Church of the Servant

The team has made it after driving since the early morning to Memphis! They’ll grab a bite to eat, settle in and have orientation tonight to talk through the week. We’ll be splitting up into 4 groups with multiple unique ministry sites each day, and can’t wait to share more!

pictures to come! 

We’ve got a crew at the children’s home this morning! A few of us are packing up their library and others are cleaning out a relief house. Children from all over the state who need a safe place to live come here and are put into a relief house with a house Mom and dad, who raise them alongside other children just as a family. The location we are at is consolidating, so we are helping with the move! 

We’ve got a crew at the children’s home this morning! These ladies are rocking it at cleaning out the library and it’s hundreds of books! 

We’ve got a great group helping out at a wonderful local church called Monument of Love . A few ladies are currently making phone calls on behalf of MOL and an event called UNITE Memphis, where the goal is to get local churches of all backgrounds to join together to celebrate Dr Martin Luther King and complete 50 projects together. Another group is helping to scrape tile off the floors in a few classrooms to get ready for new flooring at the church so they can host more classes and groups! 

 Another group is out doing some community outreach in the neighborhood surrounding MOL inviting them to join in for Easter Sunday services and get involved in the church as well. Our last group is spending time doing homework help and tutoring over at an apartment complex and church, where pastor James has asked for us to pour into their students. 

Rev Gillard is prepping us to prayer walk. We’re going around inviting people to Easter service at MOL and offering to pray for whatever needs they have today. These students are stepping out of their comfort zones and rocking it! 

One small group went and partnered with an organization called Clean Memphis, where they help clean up abandoned properties, help residents who can’t keep up with their own yards, and facilitate a variety of other projects. This group spent Monday assisting with yard clean up as well as visiting a local nursing home. When neighborhoods here look run down and dilapidated, people don’t want to spend time there. This org works to turn that around so it’s a safe and fun environment for all. 

This group spent their day at Winchester Elementary with Principal Childress amd her wonderful teachers and students. We helped students one on one and in groups, from kindergarten to 5th grade. We had a great time connecting with the students and helping teachers out. They are looking forward to the group tomorrow as well.

Before dinner, we had a little extra time and got to enjoy the beautiful weather and the Mississippi River. 

We have several birthdays in the group this week, so tonight we celebrated with cake and singing!

This morning a crew is helping again at pastor Joyce’s, removing tile to make and way for new flooring and an updated space! Peyton, drew, Ethan, johnathan and Bryce all worked hard to do the heavy lifting in the room so we could keep chipping at the tile. 

This morning a group got to go to a local food pantry and shelter where they helped prepare a meal and served it to the community. This afternoon they are heading to visit a local nursing home to love on the residents there, and then spending time at a church later helping out pastor James and his congregation. 

Today we are working along side a Restor that funds Habitat for Humanity. So glad we are able to help with the need to just straighten things out.

A new team was able to go spend time with pastor Joyce and brother Keith in their neighborhood today. We got the chance to pray for many people, invite them to Easter service and a free breakfast! It was definitely new for us, but enjoyable and we had a lot of fun. 

Tonight we sang and prayed together, and Hillary and Ethan shared about their missions experience and what it means to serve, whether you’re on a trip or if you’re at home in your community. They did an awesome job! 

Today a group got to go to a place called Caritas village. Ms. Onie runs the nonprofit that focuses on building bridges between race, socioeconomic status, and overall bringing community together. Her center is located in the most diverse neighborhood in Memphis, and we were able to hear more about her heart and what they do in the community. The center is currently being gutted and renovated to reopen later this spring to allow for more space for gatherings. 

We are spending our last day in Memphis learning more about the civil rights movement. We went to the museum right in downtown Memphis, which is attached to the Lorraine motel where revolutionary civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed in 1968. 

We we were humbled going through the exhibits are enjoyed learning more. 

Now we are going to get some Memphis BBQ! 

Our time in TN has come to an end. We had a great week filled with education, ministry and a lot of fun. The team woke up at 530 this morning and and were packed up and hit the road at 6am. We can't wait to share our stories with you once were back home! 

Thanks COSHI!