A time zone that is Ten and a half hours different from here is literally on the other side of the world. . . what an adventure. This past Christmas break I helped lead a team of volunteers from my church to a small little village in the Southeast state of Tamil Nadu, India. This was actually my second trip over there, but the first time to this particular village of Untouchables. In Indian Hindu culture, there are over 4,000 different castes, which separate classes of individuals from one another. People from lower castes are generally unable to marry outside of their caste, and much of their social interactions and opportunities are based on what caste you are born into. There is no way to earn your way up the caste system. You simply try to be  as faithful as possible in this life so that the gods will move you up in caste when you are reborn in your next life. The Untouchables or Irula caste of people are the lowest of the low. If their shadow even crosses the shadow of someone of high caste then the high caste person has now become unclean (which leads to many actions to be “clean” again) and extremely upset.  Literally, these people are never touched except by their own people, and usually their only employment is snake and rat catchers for local farmers. They are commonly called the backward caste (or b.c. for short) as well as the people of darkness.

Our church has been working with this particular colony for nearly 3 years, and things have come a long way. Our efforts to establish clean water, education, micro-enterprise, health, and housing are led by indigenous pastors that have been trained extensively. Our church simply provides complimentary services and knowledge in their efforts. In this way, we nullify any movement towards imperialism by our support. My team was heading over to do some construction projects in the village (i.e., 2 homes, handwashing stations, home repair seminar, plant two gardens, distribute greenLockers supplies, etc…)  while a second team went to provide health and wellness needs (i.e., blood pressure and diabetes checks and physicals as well as seminars on germs, disease, marriage,  and nutrition). The video below walks you through our trip from start to finish, and please email me if you have any questions at all about certain pictures. Obviously, there is no way to encapsulate all that occurred during our time there, but I wanted to share a few things that really stood out.

Apostle Thomas – We went to St. Thomas Mount for the first half-day that we were there in Chennai. You will see pictures in the video of the chapel that was erected on the spot where the apostle Thomas was martyred, the cave where he hid from his enemies, a spring that burst forth with water from a rock when he was needing water (and has flowed ever since, though it is on a mountain!), and the cathedral that houses his actual tomb and remains. Thomas is only one of three apostles that we know where they are buried, and it was so humbling to know that I walked on the ground of one who walked with Jesus!

Homes  – The first home that we built was for a homeless woman (Malika )who had 6 children, and had just lost her husband in an accident last year. She worked tirelessly with us the entire week working with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. On the night of the house dedication, one of our team members who is an M.D., found her flat on her back on the ground next to her new house – unable to move. His examination revealed that she had a badly herniated disk in her back, and she admitted to feeling the pain for weeks. . . . wow! She was so tough all week – not a single complaint. The next day we discovered that she did not sleep much that night, not because of her back, but because she simply could not believe that we loved her that much to build her a home! Her parents had abandoned her long ago, and with her husband gone, she was nearly hopeless, but now. . . everything has changed she said!

      -    As a follow-up - we just found out 3 days ago that she has since come to accept Jesus Christ as her LORD and savior, and she will be baptized when the next team goes over in March.

The old man and his new home – We ended up contracting a team of builders (4 men, and then 3 or 4 of our team members) to build a 3-5 year temporary home for a man whose home had collapsed during the rainy season. Raj said this would only cost around $80, and so we moved forward with it. It is one of my favorite memories because the man just watched the build not knowing whose house they were building – whether it was for him or the person who actually owned the land (i.e., he was simply squatting on it). He was so thankful when he received the home saying “I was an orphan, years ago, my wife left me, no one has ever wanted me. . . but today I feel cared for” – later on that night, I was walking past his new home on the way to the village celebration, and he had a single candle lit in the home, and you could hear him quietly singing to himself. . . just beautiful!

The mindset of poverty – Much of India’s population is either vegetarian of nearly so. This is a result of a multiple factors including cows being holy (i.e., no one eats beef), pigs being unclean, as well as the shear expense of meat for most people. Thus, vegetable gardens would be a great idea for a year-round sustainable food source; however, we had met great resistance to this idea in the village previously. We soon found out that since they have the poverty mindset of simply making it through the day or living to the end of the week that waiting a month for plants to grow and produce food was close to impossible to even comprehend. We built two gardens and planted them full of plants in hopes of their examples would be proof to the villagers of their value

      -    As a follow-up - we just got some pictures the other day of the gardens full of vegetables, and a local pastor said that many more families now want gardens!!!!

Little girl left under tree – One of the most heart-wrenching stories of the trip was the day that I noticed a little girl laying on some blankets under a big tree in the village. I saw her there for several hours, and so I inquired “where is her mother?” A villager explained that her mother had left to go to the main village for work, as she does every day. I soon found out that this less than a year old baby is left under that tree every day, and now no longer cries because she has learned that no one will be there to answer her . . . no one is ever there to pick her up.

greenLockers – I run a non-profit organization called greenLockers (www.greenlockers.org) that partners with a student organization in local schools to collect new and slightly used school supplies, clothes, and books during their end of the year locker clean-out days. These supplies are sorted and then distributed to local charities for free. On this trip, we had the distinct honor of distributing some of these supplies to a school near the Irula village. I cannot tell you how that filled my soul – to be used by God to love children in this way, and to see them celebrate. . . just priceless!

Joy and contentment – As many of you may know from being in poverty stricken areas in your own travels, there are simply no words that can describe the joy and contentment in many of their eyes, though they had nothing.

Break-through of honesty –After 3 years of working in the village we had a moment of true authentic relationship this year that reminds me much of the revival that just took place on Bethel’s campus this past week. The villagers put their overly hospitable, cultural masks down, and shared their frustrations and lack of knowledge with us like never before. This was truly a watershed moment of forming trust! For example, we built a latrine for the village 2 years ago, but they have not been using it. This means that women (who are not allowed to go to the bathroom during the day) must walk out into the field either at night or early in the morning – risking stepping on cobras and scorpions – to go to the bathroom. They have told us reasons for not using them for two years, but every time we addressed those reasons, they simply would come up with something else andnot use the latrines. This time, with tears in her eyes, a woman came up to us and simply said, “we don’t know how to use them, no one has ever told us how.” Soon others were confessing to other instances of vulnerability like needing to have a sign on the doors to know which are the men’s and which are the women’s, certain things about the clothes and shoes that we have been bringing over, and multiple other things. . . I cannot express to you how this was all such a breakthrough – just amazing!!!

Germ game and the basics – the medical team came up with a brilliant game to teach the children about germs. We have been trying for several years to get them to wash their hands because of all the sickness that has resulted from not doing so. There are even stories of people just falling to sleep right after eating (they eat with their hands) without washing their hands and then rats come in their huts at night and gnaw away the ends of their fingers, resulting in disease, infection, and death. So, this game involved several tennis balls that were covered with a white powder. The children passed around the balls until everyone had powder on their hands. The instructors then told them to rub their hands together until they no longer saw any of the powder. In essence, the children then saw their hands as “clean”; however, the powder was black light activated, and so when a black light was passed around the children, they clearly saw the white residue glowing on their hands. In this way, they understood that even though you cannot see certain things, they can still exist. For the first time, they understood the concept of germs – just fantastic!!!

Connection so deep, so fast – One thing you find out fairly quickly in this beautiful culture is that they assume that you are telling the truth. This is of course, very different from U.S. culture where the average person assumes some level of skeptism during a new conversation. For example, in the village in India, if I complimented someone’s outfit or smile, they would respond with a grateful “thank you” and feel very blessed. If the same conversation happened here between two strangers the one being complimented might automatically think thoughts like these, “why did he say that?”, “what does he want from me?”, or “he doesn’t really mean that, he is just being nice.” I cannot tell you how much faster relationships can form with this one simple difference. Truly I tell you that I am closer to some Indians that I knew for only 1 week than some friends I have known for years.

Focus – One of the most refreshing things for me on this trip was that my only responsibility was to wake up each day and then work as hard as I could on the projects, knowing that I was making an impact in these people’s lives. I did not have to worry about the next day, week, or month. I simply had to focus on what God wanted me to do that day and then do it – nothing was hanging over my head. Of course, when I returned home, there were not only tons of emails to respond to, but I immediately needed to start preparing for events and classes weeks and months in advance. This was a difficult transition at first, but then God graciously convicted me in one of my quiet times with Him. He told me “Ted, I have not changed, why have you?” In essence, His expectations are the same for me here as they were in India. I need to wake up each day and ask Him what He wants me to do, and then do it. Of course, some of those daily assignments will deal with the future, but that future is not my burden to carry, it is God’s, and He carries it effortlessly!

Baptism stories – We had the unbelievable honor of baptizing a handful of people at a one of the local churches in a nearby city. I am always amazed at their commitment to Christ in doing this public display of faith, regardless of the consequences. There are five questions that I had to ask each person before baptizing them:

1. Do you accept Jesus Christ as your personal LORD and savior? Same as here in the US
2. Do you agree to never again worship any idols of any kind? You have to understand that there are over 330,000,000 gods in Hinduism with altars everywhere – I wish they would ask this one over here for the idol of money!
3. Do you agree to always follow Jesus Christ even when your family persecutes you and your village excommunicates you? Note that the question is not IF, but WHEN you face persecution, they know full well of the risk they are taking.
4. Have you been forced in any way to be baptized today? If a person accuses a pastor of forcing them to be baptized then the pastor automatically gets 3 years in prison for that crime.
5. Why are you getting baptized today? The most common response went something like this “For years I was beaten by my husband who was an alcoholic, one day I was in the hospital waiting to die and someone told me about Jesus. I prayed to Jesus and the next day I walked out perfectly healed, and so I figured that I should learn about and follow this Jesus no matter what.”

******* Don’t waste time – Finally, there is always a strange juxtaposition of death and life when I travel to India. In 2008, my aunt and uncle, who were missionaries and pastors fully alive and on mission for Christ, were tragically killed in a car accident the day before I left to go to India.  That day was supposed to be a huge family reunion celebrating each other, instead we wept and grieved all day. This year, my friend Scott Johnson, who I had taught Block with for 5 years went to be with the LORD while I was over in India. Those of you who have been through someone dying know that there is nothing easy about it. At this point, however, I do know what I have learned from those two experiences. Namely, I don’t want to waste time, not a single moment!” I discovered through all of this that somewhere deep inside me, I did believe that my actions in life could have some control on how long I was here. . . clearly that is ignorance – I am on assignment here by my King, and He is in complete control. This commitment does not mean that I become more busy, in contrast, it means that I am fully present wherever I am, whether that is on vacation, with my family, or in front of my students. I know now that only with intentional, daily steps of disciplined actions can I ever become that man that I was created to be. I will never drift to the shores of integrity, strength, and character – no,. . . drifting only washes you back onto the shore you left from, a shore that is named lukewarm, and I don’t plan on ever seeing that dock again!

Here is a video recap of the entire trip

India ’10 ’11 from Ted Bryant on Vimeo.

Here is the link to the blog that walks you through the trip step by step!

http://www.gccindiateams.blogspot.com/

Peace be with you all

Do you have a charity that could use school supplies and clothes??

I have included the critical information below, but you can find out all of the details HERE

Here is just a small portion of around 9000 lbs of supplies that we collected this year.

I can’t wait to see how much positive change we can bring to our local and global community through the supplies this year!!

WHAT:

The new and slightly used school supplies, clothes and workbooks collected this year by greenLockers will be available for distribution to local charities. The collection of supplies from 17 local school’s “locker clean-out days” totals nearly 9,000 pounds and has already been sorted and organized based on quality and function. All supplies are FREE for those charitable organizations that come to the distribution days after filling out an application at the Web site www.greenlockers.org under the “wishlist application tab.” Supplies will ONLY be given to individuals representing charitable organizations. Distribution of the supplies will occur on a first come/first serve basis.

WHY:

There is tremendous need right now in our area on many levels and too often that may result in community organizations being under resourced. These distribution days provide an opportunity for local charities, who already are connected with the needs in our community, to get some basic materials for FREE.

WHEN:

Friday June 19 and Saturday, June 20, from 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

WHERE:

Our warehouse located at 2600 Marina Drive in Elkhart, Indiana – just West of the intersection of CR6 and CR 15.

WHO:

greenLockers is a non-profit organization that was founded by Dr. Ted Bryant in the Spring of 2006. greenLockers resources students locally, nationally, and internationally through the distribution of school supplies. New and slightly-used school supplies (and clothes) are collected from area schools during their year-end locker clean-out days. In this way, greenLockers not only facilitates education, but it also enables students to help build community, gain courage, and break out of cycles of poverty that they may have been stuck in for generations.

Equipping students…moving the world forward

 I thought about catching you up on everything, but that would take a book, not a blog – plus, I know some of you have been following me on twitter – and greenlockers on twitter too – so, I am just going to start with a top 10 list of things that I have learned in the last month and half:

10. Lasik is a modern day miracle – seriously going from 20/600 to 20/15 over the course of 5 minutes. . . . . . . . come’on that’s just crazy!

9. God’s adventure (i.e., greenLockers) is wilder than I ever could have imagined

8. Not much compares to seeing a “smaller than average” middle school student encouraging his “much larger” peers to not waste schools supplies, but to donate them instead, and he did not know that I was watching

7. I don’t hear anyone talking about parenting in a positive light – about how wonderful it is to be a Dad or a Mom – I plan on changing that a little bit (get ready for . . . . “parenting tips” – coming soon to this blog ). I figured my wife is currently teaching college course called “Parenting” and I teach Child Growth and Development as well as Adolescent Growth and Development – though we ourselves still have a lot to learn, and are NOT perfect by any means!!!! – we also have a lot to share

6. This is one of my favorite pictures of Kya so far – love his Spirit

5. My wife does not get even a 10th of the credit that she deserves. . . – Here is Dane smiling at her during bath time – yeah, he loves her!

4. I am excited about the God’s plan to use the Church (with all of her quirks) to move His kingdom forward. Here are some middle schoolers from GSM cleaning out 800 bins. . . in the rain!

3. The heart of Bethel students continues to impress me – countless students gave up time and effort to FREELY give up parts of their summer for greenLockers

2. Absolutely NOTHING compares to “intentional use of time” and “open communication” when a family is running fully on mission (i.e., the busy, stressful times of the “six days” before the “7th day” rest period) 

1. Blogging and many other “good” things/opportunities are important to me for many reasons, but my family is more important – specifically, being the best husband and father that I can be  – - WILL ALWAYS take precedent over me saving my public face. – here is a picture after Dane’s dedication at church.

1. You can’t do it on your own. . . or you can. . . and it will just not be as good as it could be.

2. Don’t bring on people exactly like you. . . A car made of one type of part doesn’t run, much less have the ability to move anybody – if you want a vehicle capable of changing/moving hearts and minds - build it with the diversity of people that God has placed in front of you.

3. When thinking of people to bring onboard in a leadership capacity – integrity over skill every time. . . .now – you need both. . ., but don’t settle for the second without the first.

4. Faith and Stupidity are about 0.5mm apart from each other – That keeps me focused – because I want to leave room for God, but not make idiotic business decisions

5. In marketing and networking – it’s not just who you know, but. . . the people that you know . . . who do they know??!

6. A hand-written thank you card, hand delivered to someone who sacrificed for you and your organization – - that’s pricelss. . . it’s worth the extra effort!

7. Pray – not only as an offering to God and a plee for some sort of provision – but, it’s amazing what happens to the stress, weight, and “What if’s” in your own heart when you submit everything (daily in my case!) to Abba – knowing, trusting – that He is in control

8. There is never a small decision of integrity – any such “oversight” could sabatoge an entire operation in the long run.

9. Keep Dreaming. . . . . deal with decisions in reality, but. . . . never stop thinking of what could/can be

10. It doesn’t matter if it comes naturally or not. . . I MUST communicate clearly. . . if they aren’t getting it. . . I am responsible.

11.  Organization with flexibility is CRITICAL in order to reach your maximum capacity for impact. . . it is a delicate balance between being organized/having a plan and being flexible – it’s a fine line. . . . find a way to walk it! 

12. Through everything – ups and downs. . . . . . . love your family well (wife and kids in my case) – never let them doubt your love/priority for them.

Let me give you some of my highlights:

1. Dark and early 7:35am on Sat. morning go on camera with Nick from WNDU – trying to get the word out early – interviewed by the entrance to Martin’s or what I like to call – the “Wind tunnel” ~ -8 wind chill they said. . . . I was praying for the commitment of my team and my community – that all would turn out – they did not disappoint!

2. ~ 8:00am -  The Martin’s manager – Doug – at Ironwood and SR23 – helping me shovel the sidewalk for 10 minutes. . . with no coat on (just a short-sleeved shirt) – and then bringing out coffee and and a fresh round of donuts – free of charge!!

3. My neighbor – Barb – gets a promo on the 8:15 live broadcast of WNDU’s morning show. . . I asked her the night before if she wanted to be on TV – why?. . . because I think everone over the age of 65 around here watches that show on Sat. morning – if they saw her up and contributing maybe they would too.  Once, again, saw many senior citizens on Sat. – I love their commitment and their smiles! – you can see some of WNDU’s video reports HERE

4. ~8:35 – My unbelievable sister-in-law Jennifer Thursby shows up (my partner in crime in organizing all of this!), and she is ready to ROCK! – I love her energy – she really made this thing work!!

5. ~8:45 – One of my great friends – Kevin shows up early to get things rolling at the ND Martin’s – - 2 stories involving Kevin – 1). good thing he was there, he had to call 9-1-1 later that morning for a woman who slipped on the ice . . . 2). people often pulled up to our table and then just popped open their trunk for us to get out the container . . . well, one time a car pulled up, and so naturally Kevin went back to the trunk and opened it. . . . that was until, the driver yelled back at him “what are you doing?!! – oops. . . . guess he didn’t have a bin   – thanks Kevin for your leadership and commitment.

6. ~ 9:00 – Trek down to the Western Avenue Martin’s where my good friend, and fellow Bethel professor, Josh Sauerwein had set up camp, along with some great volunteers! I was at this location – not because I thought it would bring in a ton of bins, but 3 other reasons: 1). This is an area that Entermission is pouring into with its community center (MC3), and I wanted to be an extension of that 2). This is an area that will be receiving a lot of our supplies come June, so I wanted to have a presence now, so they will trust us then 3). This area of town is desolate in many ways – this recession has pummeled them so much already – I wanted to be a light of hope on Sat., and the people I met were amazing! – at the end of the day, they ended up with 100 Bins- GREAT JOB! . . . . The information cards and green mints were an especially big hit here!

- side note – Ben Sanders (professional photographer and videographer) is AWESOME, and I so appreciate him hanging out with us today – got some great footage – thanks Ben!!!!

7. ~ 9:45 – over to Erskine Plaza to check on Amy Sipe and her crew. Soon after I show up . . . an older gentleman rolls up in a souped-up (sp?) Corvette and gives each of the young ladies roses – like a half-dozen each!! . . . . I also heard that there had been a guy there earlier yelling at them for being “green” – asking “why do you care about the environment anyway?!!!” – and then also commenting that “China is the real problem, and all we have to do is . . . .sell them FLORIDA – that would solve everything. . . . . . WHAT?!” – so, one of the volunteers commented “we are just collecting old recycling bins, man” . . . . . . . he said “Oh . . .” and then went away. . . . . . . . . . – at the end of the day, they ended up with 271 Bins- GREAT JOB!

8. ~11:00 - Over to Bittersweet to check out Marlyn and her crew – this was a tough location because a lot of Mishawaka residents did not get new recycling containers – they’re on a slightly different system. Once again, though, I want to be in Mishawaka schools come May, and so I wanted to make a good impression in the area – mission accomplished.  – at the end of the day, they ended up with 100 Bins- GREAT JOB!

9. ~12:00 noon – Back up to ND’s Martin’s . . . I am surprised to see around 10 volunteers hanging out collecting bins – GREAT! considering I only had like 3 scheduled. It just blew me away to see the performance of my volunteer team. . . I couldn’t be more proud!!

10. ~12:30 – get a call that WAOR – the Bear is having a super bowl contest at the Granger Martin’s, and Tia Brown (the volunteer leader at that location) has asked them for a spot on their live broadcast. . . . they said yes!!! So, I get up there, and watch some guy go nuts when he won the contest!! . . .and then walk outside to the van and do a live remote with Mike – GREAT!! – thanks WAOR for the free air time! By the way. . . well done Granger – between Heritage Square (which was NOT a drop-off site) and the Granger Martins – 200 bins!!

11. ~1:30 - Back to ND’s Martin’s to see that J aquila, and his volunteer team, has taken over the reigns nicely – and leading the charge into the last 1.5 hours. He also coordinates (and later stars in. . . ) another round of WNDU footage/interview (you can see some of WNDU’s video reports HERE). A South Bend Tribune reporter and photographer also stops by and gets some more information from us. . . not sure when that will be in the paper, but looking forward to it !! – way to go ND – at the end of the day, they ended up with 450 Bins- GREAT JOB!

12. ~2:45 – Brian Young and his crew load up the containers at ND (he donated his box truck – which was huge!), and I headed back down to Erskine Plaza to help out my second warhouse/truck team of Brian Thursby (my incredible brother-in-law) and Jacob Rendall. Just want to say thanks for Penske trucks as well, for helping us out with a truck this weekend!!  I was told that FOX 28 news had shown up and done an interview with Robert – one of the volunteers – check it out HERE.

13. ~4:00 – meet the two trucks at the 5-star warehouse in Elkhart and unload the bins. . . . . what a day. . . . . over 1100 bins . . . 34 volunteers . . . . and scores of ordinary people in the community wanting to be a part of something bigger than themselves!! – Can’t wait to see what’s next!!

Read the article HERE 

I thought that Jeff Parrott wrote a great article – well organized, and with all the essential information, so my thanks to him .

Now, we will see what happens this week – I hope that I can get some more play on some local radio stations, as well as TV.  I hope to get at least 1,000 bins on this coming Sat., but what really matters is whatever God has in mind (so, I am preparing for 10x that much if necessary).

 I just checked the 10-day forecast for Sat. 31st. . . . 29 degrees and partly sunny.  Hey, that is not too bad – everybody come on out and help greenLockers prepare to help hundreds/thousands of kids this year –  bring your bins – (THEY DON’T HAVE TO BE PERFECTLY CLEAN!!!) - let’s see how many we can get!!

What were you doing 6 years ago?  Life was a lot different me . . . just starting Graduate School at Notre Dame. . . no kids. . . absolutely no concept of what was to come.

But one night during a church service, I felt God telling me that I needed to go and help out Corey Mann with Lifeline (the name, at the time, of the high school youth group at GCC),  so that is pretty much what I told him. . . “hi, I’m Ted. . . and God told me that I am supposed to help you with the youth group” – ok. . . . sort of different – but it was the start of a wonderful 6 full years.

A week ago this past Sunday night, I said goodbye to GSM (Granger Student Ministries) and yet:

1. I was still having so much fun volunteering

2. I was still having tremendous impact with the students

3. I was still effective in my teaching times to the youth group

4. I was fully supportive of the leadership, and loved the leadership team so much -

5. I believed with all of my heart in the future of GSM and D. C. Curry

6. I got to enjoy weekly time with some of my closest friends

7. I could not have enjoyed the band’s worship any more than I was – just amazing!

Do you get the point . . . . NOTHING WAS WRONG. . . .

It is so funny that many times we assume that something must go wrong (either from one of our own mistakes or the mistakes of someone else) in order for God to pull us away from something. . . . BUT, I see no promises of that in the Bible, in fact, there are many instances when God or Jesus calls someone to transition from one good thing to another.

Rob Wegner gave a message a few weeks ago about being a laser in life – you know – the idea that if our efforts are widely dispearsed then we have little effect – BUT, if we focus our efforts on only a limited number of things then we can have tremendous impact and power (i.e., just like the focused light in a laser). . . . well, . . . God started to do something with me on that one . . .

As a prayed and wrestled with God on this a little bit, these are some things that I discovered:

1. I am no longer able to be the laser focus at GSM that I wanted and used  to be (go on all the trips, go to student’s ball games, hang out late at night, lead a small group, etc…) - largely due to some of my life circumstances (i.e., 3 soon to be 4 small children, among other things).

2. I believe God is moving me into three other areas of my life where I can be a laser (husband/Father, being a professor at Bethel, and greenLockers), and I am supposed to focus there now.

3. Though leaving is saddening, I was reminded of a saying (not sure who said it, but it is on the wall in my sister-in-law’s house ) – “Don’t cry because it is over, smile because it happened!”. . . . to that I say AMEN! . . .

and so I end with some of my highlights from the years – in no particular order – and this is just the start of a huge list in my head: Feel free to leave comments below with some of your favorite memories!!

1. Stephen Smith’s baptism, and a certain conversation I had with Nathan Gage on a Monday night  – both on a Mexico trip.

2. Serving with my amazing wife for 3 of the years!

3. The dresser drawer night

4. The night that I felt the spirit move so much that I taught for 1.5 hours. . . . oops

5. Without a Trace

6. Campfires at Men’s retreats. . . . all of them, but especially one at Camp Mack when a father and son were reunited

7. playing basketball down on the back porch outside the Great Room with some of my boys from Niles – that one goes way back!

8. Acquire the Fire trips!!

9. Camp Adventure. . . . way too many memories to even start!!! – - God is just so tangible there, and that main room there where we worship is pretty close to Holy ground in my book.

10. Just all of the week-in and week-out hugs and heys from everyone. . . . I may miss that the most. . . thank you for all of the love everybody. . . I will miss you tremendously, but thank you for helping me become the Man that God wants me to be. . . . . . . . . . and if God has ever used me to influence your life. . . . all I can say is – go . . . . . GO. . . . and do likewise!!

God really seems to up to something lately. . . . and though I can’t tell you yet about it – trust me. . . you will be the first to know (ok 2nd technically, because I will tell my wife first   )

I will give you 3 clues though - St. Joseph County, greenLockers, and these:

DON’T THROW THEM AWAY OR RECYCLE THEM YET!!!! I AM GOING TO WANT THEM FOR MY PROJECT!. . . . . and your neighbors’ too

History (brief):

4 years ago I was working on my PhD at Notre Dame, I decided to go down to Back2Back in Mexico with Lifeline (now called Granger Student Ministries), Corey Mann mentioned to us that we needed to fill 40 suitcases full of school supplies to give away. I think that stressed us all out a little bit. . . that is a lot of pencils! However, I remember that night in my quiet time God telling me, with His great sense of humor. . . “40? . . . I am so much bigger than 40 suitcases”. In the coming days, I believe that God allowed me to remember back to my own school days, and specifically, the locker clean-out days at the end of every year. You know. . . . when there is a controlled dump of all of the contents of your locker into the nearest trashcan (which were located every 3 feet in the hallway). I simply thought. . . what if, . . . instead of throwing away everything, I provided different containers that the students could put new or slightly used school supplies and clothes into?? That was the beginning of greenLockers (it was called Trash to Treasure until this year).

Simple enough idea, I thought. It is a long story so let’s fast forward a bit. . . I was in two schools that first year (Clay High School first and then Discovery Middle School). Though I am forever grateful to Joy Laurent over at Clay . . .  it was a nightmare at the high school level – all of my boxes were destroyed with pop cans, and the custodial staff – literally – cussed me out, until they saw me cleaning all of the hallways myself . . . . side note. . . . I was literally, so discouraged that first day that I nearly gave up. . . that is, until someone cussed me out about how stupid of an idea this was. . . . well. . . that’s all it took for my competitive juices to go into overdrive. . . . . I decided right then in there that I was all in!!! . . . no way was I going to back down now!!   On the other hand. . . Discovery Middle School was a complete success. I received, with no advertising, and minimal effort, over 20 pillow boxes worth of materials (way more than 40 suitcases) that year.

-

During year two, I partnered with 5-star, Waste Management (who donated over 200 big trash totes for free), Feed The Children (used some of their warehouse space for free), and Granger Community Church (for sorting and distribution of collected materials – to The Crossing for example). In each 5-star school, I set up leadership teams of students that would be in charge of putting the totes in the hallways on the appropriate days as well as advertising by word of mouth. I focused on Middle schools due to the wide range of supplies (i.e., art supplies for little kids as well as notebooks and stuff for older kids), the respect of the students and teachers, and the already present influence of 5-star. I received over 6500 pounds of materials from those 5 schools – - an unbelievable success! Those supplies then went to a local alternative school, some ministries in Chicago, as well as Back2Back in Mexico.

-

Here is a picture of Corey and I unloading some more containers

good times - over 6500 pounds of supplies!

-

Last year (year 3), we were going to be in 9 schools (same as 5-star), but I had to leave to go out of town at the end of last May, and so the project did not go through.  That is why this year. . . .it is not all on me. . . in fact I am raising up a team right now that is going to be able to take this project to the next level

-

So where do we stand this year:

1. 5-star is in 11 schools. . . . we’ll be there too!

2. If you would like to get your school involved – please let me know – it’s very easy!!

3. I am now officially partnered with Entermission, which means that I have non-profit status. . . . . so yes. . . I know you are dying to donate . . . it can be a tax deduction. . . please let me know if you want to donate – time, materials, trucks, and/or finances

4. I am also partnering with Better World Books to help distribute the books that I received through greenLockers – in return a portion of their profit will be donated back into greenLockers. If you want to help with a book drive at your school or college for used novels or textbooks (college only) – to help fund greenLockers – please let me know!

5. I am currently trying to set up drives for people in St. Joseph county (except for Mishawaka) to donate their old recycling bins from Solid Waste Management – as they are changing over to the new big toters at the beginning of 2009, and they are not requiring you to turn them back in. I have been working with Solid Waste Management – and they have already gotten me started with some of their exra bins. . . . but I am going to need hundreds/thousands of these bins in order to be in all of the schools in the area – if you want to donate your container or organize a drive at your local school/neighborhood – please let me know

-

The vision:

Short-term: Run a successful campaign in 5-star schools – solidifying the role of the 5-star students, establish a reasonable and replicable drop-off/pick-up/storage system from a logistics perspective, and establish new avenues for distributing materials.

Long-term: I would like to be able to move into schools outside of 5-star with other eligible student/parent groups (NHS, PTA, etc…), and also move into some High schools – once the program is established in their associated/feeder middle schools (i.e., so the students know what to expect – more likely to respect the effort).

Dream-term: Not going to shy away from this. . . I don’t see any reason why this can’t someday be in every school in the country . . . . there is a great need nationally and internationally, and it costs very little money. . . seriously. . . if God wants it to happen. . . and I don’t screw up too badly (that’s a big “if”). . . it’s going to happen.

-

Mission slogan (still a work in progress):

resourcing students, moving them forward

resourcing students, moving forward

resourcing students. . . forward

resourcing students, moving the world forward

*****let me know if you prefer one over the other and/or have another suggestion

=

The Logo (or with black background?? - I am open to suggestions) ** this was showing up last night, but may not be displayed on some computers – sorry:

-

The Credit:

To the creator God who charged us to be responsible over His creation. . . . . what an honor! . . . . . . humbly, I come to play a small part . . . .

-

Why it works?

1. There is no extra pull on a school’s resources – financially or staff-wise.

2. Adults and children alike naturally want to help others, if it is at no cost to them.

3. It could help supplicate local school resources – especially in the inner-city.

4. It is easy for the student body to understand, and takes little to no extra effort on their part.

5. Participating in this project is not a risk to the student’s peer status.

6. Students are more likely to contribute when they see fellow students (5-star, NHS, etc…) leading the charge.

-

My prayer:

That others will experience God’s love through both the giving and receiving of these supplies. . . gifts that can help break cycles. . .give hope. . . enable them to no longer be ashamed. . . provide access to truth and discovery. . . .helping them . . . moving the world forward. . . .together as one. . .

]]> http://tedbryant.org/2008/12/here-it-is-my-school-recycling-project-greenlockers-do-you-want-in/feed/ 14