Wow. That's probably all I can say about our experience there on Friday.
Here's a pic of David walking in the parking lot with the kids.
Here are a couple of pics of their new Thrift Store area
Here's the Pastor Bill Scheer and his wife Sandy with the mayor of their town.
We expected to just go be in the crowd, say Hi to the Pastor and then hit a few shops that we don't get to venture to in our little town. What we got was hospitality and Christ's love and joy abounding through the people of Guts Church. They hosted us for most of the day. We got to tour their facility - which is INSANE, and hear all about the exciting things going on in their church and with their various ministries. The craziest thing was when we got there, the Pastor assigned this sweet intern named Kelli to LG and BB for the day and she spoiled them rotten. I felt a little weird about letting them go off with this random girl, but after I checked in a few thousand times and saw the fun they were having, I was able to just relax and enjoy being with the pastors for the day and hang out. One of the things that Pastor Bill told Kelli to do was to make sure the kids each got to pick out a toy from their new store. I told them that it wasn't necessary, but the generosity of these people insisted and guess what my kids picked? A button maker and small doll for LG and a PINBALL MACHINE was what BB just HAD to have. Oh my word.
Here they are with Kelli and her friend getting ready to take their new toys to the van.
They got to play on 2 huge playgrounds at the church - one indoor and one outdoor, they were given popcorn and ice cream, LG said Kelli gave her 2 cupcakes, they had hotdogs, special Starbucks passion tea from their cafe, they rode in a golf cart, played in a pretend castle and were sent home with 2 Easter goody bags full of eggs and candy.
Here's a pic of Julie - a sweet girl who took over when Kelli had to go paint. She played with them for a long time in this indoor castle area.
I didn't actually have my camera on this trip, so I stole my father-in-laws a few times to snag some photos. I didn't capture even a glimpse of the coolness factor of this church, but I will just have to share it in words as best I can.
If I was a kid attending this church - I would be in heaven. If I was a teenager - I would totally dig the vibe of this place and want to be there all of the time. If I was an adult or a person who needed to feel accepted and loved - this is where I would land if I lived in this area. Such an awesome church doing awesome things for the Lord. We left feeling encouraged and inspired to do our part in our own community and with our own body of believers where we live. So exciting!! They also sent me and my mother-in-law into their bookstore to pick out whatever we wanted to take home. I got a cool "Guts Girls" burnout t-shirt that I will wear proudly. Sorry - no pic. :-) Do you think we were spoiled? They seriously overwhelmed us with kindness.
We finished off the day with hitting up a few stores at an amazing outdoor mall (weather was perfect by the way). I visited Anthropologie (yippee!), Gap and Pottery Barn Kids. Then, we stopped at P.F. Chang's for a wonderful 4:00 dinner of potstickers and Moo-Shu Pork. Hallelujah!
The kids were..........exhausted beyond words.
Well, just look at the car shot of them on the drive home.
Doesn't LG look like she was in a war! She plays hard. There is no doubt about that.
I wanted to take their interns home with us. They said they loved it there, but that we could come back and visit them. Oh, ok. :-)
The kids didn't want to leave (shocker), but we bribed them with more sugar. Why not. The day was shot anyway.
I hope we get to make another trip out to GUTS church and have another day like Friday, sometime soon. I love seeing God's people passionate and in action!
OH, and here's something inspiring I saw written on one of their many white boards. I just soaked it up.
The last line there says "Never underestimate Passion". I totally agree.
Have a great night!
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