K-Love Cruise | Verticalkids's Weblog

Yes – 388 have received Christ so far this year!

Our Mission: To help kids grow up in Christ by using creative arts including magic shows, juggling, balloon twisting and puppets.

Our Vision: To reach as many kids and families for Christ as possible.
Dear partners in ministry,

August 2009
Although I know God is going to do something amazing at each show, camp or kid’s crusade, it still blows me away when He reveals himself. We started our summer tour on June 7 and was on the road all of June and July except for one week in July. We finished up our last week of camps last week at Grace Bible Camp in Goshen, VA. I had a goal of wanting to see 350 people receive Christ this year. Well God has blown me away again, because so far we have seen 388 first time decisions to ask Jesus to come into their lives!

To see some of our pictures for the summer you can go to Pictures of summer and Grace Bible Camp Pictures and Battle Protection Pictures. At the Grace Bible Camp pictures you will see Rian and Chase helping us in the ministry. It is fun having our boys help us and lead in music.

Now, we are headed to Pigeon Forge for a week of learning more about ministering and entertaining children and families. We are attending the KIDabra convention from Tuesday till Saturday night. Go to www.Kidabra.com to see what all we will be doing. I will be attending an entertainer’s marketing seminars for the first two days. Then Kimberly and I will be learning new tricks, new stories, how to perform better and to see what else is out there.

Graciously, I sit here reflecting over the past two months of ministry and am pleased to report that God has moved on the lives of so many. We have seen 177 receive Christ! This included 2 adults at Liberty Wesleyan Church in Summerfield, NC. After talking with the pastor, he said that the couple had just recently started coming to church.

At Liberty Wesleyan Church another God thing had occurred. During that Sunday morning worship, I had asked for a volunteer. I shared that I needed someone who did not care what I did to them. Most of the kids raised their hand; however one boy’s smile caught my attention. I brought him on stage. He was going to be the magician for this trick. As we went through the routine, I noticed that the boy’s left hand was not working properly. We continued with the trick and he wound up being the “hero”.

After the show when we were packing up, the boy’s uncle came up and thanked us for picking him. I then asked him about his hand. His uncle said that last October, Jamey at the age of 8 had a stroke. His whole left side was paralyzed. The doctors said that he would probably never walk again. Well God had a better plan, not only was he walking and moving but he was able to hold the cards and do everything needed for the trick. The only way we knew something was different was because of that one hand that seemed just a little off. God not only blessed him that day by allowing him to be picked, but he blessed us by learning about his miracle from God.

God continued to bless us that week at the FCA Boys 1 Camp as we met little Eli. Eli was a 9 year old down – syndrome blessing. Not only did Eli attach himself to me but I was attached to his great love, his big smile and great attitude. Eli loved the puppets and always asked me, “Where da puppeets?” And most of the time I would tell him that they were asleep. Eli was a very smart boy who participated in everything we did even at times when he was not supposed to be on stage helping out.

Also during this camp, we met two brothers whose Grandfather had brought them from Atlanta to attend the camp with him: Mikiel is 11 years old and his younger brother Chris is 6. They were from a broken home, and the grandfather wanted them to get the influence from this great Christian camp. Well, both boys came to know the Lord that week. Mr. Brown, the grandfather wrote the date of their salvation in their new FCA Bible and then he had Kimberly and me write an encouragement in their Bibles.

The next week we ministered in Roanoke, VA at the Parkway House of Prayer. Wow, the Holy Spirit moved in incredible ways. From Tuesday through Sunday morning we ministered to several hundred kids and adults. There were 77 kids that received Christ that week and 41 of them were visitors to the church. Special outreach events really do work!

There are a couple of stories that stand out that happened that week. One lady had been bringing a girl to the church’s kid’s club and VBS’s for 5 years, and finally the girl received Christ. Another girl who was brought by one of the church ladies received Christ. Pam wanted to make sure that the girl understood what she did that night. So on the way taking her back home she asked her. The little 8 year old girl said, “Yes, I got saved! And Miss Pam, no one has ever asked me to ask Jesus to come into my life until Pastor Earl asked me tonight.” This girl actually comes from a church going family.

The next week, we went back to the Black Mt. camp and this time ministering at the FCA Coaches Camp. This week, we met a young 5 year old that was an inspiration to all of us. His name is Jay. Jay was born with 3 vertebrae missing in his lower back causing him to have no use of his legs. But that did not stop him, by using his arms he was able to glide across the floor and take part in everything that we did including the dancing, singing with motions, skits, learning the magic tricks, balloon twisting and juggling. It was great to see the joy in Jay’s face as he showed us all that there are no disabilities if you don’t allow it. Jay was one of the 25 kids who received Christ into their lives that week!

Will you continue giving your sacrificial donation to help Vertical Kids Ministry reach more and more kids and families?
We still need your help!

As of July, we have lost $1400 in monthly support. This economy recession has hit you and it has hit us also. This $1400 is basically a little more than our mortgage payment. This does get scary for our family. However, we know who is in charge of everything and somehow God keeps providing in different ways. As you read below you will see some ways that He has blessed our ministry. If you can help out with extra finances or as a one time gift then we would be so grateful.

Report on the new Trailer!
As I shared last month about the opportunity of getting a trailer, there were a few of you who graciously gave to our ministry to help specifically for the trailer. There is good news and bad news. First the bad news: The used trailer I was getting from the “friend” actually fell through. We were devastated. We had a lot of equipment that we needed to carry this summer for our camps and crusades.

However, the good news is we had a donor who found out about the trailer falling through and they donated the rest of the money that we were unable to come up with to by a brand new 5X8 trailer that even has a warranty! The Lord really blessed us by using his people to help reach others. We are now pulling that trailer behind our mini-van as we travel to the different paces this summer!

*Non Profit Status Report
We mailed off our 501 (c) 3 paperwork. Through donations and us selling some things, we have come up with the $750 fee we need. Starting in August, your tax deductable donations need to be made out to Vertical Kids Ministry and not Brentwood.

Thank you for your support and prayers; you are a vital part of this ministry. Also, remember to keep sending your donations to VKM and now make the check out to Vertical Kids Ministry. Send it to our VKM address at PO Box 4632 Lynchburg, VA 24502. Now, we have the capability for you to donate through our website or below either using PayPal or your credit card. You can just click the button below.

Donate to Vertical Kids Ministry now by clicking here.

Here is our schedule of what is coming up.

KIDabra Convention Pigeon Forge, TN August 12 – 15, 2009

Kid and Family Entertainers Convention
Magic Birthday Party Forest, VA August 22, 2009
Timberlake UMC Lynchburg, VA September 13, 2009

Kid’s Sunday School Kick Off
Sandy Bottom Christian Church Madison Heights, VA October 25, 2009

Trunk or Treat – Close Up and Balloon Twisting
Grand Strand Baptist Church Myrtle Beach, SC Nov. 4 – 8, 2009

Kid’s Crusade

Thank You for your prayers and support.

Serving Him,

Earl and Kimberly Long
Vertical Kids Ministry

We have new cell phone numbers

Earl 434-534-4225

Kimberly 434-534-4227

Prayer Requests

Our upcoming travels to Pigeon Forge.
That we get many more bookings for this Fall.
That we stand in God’s armor
For our protection against evil
That our service as servants of God be in His grace and not under our own strength
For our purity
For more opportunities to share the Gospel through VKM
For more financial support to meet our daily needs

Our Address:

5945 Hines Circle

Lynchburg, VA 24502
434-237-2339 (Home #)

434-534-4225 (Cell)

www.verticalkids.com

earl@get-connected.org

kwl@thenewlife.com

Vertical Kids Ministry | 5945 Hines Circle | Lynchburg | VA | 24502

It has been a little over two weeks since we have returned from our cruise. We had an amazing time being able to minister to several hundred people on the cruise. This opportunity also gave us a great vacation time as well. Below we will give you more info of our travels and some pictures. Thank you to everyone who prayed for our safety and ministry opportunity.

Here is the first photo taken as we entered the ship.

West Palm Beach Spanish Seventh Day Adventist Church

Our air travels brought us into Ft. Lauderdale Florida two days before the cruise started on Monday. We have a friend that lives just outside of Ft. Lauderdale who I have worked with for the past 3-4 years volunteering with Youth Specialties National Youth Workers Convention. She graciously allowed us to stay in their home for the two days before the cruise and one after the cruise.

Our friend Annie Mercedes asked us if we could take part in their churches grand opening of their new teen coffee house by performing a magic show. We left the airport at 7:30 PM. It was a 45 minute drive to her church. The program started at 8:00 PM and we were scheduled to perform around 8:45 PM.

We arrived at the coffee house at 8:20 PM and started setting up our magic props in the parking lot as a comedian performed before us. They took a break to allow us to set the stage or should I say set the small standing area. It was a small coffee house but it was sufficient.

We proceeded into a great evening of magic, comedy and ministry. We had a ball. Thank you Pastor Eric for inviting us to minister. Here are some pictures from that night. We were again blessed to attend their worship service the next Saturday after the cruise. It was a wonderful worship service in Spanish. Neither one of us speak Spanish, however we were able to worship God for the first time in another language. It was neat.

K-Love Cruise Above you will see one of the pages out of the K-Love Cruise newspaper. It was a privilege to be able to perform with some well known Christian music artists such as Mercy Me, Jeremy Camp, Nicole C. Mullen, Natalie Grant, Sanctus Real, Stellar Kart and Bob and Larry!

We were able to perform twice on the ship. As we began the second show a couple of the tricks started out wrong. I couldn’t believe what was happening. I thought, “Here we are performing one of the most important shows of our career and things are falling apart.” We continued on and things got a lot better. The audience response through out the show was exhilarating. Near the end, I gave an invitation to accept Christ as their Savior. Two young girls around 11 years old asked Jesus to forgive them and come into their life.

Two of the days on the ship, we worked for about 3 hours each day entertaining people who were standing in line to receive autographs from the music artists. Kimberly twisted balloon creations and I performed close up magic to help the time to pass easier. Some people were in line for over an hour and a half.

Check out some of our pictures below. You can see more pictures if you go to Vertical Kids Pictures

Other stuff on our trip
We were very blessed to be able to visit with our friend Annie as mentioned above. Here are some pictures of her, her family and us.