The bulk of the work for this ministry is done by the 200 local volunteers which come from churches in the area where they are ministering. The direction and organization is done mostly by a group of unpaid interns, young people ages 18-29 who have been called as Missionaries to the Youth of America by God. These young people raise their own financial support to pay for their basic expenses, they leave their lives behind for at least one year. They only go home for Thanksgiving-New Years. They are on the front lines ministering to youth and young adults, sharing the love of The Creator with His creation.

Today, my baby, my 18 yo son, Jordan headed out on the adventure of a lifetime. He is the newest intern with The 99! As a mom it was sooo hard saying goodbye at the airport this morning. I have cried barrels of tears, I will miss him terribly. I am also so proud of the young man of God he has become. He heard God calling him loud and clear and he answered the call, “Here I am, send me.”

Smiling through my tears

Our church, friends and family have bound together to support him with prayers and finances and for that we couldn’t be more grateful. I am delighted that he is going to minister with a group of young people that we all call friends. He will get to experience all sorts of new things as he travels the country. He will be living in host homes, meeting new people, visiting churches, site-seeing and sharing the truth that in Jesus is where freedom is found.

Today he is flying to Minneapolis, MN. The tent will be set up at 16655 Kenyan Ave, Lakeville, MN  55046 and the production nights are August 30th – September 22nd-Open every Friday-Sunday, 7pm-11pm. If you are in the area and want to volunteer you can message The 99 through their website or Facebook page for more information and the location of the volunteers training meetings. If you do stop by, find Jordan and give him a hug for me!

If you’d like to keep up with Jordan’s travels, he is sending out a monthly newsletter. You can subscribe in the box below.

Please keep Jordan and the team in your prayers!

The post Flying Out of the Nest appeared first on The Mom Maven.

The 99 is a reality walk-through theater that takes about 45 minutes to experience.  The experience takes place in a huge 20,000 square foot air structure (tent) which is erected in a parking lot. This is not a “hell house” or “scare house”. No one will touch you or jump out at you as your group travels through the experience. You will be presented with a brief Gospel message at the end of the presentation, and you are informed of that before you enter so if that isn’t what you want to hear, you don’t have to go through the experience.

In the last 4 years 410,139 people have walked through The 99. Of those people 122,679 have prayed with a counselor to accept Jesus as their Savior! An amazing 80% of the people who attend The 99 say they do not have a church home. On average 15-20,000 go through The 99 during the 4 weekends it is open in a city. The 99 is in the city for about 7 weeks. Two weeks to set up, four weekends (Fri-Sun 7pm-midnight) of performances and one week to tear down. It takes 250 volunteers each night to put on The  99. This means many local churches, of varying denominations working side by side for the Kingdom of God.

The 99 tent site is a half mile from my house and my family and church are heavily involved. My 17yo son and husband have been at the site every evening from 4-10pm helping set up the tent. We are all volunteering during the productions in various jobs and we are praying for the souls that will be touched and lives that will be changed in our community from February 15-March 10, 2013.

If you are in the Manatee-Sarasota area of Florida, The 99 is located in the parking lot of the old Winn-Dixie at SR 70 and Lockwood Ridge in Bradenton. Discount ticket vouchers are available at local churches and at whatisthe99.com. When The 99 leaves Manasota it will travel to Tampa and then Orlando before leaving Florida so follow them on Facebook for updates.

Over the next 4 weeks I will be Tweeting, Facebooking and Instagramming using the hashtag #the99 so please follow along.

The post The 99 Manasota appeared first on The Mom Maven.