When Partnerships Get Personal

Pine Cove Executive Director, Mario Zandstra, called Trey Hill five years ago and said, "Trey, we'd like to figure out a way to partner with you guys."  Partnering always sounds so business-like to me.  When one organization partners with another organization, I've always considered it a theoretical way of connecting names with one another to have something to show on an annual report.  Oh how misguided I've been! 

Each year, Pine Cove Outback adds an extra week to their summer camp to give hundreds of Mercy Street kids the opportunity to experience the thrills of camp all to themselves.  As our buses pull into the camp grounds located in Columbus, Tx, hundreds of counselors (exhausted from an entire summer of service) are jumping up and down and cheering wildly to welcome our kids from the city.  They pursue each and every student throughout the week and do everything in their power to make sure each person feels uniquely special and infinitely loved by both their camp counselor and Creator. 

That one week of experiencing the tangible love of Christ from such a selfless staff--not to mention the excitement of ziplines and late night pool parties and campfires in such a beautiful setting--was enough to begin changing my view of the "impersonal partnership".  But the personal impact of Pine Cove on the lives of our individual students has gone so much deeper than I imagined.  Sarah Koch, the counselor for our senior girls cabin, has continually texted and written the girls in her cabin throughout the year to encourage them and tell them she was praying for them.  She's also begged me (the one who assumed camp counselors forgot the names of all their kids after a week back in every-day-life) to bring them to College Station so they could share life with her and her roommates at A&M.  

The girls and I took the road trip this past weekend and were welcomed once again by a screaming Sarah on the verge of excitement-filled tears.  She bought everyone tickets to attend the campus-wide Songfest, where we watched all the different sororities compete in a dance competition.  She stayed up late and cooked breakfast and spent her entire weekend laughing with us, encouraging us, overflowing with warmth and hospitality. 

Triana, Ikea, Summer, Laura and I will never forget our weekend with Sarah.  It turns out partnerships are another way of saying, "We want to merge our lives with your lives so that the love of Jesus might be tangibly expressed in a more intimate way than way than it could be if we went about our service in isolation."  The girls and I are dripping with gratitude for Sarah Koch, for Mario Zandstra, and for every other Pine Cover who has chosen to share life with us.  How Christ must beam when He sees His people joining hands across cultures to serve Him in unity, as one family. 

Growing Old Today

I was recently on a flight home, and as I was scoping the plane to see who was about to be thousands of feet in the air with me, a precious little old lady caught my eye. I looked at her silver hair, wrinkled hands and delicate frame, and I wondered what she thought about when she looked back on years past. I imagined in that moment, that she didn't care how much money she had or what her body had looked like or how many people were enamored by her success. I imagined she cared only about how well she had loved those she'd known through the years.

I spend a lot of time thinking about the kind of old person I hope to become one day: I have a clear image of this sweet little old lady in my head. I think about her daily. She's a sarcastic pistol who is oozing with grace and compassion, with a warm home open to any lost wanderer or wounded soul. I envision a woman who pours herself out for the lonely, the rejected--a woman who embodies the mercy and love of Jesus Christ and creates a space for others to just exhale. But I know I won't become that kind of old woman if I'm not choosing to be that kind of woman now. I know the choices I make today dictate the kind of woman I will eventually become. We don't naturally morph into godly, selfless people. So while I might be far from the sweet little old lady in my mind, I keep her image before me as a compass for how to use my time, energy, and resources right now.

I share all this only to ask  you the question: when you picture the kind of person you hope to become one day, what does he or she look like? What do you hope you'll be able to say about the life you've lived? Most of us hope to be the kind of people who poured ourselves out for others, the kind of people who took seriously the call: "Unto whom much has been given, much shall be required." It's so easy for the truly vital parts of life-- uninterrupted conversation, car rides filled with stories, listening to someone who feels invisible--to be swept aside in the name of responsibilities. While different seasons obviously place different constraints on us all, my prayer is that you'll evaluate ways you might be able to pour yourself out now, in this very season of your life. And if you're looking for a place to invest yourself in the lives of those who are hungry, we have a desperate need for more genuine believers to come alongside the precious group of high school students who are opening up their hearts every Tuesday night at Mercy Street. Here's to being--right now--the kinds of people we hope to become!

Future Story Event

When you were in high school, what were your greatest hopes and dreams for your future?  Did you want to be a doctor? A lawyer? A missionary? A teacher? Were you paralyzed by indecision or fearful of the unknown? Were you hungry for some people to come alongside you to guide you in the practical steps of what it would look like to leap from your awkward high school days into a thriving career?

On Tuesday October 30 at 6:30pm, all of these questions will be echoed throughout the halls of Mercy Street. Our hope is to create a fun environment for our students to share their dreams and connect with people whose shoes they hope to walk in one day. We will have presenters from a variety of fields there to share with our students: teachers, cosmetologists, coaches, lawyers, police officers, doctors, and a host of other professionals. We'd be honored if you would join us for this exciting night!  More than that, we would love for you to consider leading a workshop to inform students on choices they can begin making to follow in your footsteps to a fulfilling career.

If you plan to attend with your mentee or you're interested in sharing with our students, please email Julie. We're excited to see our students come to life as their dreams begin to shape into a realistic path.

Back to School Rally

We're celebrating at Mercy Street as we launch into another school year! A new year means a clean slate for many of our summer interns who have responded to Christ's call to discipleship; it means a fresh opportunity to begin living out some of the life-changing lessons they learned over the summer.  For other students, it means another year of returning to the same demons that faced them last year: old hook-ups, competitive friends, battles with academia, and countless other obstacles that face the youth of the 21st century.

Our hope at Next Phase is to create a space for all the high school students in West Dallas to walk through our doors, get bear hugs and high fives, and to feel free to let their guards down for just a little while. Our prayer is that they'll have a place to come and be known for who they are, beyond all the fronts and facades they're forced to create to get by.

The main place this will take place throughout the year is at our Next Phase Bible Study on Tuesday nights. We meet at 6:30pm at Mercy Street every Tuesday night for dinner and fellowship. Then we move into a time of teaching the Scriptures, followed by age and gender specific small groups. It's become a family for many of our students, where they feel safe to open up about things they've never shared with another soul their entire lives. It's also just a blast because we laugh enough to get a workout every time!

The year long Bible study will begin with our Back to School Rally next Tuesday, September 11th. We're encouraging all our high school students, along with their mentors and parents, to join us for a kick-off party, where we'll roll out the plan for the upcoming year. Please join us! If you think you might be able to attend, RSVP to Julie@mercystreetdallas.org. Also, if you're interested in providing a meal for one of our Tuesday night Bible studies this year, we would LOVE IT. There is definitely a need and it's the ideal way for you to catch a glimpse of the Lord's hand moving at Mercy Street!

Homeless, but not without Hope

Thirteen students and four adults walked into Mission Waco last weekend for a Poverty Simulation with all the essential items: new Air Jordan's, iPhones, and Chili Cheese Fritos, among other necessities. Imagine our shock after the opening speech from co-founder, Janet Dorrell, when we were told we could choose four items to keep for the whole weekend. FOUR. I quickly huddled with some of the other leaders and devised a plan involving shared deodorant sticks, water bottles, backpacks, tooth brushes (yes, tooth brushes) and all the other items that we've never dreamed of sharing. 

We were then taken to the thrift store where we purchased our weekend uniform: one shirt, one pair of pants, and one pair of shoes (slim pickins left most of us in old school loafers that didn't fit, though some lucky boys landed ballet flats). We were all prepared for a miserable weekend of no sleep on the roots outdoors, exhaustion in the 108 degree Waco weather, and endless complaining from the teenagers we'd dragged along with us. What we weren't prepared for was the invitation to experience life from a whole new perspective--an uncomfortable perspective that would draw our team closer as a family and fix our gaze on the God who's deserving of our unwavering worship and gratitude.

Over the course of the weekend, we spent hours wandering around aimlessly in the sun searching for food. We received what was given to us, whether it was chips for breakfast or cold taquitos from a gas station attendant. We learned about the dire circumstances of those living in poverty around the world as we listened to Jim and Janet Dorrell share stories about their dear friends in India, Haiti, and Mexico. We wrestled mosquitos swarming around us as we tried to sleep, drank out of a communal water hose, and discovered we didn't need our cell phones and iPods after all. 

The weekend ended with Church Under the Bridge on Sunday morning, where hundreds of people joined one another in worship underneath I-35 to sing songs and read the Scriptures together. There were homeless people, ex-convicts, and middle class country folk all joining hands across the aisles. Many of us shared tears as we listened to a mentally disabled man singing "Jesus Loves Me" impromptu on stage, as drool ran down the sides of his lips and the band played softly in the background. It was truly a worshipful experience, all of us singing to the Creator who calls us "valuable" simply for who we are, rather than how we look or what we do. 

What was most exciting for us leaders were the words we heard out of the mouths of our students during our weekend together. We didn't hear one complaint about the blisters rubbing their feet raw; all we heard were their epiphanies about how much they have to be grateful for. Rather than feeling sorry for themselves, they were constantly empathizing with those who experience poverty on a much greater scale every day of their lives--often caused by the negligence of others. We know that greater awareness means we're more responsible for our choices, but our students are walking into that responsibility with a desire to enter into the suffering of others with empathy and hope. 

Forgive our sins, as we forgive everyone who has done wrong to us.  And keep us from being tempted.  – Luke 11:4

This past week we had a beautiful opportunity to put this verse into practice.  Last Monday, we were able to visit a local Goodwill and learn about their many community development projects beyond simply their thrift store.  Unfortunately there were some miscommunications about the rules and we did not conduct ourselves in a way that best represents our priorities, Mercy Street, or most importantly, the Lord.  While this was not an experience to celebrate, we can most certainly praise God for teaching us a valuable lesson and growing our character through it all.

Forgive our sins…

It was important that we asked for forgiveness for the areas where we had fallen short.  For several of the interns, this was a new skill to develop.  It takes a bold combination of humility and courage to walk up to someone and admit your faults, but this morning, all of the interns dressed up, headed over to Goodwill, and handed Ms. Georgette Caldwell hand-written letters of apology, as well as their salaries from Monday as a token of their sincerity.

…as we forgive everyone who has done wrong to us.

As we considered how much God loves us and how much He has already forgiven us, we knew it was important to offer forgiveness to Goodwill.  Before heading over, we even got to discuss the idea of forgiving those who aren’t asking for forgiveness or who aren’t repentant.  How often do we ignore our own sin, yet through His work on the cross, Jesus has even forgiven us of the sins we’re unaware we committed.

And keep us from being tempted.

This last part of the verse is often separated from the part about forgiveness, but I think it shows an important piece of the repentance process.  “May I not be drawn back into my sin.”  We praise God for forgiving us of the sins we have yet to commit, but I praise Him even more that He gives us the strength and power to not sin as we used to.  If we ask for forgiveness, but do nothing to change our behavior, it doesn’t appear as though we are truly repentant.  Today when we apologized to Goodwill, we also made a commitment to change our ways and act more respectfully in the future.

Thanks be to God for making a way for us to be reconciled to Him and reconciled to our fellow brothers and sisters.  Praise His Name for healing our relationship with Goodwill and bringing us back together.  We thank Him for teaching us about repentance and forgiveness, lessons that are not easy to learn and therefore often skipped over.  We are also grateful this truth found in Psalm 103:8-12:

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,

     slow to anger, abounding in love.

He will not always accuse,

     nor will he harbor his anger forever;

he does not treat us as our sins deserve

     or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

     so great is his love for those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west,

     so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

We have officially reached the halfway point of the summer.  It’s remarkable to consider all that God has done so far and how we still have five more weeks to experience His good pleasure through this Leadership Institute.  We’ve been able to experience 19 different speakers, dinner in the home of three Mercy Street staff members and their families, six field trips, and over 50 different elementary-schoolers coming to Super Thursdays.  We’ve addressed such themes as the Gospel, how to live out our faith, global missions, and Biblical manhood and womanhood.

It’s hard to believe that five weeks have already slipped by, but when I think back on bank trips, church visits, and a day at the waterpark, I wonder how everything fit into such a short amount of time!

At the beginning of the summer, Garrett read to us several passages of Scripture about singing a new song to the Lord and challenged each of us to sing a new song to God this summer.  It’s been encouraging to watch students turn over new leaves as they choose to sing a new song.  They are choosing to spend a summer pursuing Christ instead of pursuing destructive passions.  They are choosing to serve and not to be served.  They are choosing to be lights in dark places.

Praise God for His relentless love and for His transformational grace.  Please pray that the interns will continue to “drop their nets” in the pursuit of Christ and that they will choose to sing a new song this summer.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.  And be thankful.  Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.  And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.  – Colossians 3:15-17

Morning Devotional Time.  One students shared this week how we can't be true leaders if we're not spending time each day to listen to the Lord.

A visit to Watermark

Volunteering at Brother Bill's Helping Hand

A Trip to the Bank and a Super Thursday

While there are many reasons to smile when reflecting on this week, two experiences stand out as paramount.  The first was our visit to Wells Fargo and the other, our official beginning of Super Thursdays.

On Tuesday we all loaded up in cars and made our way to the bank where several interns were able to open their first ever bank accounts.  Ms. Millicent Lavine was kind enough to explain the differences between a bank and a quick cash store, the importance of budgeting and keeping track of your own finances, and how to save money.  She also shared what it is like to work at a bank and what it would take for a student to become a bank teller.  These were all valuable lessons and it was neat to see their faces as they absorbed all the new information.  It was such an encouragement to hear interns who had been planning to spend all of their money on a new outfit suddenly have a desire to save their hard-earned dollars.

Praise the Lord for a successful Super Thursday kick-off and the 26 elementary students who came to participate.  For those of you scratching your head and wondering, “Didn’t Super Thursday start last week?” the answer is YES!  However, last week was more of a fun day to get the kids excited while the program, complete with Bible studies, dramas, worship, games, crafts, and more, officially began yesterday.  The interns did an incredible job of engaging their young neighbors and teaching them about Jesus.  These future leaders of West Dallas showed their commitment to service as they died to themselves[1] and their own desires in order to make children feel welcome and safe.

Please pray that the Lord would continue to teach the interns about servant-leadership as they grow closer to the One who allowed himself to be the slave to all[2].  Join us in praying that each and every intern would have an encounter with God this summer that creates in them a desire to leave everything behind for the sake of following Jesus[3].  Praise God for all of the amazing opportunities He has brought to the intern program and for the way the Spirit is already transforming lives.  Praise Him for all of the work He is going to do in the hearts of His people this summer!

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.  – Philippians 1:6

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[1] Luke 9:23

[2] Mark 10:43-45; Philippians 2:5-8

[3] Luke 5:11

Week 2 – The Fast Facts:

 

Theme: The Gospel

Speakers:

-       Richard Triggs

-       Jerry Wagner

-       Jill Beard

-       Johnny Fusilier

-       Rachel Kramer

-       Jill Harmeyer

Office Spaces Cleared for Cleaning/Remodeling: 9+

Bike Mileage: 50+

Week 2 was another wonderful week as we learned about the Gospel and how to share this Good News with others.  We also finally got to begin working with some of the elementary-schoolers who come to Mercy Street.  This began on Monday with the kids coming for reading camp.  We read stories with the children, played games, and even had the opportunity to go to the pool and teach some kids how to swim!  On Thursday, we kicked off our “Super Thursday!” program.  Every week, 5^th-graders and younger are invited to join us as we dig into the Gospel of Mark through Bible studies, free food, and lots of fun!  The interns did a wonderful job starting these special Thursdays off with a game day.  Check out some pictures of everyone playing dodgeball and enjoying board games under the beautiful shady trees: