Week Five-Week Six

At the beginning of each day and each week, I ask God to completely use me up for His purpose. I ask him to leave me totally drained, to the point where I can ONLY rely on Him for strength for another day.

Be careful what you wish for! Prayer works! I love knowing I'm completely pouring myself out to be a living sacrifice for God. But I think I've been a little too tired and busy for blogging! So let me explain the situation. The fifth week was the week of the fourth of July. It's really hard for us to get teams to get in, so only four teams running one site each came. Because we wanted to minister to as many kids as possible, we ran Whittier with only staff. So it was basically a really relaxing week for me, which was a blessing after and before huge weeks! I did crafts with Amber, a semester missionary who came back this particular week to hang out with us. We had a grand old time! I was pretty heart broken about having to leave my kids, so week five was a beneficial experience for me. I ended up having a wonderful time, and of course I fell in love with the kids! I focused on forming relationships with them and not being bitter about being away from my kids. I might have to leave Kendrick for the last week of club for cross training opportunities, since I'm interested in returning next summer, so this helped me realize that I'm going to have a just as wonderful, if not better, experience. If I'm with kids I'm not used to, I'm probably going to put more effort in to ministering to them without even realizing it. Whatever happens, I know I can trust God with where he takes me.


Week six was our biggest week yet (well, until the week that we're currently in. But I'll talk about that another day). Kacie and I were finally back together at Kendrick! We had a returning team who were extremely sweet and passionate. There are a couple of really cool things that I'm going to touch on. The first was that our team was talking about these two boys who came to club last year, but we had not seen all summer. I thought they were thinking about kids at a nearby site, but on Monday when we were walking to get kids, a woman walked out of a house we had never picked up kids from before and said, "I think the boys are coming today!". It was such a God thing, because this team remembered and LOVED these boys. What I didn't realize until we met their mother was that Pastor Tim had told me about this family. Last spring, one of the missionaries at Kendrick was walking up to their house and there was an ambulance outside. A baby girl had died of SIDS. The boys' mother still sent them to Bible Club that day. I am so thankful that God is allowing us to continue to minister to this family! The second neat event was that we finally started doing discipleship clubs. One of our staff, Erica, goes out to every site and meets up with the kids who have accepted Christ AT Bible Club. The first one she went to was ours! She met with a couple of kids and did a more in depth study with them. They really enjoyed it, and I'm so happy for them.

We're getting so close to being done. I can't believe it!

Week Four

God tested Street Reach with a huge week. We hosted 120 missionaries and ran nine sites, opening a brand new one in a different area of the street Brinkley Heights is on, Rosamond Ave. Having so many people, and people I knew, was definitely tough. We also had various meal problems that made the staff more tense than usual. But I am praising God that He kept His hand on me, the staff, and this ministry.
I ran Kendrick by myself and it was totally fine! I missed having Kacie, but we're utilizing one of our 13 year olds, LS, to help out. 13 is technically to old to come to club, but it's okay if the kid acts as a missionary-in-training. So LS will do water for the kids, line them up, control them at lunch, play with them, walk down the streets with team members, etc. I had to step up in discipline, and I think I learned a lot this week. A New Bethel member told me my leadership skills had really improved. I thought that was a pretty neat compliment!
This next week, there are only four teams at Street Reach, because it's 4th of July week. So Whittier will be a staff-run site, and I have to work there, while Kacie is running Kendrick with a returning team. I love Whittier, and I'm so relieved I will be working with staff rather than a mission team, but I'm heart broken about missing my kids. So please pray for me that I will not be selfish about this.

Week Three

We are really in the thick of things now! God showed his faithfulness last week and it knocked us to the ground. We've been praying that we could break 400 kids ministered to in one day. Last summer, 300 was only broken once. This summer, we've only NOT broken 300 three times. So we were dreaming big. On Wednesday, God gave us a good "Christian tease" (Street Reach staff inside joke, pardon me) by sending out 399 kids. So of course, on Thursday we were extremely pumped up to break 400. As Jason said, we broke it and slapped it in the face with 447! We haven't counted up the numbers from Friday yet, because Jason was gone for the weekend, but we know it's even more than 447. Kendrick itself broke records by going from 36 on Monday to 63 on Friday! I believe Kendrick only got to 40 kids one time last summer. It's just amazing to see God expanding our ministry and using us as His hands and feet. Tomorrow we are opening a new site, and in a couple weeks we plan on opening a 10th site. We are truly blessed.
Boanerges Baptist Church from Old Fort, TN worked Kendrick last week. I was so impressed with their passion and dedication to this mission. They were a returning team from last year, but they had doubled, so we had a lot of people who had heard about Street Reach but not yet experienced it. They all loved it and were affected by this community. God used them to gain us tons of new kids; I believe we met at least two new kids a day, with some days bringing in six or seven! They also worked hard to reach out to our older kids, and a few of them were saved. It's just such a beautiful thing. Now these boys and girls who were saved can reach out to their friends who don't attend Bible Club, and their families as well. I was so proud of my kids, my team, and myself! On Thursday and Friday I ran Kendrick without Kacie. It was more stressful, because I didn't have someone to share the responsibilities with, but it went smoothly as ever. This week I will be running Kendrick alone, but New Bethel (my church) is the mission team there. I know that with them and God on my side, I will be able to manage things.
Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Philippians 4:6
This verse and today's sermon at Brinkley Heights were things I really needed to hear. The sermon was about why we should fear God, and that means. I've always struggled with feeling spiritually week, even though my faith wasn't wavering. It's because, without always knowing it, I don't give everything up to God. I just go, go, go, trying to do everything myself. Some nights I get too tired and I don't pray. I feel ashamed, but I don't always do anything about it. Here, I'm starting to learn how to continually go to the Lord for strength and guidance, and to put my trust completely in him. You will be worn out if you don't!
So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. Galatians 6:9
This verse also came to me at just the right time last week. We were praying to get more numbers, and we were tired from working. But this reassures me that God will provide for us.
I will try to be better about blogging this week. Keep Street Reach in your prayers, and God bless you!

Memories from Week 2

Northwest, our team from Week 2, put together a video from their week at Street Reach. This is all of my kids at Kendrick, and they're video clips! I thought you should see how ridiculously adorable Kendrick kids are. :)

http://vimeo.com/25458006

Street Reach Videos

Here are a couple more videos that I just realized y'all might like to learn more about Street Reach and Brinkley Heights. This first video is a promotional video made about Street Reach Ministries. The really cool thing about THIS video is that it was made by a mission team member who came in last summer, and he was here the week my church was! So there are various shots of my youth group in it. The second video is about Brinkley Heights Urban Academy and it was made by Union University. This one is cool because a lot of people realize what I'm doing at Street Reach, but they don't know about the school that has grown out of our ministry! It's pretty awesome. Enjoy!

Father's Day

Oh, Daddy, I am not with you
on this Father's Day.
I miss your smell,
your pancakes,
and the funny things you say.
As always, Daddy, I love you;
I am your baby girl.
And this poem is a shout out
to how you've rocked my world.

But Daddy, I'm not with you
'cause I'm in Memphis, Tennessee.
I've been living here for three weeks;
let me tell you what I see.

At ten o'clock I go knocking
on families' little doors.
I'm ministering to the broken,
the lonely,
and the poor.

The mamas come to answer me,
the children show up with a smile.
But they're not always happy;
they haven't seen daddy in a while.

People here need the Father,
of this fact I am sure.
They cry and wallow in sin,
'cause they ain't living in the Word.
But who could help these young boys
and protect these little girls?
Who could make these mothers want
respect and joy in their world?

Oh Daddy, life here could be so sweet
if there were more men like you.
The only dads I see on the street
don't have your worldly view.
They're smoking,
stealing,
fighting,
selling,
and they're not caring for their children.
And Daddy, you've made mistakes, too,
but we ain't been where they've been.

Daddy, more than ever,
I am happy you're in my life.
Your love for me,
my brothers,
and my mother
is beautiful throughout all our strife.
My dream for all the kids here
is that they'd have a daddy just like you.
So I want you to know,
I love you, Daddy,
and thank you for loving me too.

Week Two

You want to talk about time flying when you're having fun? Last Sunday and the beginning of week two FEELS like it was forever ago, but MAN did time fly this week! I just need to say; I currently have the best job in the world.
Kendrick hosted another awesome team. We had Northwest Baptist Church from Gainesville, FL run club. They were a team of 8, two adults, four youth girls, and two youth boys. They loved on the kids like crazy and a few of them are really interested in returning as staff next summer! I am so proud of them. One of the girls, Aimee, is going to start a backyard Bible Club in a trailer park where she lives. She said that her church has been trying to start it for a while, and she's been putting it off. Now she's ready to head it up! The best part of club was probably the music station. Al, the youth pastor, and Andrew led music. Andrew brought his guitar, and Al would teach the kids songs that they learned and sang throughout the week. The kids seemed a little skeptical at first but ended up LOVING it. We heard from Cody's (one of our regular Bible Club attendees) mom that he was singing the songs at home and teaching them to her! Music really is a beautiful thing, and it's amazing how God works through it.
Our highest number of kids was 39 on Friday, and we picked up a lot of new kids during the week. Tomorrow Kacie and I are expanding the routes to pick up kids, so hopefully we will get even more! The number of kids that Street Reach is ministering to overall is simply amazing. Besides our 39 on Friday, there was a total of 393 kids at all sites! One of our sites, Guernsey, will almost definitely be breaking up into two sites soon. One of the Junior Staff members will be leaving their site to go run that one, so there's a good chance it could be me. Jason is really proud of what Kacie and I are doing; he believes I could head up a site by myself. I am ready to go wherever the Lord wants me! Please keep this in your prayers.