C3 Float Trip-Take 2

The original C3, College and Career for Christ, float trip was scheduled for Saturday July 17. Due to an extremely rainy week prior to the 17th, the Illinois River had filled up to nine feet deep. The section of the river that runs through Tahlequah, Oklahoma is typically four feet high and for safety reasons the original trip was canceled. The trip was rescheduled on Saturday August 7 and it was a blast.

A group of nineteen people convoyed to Tahlequah to the Peyton’s Place River Resort. We had a total of four rafts with each almost filled to capacity. As soon as the group got on the river everyone used their paddles to splash water onto each other rather than using the paddles to propel them down the river. The C3 pastor, Chad Stewart and some other fortunate ones hung back and watched the action. Pastor Chad had all the food in his raft and no one wanted river soaked bread for lunch. We stopped on several occasions to jump out of the rafts and swim. It was hilarious to see individuals randomly jumping off the raft to swim, and then hop back on the raft later down the river.

Traveling down the river, C3 stopped at every tree swing they could find and swung out onto the river. Ironically, as they continued down the six mile stretch there were a few spots in the river that were too low and the rafts had to be dragged to a deeper spot and then re-boarded. Also, the river had no mile markers to let us know how close we were to the end. Pastor Chad asked Jeff Rains repeatedly, “How much further do we have to go?” Jeff would calmly say, “Just around the next bend.” This led to some frustration on Chad’s part and eventually he told Jeff not to say anything about “the next bend.” The group spent around five hours floating down the river that afternoon.

It's enjoyable seeing these individuals building Christ based relationships by having fun and exciting events like the float trip. A person can really get to know someone by spending time with them in these types of adventures. God is continuing to do great things in this ministry, and the journey is really exciting! You some come see for yourself.

C3 Night with the Drillers
By Jeff Rains

On Friday, June 18 thirty-four members of the College and Career for Christ Ministry of Word of Life, also known as C3 had a great night of fun and fellowship at the sold-out Driller’s baseball game. The event began at the Depot building at 10th and Adams where about half the group boarded the church van. The evening was extremely humid, so praise God for an air conditioned van for the ride to and from the stadium.

Upon arrival the group took a scenic tour of the brand new stadium. Pastor Chad unknowingly walked everyone around the entire field to the ticket office, but now we know where to go when you pre-order tickets. We sat in the general admission area and the lawn seating was nice. We brought some blankets and chairs and watched most of the game through the jumbo screen in left field.

C3 Pastor Chad Stewart got one of the megaphones being handed out and used it to talk through the rest of the evening. He later commented, “My favorite part of the night was the megaphone!” Katy Westberg’s favorite part was, “When they ran out of spoons and I had to use Kai’s spoon.” Kai Graham said, “My favorite part of the night was the food.” I would have to say my favorite part of the evening was the fellowship and the food. I would highly recommend the Hornsby burger. The song “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” goes “if they don’t win it’s a shame.” We had a great evening in spite of the Drillers’ loss.

The highlight of the night was the spectacular fireworks show with music playing through the speaker system. I would recommend going to any ball game, but there is something special on the nights when they have fireworks. The night was full of laughs and memories and we may have to make this an annual event!