http://southportmasterscommission.co.uk/index.php?cID=120 The SMC retreat went better than I had anticipated. First of all, because I grew a lot during the two days, and second of all, I bonded really well with members of our team. The retreat was full of surprises and we did a lot of wacky things however, there was also a certain level of seriousness during the trip, like the commitment service. The commitment service was my favourite part of the retreat. This was because I really felt God's presence in the room and it helped me grow closer to Him. It also made me realise what I am really committing myself to and the seriousness of the programme. The Holy Spirit was so powerful that night. It is indescribable how great I felt after standing up and committing myself to God, not for just these nine months, but for the rest of my life. During the retreat I also came out of my shell a lot more, I took off the mask that I was hiding behind and was free to be myself. I thank God that he has helped me to do that, because I now feel like I can be myself. God has already changed my life in so many different ways during these two weeks. I am excited to see what else he is going to do in the future. Shereen Sinjab- 1st year SMC Student http://southportmasterscommission.co.uk/index.php?cID=121Last month the students took a day out to make clay pigs at Fish Fingers - a creative clay workshop in Southport, owned by Lesley Fisher a member of Shoreline Church. Here are the video highlights from the day!http://southportmasterscommission.co.uk/index.php?cID=129October has come and gone, but not without much excitement and productivity here at SMC. Themonth kicked off with us starting our full academic and practical service schedule. We dove in deepwith lessons on topics like integrity, honesty, being a disciple and humility. All the students werelearning the ropes of what was expected of them with their academics.The 2nd and 3rd year students began their internships with the various ministries of Shoreline. Wealso started a service project, of decorating for our church. Itandrsquo;s been a delight to see the maincorridor of the church transformed to a new, fresh look. Itandrsquo;s not quite finished, but well on its wayand weandrsquo;ve loved being able to be a part of making it happen. SMC 3rd year Marta Bukat said, andldquo;It wasgreat working together on painting part of the church. Sanding and painting has made us work asa team and this has brought great opportunities. We have gotten the chance to get to know eachother better and have some 'fun' together. We could talk, laugh, joke and just be together as well asserve the church.andrdquo;Mid October SMC hosted Tim King from Lytham, UK. Tim is looking to re-launch a Masterandrsquo;sProgramme in his church next September. While here with us, Tim taught a class to our students onhonesty, as well as spending some time getting to know Masterandrsquo;s with the SMC staff.The SMC students have also helped in the month of October with a Shoreline Kids School HolidayClub. The theme was Wild West and in the weeks prior SMC students had helped in making cactiand bales of hay for the set, preparing skits and organizing activities for the children. During theholiday club SMC students served everywhere from welcoming on the door to acting out inspiringBible stories. Shoreline Kids student intern and SMC 3rd year, Hanna Hiltunen said, andldquo;Whether itwas about inspiring the audience to become pioneers for God by acting out cowboy stories, singingand dancing to songs that declare our Lordandrsquo;s unconditional care for us, or having fun with playfullycompeting against each other, every moment of the holiday club built up to a point that surelyimpacted each of the kids for the rest of their eternity.andrdquo;Check out some more of our student blogs for more insights about the opportunities that thestudents have had to serve and learn, hand on, about ministry within the local church.http://southportmasterscommission.co.uk/index.php?cID=128 During a few weeks beginning from October we as Masterandrsquo;s got another opportunity to serveour church on a practical level. This time it meant utilising sanders, caulking guns and finallypaintbrushes to cheer up the well-used corridor and stairway connecting several offices andconference rooms in which everyday people work every day for our great God.Personally to me the project provided a brilliant possibility to broaden my basic abilities indecorating, but also to spend some precious team-building time with the group of students thatwill be brushing up each other over this coming year. And obviously, even a little glimpse of ouraccomplishment is simply a delighting sight and a proof of the power people have when pullingtogether for Godandrsquo;s kingdom.Hanna Hiltunen- SMC 3rd yearhttp://southportmasterscommission.co.uk/index.php?cID=126 One of the best things about being a Master's student is getting to experience a great variety ofdifferent things. This time it is sanding and painting. It is a fantastic way to serve the church butalso learn some practical skills for personal use in the future. I've had a great time painting, being ablessing and being wonderfully blessed in return.Kadri Kadastik- SMC 2nd yearhttp://southportmasterscommission.co.uk/index.php?cID=125 I was fortunate enough to be part of the kidandrsquo;s club team. It was a great two days, doing games andhaving fun with the kids and telling them about God. The response was good and the kids reallyenjoyed it and all got along very well. Snack time seemed to go down a treat and they were able toall just be together and be friends. They learnt a lot about Abraham and his journey and his trust inGod. The theme was Wild West and going on adventure and being a pioneer, which was taken verywell by the kids, who made the effort to dress up in cowboy and cowgirl costumes. There were somekids that had not been to shoreline before and their parents then asked about their children beingable to attend Sunday kids, which is fantastic! So overall it was very successful and it was a pleasureto work with such great kids and a great team.Faith Oti- SMC 1st yearhttp://southportmasterscommission.co.uk/index.php?cID=123 What a brilliant time! Seeing kids from ages 3 all the way to 11 engaging and interacting withthe important message we taught them of being a pioneer and not following the crowd, was awonderful experience. Also seeing their personalities shining through by the last day was awesome;it was great pleasure to be a part of the kids club.David Gillies- SMC 2nd yearhttp://southportmasterscommission.co.uk/index.php?cID=132 We were given the priviledge to go and serve the community by painting a house that belongs to an organisation calledGreen Pastures that accomodates the homeless and poor. It was a great experience to go and show God's love to peoplewho don't know Him in a very practical and understandable way. It was amazing to see grateful smiles of the peoplewho live there. I hope they were encouraged that there are people who care and moreover that there is a God whocares. I believe the people are blessed and so am I. Kadri Kadastik- SMC 2nd yearhttp://southportmasterscommission.co.uk/index.php?cID=131 This last Friday a charity called Christians Against Poverty organised a fundraiser in our church. We, as Masterandrsquo;s wereasked to serve, literally, in every meaning of the word. Therefore, we got to experience the fun of running andndash; or well,finely walking andndash; with plates full of the most delicious food that was catered for a great group of people willing to supportthe powerful work of CAP. As we enabled the event in practise, the organising team had prepared a vast amount of waysto communicate the core of the charity and to inspire people to participate financially.Through all that happened, it was rewarding to see Godandrsquo;s blessing upon the night. Not only did we managed to carryout the meal successfully, but also afterwards we were told that as the result of our and of other volunteers input,CAP raised around andpound;3,000 and is hence able to continue its work andndash; the work of reaching out to individuals in need for asolution to all the types of poverty, whether material, moral, motivational or spiritual. Hanna Hiltunen- SMC 3rd year http://southportmasterscommission.co.uk/index.php?cID=134 As in every year, SMC starts the new term with a retreat. This time we drove up to Scotland to Whithaugh Park where we met with other Master's Commission teams from the UK. The topic of the retreat was Fusion. We had some great sessions that revealed the different aspects of fusion and what it means in the context of us being continually fused to God and to the body of Christ. The Spirit of God was there to teach us leading the words of our leaders and He was there to help us put it all in practice as the three different MC teams started off as strangers and became fused into a unified team of friends. We also had a great load of fun going on an adventure in the wilderness of a ropes course. We had an absolutely amazing time fellowshipping with the unified MCUK. Kadri Kadastik- 2nd Year SMC During the retreat I was blessed to have the opportunity to spend time with the group from Masters Commission Aberdeen and a team from Dumfries. The retreat was a lot of fun but it also had a certain level of seriousness to it, the theme of the retreat was Fusion. All of the leaders presented a sermon on this topic and delivered the sermon in a way that we will never forget. I can honestly say that there wasnandrsquo;t a time when I didnandrsquo;t enjoy myself, God inspired me and revealed things to me that I didnandrsquo;t know about myself; and for that reason I am extremely blessed. The retreat was an experience that I will never forget.Shereen Sinjab- 1st year SMCIt was only yesterday that we arrived from our retreat that was the proper kick off of this term and a great chance to get to know the other MC programmes in the UK. As the theme of this Masterandrsquo;s Europe year is fusion, we got to spend three days in Scottish Borders being fused with the groups from Dumfries and Aberdeen. It was simply an immense privilege to enjoy the aesthetic environment of Newcastleton, to participate in adventurous team building challenges with low ropes, and to share the experiences we as individuals had when encountering God that designed us to be unified in Him.All in all, the retreat turned out to be unforgettable in numerous ways. For the first time in my life I crossed a creek using one single rope fastened above its muddy water. Whatandrsquo;s more, something deeper that will not so easily drop off my memory was the moment I realised the lesson God wanted me to be reminded of. So, due to the limits there were in the area with both andldquo;wwwandrdquo; and mobile network, I once again found myself being grateful for things that can far too quickly become matters of course. However, the few days without the last-mentioned signals led me to be even more sensitive to those sent by God. Also that way I then can reasonably consider the retreat a very constructive one.Hanna Hiltunen- SMC 3rd year Returning back to anything after Christmas holidays is a hard thing to do, nobody really wants to go back to school or work or in this case Masters after a couple weeks of sitting around and basking in lethargy. Fortunately a quick trip up to Whithaugh Park in the drearily damp countryside of Scotland was just the kickstart the new year needed. With the launch of the Masters in Aberdeen this year, the convergence of the two UK based Masters was a great thing. Getting to meet new people that are working in the same country and to the same ends was fantastic. The messages were challenging and just what I needed to hear to really give me a kick in the butt and get my head in the game for the upcoming 6 months of super sweet discipleship. Jordan Nygren- SMC 2nd year The retreat was amazing!!! I loved every minute of it, and I am so fired up for God. The messages were great and so inspiring. I learned a lot through them. The topic was on fusion and the different ways in which fusion can take place in our lives and in others. We did a team building exercise which included walking across a rope bridge supporting each other on tyre swings and walking across pieces of rope, all off the ground obviously. It was a great chance to meet other people that are doing Masterandrsquo;s Commission and I personally love meeting new people so I enjoyed it so much. I encountered God which was the best bit for me and I just generally had a lovely time with everyone.Faith Oti- SMC 1st year When I found out that this year we will meet with other Masterandrsquo;s on our retreat, I was quite sad. I wanted it to be a quiet time for our SMC, just as it was over last 2 years since I'm here. But this retreat turned to be the best one yet. Meeting people from Dumfries and Aberdeen was great. We've had lessons taught by leaders from all 3 of MC's that were there and each lesson was very inspiring. We've had loads of fun together, we stayed at fantastic place, we've met with God. This retreat has left me with decisions of making radical changes in my life. It has encouraged me to live a holy life that glorifies God and expands the Kingdom of Heaven. I have already made changes and I know that there is more to come. I'm just sorry that this was my last retreat as a student because I would love to have another one with joined MC's. Marta Bukat- SMC 3rd year The Retreat. Well, probably the wrong word for it, more like the advancement! For where we withdrew in the natural to get closer as a unit, and to meet with God... Well we met with God, and I doubt you'll find a single person who wasn't challenged, inspired and stirred up to go fight another round. Not only that... we did some awesomely memorable things... marshmellow roasts at a late night camp fire, the Low ropes and I was victorious in the card game, Phase 10. Ohh Ohh not only all that but we were also in the best nation known to man ... Bonnie Scotland.David Gillies- SMC 2nd year http://southportmasterscommission.co.uk/index.php?cID=135The coming months... Please keep our students in your prayers over the coming months as they begin to travel more within the UK and abroad, to spread God's word. Below are some of the dates and events we're asking for you to join us in prayer for: -16th Feb-12th Mar. Amsterdam: SMC 2nd year, Jordan Nygren will be exchanging places with Master's Commission Amsterdam-Noord student, Jaap van der Horst. This is our 2nd year running the exchange programme with MCAN. -22nd-27th Feb. Lichfield, UK: The team will be there doing some kids and youth work as well as taking part in their Sunday morning ministry. -9th-12th Mar. Amsterdam: The team will be travelling to Holland to join programmes from across Europe for the MCE Annual Conference. -21st-31st Mar. Mission Impossible: Mission Impossible is a "secret agent" style interactive performance on the reason and meaning of Easter. SMC will be working alongside the SASWT to present the Easter story to year six students from the Southport and area schools. -23rd Apr-1st May Albania: Over the Easter holiday, the team will be travelling to Albania to join in ministry with missionaries, David and Valbona Pennoyer. -23rd-27th May Dumfries: SMC will be travelling to Dumfries, Scotland to work with Lighthouse Church, in their youth club and local schools. -7th-14th June Holland: The team are joining forces with Masterandrsquo;s Commission Amsterdan-Noord to serve at the Dutch Christian Conference Opwekking. This conference attracts over 70,000 from across Holland and Europe. For all their travels and ministry opportunities, please keep the team's safety and ministry effectiveness in your prayers. As trips happen, keep an eye out on our website for student blogs and updates.http://southportmasterscommission.co.uk/index.php?cID=136Having been in Amsterdam just a few hours short of a full week now I suppose it's a good time to sit down with a nice cup of tea and compose my thoughts on the whole experience so far. Generally speaking I consider myself a fairly adventurous person. I'm pretty much willing to give anything at least one go (except drugs, stay off those kids!), cultural experience doubly so. So when the opportunity to spend a month in Amsterdam presented itself, of course I was all over it. A month holiday in one of the worldandrsquo;s most interesting cities? Yes please. Obviously it hasn't exactly been all sun and surf, but it has certainly been amazing. I arrived sometime late last Wednesday night in Schiphol airport, a short train ride, then a short bus ride later I was finally home. Flying from Liverpool to Amsterdam is an interesting experience, essentially you're an hour behind on your body clock, so you're sort of wired and going to bed at a reasonable time becomes quite difficult, this is the first time I think I've ever experienced reverse jetlag. Time to settle in was quite minimal as I arrived the week of The Landlord, a drama about the second coming of Jesus, who, as always, I was cast as. Learning a drama in Dutch is an interesting thing, even though there was no speaking it's still incredibly difficult to learn audio cues when you have no idea what the narration is saying. After 3 days of practice though I was pretty confident in my role and ready to go for the Sunday service. However before we get into that, I also had the privilege to go to a truly wonderful youth church. It was actually pretty similar to the Youth Church in Southport, a few of the youth groups from churches around Amsterdam gather together for worship and a message. The theme was 'the persecuted church', which I at first thought was super heavy for teenagers, but as I've come to find out the Dutch aren't really ones to shy away from heavy or sensitive topics, and the message really seemed to get through to everyone, including me of course. Now we can talk about Sunday. The entire service was really built around The Landlord drama that we'd been working on since I got here (and a long time before that for everyone else). I honestly don't think that it could have gone better, other than a few technical issues everything on stage went better than it had in any of the practices, I know it was definitely the best I'd ever done it personally. At the end of the service, Enzo gave a response call and 3 people raised their hand to say they wanted to accept Jesus as their Saviour, so if anything I'd say that was a pretty good metric for success.http://southportmasterscommission.co.uk/index.php?cID=141 The mission to Lichfield was absolutely outstanding. The leaders of the Thumbs Up Club and of Emmanuel Christian Center stole our hearts as did the kids we were serving! Each day was packed from start to finish with crafts, games, worship, and encounter for these kids. After the hard work was done we were privileged to be taken to the circus, cathedral, peopleandrsquo;s houses. We as a team just had a greatly blessed time, full of fun and awesomeness. My only hope is that we as a unit have made some little kind of impact for the good, and blessed them in return.David Gillies- 2nd year SMC Before we've realized, we have hit Feb of 2011, which meant start of mission trips! Lichfield happened to be the first one this year and I'm telling you, it was mind blowing! We were helping with a 4 days long kids club. There was loads of crafts work, games, worship and God's love. The theme of the kids club was 'Do the right thing'; to present it in practice every day we were telling kids different story from the Bible. The first one was about Jonah and the whale, the second, David and Goliath and the last one was about the Good Samaritan. All of the stories were presented to kids in a very creative way through crafts, stories and skit's. I loved every single of those days even though I have pulled the muscle in both of my calf's while... well, dancing. The church we stayed at was awesome. We have soaked into the vision of it within a day and the hearts of the staff have made us feel welcomed, loved and appreciated. I have absolutely loved this mission, every minute of it was precious. I believe that God has done some amazing things in those kidsandrsquo; hearts and left us encouraged to keep on working and serving! Marta Bukat- 3rd year SMC Well where do I start? IT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME!!! There that just about sums it up really. I had an amazing time working with Emmanuel Christian Center Church in Lichfield, doing the Thumbs Up Kids Club. We spent 4 days with the kids, doing crafts, children's worship and games. I really enjoyed being able to connect with the kids, staff, parents and Church. It was a great honor to serve them. I don't really have the words to describe what an amazing time I had, but if I did the words would fill many pages. I will just say that it was very fulfilling and I learned a lot about good leadership. Overall the mission was fantastic and each of us enjoyed every second of it.Faith Oti- 1st year SMC Wow is my first conclusion after these first few weeks. Going there hearing we would serve in a smaller town, I expected a farm type of church. But it was nothing like it, except for the straws that they made us wear on the first meeting. The people were incredible! They have a leadership team that is just incredible. They took really good care of the whole program and did an amazing job to organize this event. Everything was complete. When we came to help out, it really was just helping out. Which helped us as a team to fully focus on our responsibilities and give the best of what we could give in those areas. Beside that there was a great heart behind the work. There was a sense of mission behind the organization and a heart to reach out to the lost. Love and compassion are keywords to me. To be there for the kids and just give them a great time while they have vacation. It was just so much fun. This was inevitably seen throughout the days. Kids came back every day again to enjoy another day in the program. It was splendid to see. Altogether I loved working there. Even if it was just for the kids or the leadership team I would give it my all. They were more than worth it.Jaap van der Hosrst- 3rd year MCAN Exchange student http://southportmasterscommission.co.uk/index.php?cID=142 The annual Masterandrsquo;s conference in Amsterdam was intense andndash; yet not in a negative way at all. On the contrary, I truly enjoyed the entire event and even lodging in a rocking botel, which I, having the tendency to motion sickness, could hardly consider as a lovable cradle. However, the conference itself turned my heart upside down merely positively. Assuming the speakers hadnandrsquo;t been spying on every second of my year, they surely were used by God to touch my life and everything in it. Among other applicable matters, I felt encouraged in choosing to use the slingshot that I already have in my hand, and to run against my giants bearing in mind the victories my faithful God has given before.Also, in addition to the very relevant teachings, the conference provided an incredible chance to meet both God through the true time of devotion, and new as well as old friends during the moments spent in a huge group of Masterandrsquo;s students andndash; incredible people from countless corners of our continent and even beyond its borders. All in all, I found the three days as guests of MCAN surely refreshing and life giving not just for the present but for the future, too.Hanna Hiltunen, SMC 3rd yearMy time at the MCE conference was great. It was my first time there and I got to meet with so many people with the same heart and passion for God as me. It was a good opportunity to connect with the other programs in Europe and make new friends. One of my favorite parts of the conference was the second day in the evening meeting. We were worshiping and I just felt God tell me to bow down in His presence so I did and it was like I could just see His throne in all His majesty. It was truly amazing to have a glance at the God we serve. The fusion of everyone there was immense. We had a cool time of worship in one of the breaks, where the same song was being sung in 5 different languages! How awesome is God! I canandrsquo;t wait for next year now.SMC 1st Year, Faith OtiI was so blessed to have the opportunity to go to the Masterandrsquo;s Commission Europe conference in Amsterdam, first of all because I knew that God was going to do something amazing at the conference. Second of all I was excited to meet other students that are doing Masterandrsquo;s Commission programmes in other places around the world. During the conference I learned quite a lot of things about the other programmes around the world, and God is slowly helping me get rid of a big giant that I have in my life and that is doubt! I can honestly say (without a doubt!) that there wasnandrsquo;t one bit of the conference I didnandrsquo;t enjoy, because I enjoyed everything about the conference! The worship was fantastic and so anointed, the speakers challenged me and it was full of amazing people that I will never forget! Shereen Sinjab, SMC 1st yearMCE conference was an absolutely brilliant experience. It was great to go to Amsterdam to meet up with old friends, to make some new and of course to meet with God. We had an opportunity to listen to what God had to say through the people who know the best what Master's is about and what it is like, who know what we are going through. It was a great time when God placed several challenges before me that I need to keep up with now when the emotion of the conference has cooled down. It was very inspirational to see the heart and the passion of the different Master's directors and staff members, the passion they have for us and the passion they have for a changed Europe. Over all, it was a fantastic time of fusion with God and His people.Kadri Kadastik, SMC 2nd yearFusion !!! What a pure, dead brilliant time! I went with the prayer, God change me, I desire to be different coming out than go in, and all I can say is, thats what happened! I have no idea what the change is other than my heart has been opened to a deeper passion and my eyes opened to a bigger vision. I believe if i can be as bold to say that i almost had an Elijah vision, in that I saw myself, my sin, my worthlessness and I cried, then hallelujah I saw Christ my saviour, fit for the job at hand, and then coming back to SMC I have seen a world, and I have heard my fatherandrsquo;s commission .. GO! Furthermore I met many amazing people with the same vision, the same passion, people that we need around us to stir us up and just call our friends. Finally the last thing that made my soul cry with joy, is that MCE conference, found the inner Scotland. We had a ceilidh and I don't know how many people I heard with phony scottish accents and ginger hair and tartan caps, but it made my heart rejoice! One Europe with God and Scotland in her heart! It's a beautiful thing!David Gillies, SMC 2nd yearThe Thrilling Conclusion to Jordan's Adventure in Amsterdam.I would like to preface this with an apology, I was meant to have a blog up about some of this stuff a long time ago, I even wrote it up, but then I ended up being so incredibly busy with things that you're about to read about that I literally didn't touch a computer for around a week. With that in mind however here we go.At the end of my last blog about my time in MCAN, preparations for the Masterandrsquo;s Commission Europe Conference (which I will from now refer to as the 'MCE Conference') was about to go into full swing. Hanna and Nolan Taratino, who head up all the MCE head office business arrived with a vision, a vision that was going to take loads of work to complete. The first thing that we really got into for conference prep was a hip hop style dance routine, that for some unknown reason I got roped into. So there I was with my two left feet, being told to move my body in ways that felt un-natural and frightening. Combine that with a few stunts that could have very well ended in death and I was entirely out of my comfort zone, but hey that's what I came to Amsterdam for in the first place, to do something fresh. This dance was no easy task for anyone, the first three days we probably spent 5-6 hours of learning it, and we still weren't all the way there. After the first three days of hardcore dancing some of the manlier work needed done, scaffolding needed constructed, boards needed drilled, wood needed cut, the sort of hard labour that comes much appreciated after the mental drain of three days of dancing takes on you. I'm entirely happy to mindlessly drill a whole in the wall if it means I don't have to spin around on my heels and do a back flip. It was slow going but as it went on we could slowly see the pieces forming and falling into place. Whenever we weren't doing some sort of heavy lifting we were on friendship bracelet duty, taking something like 4-5 days to complete the 130 hand made friendship bracelets for every MCE Conference attendee. The Monday before the conference started much appreciated reinforcements showed up. MC Remix, a team of Masterandrsquo;s students from Fort Smith, Arkansas arrived. Despite their jet-lag I think they were probably more cognative than we all were at this point, and with the extra hands everything went up incredibly quickly, and suddenly the church looked fantastic. Giant draped cloth hanging from the ceiling, impressive looking scaffolding framing the stage for some of the band members to perform from, professional lighting. It was beautiful, seeing what had become a labour of love turn out so fantastically. I think the best part of the whole experience though was seeing how well the team held up during the conference prep, with such long days often working 9am-midnight you would expect people to start getting short with each other. But I think entirely on the back of some fantastic morning prayer we got through the whole thing with minimal insanity.Wednesday everything kicked off, all the MC's began to show up, and in the middle of the day I got thrown into another drama with something like an hour to learn it. The MC Remix crew needed one extra person to operate the legs for this crazy drama with loads of blacklights and stuff, it looked really cool, but I'm not really certain how to describe it. Anyhoodles, I think thus far I've failed to mention the theme of the conference, Fusion. I really don't think that a more fitting theme could have been chosen, having all of the Masterandrsquo;s in Europe come together under a single roof was amazing. Seeing friendships grow and connections be made that I know will last a life time is the greatest part of the entire experience for me. I've been back from Amsterdam now for two weeks and I'm still dissapointed every morning that I wake up and all the great friends that I made and got to hang out with while I was there aren't around.Coming away from the whole thing though I had an absolutely amazing time, the experiences that I had while I was there are ones that I will remember forever, as well as the growth that being somewhere new and fresh really brings.Jordan Nygren, SMC 2nd yearhttp://southportmasterscommission.co.uk/index.php?cID=143I was extremely grateful and excited to have the opportunity to do mission impossible. In addition to that I think that it is such an amazing and creative way to reach out to primary school children, and teach them about the Easter story in a way that they understand. One of the best things about it was the response and enthusiasm the kids had, and one of the things that encouraged me the most was the amount of knowledge some of the kids had about the Easter story. -Shereen Sinjab, SMC 1st yearMission Impossible was a two week fun packed time, with some great kids. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to be a part of the schools work and being able to give the story of Jesus to them. We had five zones which we went round that explained different parts of the crucifixion including the trial, a doctorandrsquo;s report and a witness retelling her experience. It was great fun pretending to be a secret agent, I was so good I almost deceived myself that I was a really agent! We got the kids really pumped up and really to start their mission, most if not all the feedback forms said how great it was and how much fun they had. Totally worth it to see them go away with the knowledge that Jesus Christ has died and risen again for them! -Faith Oti, SMC 1st yearEaster, a lovely time of year, spring is around the corner, crandegrave;me eggs are on the store shelfandrsquo;s and some 2000 years ago Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross where he died in horrible fashion for our sin, then three days later rose and returned to heaven to make room for us. It's a cheery story really, one that obviously means that we should all dress up like spies and run around a church like loonies for 2 weeks with a bunch of primary school kids. This is essentially the premise behind the annual 'Mission Impossible' schools Easter presentation.Mission Impossible is the yearly Easter presentation that we get to put on. We get year 6's from all over the Southport area to take a few hours out of their day and come down to Scarisbrick New Road Baptist Church, aka our spy headquarters to help us investigate the life, death and resurrection of Jesus via a series of fun 'zones' that range from hologram rooms to re-enactments of Jesus being arrested in the garden. Generally speaking I'm absolutely terrified of children. They're short and have too much energy and are often times hard to direct, but for whatever reason I absolutely love doing schools work. For the last two years now the Christmas and Easter presentations have been pretty big highlights for me. Moonlighting as Agent Bowie from 'The America' and getting to present the Easter story to 1000+ kids. Of course just showing the kids a good time and getting them out of school for a few hours isn't really worth much, but this year before we sent the kids back to their schools we had every kid fill out a little questionnaire form, one of the questions was 'Do you believe that Jesus died and rose again? If so why?', and seeing that by the end of the whole thing most of the kids really did understand the gospel was amazing. -Jordan Nygren, SMC 2nd year Mission Impossible ... Sometimes that's what it can feel like when trying to spread the gospel knowing the great need there is in this world for God. Praise God though that through the simplicity and power that there is in his word and in the testament of what he did for us, it is very much Mission Possible. We set out to have these primary school kids come to us and learn about how God has redeemed them through his son Jesus Christ... and I very much feel that the job was done. I loved how fun, vibrant and interactive it all was, how the kids could find out the truth for themselves, without us railroading the gospel down their ears. It was them that discovered. It was them that separated the truth from fiction. It will be there choice whether or not they believe, but I firmly feel we laid the facts out in a heart piercing yet simple way, just the way these kids needed it. -David Gillies, SMC 2nd year I love the opportunity SMC gets every year to become secret agents and tell kids about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. For two weeks in March I was Agent CoffeeStick leading the children in my team around to different stations to investigate the evidence and discover the truth. I never thought that being a secret agent would be so much fun, but it is when you do it with great people, for great people and for the greatest purpose, that being andndash; to make Him known and save some souls. The best times were those andldquo;light bulbandrdquo; moments when the kids realised that Jesus did in fact die on the cross, but was raised from the dead and that the reason He did all that was the love He has for us all. I pray that the seeds sown into the young lives of the children will bear fruit in its own time. -Kadri Kadastik, SMC 2nd yearhttp://southportmasterscommission.co.uk/index.php?cID=146 In Poland we were a part of the 'Red Frogs Team', which meant that we had the opportunity to serve water and waffles to university students, along with helping them move into the university. It was a fun experience to be in a different culture and trying to connect with people. God blessed us immensely with that mission's trip because of the amazing impact that we've been able to have on some of the students' lives. I cannot wait to see what else He has in store for us! -1st Year, Erika LeonhardtSunny weather, delicious polish food and absolutely great people andndash; yes, 2011 Poland mission trip was full of encouragement! With SMC students, I had a privilege to take part in Red Frogs program, which was just started this year in Krakow by a local church. We had one purpose andndash; to help new students from Krakow move in to their new living areas, give them water, delicious waffles and invite them for events. I am so thankful that I could bless and help many young people. I could see smile on every face there! We joined a few events in Krakow City Church and we could see great passion for God and inspiration in people there. That was my first mission trip with SMC and I find it great! It was a fruitful experience of God and chance to serve people andndash; that's what I was looking for, and I found it. :) -1st Year, Monika Rozlach I loved handing out waffles and water to the students on campus. We got a lot of quizzical looks, but we got a lot more, "Yes, pleases!" and laughter. Some smiles, jokes and an odd marriage proposal thrown in led me to think that the students enjoyed having the Red Frogs on campus. I hope the laughter we invoked in Poland helps the students continue to enjoy and trust the Red Frogs throughout the school year. -1st Year, Lindee Warfield I was so encouraged and blessed to have the opportunity to serve Krakow City Church, and helping them to launch the Red Frogs Program. We didnandrsquo;t only help out with that we were also given the fantastic opportunity to hand out leaflets, and do outreach to university students and young people. We had the opportunity to tell them about an event which was held at Krakow City Church in the evening on Sunday 2nd October. The biggest highlight for me was seeing over 40 new students attend the event; the atmosphere at the event was fantastic! In addition to this encouragement, 3 students made first time decisions to follow Christ. I canandrsquo;t really say what encouraged me the most, because everything about the trip was encouraging! The team who went really encouraged me, Krakow City Church and Pastor Zibiandrsquo;s passion for the church and for Krakow was also encouraging. God will bless Krakow City church and with Pastor Zibiandrsquo;s passion and vision God will also bring change to Krakow. -2nd Year, Shereen Sinjab