A Reflection on the London Trip

Written by Daniel Manila

If you were at Waypoint on June 11th, you'll remember Danny talking about his visit to the city of London, along with myself and five other Waypoint members. I arrived in London a bit later than the rest of the team, and I still remember walking from the metro to the guest house we stayed at. We arrived during half-term, the UK's equivalent of spring break, so as I walked past the city park, I saw hundreds of people talking, eating, and playing on the large lawn of green grass. Over the next week, our team got to walk among and pray for the millions of people in this vibrant city.

After meeting up with the rest of the team, we walked back to the metro station and met up with Ross, who Waypoint has sent out to London to serve the city through marketplace ministry. Over the course of the next couple of days, we met with several different ministry leaders in the city: the pastor of King’s Cross Baptist Church near the center of the city, the founder of a co-working space designed to help bring community to a city suffering from an epidemic of loneliness, a manager at a coffee shop who sought to show Jesus to their staff and customers, among others. In all of these people we saw a desire to do their work “as working for the Lord.” I remember specifically hearing David, who ran the co-working space, describe how he imagined that in a redeemed Earth. Similarly, the coffee shop tried to purchase the best coffee from roasters who treated their employees and their bean suppliers well and used this as a way to bring people into their coffee shop, where they also hosted prayer meetings and discipleship. These leaders' fusion of good work with sharing the gospel, inspired me to pursue God's heart in my work, even as I enter an "ordinary" job here in Durham.

On Sunday after church, we had particularly nice weather (unusual for London) and so we went to Regent's Park, a large and popular city park close to the center of town. Along with another church team from Texas (whom we had "coincidentally" met at church that morning), we spread out and prayed for the area, while intentionally remaining open to talking to people about faith. I went with Garrett, one of the people from Texas, and we saw a group playing Spikeball. With amazing boldness, Garrett asked if we could play a game with them. So we got to play and then talk with three men, while praying for God to work in their lives. We had a long conversation, talking mainly about what's important in life, and what they lived for. None of them were particularly open to the Gospel, but an experience I had feared would be difficult, awkward, or even offensive instead became a friendly and meaningful conversation.

But prayer had a deeper role in our trip beyond that one afternoon. Without a car, we mostly walked between each meeting or event. Often, on the way to the next place we had an opportunity to stop and see London landmarks. And as we walked, we had the opportunity to pray for the city and its people. From an outside perspective, these times looked no different than when I visited other cities. Yet, it felt drastically different to be asking the Lord to come and work in the place as we walked. Likely, I will never see direct results from our prayers, but we believe in a God who works at the request of his children, and so we stepped out in the authority given to us in Jesus. And what struck me most was that none of these opportunities for prayer required an official church visit. My visits to other cities could have included just as much prayer.

One week barely allows you to scratch the surface of a place like London. But our God does not fear our human limitations and works through us despite them. This trip encouraged and challenged us to live and work with our eyes on God, praying for people around us and sharing the Gospel when we can. At the same time, we can use our work to redeem this Earth just a little bit, if only by the grace of God. Thank you so much for praying and supporting us on this trip, and I hope I could encourage you with this post.

Loving and Serving International Students

Written by Danny Castiglione

There are 1.8 million international students in North America and 5 million worldwide. Additionally, there are millions more immigrants and temporary residents living in the United States who are linked to universities, hospitals, and global companies. Closer to home, every year thousands of international students and temporary residents from all over the world come to the Triangle. Since our founding Waypoint Church has always been involved in loving and caring for international guests. We partner directly with campus ministries that serve and reach international students at Duke and UNC.

I personally have the privilege of serving part-time as a campus minster to international students at Duke. Praise God that in an average semester, our campus ministry collation of International Student Ministry (ISM) workers can love and serve over 400 students through our various programs and outreaches. Yet, there are only 7 of us serving at Duke (all but one of us are part-time) and there are over 5,000 international students connected to Duke. So how can we do it? How can we meet, love, and serve all these students? How can we plant seeds of the gospel?

The reason we can reach many more students is because of the army of local volunteers that serve with us. Volunteers from dozens of churches in the area, including many from Waypoint, are part of this effort. Some examples of this are:

-Over 20 Waypoint households have hosted international students for a monthly dinner through the Supper Club program

-This past Christmas Eve, 22 international students came to Waypoint’s Christmas Eve worship service and a dinner at our home afterward. Of the 22 students, it was the first time to visit a church for 17 of them.

-We have hosted over 200 students at Waypoint during our international Thanksgiving dinners (with Waypoint volunteers helping with food prep and clean up, and many others as table hosts)

Here are some ways you can volunteer:

-Host 3-5 international students for a monthly dinner during the semester through the Supper Club program

-Be an English Conversation Partner, this program runs from January through April

-Be available to drive a Duke, NCCU, or UNC student to Sunday morning worship

-Sign up for the ISM Realm group, so you hear about all the campus ISM volunteer opportunities, and volunteer when you are able

Prayer Requests for ISM for the 2022-2023 School Year

-Our staff is limited, so pray for wisdom on where to spend our time and energy

-Pray that Christian international students would find us as they arrive on campus so we can connect them with a local church and other spiritual resources

-Pray for these Christian students, that they would not lose heart as they become overwhelmed with schoolwork and life in a new culture

-Pray that seeds of the gospel will be planted

If you have any questions or want to sign up to volunteer, please contact me at danny@waypointrdu.com

Reflection on the Youth Mission Trip

Written by Ryli Mozolak

On the last night in Clarkston Georgia we, as a youth group, decided to debrief our time together on our mission. We sat around on couches, chairs, and the rug when we were presented with a question: “What is one word that describes the trip to you?” We could say any word as long as we could explain why we felt that the specific word encapsulated how we felt about the mission. As we went around in a circle, many words were thrown around including eye-opening, perspective, community, and humbling. When it came to be my turn the only word that seemed to come to mind was “experience.” Now, this may seem vague in the sense that in general, the trip was an experience, however, I didn't mean it in that context. This trip gave me experience in areas I have never had the opportunity to further. Clarkston Georgia is a unique little town that only covers 1.857 square miles of the 3.797 million that the United States is made up of, but here are communities and ways of living that I had never witnessed, problems I fortunately have not had to endure, and languages I had never heard before. I felt as though I was thrown into a melting pot filled with many things I would not see in my everyday life.

One of my, and the groups, favorite tasks during the week was anything to do with the children that lived in the apartment complex nearby. This was a large community with many kids that loved to play games, dance, jump rope, and climb trees. The first time we had the opportunity to meet these children was during an art lesson in which we led an art project that involved drawing and then creating a collage over top. These kids immediately saw us walk in and welcomed us with open arms…very literally. I walked out of an apartment and was greeted by a little girl who, without any hesitation, gave me a large hug and then walked me over to sit with her during the reading portion of the lesson. These children just wanted attention and love and the ability to provide that basic necessity was a good feeling. We got to draw with the kids, listening to their requests and then trying to accommodate. They didn’t care how good it was, trust me I drew some questionable dogs, however it was the act of having someone to play with that was enough for them. Many turned to playing superheroes, or using others as a jungle gym, while others just wanted to sit with us and play with our sunglasses or hair.

To connect back to my idea of experience, with these children I learned how to create relationships with kids who maybe did not know much English or struggled to communicate what they wanted. I learned how to lovingly direct children who were presenting bad behavior without coming off as pushy or bossy. I learned how to set up games and control a group of children in an orderly manner, because believe it or not, jumping rope can cause many issues! All of these lessons just from simply playing with a group of children.

Another area in which I gained new exposure was the act of praying out loud, in a group, over different subjects. Multiple days during the week we were driven out to the schools in the community. High schools, middle schools, and elementary schools were all on the list for our team to visit. Coming into the trip I knew I struggled with intentionally praying, as well as praying out loud, fearing judgment or that I would never have the correct words. When we went to these schools we were split into groups and we would walk either on campus, or around the school depending on the permission we were given and we were asked to pray over everything whether it was the school itself, the staff, students, for God to be a part of the school year, anything was acceptable. As we walked we began to take turns praying. Whether it was a short prayer or a long one, it was accounted for. This was something that stuck with me, I do not need to have a fancy prayer with big words for God to hear it. I do not need to fear judgment when it is an honest prayer from my heart. As the week went on I began to become more comfortable praying in front of others and over different subjects. I prayed multiple times over the group whether it was before devotional or after worship, I began to become more confident in my words. Along with finding confidence, I was able to see ways God was using my prayers. While giving backpacks out for the new school year, my group was able to speak with some residents in an apartment that went to the schools in which we prayed over. This moment was really impactful for me as I was able to see our prayers were connected to something and making an impact. The mission overall had so many other important lessons and experiences, but these are the ones that I will really cherish. I am incredibly grateful that I had the opportunity to participate in the work that Envision Atlanta provides and look forward to hopefully finding more work in which the same experiences are given.