Dear God,

Wow! Your Word in Isaiah 61:1 says, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” As I am sitting here on the bus headed back to Hoover, I realize that the Holy Spirit does dwell among us as we battle exhaustion, soreness, and our short tempers.

God, we just lift your name on high for the great work you have done through us this week in Louisville. We are humbled to serve such a faithful God, and we are honored to be your servants.

God, I thank you for showing me the power of prayer throughout this week as you have called me to the ministry on Monday night and cast out all my worry, anxiety, and disappointment each and every day. Furthermore, Lord, I thank you for allowing me to realize that you are ALWAYS sovereign and in control as you transformed my doubt into peace, resulting in six salvations. To God be the Glory!

What is so beautiful, God, is that I am only a minute part of an amazing choir that brought your healing into this desperate city. I thank you for putting this group into my life, for they brought me back to you, and I ask that you please bless them for being faithful, loving servants. Allow us to realize that your great work from this week doesn’t stop here. God, I thank you for allowing your love to flow through each one of us as we loved one another, we loved the community, and we loved you.

May this choir tour forever have an impact on our lives, the lives of those we encountered, and the lives of those in the Hunter Street community as well. May we never stop singing your praises! May we realize that greater things are yet to come, specifically in our hometown of Birmingham, and that revival begins the minute we step off this bus! We love you and thank you for this life-changing experience. From the chaperones, to Jonathan, to Smokey, to everyone else involved in this great work, I thank you Lord for opening our eyes. May we always seek first your kingdom in everything we do!

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Ben Mahaffey

Chi Alpha Choir Tour 2009

Louisville, KY

It is currently 9:19 PM as I write this from our bus. Today, we were lucky enough to travel to Mason, Ohio, close to Cincinnati, to spend the day at King’s Island theme park. We arrived at about 9:45 AM and started to take on the roller coasters and water rides. Sadly, the wooden coaster that we had heard to be the “fastest in the country” was closed for the season, bummer. But, being the wonderful little optimists that we are, we rode every other one there. The three favorites were the Beast, the Diamondback, and the FireHawk. Surprisingly, the waits were not as long as we had anticipated so that was a plus. Also, THANK GOODNESS for wristbands! Five dollars and fifty cents got us unlimited drinks the entire day. Kudos to the parents that purchased those! That certainly came in handy as the day got longer and the sun rose higher. We had a wonderful southern cooked meal for lunch provided by the park consisting of fried chicken, rolls, potato salad, and baked beans. However, for dinner, we were on our own. Some chose the quality theme park Chinese food from the Panda Express, while others settled for the classic cheeseburger and fries at the Juke Box Diner. Either way, it hit the spot. Though there was sunburn, complaints, and long bus rides, it was the cherry on top of a rewarding and awesome week. We saw God work in absolutely unimaginable ways, and I think I can speak on behalf of the entire Chi Alpha Choir when I say this was a truly memorable week. (Or at least I hope I can!)

In Christ,

Sloane Bell

Hey everyone!

The end of tour is rapidly approaching, and it is evident that God is doing a great work in Louisville.

Today was my last day to work at my mission site – the Salvation Army Boys and Girls club. It seems that each day this week was a blessing from God. Every day our Bible school seemed to get better; and I was expecting some good final result for all our efforts this week. However, today was discouraging. We experienced problems with the craft, a raging thunderstorm, TWO brief power outages, and two of my kids were injured by a collapsing door frame! Can you believe that? Perhaps the most discouraging thing was that, although I had a few kids ask questions about Jesus and salvation, not a single kid made a commitment to Christ.

But I have never doubted that we serve a mighty God, and He did not disappoint. Our final concert on tour was today at the very same Salvation Army. God did an amazing work through us and during Smokey’s invitation, I witnessed at least five of the kids in my class commit their lives to Christ. WOW! God is great!

After the concert, we partook in the inaugural Chi Alpha Thrift Store Formal – so much fun!

Thanks to everyone who prayed for us this week, and please continue to ask God to protect us at Kings Island and on our trip home.

In Christ,

Austin Gray

Today was an unusual day in Louisville (for what I’ve noticed about choir tour) it was not raining.  :)

I was stoked to see what God was going to do on my mission site today.  We got there and waited for the kids to come out.  They came and were so excited to see us.  However, the kids got called back into the community center multiple times.  Needless to say, the group was kind of discouraged because the day before was very productive (it was raining so we were invited inside).  When we go back tomorrow, we are determined to make one final impact on the kids.

In the afternoon, we performed at the St. Joseph Children’s Home.  The concert was a lot like the ones from last year.  One of the choir members even pointed out that they looked like the exact same setup.  That concert last year was one of the most impactful from that tour and the result this year was definitely the same.  Ten kids came to know the Lord as their savior.

Then night came and the underclassmen went to the mall.  We (the seniors/freshmen in college!!!) had an amazing senior night.  I don’t think I am supposed to tell what all we did, but it was AMAZING!  It brought great memories back from playing the prank on “Pearl” in 7^th grade, walking what felt like a mile to the showers in 8^th grade, and the molding together of all the groups that has taken place on every choir tour.

Today, an amazing lady, who honestly I am not sure I would have talked to otherwise, shared her story and it helped me realize the crazy awesome power God has.  The lady emphasized the power of prayer.  A lot of times I feel like we as Christians forget about praying.  Even though some times if we ask for something the answer might be “no,” or “later,” if we are in the Word and striving daily to be like Christ, God will answer our prayer.  In Matthew 21:21-22, Jesus says; “Truly I say to you, If you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree; but even if you say to this mountain; be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will happen.  And whatever you ask in prayer you will receive, if you have faith.”  I love this verse, and it definitely spoke to me tonight.  And, hopefully, it will inspire you to have faith and pray.  Please continue to pray for us throughout this tour.

Peace,

Mason Freeman

Today we battled with rain in the morning as we were at our mission sites, but God still showed up. He has been faithful and has done great things already. After lunch we all split up and went to other mission sites to continue to serve the community in different ways. Some of the guys were given the chance to go to a juvenile detention center and hang out with the guys there. What an awesome experience!! It was so humbling to see those guys there who really are not that much different from us but had just made a couple bad decisions. God really used us there to minister to those guys as we ate and played basketball with them.

The concert was great as well. Luckily we had made the decision to move the concert to inside because about an hour and a half before the concert the rain began to pour! Even though it rained we still had many people come and I know God spoke to each one of them. God is HERE! It is incredible to see the Word of God impact people in such a mighty way. This has been an amazing experience so far.

Continue to pray for us back home. Be encouraged to know that God really is doing a work through us here.

In Christ,
Trent Hosmer

Hey y’all! Today was an incredible day. The Lord once again showed us how much He really is absolutely intentional about everything. We struggled today with the weather at our concert, and were feeling pretty discouraged. A few of our members were also struggling with some difficult things, but through our weakness, He is strong.

After the concert was cut short by rain, we had a precious time of prayer, worship and sharing of the day’s events. The Lord’s presence was so clearly felt it was truly awesome. And the thing that gets me is that it is ONLY Monday. Typically, this kind of service only happens on maybe a Thursday, but only in His perfect timing, He blessed us wit that and lifted our spirits at exactly the right time.

The Lord has always been and always will be so faithful, and He has proved that to Chi Alpha time and time again. Thank y’all so much for your love and your prayers. Our Father continues to pour out his blessings as a result. Chi Alpha is truly blessed, as am I, to have served this amazing group. Hallelujah, what a savior!

Love in the Lord,
Rebecca Collins

Today has been one crazy day, but I can already see that God has big plans for us this week. To start the day off, a few of us woke up early to run. After everyone got ready, we had a small acoustic worship service. It was a very nice way to start a week of ministry.

We sang in the church service at Hunsinger Lane Baptist Church. After the service, the church provided lunch for us. After lunch, we went to our ministry sites to pray over them. We are confident that God will open the hearts of the people we are ministering to.

We then went to Walnut Street Baptist Church for the ICE kick-off service. The minister who spoke focused on the wonder of our own salvation so that we may better communicate the Gospel to people this week. The service let out late, so we had a late dinner. After dinner, some people from a local church played a crazy Frisbee game. It was a lot of fun, no matter how late it was.

I am looking forward to the rest of the week. God is going to do some amazing things, so stay tuned.

In Christ,

David Meinberg

It’s great to finally be in Louisville! My trip on the Alpha bus began quite early this morning. The rainy day made it perfect for catching a nap on the bus. Everything went very smoothly as we checked into our rooms, and then we went to a wonderful dinner at Slugger Field. It was great to enjoy a meal with my Mission Group and just get to know them a little better. I am excited to see what God has in store for us this week! I look forward to working with such eager and talented students who have a heart for the people of Louisville.

Rachel Holland
Student Music Intern

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