Hello Street Reachers!-- We thought we would give you an “off season” update!   Since summer time the semester missionaries have been busy serving at Brinkley Heights Urban Academy and helping get things in order for Street Reach 2012!  We are currently booking teams for next Spring and Summer and would love to have you guys coming to serve with us if you can.  If you want more information just let us know and we’ll be glad to get that to you.

In other news—

The National Bible Club site has been hopping this fall with a local team.  Miss Erica has been faithful to bring out her BCM Family Group from the University of Memphis and they have done an awesome job of keeping a great relationship with the families in that area.  They had club in September, October, and have another one coming up next month.  Katie J. and Kacie were able to join them in October and it was a great time! 

We had two fall out of town teams come in during the weekend of October 14-17.  

A college BCM team came in on Friday night and stayed with us until Monday afternoon.  This particular team came last spring and had a blast (Street Reach even got a 2011 staffer from that trip)!  Anyway, they came back for a Fall Bible Club over at Guernsey with Miss Michelle and the kids had an awesome time.  The group brought two ministry teams from their BCM- the children’s ministry team and a hip-hop dance team.  Bible club went as usual except the songs station was turned into a dance studio and the kids loved it. 

We also had a team from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro come in on Friday night and spend Saturday with us doing yard work around the community with Jonathan.  They were able to cut several yards and made a huge difference in a short time.  When they were finished with all of their hard work they didn’t want to rest—no—they came on up to Bible Club at Guernsey to play with the kids before heading back to Arkansas that evening.

It was awesome to see students spending their fall break serving the Lord by loving on our community here in Memphis! I’ve got a few pictures from Bible Club and I’m hoping to be able to post more from the yard work team soon.

Thanks to those who came out for Street Reach- Fall, you were a true blessing. 

 NATIONAL

  

GUERNSEY

Week 7- Calvary Church (Jr. High), Green Acres, Union Valley, Parkway Baptist

Leahy's

    This week at Leahy's we had an amazing group of junior high students from Calvary Church in St. Louis, MO. Not only was this a  week full of fun, it was also full of Jesus. This group was more than willing to do whatever the children enjoyed and they shared Jesus with them in the process. This week at games we really got an opportunity to tap into our older kids and have a three day long soccer game. At the end of the week the game ended in a tie and fun was had by all who participated. Then in crafts, which is always a favorite, was a big hit Thursday. The children took strips of bandannas and twisted them, then put beads on them to make necklaces. And then bible story for the younger ones was a relief at the end of a hard day of playing. No better way to end the day than with a whole lot of Jesus. A special thanks goes out to this team this week for being on fire for Christ. I love you all. - Sara

Leawood 

    This was a good week at Leawood. We grew from 36 to 47 this week. God is still showing up! The group in this week, Fellowship Baptist, had their first bible club experience this week. It was cool to see them grow. They grew in knowledge of how to run the site and by Tuesday they had it down! It was neat to see their interaction with the kids and their passion for them. 

    The kids are still opening up more and more each day. Since the majority of the children are younger, they don't talk very often. So many of them are smiling! Steve, Gissell, and Johanna's mom wasn't home when taking the kids home so we had an impromptu water day. The twins were so crazy and were having so much fun, it was a side of them that I had never seen before. The older kids are asking for more responsibilities, such as helping with lunch or water. I love seeing all of them mature before my eyes. 

    Be in prayer for this next and final week as we will travel over to the National site. The kids on Rhea, Isabelle and Wayne, will be over at the Treadwell site. God is always in control, so it will be an amazing end to the summer. -Matt 

Treadwell 

    Answered prayers-- Last summer being able to run 8 sites at one time was a huge deal, but this past week we were able to open our 11th site. Treadwell is our newest Bible Club, and I had the pleasure of running it with a new team from Union Valley Baptist Church in Oklahoma. The site is special because we've not been able to open a club on that side of town before now, but this week God made it happen. We started with 21 kids on Monday and by the end of the week we were running almost 40 kids with over 50 kids registered.

    A really neat story I'd like to share is about one of our families that we met. On Wednesday my team requested to put on yard work with a particular job in mind. I asked if I could tag along and visit a few of my kids. So, Jonathan and the team loaded up and off we went. I was surprised when we arrived because we were cutting grass for the family that I wanted to visit with. God is just really cool like that! 

    The kids were excited to see us there and all ran out for hugs, which we thought was really cool. Their mom came out to talk to us. I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with her while the yard crew was working. She couldn't grasp the concept of why the team wanted to come cut her grass for free and then tell her thank you for letting them. This was a cool way to bring an invitation to the gospel. At the end of our time at the house, Jonathan gave her a tract and was able to share the gospel with her again. She seemed really open and receptive, but wasn't quite sure about all that we'd shared with her. However we did get to pray with her before we left, and gave her a bible. 

    The best part of the story is that my team continued to love on her and the kids, and on Friday she told them that she understood and believed. Our plan is to do a lot of follow up and to hopefully get them to come to church with us. 

Thanks Union Valley- You did an amazing job! - Kacie 

Kippley 

    God has truly been at work at bible club Kippley this week! Having reached a new record of 46 kids being taught about Jesus Christ and expanding His reach to a larger group of older kids, I can't wait to see what God does next! Games this week was 100% amazing. The kids were engaged in such a way as I have yet to see. God blessed me with another great team from Union Valley Church, a small church from Oklahoma. They were incredible. Their beach music, surfboard and flip flop decorations, and beach balls gave an imaginative feel to our club site. A kid actually came up and told me to pretend that we were at the beach and that he was going swimming! And I must admit, seeing the 10 yearolds and up get dowsed with water was a great way to end the week! 

    Please be praying for us; we have one more week to share our LORD's love with these kids. Please ask God to send pure workers into this harvest field and that the harvest would indeed be plentiful. -Kaden 

Rosamond

    This week at Rosamond was an awesome experience. The blue team from Parkway Baptist in St. Louis, Missouri did a great job at Bible Club. We started the week out learning about Noah's Ark and the team let the kids act like the animals and go into an ark that they had built. Once the kids were in the ark, the team passed out water balloons for the kids to throw at the leaders who were not in Noah's family. On Thursday, we had Sarah from the bible show up at club site and we learned that she was 90 years-old and that she was about to have her first child. Each day in recreation, the team helped the kids get all of their wiggles out for the next rotation. At crafts, the children made a "happy hat" which they all started wearing and singing the Bible Club songs that we had sung earlier that day.  One of the coolest things was to see the kids each day come to club and have that sparkle in their eyes when Parkway told each of them that Jesus loves them, but so do they. The team really connected with the kids and the kids really enjoyed having you all in Memphis this week. Hope to see you all again next year. - Heather 

    

Week 6- FBC Sparta, FBC Greenwood, Calvary Baptist, and Old Shooting Creek Baptist

Whittier

    This week proved to be a fun, exciting, and powerful week. Old Shooting Creek Baptist Church was able to run Whittier this week and minister to the kids at the site. With the week after the holiday weekend, and Bible Club competing with air conditioning, Whittier started out the week averaging with 25 kids. However, God proved himself faithful and Old Shooting Creek Baptist Church and the strength of God almost doubled the amount of kids ministered to at the sites. This week helped show that God has specific times and purposes for the kids that he has at the Bible Club sites each and every day. From energetic, water filled games; to crazy "Hey!" chants; to sharing the message of God in personal and powerful ways. Old Shooting Creek Baptist Church was a blessing to the kids at the site and the staff in this awesome and exciting week. Thank you team Old Shooting Creek Baptist Church! - Josh

National 

 The summer so far has flown by and it is crazy to think that we only have two more weeks left with the children. This week Andrew was back at National.  However, he had to stay at Brinkley on Tuesday because his arms were covered in poison ivy. He got medicine and got his arms wrapped up and was back out on Wednesday. Once again the older kids were crushed that he was not there to hang out with them.  Our team this week was from FBC Sparta. They loved the kids from the second they met them. This week we had fewer kids but it lead to more intentional conversations and the team was able to pour into children who are sometimes overlooked. On Wednesday during bible story the gospel was shared to the children through the evangecube. Many of the older kids started asking lots of questions about salvation and the 5-8 year olds could tell you step by step what Jesus had done for them by the end of the day. On Friday the Rockwood route came back with a ton of kids and all the little girls from that street had their stomachs showing because they had their shirts rolled up and tied up. AT first I was frustrated with them….I thought these are five, six and seven year olds they do not need to look like teenagers in the neighborhood. The team girls and I kept telling them to untie and pull their shirts down all day. Finally I looked at five year old Darnesha and asked her why she was doing that. She said this is how you look pretty Miss Erica. I got the opportunity to talk to her and some of her sisters about real beauty. After that she said on Monday I am going to dress like you because you are pretty. Besides making my day that she said that, it was really cool to see God orchestrate that whole situation. Thanks to FBC Sparta’s willingness to serve it was an amazing week. - Erica 

Guernsey 

    This week at Guernsey we were joined by Greenwood! Thank you all for coming to serve our kids this week. You were all such a blessing. We started off the week with a small number of kids, because our site didn’t run last week. We had to build up our numbers this week and God did just that.  This was a very special week at Guernsey, because the older boys and girls wanted to have a “Talent Show.” Their rules were to create their own song about God, Jesus, or the Bible. Both, the boys and girls, worked very hard during their music time and free time each day to get ready for Friday. It was wonderful to see them all work together. They all have so much potential and it showed on Friday. The girls were first up and they made up a different beat to “Jesus loves me,” They had dancers, singers, a drummer, and all the children loved it. I even heard that the girls worked on their song after bible club was over, just so they could try and beat the boys. Next up were our older boys. The boys made up their very own rap. They had beat boxing, rapping, and the best part was all the boys were doing back flips, front flips, cartwheels, and back-hand springs. It was insane and so creative. In the end, the boys came out winning. It was really fun to watch the team members get involved with helping the kids out and get ready to go on Friday! 

This week we focused on the Armor of God. The team brought props to dress the kids in while telling the bible story.  My favorite part was watching Tryvon and Garry run around in the football “helmet of salvation.” The kids really enjoyed the game time this week too. They played a few water games, relays, tag, and even had some fun times having the older boys teach us all how to flip. Some of the girls on the team impressed Reggie and Jamal because they could do everything the boys did. It was fun to watch the boys’ faces. During our craft time the kids made a number of fun things. They made key chains, bracelets, necklaces, and even a new sign for the Guernsey site to hang up! God is really blessing Guernsey more and more each week. Continue to keep praying for our kids and the teams coming in. 

“How Beautiful Are The Feet Of Those Who Bring Good News!” Romans 10:15

-Michelle & Cole 

Kippley 

    This week was one giant "God momen"t at bible club Kippley. It is a brand new site ran for the first time ever this past week, and by Friday, 41 kids were being taught about Jesus and his love for them. I enjoyed getting to work with a team from back home, First Baptist Greenwood. It was crazy to see the amount of love poured out from this team, and you could see it in the children's eyes. I believe that their favorite part of the week was when two mighty warriors (team members Kelly and Brittney) charged out with their cardboard cut shields to teach them about God's shield of faith. That same day, the kids made a key chain with a shield on it that they would show up to bible club with every day for the rest of the week. Seeing all that God has done in one week brings these words from my heart: "bless the LORD, oh my soul! With all that is within me bless His holy name!" - Kaden 

Rosamond 2

      This week we had a team from Greenwood, Arkansas in and Rosamond 2 was able to run again! I knew it was going to be an interesting week since the site didn’t run last week, and this was only the second week that it had run.  We were able to look throughout the community for new kids that had never been to bible club before, and they had a great time! We got off to a slow start, but the site started growing quickly, and several kids were coming out. After trying to run bible club a certain way, the team decided that they wanted to try a different approach to how they ministered to the kids. We ended up splitting the older girls into one group, the older guys into one group, and all the younger kids into another group. Then the team did specific lessons for each of the groups, and things worked out great!!! The team was also very flexible this week as some of their members were moved to another site. With the fewer team members we had at our site, the more children showed up to bible club! God really showed His presence this week as we work with the children, and providing the most children Rosamond 2 has had yet! - Jonathan 

Kendrick

    We had yet another unbelievably awesome time and team at Kendrick this week! Kacie and I were back together again and Old Shooting Creek was back for a second year. God blessed us ALL despite the incredible heat. We never had less than thirty kids, and we had fifty-one on Friday! The kids learned more about the armor of God throughout the week in Bible story. They really enjoyed the interactive activities that went along with Scripture. You could tell that it was really getting through to the kids' heads and heart, and they grew happier every day. We also enjoyed their relentless smiles and laughs at games, where you never saw a kid sitting down! On Friday the team brought buckets of water and everybody (including myself) was thrilled to feel the cool splash of water on their faces after a particularly hot week. Crafts were also a hit; we never got away with letting a kid walk off site without their craft in hand! All in all, it was a miraculous week. New kids came out and we saw ones that hadn't come for weeks! God was so amazing in the love that shone at Kendrick this week. I can't wait to see what the next two weeks brings! -Holly

                   Leahy's 

    This week at Leahy’s was absolutely a blast. I had a wonderful team from First Baptist Greenwood from Greenwood, Arkansas come to serve with me.  From the minute they stepped on the club site never once did they complain.  They were so willing to serve Christ this week and it really, really showed. Even with the heat this team really was able to make relationships with the kids and make them want to come out and play. From Monday to Friday we never stopped having fun. Whether it was learning about the armor of God and dressing up with shields, swords, and helmets in bible story, making cool bracelets about Jesus for the kids to add to their jewelry collections in crafts, or doing water relays in games the kids learned so much.  By the end of this week our kids were left wanting more, more, more. Thank you FBC Greenwood for planting seeds and making our kids yearn for more Jesus. - Sara 

                  Rosamond 

    Rosamond had one of the teams from FBC Greenwood. The team was great about getting the kids and running our Rosamond BYBC site.  The team really connected with the children. Each day they focused on a different part of the armor of God. In bible story, they had games that related to the story and to the different parts of the armor. The kids really enjoyed having the Greenwood team at club. Can't wait to see you all next year! I really enjoyed working with you all. - Heather 

Leawood

    This was a good week at Leawood. The group was from Sparta and they were very passionate and loved the kids. The children could tell this and had an enjoyable time coming back each day. One cool thing with Leawood is we have a core group of about 30 kids that come each day. This core group has gotten comfortable with the other kids. The twins, Gissell and Johanna, have started speaking to me and smiling. Even though they speak in broken spanish and I can't understand it, I still think its awesome. Ana and Zoe have opened up a lot and have started to love on everyone! They run with arms up and a smile wanting to be held. These kids are amazing and had a blast this past week. We ran in the upper 30's each day and even had 12 new kids. It's great to see God move and work each week not only at Leawood, but at all the sites. Thanks Sparta for a wonderful week and stay in prayer for all of us! - Matt

Johnson

    We had an outstanding team from Calvary Baptist in Lilburn, GA. Monday we started out with 38 kids and by Friday we had 48 kids. Marqueta, Gabby and Jonathan's mom, departed of her sins and got saved. This was all of God's glory and has been a process through past teams. We are so grateful for your prayers and this salvation process. We were able to canvas new places and in result brought 8 new kids to the BYBC. I can't wait to see what God allows us to do these next two weeks. -BUCKET

  

    

Week 5- Lakewood Baptist, Journey Pointe, Yadkin Baptist, and Union Grove

Kendrick

    This week was awesome! First, I was back in my neighborhood with my kiddies that I missed last week, and secondly because I had the Yadkin team Kickin' it over at Kendrick!!! This church sent a team two years ago to work over in K-town with Eric and Tyler and this week they came back for more. The last time they were here Kendrick had not been running consistently, nor did it have the number of kids we've been finding ourselves with this summer. This is my favorite thing for a returning team to see. Without all of the work that Eric, Tyler, Jessi and the teams of past years had put in, Kendrick wouldn't be seeing the success you read about each week. Thanks to all the Kendrick teams and staff for your servanthood to my kiddos.

This week Nicki did a great job with the Bible story station! The kids seemed to really enjoy spending time with her. She even found herself a great helper in Xavier, who gave up games to stay in Bible Story.

Crafts were a big hit too, the kids loved showing me what they made each day. I even ended up with a few beautiful pictures that Tammy and Cha'Khia gave me. Thanks to Jordan, Teal, and Ethan for all of their hard work.

Mr. Keith was in charge of games and the kids loved playing with him. I caught him playing anything from jumprope and hula-hoop to soccer and bubbles. It was so fun watching him with the kids.

We did songs a little differently this week because we had such a small team, but we had such a fun time with Zachary and his guitar!  The kids seemed almost memorized by it and it was a great way to start or end club. Cody was a huge fan of Zach and they told me they were "living the suite life!"

I cannot forget Beth, the team leader and floater of the week. Anything that needed to happen, Beth was there. She was in games, story time, crafts, crowd control and songs... Wherever another hand was needed is where she'd go. We couldn't have done it without you! Thanks for your faithfulness to serve with us again.

Overall, I'd call it a successful week over at Kendrick. We started with 32 on Monday and consistently ran in the mid 40s the rest of the week. Another really cool thing that is happening is kids asking to help. Its especially neat to see all of our older kids listening really well and then helping tobdurect the younger ones. We've also been learning about servant leadership and how Christ, the son of God, humbled Himself to serve and then applying it to our actions at club. God has been so faithful to us and we praise His name for that. Come back next week for more from your Kendrick kiddos! - Kacie 

Rosamond 

    What an amazing week at Rosamond this week! God really proved himself to be beyond faithful. We started the week on Monday with 35 kids and ended with 105! Praise the Lord! The team from Union Grove was awesome and did great to adjusting to the number increase. We also saw a lot of children come to know Christ this week. God really blessed us all. We are so thankful that He supplied us with a wonderful team to minister to the children He brought. Wow. We are so amazed at the greatness of our God! Thank you so much Union Grove for being faithful year after year! See you again next year. - Michelle, Heather, and Jonathan 

National 

    Lakewood Baptist was a true blessing this week. If they did not come in this holiday week then the National and Leawood children would not have been ministered to. Matt was able to bring a ton of his kids from the neighborhood to National and most of the apartment kids, especially my personal favorite, Herman. It was really cool to have all the Leawood kids at National...most of them were little kids. 

    On wednesday we had 127 kids that were ministered to, 38 of them were 4 and under. It was crazy but that day was amazing. This week since Matt came, his brother Andrew was moved from National to Whittier to help run a staff site. The older kids were devastated that he wasn't there. It was sad to see the kids so frustrated but exciting to see that he had made that big of an impact. 

    Cj came one day this week and instead of throwing punches, he led songs in his station and participated in bible story. Shaneteria threw a fit after trying to walk home by herself. She ran of and pushed me when I tried to grab her hand. I put her in timeout and when we walked home she apologized to me. It was really cool to see her feel remorse and do that.

    It was an awesome week. God brought out 71 kids monday, 74 kids Tuesday, 127 kids wednesday, 112 kids thursday, and 104 kids friday. - Erica 

    It was really cool to have the opportunity to bring my Leawood kids over to National this week. Even though the kids had to walk a longer way, the kids kept coming! We peaked at 41 children on thursday. It was fun getting to walk with all those kids  because I usually stay on site when Leawood runs. 

    I got to get to know my children a little better this week. We were able to get the neighborhood and the apartment kids. We even had 7 new kids come while we were at National. It has truly been amazing to see God work at Leawood this summer, even when we are at a visiting site. - Matt 

Leahy's 

    This week at Leahy's was one exciting adventure. We had a wonderful team of 11 from Journey Pointe Church. Our week started off with 20 and ended with 52 children that were ministered to. Our club routine included a community bible story and then two stations, crafts and games. This returning team did an awesome job of reconnecting with last year's kids and making great new relationships with some of our newer kids. Our games included relays and some great freeplay. The craft were phenomenal and included some paint, some t-shirts and a whole lotta fun! Thanks for a great week Journey Pointe, YOU ALL ROCK! - Sara