Today was incredible! While each serving group had an
awesome day of service, God truly showed up the most powerfully tonight at
Porch Time. As a result, we will give brief descriptions of each serving group’s
activities, but our blog post tonight will specifically highlight our time of
worship and processing this evening.
Serving Group 1:
Serving Group 1 spent their morning serving alongside
Serving Group 4 at Isaiah 58, a ministry run out of a local church which serves
community meals several days a week to the needy. After mingling, serving, and
eating with the guests, the group helped clean the fellowship hall before
heading to their next assignment for the day. In the afternoon, Serving Group 1
spent time back at the Andrew Jackson Boys & Girls Club, continuing to
build relationships with the kids there. After saying goodbye to the kids, the
team headed to dinner at Istanbul Turkish restaurant, which was absolutely
delicious.
Serving Group 2:
Once again, Serving Group 2 headed straight to Y-CAP to
love on the children there. While their mornings have started pretty early, the
group has been happy to give up a few extra minutes of sleep to develop friendships
and serve these kids. After lunch,
Serving Group 2 spent time at Second Harvest where they helped sort and pack
food that will be distributed to many different ministry sites throughout
middle-Tennessee. The team packed over 10,000 pounds of food in just three
hours, an incredible feat considering Second Harvest normally packs only 40,000
pounds in an entire week! For dinner, Serving Group 2 enjoyed a well-deserved
meal at the Thai Kitchen.
Serving Group 3:
Serving Group 3 returned to Family Affairs Ministry today
to put on their “Sidewalk Sunday School,” an event they had been preparing for
all week which included games as well as a skit/lesson about the story of Queen
Esther. The gathering was a huge success, and all the kids (and team members)
felt encouraged by the program and getting to be a part of it. After eating
with the kids from FAM, Group 3 headed to Project C.U.R.E., an organization
that ships medical supplies all over the world to countries who desperately
need them. The team was blow away by the organization involved at Project
C.U.R.E., and felt privileged to be a part of what they are doing. For dinner,
Serving Group 3 enjoyed a delicious Southern-style meal at Swett’s, which has
become a trip favorite.
Serving Group 4:
Group 4 joined Group 1 to begin their day together at
Isaiah 58, preparing and serving lunch to needy men, women, and children in the
community surrounding the church. It was fun for the two groups to not only
serve, but to be able to do it with another part of the Nashville team. After
eating lunch at the ministry site, the group spent the afternoon at N.I.C.E.,
where they have been serving all week, continuing to love the refugee children
and families in that community. For dinner, Group 4 went to Sitar Indian
Restaurant before returning to the housing site for Porch Time.
Serving Group 5:
Today, Group 5 began their morning at Project
Transformation, where they’ve been serving all week by reading to the children
to help them stay at grade level. The team has absolutely loved getting to know
the children and getting to serve them in such a tangible way. Eating lunch in
the van, the team next went to End Slavery, a group focused on creating
slave-free communities through prevention, education, and community engagement.
After getting more information on the program and on sex-trafficking, the team
served the organization by handing out education pamphlets at homes in East
Nashville to increase the community awareness. Serving Group 5 finished their
day by joining Serving Group 1 for dinner at Istanbul Turkish Restaurant.
Once all groups had gathered back at the housing site and
cleaned up, it was time to begin our final Porch Time of the trip. The night
began with a hilarious round of “Remember That Time,” following by a moving
segment of where we saw Jesus throughout the day. Next, Andrew led the group in
an extended worship set. It was incredible to hear the children singing so
passionately with praises to God. After worship, Lex gave our final message of
the trip, returning to the story of Moses that we began during our pre-trip
training meetings. Lex pulled 5 principles from Moses’ life, the 5th
of which was the fact that God used what Moses had in his hand (his staff). She
reminded us that sometimes we are unable to follow God’s will for our lives
because we are too busy holding on to our excuses. In order to symbolize our
desire to give up those excuses, each team member was given back a card that
they had been given at our overnight training. On the cards, each person had
written an excuse that had been holding them back from living out God’s call.
As a group, everyone burned their cards in a fire outside the housing site.
After our hands were now free to take hold of what God has in store for us, the
leaders gave each student a holding cross, on which was written “No Excuses”
and Exodus 4:2, to serve as a reminder of God’s presence and power in our
lives. After singing one final song, the team went to their individual small
groups in silence, and God continued to show up in huge ways, helping group
members get vulnerable and truly love and affirm each other. It really was a
night where you could feel God’s Spirit at work!
After such a great evening, the team is excited for our
final day of service in Nashville. Thank you so much for all your prayers for
the evening . . . they truly did make an impact on our night. Please continue
to pray for our final day in the city and for our lives to really be
transformed as a result of our encounters with God.
