also helping facilitate the tournament was a local – secular – radio station. We kicked off the tournament with our full presentation; several Spanish songs the team has been singing all week, both dramas, and the gospel presentation.

When the invitation was given, people all across the 8 soccer fields responded, surrendering their hearts to Christ. When asked to come toward the stage to get their contact information and give them more information about the decision they just made, our team was pressed against the stage so tightly, they couldn’t move! It’s impossible for us to know exactly how many people responded, but over 200 people came forward and filled out their information so local churches could follow up. Our team also roamed the fields during the tournament talking with people and sharing their faith, where even more people asked Christ to forgive them and make them a new creation!

Once the tournament started, all 8 fields were going at once. It was quite a sight to see 10 people playing on a miniature soccer field with people lining every inch of the field boundaries. The Nicaraguan people take their futbol seriously! Towards the end of our time there, a few from our team joined some of Project Hope’s people and played against one of the teams. We were beaten 2-0, but they had a blast playing! Tomorrow, the real showdown takes place. We’ll be forming our own team – who have been nicknamed the Gringos (or white folks) – and will play an exhibition game against one of the Nicaraguan teams just before the championship match. Soccer fever is everywhere, and it’s quite fitting that our championship match is on the same day as the FIFA World Cup championship match in South Africa!

After lunch, we headed to another part of Managua where Project Hope has yet to make inroads. No matter how many villages we go into, the poverty is always shocking – and I pray we never, never become numb to it! There was a concrete “court” in the center, as well as a small bar, which were surrounded by shack after shack after shack. Some of the children were playing in a “stream” that had formed from water runoff, although it had a milky color to it. But as we set up and prepared for our presentation, several of the children started to come around, followed by their parents. Some of our students took the opportunity to witness to them using translators and/or Spanish evangelism tools. Once we were ready to start, a light rain started to fall, but we weren’t going to let that stop us. The worship team sang 3 songs, and we performed both dramas, followed by the gospel presentation. Many of the children responded, although no adults made a profession of faith. However, the adults in this village were the most attentive we’ve seen so far. We are praying Project Hope will be able to minister in powerful ways in the near future because of the genuine interest in the message we shared with them.

As we wrapped up the mid-point of our trip, one dominating thought comes to mind: When you consider what Christ left in heaven – his throne, choir of angels singing constant praise, and the majesty of paradise – to come down to a wicked, evil, and depraved earth, the contrast between our American comforts and luxury and the third world poverty we were immersed in was so minimal! And in light of what Christ left to redeem us, how can we not forsake everything we have to proclaim His gospel to the ends of the earth? If our ministry only keeps us within the walls of a comfortable American church, then we are not living out the gospel we are proclaiming; we are not serving the Jesus who we say sent us. We pray that in reading about our experiences this week in Nicaragua, God will give you a burden to take His message of grace to the nations so that He may be glorified by every tribe, tongue, and people.

We felt the full effects of the tropical climate today! To say it’s humid in Nicaragua doesn’t quite cut it. It almost feels as though you could take a straw and drink from the air. But we weren’t going to let that stop us!

After breakfast, we headed to a small village about thirty minutes away where Project Hope had recently constructed homes for families in need. No drywall and stucco here. The homes we painted were simple concrete block on the bottom half, wood on the top half, a concrete floor and tin roof. Each house costs around $2000 to build. But compared to the other houses in the community, these were mansions! One family had six kids, a single mom, and the grandmother crammed into four walls made of scrap wood and metal that enclosed MAYBE 100 square feet! So far, Project Hope has constructed over 1000 houses in and around Managua, with the government providing the land for free!

As we painted, our team would take turns putting down their brushes and rollers to talk with the villagers, play with the kids, and share the gospel. Not everyone was receptive, but the single mother (with six kids) mentioned earlier was open to hear about Christ. One of the girls, with the help of a translator, shared the story of Christ’s redemption and promised hope with the woman who was eager to receive His salvation! Two of our young guys visited with a family and their children on a front porch. After sharing the gospel, both the dad and mom prayed to receive Christ! It was beautiful to see how God opened the hearts of the people to hear His Word just because a small group of Christians from the States were obedient to serve Christ and these people.

After lunch, we went into the city to do our presentation in a local church. The small building filled up quickly and the air was dripping with humidity, but the people were ready to worship. It was encouraging for the worship team to sing with people who really got into the music and understood the meaning of each song; every person in the church was either clapping loudly or singing along.

Everyone is having a blast here in Nicaragua and adapting to the culture, and climate, very well. We’re all excited about tomorrow with the start of the soccer tournament. 237 teams will be competing in a 2-day tournament for a trophy that stands taller than your average grown man. But soccer is only the hook. We’ll be singing and performing both dramas before the tournament begins each day and then presenting the gospel.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on the people, athletes and spectators alike, that we would not make much of ourselves, but exalt Christ and make much of Him in everything we do!

For our first full day in Nicaragua, it was so good to sleep in until 7am. Since we’re two hours behind the east coast, it felt like sleeping until 9. After stuffing ourselves at breakfast – and that is not sarcastic, Project Hope has been feeding us very well – we piled into our yellow school bus with our sound equipment and an eagerness to share the gospel.

The country here is absolutely beautiful, full of lush green tropical plants and rounded mountaintops formed from old volcanoes. However, as with most third world countries, there was an immensely stark contrast from the natural scenery and the poverty-stricken society visible on every street corner. Nearly every house we’ve seen consists of only a few materials: plywood, scrap boards, tin roofing, and barbed wire fencing. Only in the city center have we seen houses made of concrete. Nicaragua is the 2nd poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, right behind Haiti.

We arrived in the first village around 9:30am, unloaded the equipment and began walking the “streets”, or dirt paths, visiting with the local people and inviting them to our presentation. It was a great opportunity to be so deeply immersed in the culture on our first day, especially for those with us who have never been out of the country before.

Our presentation consisted of Wings of Morning performing two songs in Spanish, the Sticks drama, two more songs in Spanish, the Chains drama, and the gospel presentation. Afterward, we all had the chance to talk with the local people a little more and help build relationships for Project Hope, including a young single mother who had only been a Christian for a year. It’s difficult for us grasp the life she suffers through in extreme poverty every day, but the pain in her eyes could have crossed any language or cultural barrier. Just asking how to pray for her brought tears to her eyes. It’s faces like hers that will stick with us for a lifetime.

After lunch at Project Hope’s facilities, we headed out to a second village to repeat our presentation. Several more people showed up from this village than the first, including more adults. If it weren’t for Project Hope’s intentional efforts to build relationships in these communities around Managua, these people would likely never have a chance to hear the gospel. Several small churches are springing up and hopefully, the people who receive Christ during the ministry of teams like ours will get plugged in and continue to grow in their newfound faith.

Tomorrow, we will be driving to a village about 20 miles away to paint several houses. One of the ministry endeavors Project Hope has taken on is building houses for families in need. Hopefully on one of our trips in the future, we will help build some of these houses.

Continue to pray for us as we share the gospel every day and that our hearts would be humble, considering the people of Nicaragua of greater importance than ourselves. Two verses shared this morning that challenged us, and hopefully will challenge you are:

1 Corinthians 4:20 – For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.

1 John 3:18 – Little children, let us no longer love in word or talk, but in action and in truth.

WE LEAVE FOR NICARAGUA TODAY! While overseas, we will be partnering with Gary Longenecker and Project HOPE. We will be posting updates here on our blog, but we’ll also be posting updates here:

http://Facebook.com/WingsGO

http://Twitter.com/WingsGO

We will have at least one update/recap every day, and hopefully a few pictures.

OUR ACTIVITIES:

• We will be hosting a soccer tournament for 3 days, including a concert by our worship team (they’ve learned several songs in Spanish!), 2 drama presentations, and an evangelistic message.
• We will be painting several houses in an extremely poor village.
• We will be visiting an orphanage at the end of the trip.

OUR TEAM:

• Staff: Dave & Jackie Edwards, Derwin Anderson, Ryan & Katharine Hurlburt
• Worship Team: Chris Porter, Jason Nichols, Madison Johnson, Malorie Kuypers, Jessica Musselman
• Students: Cody Artzner, Ben Turner, Nolan Hurlburt, Addison Gates, Jessica Massey, Danae Singer

PRAY REQUESTS:

• Safe, smooth, and uneventful travel to, from, and around Nicaragua.
• That we would adjust to the culture and heat & humidity quickly.
• Nobody gets sick (and that those dealing with colds now would get over them quickly).
• Everyone maintains a positive attitude, a servant’s heart, and humble spirit each day.
• That we would see God’s grace move in the hearts of the local people, leading them to salvation.
• That God would move in each team member in a radical way.
• For the voices of the singing team, as they perform each day.
• That we would encourage the local missionaries with Project Hope.

-by Ryan Hurlburt-

This has been a multi-part series for anyone involved in youth ministry, delineating not only how to get your students involved in missions activities, but embody a lifestyle of being on mission for Christ. The complete series includes a list of ten practical ideas to infuse missions into the daily life of your youth ministry.

All good things must come to an end…

And our first blog series is officially coming to a close. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed the list and found some, if not all, of the ideas useful and/or thought-provoking. Here’s a quick look at each post in the series:

Preface: No Excuses (it all starts here)

1. Teach It!

2. Pray Collectively

3. Service Projects

4. Attend Campus Outreach Groups

5. Partner with other Youth Pastors/Leaders

6. Get a Map, Get a Clue

7. Missionary Guest Speaker

8. Sponsor a Child

9. Missions Food Fair

10. Take Them on a Mission Trip

Now what? It’s important to take a step back and look at the implications of what we’ve covered. As I mentioned in our very first post, this isn’t about adding another program to your list of activities. Your ultimate goal with your students should be to make disciples of Jesus Christ and instill (by example) a passion to be on His mission.

Hopefully you never got the impression that any one of these ideas was jotted down simply to fill a gap on our list. Every singe one was intentional; there are some key biblical concepts providing the foundation for each (some require more critical thinking than others).

If you study early Church History (particularly the pages in Acts), you will likely realize there are certain universal characteristics every body of believers should exude. More on this in a later post.

But for now, here are the basic principles (and how we trust our ideas correspond)…

Dedication to the study of God’s Word, for both theology and life-application.

• Ideas 1, 4, 5, 7

Gathering together (both formal and casual) to share life experiences.

• Ideas 2, 5, 7, 9

Prayer (corporate and private) to intercede for friends and strangers, to discern the leading of the Holy Spirit, and give praise & thanksgiving to a worthy Father for who He is and what He has done.

• Ideas 2, 6, 8

Meeting needs through selfless service and generous giving (with believers and the lost).

• Ideas 3, 5, 8, 10

Being a witness in your community by investing time & sharing the gospel.

• Ideas 3, 4, 5, 10

PLEASE…feel free to add any comments or content. We strive to generate conversation for the greater good of the body of Christ for His glory. You input is not only valuable to us, but the rest of the body.

- by Ryan Hurlburt -

This is a multi-part series for anyone involved in youth ministry delineating how to not only get your students involved in missions activities, but embody a lifestyle of being on mission for Christ. The complete series will include a list of ten practical ideas to infuse missions into the daily life of your youth ministry.

#10. TAKE THEM ON A MISSION TRIP

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” – Romans 10:14-15

In case you weren’t quite sure, the best way for students to experience missions is by actually taking a trip. Exposing your group to 3^rd world poverty and immersing them in another culture cannot not change their lives. And, going overseas really isn’t as dangerous as their parents will try to convince you. Stateside trips are great too – many people don’t fully understand the spiritual darkness/apathy in our country, or the levels of poverty in some areas. Stateside trips are widely disregarded, but are a must to model an Acts 1:8 strategy. Look for another post soon on the benefits of a short-term mission trip.

Shameless Plug: Facilitating mission trips for youth groups is exactly what we do – you should email us!

Where would you recommend taking students on a mission trip? What benefits have you seen come out of taking a trip? What obstacles did you have to overcome?

- by Ryan Hurlburt -

This is a multi-part series for anyone involved in youth ministry delineating how to not only get your students involved in missions activities, but embody a lifestyle of being on mission for Christ. The complete series will include a list of ten practical ideas to infuse missions into the daily life of your youth ministry.

#9. MISSIONS FOOD FAIR!

Honestly, I’m surprised this wasn’t the first item on my list since it deals with food! Can you tell I come from a Baptist background in the South?

Everyone knows the best way to get students pumped about something (and attend it), is by providing free food. Recruit volunteers/parents to cook foods from different cultures (this may be a cool thing to do with the whole congregation). You can assign specific countries/cultures/dishes, or have a list and let them sign up.

Encourage them to do their homework to make their dish as authentic as possible (don’t use Betty Crocker’s cookbook). And I promise you, Chinese take-out is nothing like real Mandarin food (Did you know fried eggrolls and most sauces we eat in Chinese restaurants are American-inspired?). Have each volunteer create a brief presentation about the country their dish came from, some demographics, its spiritual climate, and how to pray for the people there.

Be honest, would this go over well in your church? Do you have any similar ideas?