TEAM BIO - Blake Rymer

Hello World!
I realized the other day that I had done 23 short term mission trips since returning to the US in 2000 from 2 years full time on the mission field in Budapest, Hungary. I guess those 2 years were very significant for me and for my family. Leading this team is a special privilege for me. Not only do we have some awesome team members who aren't part of my family, but three of them are family - one daughter Meg and two sons-in-law, Jeff and Josh!!

I'm married to Sandra, a woman who is devoted to God, to me and her family. We have three daughters who are married to fine men and 7 wonderful grand kids. All our kids are mission minded. One of them serves with her family in Poland. I love music, golf, walks, writing, chocolate, red wines, visiting the grand cities of the world, Alabama football, spending time with family and good friends, and telling folks about the scandalous love that Father has for them. For me to live in Christ!

First Team Meeting

Recently, both the Huntsville team and Birmingham team met for our first official group meeting! We met up at the Cullman County Public Library in Cullman - which was comical considering the size of our team and the size (or lack of) their library! But all was well albeit louder than they would probably prefer. We conducted some research on the economical, political, historical and topographical (!) data of Poland and shared our results with the group. We learned a little about the Solidarity movement which started in Poland and began the decline of communism in Europe and the role that the church had to play in that movement. Poland has a very rich and interesting (and long) history. We were also blessed to have Erin Skrobarczyk present at our group meeting to give some personal experience with the people and culture of Poland.

After our library meeting, we moved over to the famous All Steak restaurant in Cullman to continue getting to know one another and eat dinner. Thankfully, we had our own meeting room where we did "Speed-Friending", prayer time and worship. The Lord gave us some really awesome ideas for ministry in Poland during our prayer time which we are working to develop before we go. Our waiter was awesome and even said he wished he had time to hang out and worship with us - hopefully a taste of the response we'll get in Poland, too! All in all it was a great meeting with good results - one of which David Wolnski put pretty well the Sunday after - "Now I'm stoked to go to Poland!"

Thank you to those who have already been praying for us during our team prep time - God is really showing up in huge ways. A few people have already received all of their necessary support, there have been a couple of big donations to the team fund, AND we've gotten some awesome ideas for our time there. Please continue praying that support will roll in (MORE than enough so we can flesh out some of the ideas we have for ministry), protection from the enemy against anxiety over funds and feeling overwhelmed, our upcoming fundraisers, team building and coordinating team meetings, and that the Lord would continue to show us what he wants us to do while we're there.

Thank you!

Our team at the Cullman Library

At All Steak:  Jeff Stalcup, AJ Wolnski and David Wolnski

Anna Gamble, Ben Gamble, Kim Bevel, and Daniel Frack

Erin Skrobarczyk, Blake Rymer, Meg McClung, Josh McClung and Emily Flack

Team Bio: Jeff Stalcup

Hello everyone, my name is Jeff and I am a part of the Birmingham, Shades Valley team. I have a beautiful wife named Parke and five awesome boys ranging in age from 6 to 13. Erin Skrobarczyk and Meg
Mcclung are my sisters-in-law and Blake Rymer is my father-in-law, so there's my connection to Poland. I work at Hillcrest Behavioral Health as a mental health tech on the child unit. I love working with kids and can't wait to share the Father's heart in Poland.

My favorite pastimes are football (American) and baseball. I enjoy hiking, camping, swimming, disc golf, and playing basketball... all of these with my boys. Music is a big part of my life, as well as prayer. I am involved with intercessory prayer at Shades Valley and feel that this is one of the things the Lord has called me into. I look forward to seeing how the Lord uses intercessory prayer in Poland.

I am excited about this opportunity to be the Lords "hands and feet", and look forward to meeting and getting to know the rest of you.

God bless.

Anna and Ben's Bio

Ben and Anna got married June 18th of 2011.  They are very excited about this opportunity to serve others and share the word of God with the people of Poland.  Anna has been to India on a short-term mission trip and Ben went to Poland with the Rivertree team back in 2009.  God is Great!

In His Name

Love,

Ben and Anna

Team Bios: A.J. Wolnski

Hey everyone -

My name is A.J. Wolnski.  My son David and I will be making the trip to Poland this year for the first time.  In fact I am 50 years old and this will be my first mission trip out of the country!  I live in Birmingham, Alabama with my awesomely spectacular wife Grace and our 8 children.  I have been running my own small business for about 18 years.  I like to build things, fix things, and take things apart.  I enjoy backpacking, mountain biking, working on computers, detailing cars, playing with my kids and collecting antique beer cans.  I also really enjoy playing guitar and mandolin.  I'm really looking forward to our time in Poland.

For more about me just look me up on Facebook under A.J. Wolnski.

See you in Poland!

New Team Member

Since we first posted the names we've added a team member - Daniel Frack. He's a graduating senior from Grissom High School.

Current Prayer Requests

As we continue preparing for our work in Poland we would greatly appreciate your prayers for the following

• Grace and wisdom for Greg Skrobarczyk and others who are already in Poland planning our work
• The timely arrival of funds for plane tickets for everyone on our team
• The preparation of our hearts for service
• Revelation and wisdom for each of our team members
• Protection from the undermining of our work while we are there

Thank you!  We are so grateful for your willingness to support us in prayer.

Team Bios: Josh McClung

Hey Everyone! My name is Josh and I am married to my lovely wife Meg who is also going on the trip. I grew up in Homewood, Alabama and began going to the Shades Valley Community Church youth group when I was around 13 years old. I went to Auburn after graduating high school and studied industrial engineering. Me and Meg got married just before my senior year and once I graduated college we moved back to Birmingham (Leeds) where we have lived for the past five years. However we recently put our house up for sale and we hope to move closer to church/work/friends soon. I work for southern company at the Alabama power building downtown where I am an Engineer in the Market Strategies group. I enjoy hanging out with friends, swimming, running, playing soccer, and traveling. I'm really looking forward to this trip and seeing old friends and meeting new ones in Poland!

Team bios: Meg McClung

In an effort to get to know our team members better, I'll be the first to post a bio blog (for the sake of the Huntsville team, California team, and anyone else...).  I am really excited to be a part of the first team from Shades Valley Community Church to go to Poland!  We have an amazing group and I can't wait to see what happens leading up to and during our week there.  This will be my third mission trip to Katowice, Poland.  We are partnering with King's Kids Polska and Erin and Greg Skrobarczyk, the leaders of KK, are my sister and brother-in-law and it's great to be a part of what they do in Poland.

I am a 28 year old registered nurse and the wife of Josh McClung (who's going on this trip, too).  I grew up in Huntsville, AL but also lived as a MK (missionary kid) in Budapest, Hungary during my 9th and 10th grade years with my mom and dad (Sandra and Blake Rymer) which changed my worldview and whet my appetite for missions.  I went to Samford University in Birmingham, AL and studied to become a registered nurse.  Josh and I got married after graduation and have lived in Birmingham for the last 5 years.  I am a cardiac nurse but surprisingly, none of the mission trips I've gone on have been medical.... maybe some day??  I enjoy spending quality time with friends, hanging out with our families, our small group, traveling, eating and cooking, and trying to figure out some kind of creative outlet!
I look forward to getting to know more about our team members!

Team meeting

Tonight we have a {birmingham} team meeting to talk about fundraising and pray about our time in Poland. We hope to hear from the Lord more about our purpose while we're there and pray for our team, the other teams and the people we'll meet while in Poland. We are getting close! Only 2 months from today we'll be arriving in Katowice!