Power Cross Blog: 2008

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Video of Power Cross boys leaving Universal Studios

We rode at Universal until the park closed. The boys had so much fun all night. Here are a few of the boys as we're leaving the park.

The Power Cross slide

The boys made the world's longest train on the slide at the resort.

Power Cross Orlando Trip-Video Clip

Here is a clip of the boys at the Shamu show. They got front row seats! Everyone was soaked.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Power Cross Orlando Trip

The boys with the Christmas Tree at SeaWorld.

The group at Universal Studios

There is so much to say about our trip to Orlando! I don't even know where to begin. We took along our video camera and I'll be uploading some more clips as the weekend goes along. We were able to take about 50 kids to Orlando for a few days to visit SeaWorld and Universal Studios. We were also able to make a pit stop in Jacksonville that allowed all of the boys who had never seen the ocean the chance to visit the beach. We had all been in serious prayer about the trip for weeks. We were praying for peace among the boys, safety on the trip, good weather, you name it! In so many ways we felt God's presence there with us. We wanted to make a little list to show you how God just kept showing up while we were gone. I'll have more pictures later as well!

We want to say another Thank you to the Jones Family and to all of you who made a donation this holiday season. This trip was a trip of a lifetime for most of these boys, and for me and my family as well. Also a huge thank you to Andy Jones, Jonathan Beaver, Molly, Gabe, AJ, Brenda, and Steve for chaperoning the boys at the park and in the rooms. And our last big thank you to our bus driver Paul and his wife Vicki. They displayed a lot of patience on the ride there and back! The trip could not have been possible without all of your help and support.

Top Ten ways God was with us on the Power Cross Orlando Trip:

10. We had one chaperone who needed to pull out at the last minute. Within 10 minutes we had another friend call and ask if there was anyway he could come help and chaperone. Totally unrelated, neither knew the other person or the situation. God provided.

9. Two 15 passenger vans, 1 30 passenger church bus, and 1 suburban with trailer, made it 1300 miles with no flat tires, wrecks, tickets, and only one small broken window. (sorry Paul)

8. We arrived at one of the theme parks to pick up our tickets, with an estimated cost of $2400.00, and the status had been changed to complimentary tickets.

7. The kids wanted to eat at the NBA restaurant in Universal. It was a little over our lunch budget, so I was a little stressed. About 10 minutes later we ran into a friend of ours from Tennessee who gave us a check that covered all of the lunches. Just a coincidence?

6. 48 kids with 8 chaperone's for two full days in SeaWorld and Universal and we only lost 1 kids for about 10 minutes. He was in the bathroom a little to long.

5. We rode every roller coaster at SeaWorld and Universal with about 35 kids who had never been on any type of ride and not one person threw up.

4. On the way home we stopped at a McDonald's where the bill came to $195.00. An older gentleman and his wife were dining there and say all of the boys. He wrote us a check for $200.00 to pay for our food.

3. 48 boys between the ages of 7-13 were together for 96 hours straight and we had no fist fights, and only 1 tooth knocked loose.

2. We had beautiful weather and no rain the entire trip.

1. We see the young men of Power Cross growing in their relationship with Christ. When we sat down to eat lunch at the NBA restaurant the boys were spread among 4 tables. Andy went to lead the boys at each table in a blessing, but Caleb, TJ, Khalil, and Ausar had already stepped up and prayed with each of their tables.

The trip was amazing in everyway!!! Much more to come!!! Next week were off to ring in the New Year at the Big God Conference.

The boys and AJ starting their voyage on the Jurassic Park ride. Everyone looks excited.

My view on the "Storm Ride" at Universal. Pun trying to figure out how he can get on top of the cart and ride. Quincy on the other side deciding if he should get sick. And Darius who's always in the middle of everything with a big smile!

Everyone at the Jacksonville Beach

Monday, December 15, 2008

More from the Power Cross Christmas party.

This is Khalil. He asked Coach Jeff if he could close the Christmas party in prayer. Khalil was saved on Father's day of this year. He truly speaks to the Lord when he prays. We're new to the video stuff so I'll be uploading a few clips all week! When we get back from Florida I'm sure we'll have some fun clips to show as well!

Thanks,

Jeff, Nat, and the PC Boys

Sunday, December 14, 2008

The Power Cross Christmas Party

We began preparation for our Christmas party about two months ago. The party was last night.I don't even have the words to describe the way God worked in the crowd. We had around 240 people in attendance. All but 6 of our Power Cross boys were able to attend. And almost all of the boys in attendance brought at least one relative with them. The night started out with a wonderful Christmas dinner. We have studied the Christmas story and the birth of Jesus recently in Bible study, and stressed that Jesus was given three presents at his birth. So we got three presents for each of the boys. The boys love Power Cross clothing so we got them all a new long sleeve Power Cross shirt. They were a little excited. We got them all a new winter jacket with Power Cross embroidered on it, they got really excited.

Quan-ya with his new jacket

And lastly we gave them a ticket. We gathered all of the boys together. Sat them in front of a big projector screen and starting giving them clues to what the ticket might be for. We have to back up a little bit to know how the ticket came about.

Jeff and I, and Power Cross have been so blessed to have been introduced to the Jones family of Tennessee. They have opened their home to Power Cross boys for a weekend at the lake.They have provided Power Cross with a much needed 15 passenger van. Just last week one of their son's Aaron moved to Statesville to help with the Power Cross ministry. The Jones family has provided almost all of our financial support over the last year. The two Jones brothers (Steve and Wiley), and their families have truly blessed this ministry. After a weekend with the boys, Steve & Brenda decided that the best Christmas present would be to send all of the boys to Orlando, Florida for a three day escape from everyday life. This is where the gift of a ticket comes into motion. We have worked hard preparing a three day trip to Orlando, Florida complete with a full day at Universal Studios and a full day at SeaWorld. Along the trip home we are detouring to the beach for a day so that all of the boys who haven't seen the ocean will have that chance. It will be an awesome event!

So they had their shirts, jackets, and a ticket in hand. Coach Jeff started giving a few clues. After about three clues they were all convinced they were going camping.

The boys with their tickets in hand

Then we starting to play a DVD I had prepared with images from the theme parks and resort. The boys finally realized that they were going to get to go to Florida. They could not contain their smiles.

After the gift giving was wrapped up we were so blessed to have our good friend Ken Freeman speak and bring the message of salvation to all in attendance. We had over 50 of our boys siblings, parents, and grandparents give their life to Christ. We had about 5 Power Cross boys finally give their life to the Lord. In that one moment, I can't begin to imagine how many prayers were answered. I know many of mine were. As we prayed with everyone one of our Power Cross boys, Khalil had an emotional moment. He just felt an overwhelming amount of love that he had never felt, in his life. He also felt the extreme sadness he held of never knowing his dad. So he did what so many boys there did, he went to his Coach Jeff for a hug. His brother in Christ, TJ, was there to wrap his arms around him as well.

It is such an awesome and humbling experience to be in the presence of the Lord. When you call on his name, he is there. Last night we handed out over 150 gifts, but the best gift that was given was the salvation of over 50 people. It is so amazing to see how God is using Power Cross to change the lives of not only the boys in our organization ,but also their families and siblings. We have one family who we work with three of the son's and one of the cousins. Last night their mother, grandmother, father, and aunt all gave their life to the Lord. In one night an entire family is changed. God is so good.

We leave on Saturday, December 20th for Orlando. I can promise we'll have a ton of pictures to show you when we get back.

God Bless,
Jeff, Nat, and the PC Boys

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Power Cross Thanksgiving

Hi Everyone,
Things have been going great for Power Cross over the last month. God is doing wonderful things with the boys in our organization. We are up to almost 60 boys each week joining up for Bible Study and fellowship. We have just started basketball and Power Cross has 8 teams!!! We have several other boys also playing for the middle school teams. It's an exciting time! We we thrilled to have many 8-14 year old boys sign up who have never played an organized sport before. It's been great watching them gain confidence and develop the skills God has blessed them with. The season games will start in January. I'll post a schedule when we get it together.

We would like to say thanks so much to our friends at Best Buy in Mooresville. They were gracious enough to donate a new big screen TV to Power Cross. The boys were thrilled to have their own area to watch shows, but mostly to play the Wii.

The second annual Power Cross Christmas party is coming up this Saturday, December 13th. It's going to be an amazing night I'm sure! I can't let to many secrets our before hand. I don't want to skip over the wonderful Thanksgiving Power Cross had. We were blessed to be able to deliver 20 Thanksgiving Dinners to some of our members families. We have lots of brothers in the group so we were actually able to give 33 of the boys and their families a complete Thanksgiving Dinner. The boys helped me stuff all of the boxes full, and hand them dinners out. They had such a wonderful sense of pride in carrying the boxes up to the doors for the families. It's great watching them enjoy giving to others. I was especially proud of our son TJ. His birthday is a few weeks before Thanksgiving and he decided to take some of his birthday gift money to purchase a Thanksgiving dinner for his good friend Khalil and his mom. It was one of my prouder moments as a mom. Here are some pictures of the Thanksgiving delivery.

This week is sure to be action packed leading up to the party. I'll have all kinds of pictures next week.

God Bless,

Jeff, Nat, and the PC Boys

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Carolina Panther's Game

I know we can't be credited with inventing the WAVE, but we defiantly kept it going around the upper deck today!

Maleck and one of his many posters for Jordan.

Demarcus doing a Panther's Howl

The boys taking in the game

The group before outside of Panther's Stadium

A couple of months ago we called in a favor to our Power Cross friend Jordan Gross, of the Carolina Panther's. We were hoping Jordan could help us with getting tickets to bring some of the boys to a Panther's game this season. I'm still not exactly clear how he pulled it off but he was able to send us 49 tickets and 3 parking passes for the Carolina Panther's vs. The Arizona Cardinals. When he first told us the good news Jeff and I were trying to think of some of the boys parents or siblings who might want to go with us so we could use all of the tickets. But if you've kept up with the Power Cross blog lately you'll know that our group has grown by about 15 kids since the school year started. You probably won't believe that we had exactly 49 people sign up to go. We had 5 adults(including me and Jeff) with us at the game, thank you Curtis, Mike, and Dad for your help! We had 44 Power Cross boys who were able to attend, and everything worked out perfect!

For about the past three weeks we have used the game as added incentive for the boys to work hard at their school work. At Power Cross Tuesday we passed around the sign up sheets and the excitement began to build. On Saturday morning we started getting calls to make sure we were still going to the Panther's game on Sunday. The plan was for us to leave from Coach Jeff's house at 9:30 on Sunday morning. I worked Saturday night and got home at about 11:00 PM. Jeff had been doing football all day with the boys. So we were both really tired. Unfortunately we both felt God telling us to work on something we have coming up for Power Cross. We didn't get to bed until about 2:45 am. I had my alarm set for 8:00 thinking we might get to sleep in a bit. The sun may have been up for about 5 minutes when our doorbell got pushed for the first time on Sunday. I would guess it wasn't 7:05 and Rudy is at the door! I was in my pajamas and half asleep but I got there quickly so everyone else didn't wake up. Rudy said, "Is it to early?" The boys were so excited about the day. We got to the stadium area and tailgated with our new friends Andy and Michelle of the Bonfire Crusades. Their children played football with the boys and fit right in with the group. It was a great time. We grilled up 150 hotdogs, which the boys had no problem putting away pretty quickly! One of our new boys Tevin was sitting in the sun, eating a hotdog in my folding chair and he said, "Today, I'm living the good life." I pray each day for these boys and that God will continue to lead and direct our ministry. I pray that we are able to help all of the boys, and many more we don't even know yet, to build a solid foundation in God for their futures.

We can't express enough thanks to our friend Jordan Gross for donating the tickets to today's game and allowing the event to even be possible. Jordan is a wonderful role model for any young man. He has a beautiful wife and family, faith in the Lord, an appreciation of his own life, and a desire to help those around him. It's a wonderful thing to see a young successful athlete who values his life's work not just in what he does on the playing field, but what he is able to do for other between Sundays.

Enjoy the pictures! We took up two complete rows all the way across.

Have a Blessed Day!

Nat

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Power Cross receives a new van!!!!!!

PC Boys with our new van!!!

A few boys pose with the "Rolling Turd" over the summer. The Turd will still be in commission for a while longer. The boys would be to sad to see it go!

We have been so blessed over the past two years to share the words and message of God with over 50 boys in our area. Yesterday we were so very blessed to receive a new van to help us transport the boys to our home, their homes, practice, games, church, and all the other stuff we do! The van is perfect! So perfect it brought tears to my eyes. It's hard to actually even see the van with the load of boys we had over yesterday, but it's really behind them! The Jones Family from Maynardville, TN has really taken to the boys. They have blessed us with this van, because our good Lord has blessed them. Our building campaign is called, "Play it Forward...". We changed the original "Pay" to "Play" because of our ministry's basis in athletics. For the Jones Family this van will allow us to both Play and pay forward the love of Jesus to so many more young men in our area. We can't thank them enough, for their generosity. Steve, Brenda, Gabe, AJ, Blake & Julie, and Molly & David we thank you so much. Steve, Brenda, AJ, and David were able to drive the van up to Statesville yesterday to present it to the boys. Steve lead our Bible study and read from James 1:22 "But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.". We thank the Jones Family for being a do-er and sharing their blessings with us. An added surprise to the already wonderful van was a DVD player installed for our roadtrips to tournaments and misc events. Brian and Kristen Kitts, and their daughters, had a DVD player put in for us complete with 10 sets of headphones! Advil probably won't appreciate the decline in my business, but I will be thrilled to try the system out!

Our friend Jeff Nanney at LakePoint Screenprinters is going to letter up the van for us this week. We'll show you some pictures when it's ready to go!!

Have a blessed day,
Jeff, Nat, TJ, and The PC Boys

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Power Cross visit Bonfire Crusades...

Hi Everyone,
This week we had the chance to take the boys to a local youth crusade. The Bonfire Crusades were held at the Statesville Fair grounds. We took about 40 boys and wanted to thank Curtis, Raymond, and Mike for all helping us get the boys there and home. It takes a bit of a caravan to get them anywhere! If anyone has an old bus or van they'd like to get rid of you know who to call. The boys all had a great time. We had pizza before we left, but when we arrived our Statesville Chick-fil-a felt lead to give everyone who attended a free chicken sandwich. Or in most of our boys cases about 4 chicken sandwiches. The crusade had a great speaker and a wonderful band. The boys had fun dancing and laughing all night. I always feel so blessed when I look at the boys really taking it all in. Some of them are really on fire for the Lord and that's an awesome thing to see in a young man.

One of our Power Cross boys mom sent me a sweet prayer the other day. It's kind of long but I thought I would share it with you.

A prayer for children

We pray/accept responsibility for our children
who sneak Popsicles before supper,
who erase holes in math workbooks,
who can never find their shoes.
And we pray/accept responsibility for those
who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire
who can't bound down the street in a new pair of shoes
who were born in places we wouldn't be caught dead in,
who never go to the circus,
who live in an X-rated world.
We pray/accept responsibility for children
who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.
And we pray for those
who never get dessert,
who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
who watch their parents die
who can't find any bread to steal,
who don't have a room to clean up,
whose pictures aren't on any one's dresser
and whose monsters are sometimes real.
We pray for our children
who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,
who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,
who like ghost stories,
who shove dirty clothes under the bed and never rinse out the tub,
who get visits from the tooth fairy,
who don't like to get kissed in front of the school,
who squirm in church
whose tears we sometimes laugh at and whose smiles can make us cry.
We pray for our children
whose nightmares come in the daytime,
who will eat anything,
who have never seen a dentist,
who aren't spoiled by anybody,
who go to bed hungry and cry them self to sleep,
who live and move, but have no being.
We pray for our children
who want to be carried and those who must be,
for those we never give up on and for those
who don't get a second chance,
for those we smother and
for those who will grab the hand of anyone kind enough to offer it.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Power Cross Fun Friday

We have started a new day with the PC Boys. A couple of Fridays a month were going to take the boys to a local high school football game. This is going to be our "Power Cross Fun Fridays". The idea is to offer the boys more activities on the weekends, so they don't find trouble! Thanks to Coach Gussler's help, we were able to take the boys on Friday to the Statesville High School game. They all had a wonderful time. We had a couple of boys that it was the first football game they had been to, they were extremely excited! When we arrived at the game one of the boys (we'll call him Larry)was so excited because he thought that his half-brother played for the team. So of course I ask what his brother's name was so we could look at the program. Larry wasn't sure what his brothers name was. He didn't know his half- brothers first name, and didn't know who his mom was (they share the same dad)to see what his last name was. He went through about 5 names he thought it might be and then ended up cheering all night long for a player who may, or may not have been his brother! I wish I could describe the look in his eyes when he thought he had figured out his brothers name. He was so excited, all of a sudden he had an older brother who was a football player. Truth is the high school boy probably has no idea Larry exists. I'm pretty sure the last time Larry saw his Dad was around Christmas, and I can't imagine he'd be much more of a father to the older boy either. The whole situation made me think even more about how so many children are growing up without knowing their families and having the love and support a close family brings. I am so comforted to know the Larry has 40 brothers in Christ with his Power Cross friends.

On another note we wanted to thank our friends Heather and Matt from Chick-fil-a. They were at the game Friday night and Heather spotted us as we walked in. She took the group photo for us so I could get in it as well. Matt had a booth set up with samples of a new chicken dipping sauce and a chicken finger. I'm not sure how many samples were given out but I know our boys took a good portion of the snacks! They had just demolished 12 pizza and about 50 brownies, but if there is free food around they will definitely find the room for it!

My favorite picture is the one of all the boys and Coach Jeff watching the teams warm up. There we all cramped in on the fence trying to get a good look.

God Bless,
Jeff, Nat, and the PC Boys

Monday, September 8, 2008

last weekend of summer fun...

We had a great experience this weekend, getting to experience a few more days of summer fun. We were invited to take 8 of the boys to Tennessee to share in a weekend of lake fun, food, and fellowship with the Jones Family. We started Friday night with swimming and a pizza party for the boys. Wiley Jones lead us in a Bible Study Friday evening. Saturday and Sunday the boys were going non-stop. Actually they did not, but only briefly to eat! Steve & Brenda Jones invited us into their beautiful homes and all of their wonderful children entertained the boys all weekend. Most of the boys with us had never been on a lake or on a boat so it was a big time! The dock had a 16 foot roof with a diving area, the boys were all brave enough to take the plunge at least once. They were able to ride a Jet ski and go tubing behind the boat all weekend. The boys really had a great time, and we were able to have Bible study each day. Thank you so much to all of the Jones Family for their love and hospitality! It was a wonderful time.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Summer slowing down

Hi Everyone,
I have a couple of pictures to share from the Power Cross boys who are still playing baseball. TJ, Tra, Ausar, and Landon are continuing through the Fall with baseball on a new team. The boys were all selected for Linedrive Worth's Major team. It's a pretty big deal to make the team so we were just excited with that! The boys have played the last two weekends, and the team has gone 8-0. They have won both tournaments including a qualifying tournament for the NIT world series in Florida. All of the boys have had a wonderful time playing with new team mates and making friends from several schools. They have a couple weeks off but we'll keep you updated!

The first high school game in our area was last Friday night, so you know that Jeff needed to be there. Earlier in the day one of the boys, Kahlil, had called coach Jeff to see if he would pick him up and help him with his football. It's his first year playing football and he's in the 6th grade so he felt a little behind. So Jeff picked him up and padded TJ up in the yard and put the boys to work. A couple of hours later TJ and Kahlil were both about to pass out, but I think Kahlil learned how to tackle! We got ready to leave for the game and told Kahlil to grab all of his stuff. We were on our way to drop him off, when I happened to look back and see his big eyes looking a little extra sad. Jeff read my mind and ask Kahlil if he would like to go the game with us. Of course that answer was a big yes. We stopped for pizza on the way, and as we do each time we go out to eat, we ask Kahlil if he would bless the food. His first reaction was a little nervous and he said, "Oooh, I don't think I'm ready for that." After a little reassurance from Coach Jeff that it was no big deal, he could just close his eyes and tell God thanks for the food Kahlil felt ready. So Kahlil stepped it up and started his blessing. It was the first blessing Kahlil had ever given, and maybe the best blessing I've ever heard. Kahlil is only 12 but he already sounds a bit like James Earl Jones. He had excitement in his voice as he thanked God not only for the pizza, but mostly for Coach Jeff. Kahlil is 12 years old and has never, not one time, met his Dad. He's 5'7", a pretty tall kid. But that didn't stop him from leaning his head on Coach Jeff's shoulder off and on as we sat at the restaurant. He thanked God that Coach Jeff cared about him, helped with his football, took him to eat, and didn't yell at him. Kahlil was a natural when he was talking to God, and I know that God has an awesome plan for this little man.

Have a great day!

Jeff, Nat, and the PC Boys

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Help from our friends in Florida

Jeff, TJ , and I were excited to get a week away at the beach for a little family relaxation. Somehow Ekiah joined in the trip! We were actually very happy to get to take Ekiah on our family vacation this year. We went to my St. Augustine, Florida for a week. While we were there the boys and Jeff got in plenty of fishing. We invited all of the Athletes to Champions board members up for dinner one evening. We had a wonderful time getting to talk to the board members about the Power Cross boys and everything that's been going on this summer. We were pleasantly surprised when everyone was getting ready to leave and they began carrying up loads of groceries for us to bring home for the boys. Probably our largest daily expense is food cost for the boys. We usually have a house full of boys everyday. We have the baseball team boys a lot on weekends as well, so having a full fridge and pantry adds up, especially with 10 year old boys! As I got home and began to unload the groceries and organize I noticed some writing on the bags. Many of the bags had been labeled with Bible verses. I thought I would share some of the verses they wrote as inspiration for the Power Cross ministry.

Jeremiah 29:11 (New Living Translation)

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Galatians 6:9 (New Living Translation) One of my favorites!

9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.

Matthew 11:28 (New Living Translation)

28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Baseball and the Beach...

This past weekend the 7 Power Cross boys who are on the Statesville All-Star team were able to compete in the SouthEast Regional tournament. The boys won the NC state tournament two weekends ago. The regional was held in Winterville, NC which was about 4 hours from us. After our tournament play ended (no we didn't win!) we decided to make the most of our location and drive on over to the coast. We were privileged to take Quatravious and Jesaye to see the ocean for the first time. Ausar was also along for the trip, he was able to go with us last year to see the beach for the first time. He said the second time was even better. Q-tra and Jesaye were all smiles. There are probably no other smiles on earth that make me quite as happy as those of Jesaye and Qtra. They were a little timid at first, but by the end of our time Q-tra was trying his hand at all kinds of new adventures.