Rosamond
Street Reach Week 2 at Bible Club Rosamond was another fantastic success! The team from Green Forest United Methodist Church spared no fiber of being when it came to pouring out themselves for the kids. Every day at Bible club was another chance to show Christ’s love. The kids thoroughly enjoyed Ultimate Frisbee and singing about Jesus, the Rock, who rolls our blues away. It was amazing to see the change of heart in the older kids on Thursday and Friday, when the day before they were especially disobedient. Years from now this will be a week they can look back on when searching for a precedent to determine whether to act rightly or wrongly. I Cannot wait to see what our wonderful God has in store for next week. -Kaden
Whittier
It was a hot week in Memphis, but hot weeks can be the sweetest! I mean, think about it, these kids choose to come hang out with us in the blazing heat—there must be something attractive going on! This week Green Forest United Methodist Church came and loved on Whittier. It was such a joy to serve with them! Despite the heat we had around 40 kids come hang with us every day! This week we talked a lot about prayer and this sparked some incredible conversations on our site. Some of the sweetest moments have been our prayer times before lunch. It has been so sweet to see the kids, especially the older ones who tend to keep to themselves, open up and ask for prayer for themselves and others. We were able to pray over a sweet little boy at our site who has a brain disease and for his doctors to have wisdom as they try to determine how to treat it. Another touching moment happened with that little boy’s older brother. We were in Bible story and he asked, “What are we supposed to do when someone jumps us?” My heart broke as we sat there and talked and all but three of my older guys told me of times they had been jumped by other neighborhood kids. We talked about what Jesus had to say on these things and my deepest desire is that over the span of this summer that these boys would see that even though the cost of following Jesus is high, it’s worth it. Please pray for these boys—pray that they would “drop their nets” and follow Jesus. Pray for the little boy with the disease—pray that God would heal him and be glorified in his life! Pray for wisdom for Hannah, Ariel, and I as we lead and love our site. Pray for next week’s team! Glory to God alone.
-Lauren
Pope
Pope was such a great place this week! Silverdale came back for a second summer and continued their trend of hitting top numbers at Pope with 56 kids hearing the Word on Friday! The team members even continued friendships with the kids they had started last year. I know so many kids were blessed with having Silvderdale in this week and being loved on in such a wonderful way. Many seeds were planted, watered, and even bloomed this week with a few kids making decisions to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Continue to pray for Pope as it runs this next week and that more and more kids come to know the Lord and those who did make decisions continue to grow and desire to learn more. I am truly blessed at what God is doing this summer at Pope and thankful for Silverdale to help build the momentum for the next six weeks.
-Aimee
-Aimee
National
“The A Team” teamed up to run National this week which was made up of staff and missionary in trainings (MITs). MITs are jr. high and early high school students from the community that attend Brinkley Heights Urban Academy (BHUA) and wanted to lead, and in their own words they wanted to be an MIT to see kids in their very community come to Christ. What a beautiful picture of the harvest being reaped! This week at National our focus for the week was all about prayer. It was sweet to teach the kids coming to club all about prayer because National has been covered in prayer throughout the years and prayer is a huge testimony to why National is still continuing to be a Bible club site. Throughout the week we focused on praying to our Father, the Lord’s prayer, and what it means to pray continually. The kids took time during Bible story to specifically pray for the missionaries that are coming the next six weeks of the summer and the ways they would be ministered to because of the missionaries. They then made cards for each of the teams working National the remainder of the summer that can be given to each team to know that they have been prayed for. How beautiful is it that kids that we are loving and bringing Christ to and praying for are the ones that are praying for us as missionaries to do that effectively equipped by the Spirit. I am thankful that National was able to stay open this week and for the 45 kids that came to be loved with the love of Christ. Be praying that the children would continue devoting themselves to prayer (Colossians 4:2). Glory to God for another wonderful, Christ filled week at National!
-Gaby
Guernsey
What another great week at Guernsey! Returning team Silverdale Baptist Church came in excited to get back out on the streets, sharing the love of Christ with the kids and community. Despite the heat, the team stayed energized throughout the entire week, working harder every day. The joyful, servant-like spirits of the team members brought tons of kids out, breaking this summer's record with 69 kids at Bible Club on Friday! The week was full of exciting events. Multiple kids prayed seriously to ask Jesus into their hearts, the stations were constantly full of fun and creative activities, and Channel 3 News even showed up one day to do a feature on Street Reach! It was so cool to see the kids interacting with the Silverdale students. The team truly reached out to the Guernsey kids with love, friendship, and a living example of Christ. You could tell that the Bible Club kids were watching the way they lived closely and wanting to find how their own lives could be changed. So many awesome conversations about living as a follower of Christ happened this week. Thank you SO much, Silverdale, for answering the call to come to Memphis! We can't wait to continue seeing the fruits of this week.
-Holly
-Holly
Leahy’s
Leahy’s was a staff run site this past week. We had forty kids one day, and really got to use the week as a time to learn and experiment with different Bible club techniques. Little Jacquelynne has decided to start teaching Spanish during lunch, and DJ has been going home and telling his father the Bible stories. We very much look forward to next week and having a team at Leahy’s again.
-Rachael
-Rachael
Johnson
We had an amazing week with First Southern Baptist Church! There were even more new kids that came out this week, and we had an average of 35 kids that attended club. The team had a mixture of middle and high school students and they were about to encounter urban missions for the very first time. This was an awesome experience to watch the change in the lives of the Bible club kids, and the team members throughout the week. The team saw just how much the children and the community needed Christ, and they poured His love into the kids. New areas were covered this week as well, and the kids from there were so excited about coming to Bible club. We even saw kids from other sites that had moved to the area, which we didn’t know if we would see again. There is such a great need to invest in the kids with every moment we have, because we do not know if we will get another day with them. The kids learned about prayer this week from the team, and found the importance in being connected with God. We had many opportunities to share with the kids what the Bible says about prayer, and how we can draw near to God because of what Christ has done for us on the cross! Praise God for the wonderful group we had this week, and I am praying for the next group that will be coming to serve at Johnson.
-Jonathan
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. -Colossians 4:5-6
The Word of God is the only thing to remain and the only way to sum up perfectly these weeks here at Street Reach. These verses ring out because the missionaries this week continually loved, continually shared the gospel, and continually were the salt and light in this community.
Be praying for next week as Street Reach faces it's biggest week yet. 12 sites will be open, hundreds of kids will be covered in the Lord's love, and 200 missionaries will be pouring themselves out into this community. Jesus is going to be reigning all over the streets of Memphis this next week just as He was this past week. All praise, honor, glory, and power to our Heavenly Father for the hope that is rising in Memphis!
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