Had a great time on Saturday night speaking at Lehigh University to the Project Serve team. Hopefully I’m not screwing the details up on this, but I believe it’s the 26th year in a row that Westover Church from Greensboro, NC has descended upon a city to serve in as many ways as possible.
This year Pastor John Freeman brought over 200 high school students with him to Allentown, PA, where they will do painting, evangelism, and a host of other things for the next week. You might be wondering how you get luggage for 200 high schoolers from North Carolina to Pennsylvania? The answer: a tractor trailer. Seriously.
Here’s a shot of the tent where all the luggage was being kept so the kids could pick their stuff up when they arrived:
Once all the luggage was cleared out, the kids got assembled for the kickoff meeting:
I shared some of my favorite amish pictures with the kids, which went over better than expected, and then spoke on serving with humility for about 15 minutes. The biggest laugh I got all night was when I suggested that the only way to sneak into the devil’s locker room to find out what he was up to was by wearing a Duke basketball shirt. I closed by asking them to commit to serving with humility all week, and I got a great response.
Thanks so much to my friend Alisa Smith for making this happen. Alisa and I have know each other as “internet friends” for more than 7 years now thanks to caedmonscall.net, so it was great to be able meet her in person. And congrats to her and her new fiancee Jason Windsor, who, I might add, met each other thanks to that same website that I created back in 2001. I think this is the third marriage that has come out of relationships from the dotnet, so feel free to start calling me cupid. (Here’s Erica, Alisa, and yours untruly)
If you’re looking for a speaker for your youth event, men’s group, or church shindig, I’d love to talk to you about it to see if I’d be a fit. For more information you can check out my speaking page or just shoot me an email at bryanallain@gmail.com.
PS…was great to meet my internet friend Tim for the first time too. Always a pleasure to shake hands with a fellow Burnsider.
Posted by Bryan AllainTags: Project Serve, Speaking
way to be. i could never get up on the mic and speak like that, props.
And to think I almost wore my Duke hat… It was great to meet you and Erica. Thanks for inviting me to tag along.
Props on the Duke quote. Don’t you feel that, as Christians, it’s our duty to fight against the Blue Devils? Isn’t that in the Bible somewhere?
1. That photo of you three makes me smile.
2. Jason met Alisa through Kari, not really through the .net. Of course, you can argue that Kari and Alisa would not know each other without the .net [although they very well may have known each other through the Guild].
3. I did not laugh at the Duke joke. Jerk.