Where the Gospel Meets Real Life

We've been so impressed with the maturity we're seeing in a number of our high school students over the past year! It's crazy to watch some of these kids who have been a part of Mercy Street since they were in the 4th grade, growing into adults who are making responsible choices that will effect their entire lives.

For instance, one of our precious students just received her driver's license the day before her 18th birthday. She is the first person in her entire family to take on the responsibility of getting her license. She took the bus to Desoto for her driver's ed course for several months, begged people to evaluate her progress on a regular basis, went through the long and arduous process of working with the DPS for several weeks, and finally passed her driving test this past week. She cried as she left the DPS because she was so proud of herself for taking the difficult steps in order to become a responsible adult!

It was such a blessing to watch her mentor leading her through the process, just like so many other mentors are walking their students through the steps of applying for colleges or going into the military. They are beautiful images of the holistic ministry we're seeking to do here in West Dallas. It's extremely valuable to teach our kids the Word and to encourage them to follow Jesus first and foremost. But we're also hoping to walk alongside them in all the practical ways that will help our kids flourish into responsible adults. The Gospel of Jesus encompasses the spiritual and the physical, and we seek to embody the way of Christ in both realms as well.

Students becoming Teachers

We're continuing to be blown away by the depth of spiritual growth occurring in our high school students! One of our girls recently started a Bible study at her school. It wasn't long before a teacher, who doesn't know the Lord, began attending the study. After a few weeks of Bible study she said, "This is incredible! I so wish I had heard all of this when I was your age." 


I gasped in wonder. Those are the kinds of things we dream about when we start discipling young people! This particular girl actually came to know Jesus through her relationship with her mentor. We don't share that to sound like we're doing anything special, we're simply pointing students to the One who rescues. We're just blessed to do that alongside so many solid leaders who pour their lives out for our precious kids. Speaking of awesome leaders, meet Anna Jones. She has been heavily invested in our high school girls for over 2 years. She's a ball of fun and a solid woman of the Lord. Leaders like her are the reason we're seeing our students coming to life. 


My name is Anna Jones. I am a Registered Dietitian for the City of Dallas WIC Program (Women, Infants, and Children), where I get to help women and children learn about nutrition and health. I just got back from Kenya on a mission trip with my church, The Village. This was an eye-opening experience and I am praying for the Lord's direction in my life. I love coffee, getting to know people, frozen yogurt, experiencing different cultures, listening to music, walking (outside, to the grocery store, or wherever), being around my close friends, dancing and being silly. What brings me most joy in life is remembering who Christ is and what Christ has done for me. When I reflect back on all that Christ has done in my life, I'm overwhelmed. I am grateful that the Lord allows me to be a part of His big plan of drawing others to Himself. That is humbling. I love being with the High School students at Mercy Street. It really brings me so much joy to be around those girls because: 1) I get to see all of the individual/unique and purposeful personalities God created. They are each so beautiful and talented. 2) I am challenged constantly by them. Either with hard questions about the Bible or by just observing humility in their own lives. They also send me amazing texts with Scripture almost everyday, which is very encouraging. 3) They are FUN to be around. They make me laugh all the time. 4) I love seeing what God is doing in their own lives as well as how God uses these girls to change me and draw me closer to Him.

Meet Shasta!

Our small group leaders are one of the driving forces that make our high school ministry so dynamic. We're blessed to have some of the coolest, most solid men and women of God who pour themselves into our students all week, every week. We want to introduce you to a different one each week so you know who's working with your friends, mentees, students and children. This week, I introduce to you the vibrant ball of energy that is Shasta Patton: 

I graduated from Clark Atlanta University in 2010 with a degree in Radio/TV/Film and a minor in sports broadcasting. Music and sports are my passion!!! I played basketball for 12 years and have worked with professional teams and networks such as: Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Braves, Fox Sports, etc. I also write and produce all types of music as well. My ultimate goal is to win souls over to Christ through the entertainment industry via Radio/Tv/Film.  The media is so negative and our society's moral values have completely deteriorated. However, I believe that I was Chosen to start holding our generation accountable and winning souls over by reaching out to large masses at one time. Sports and Music has been the devils playground for the last decade....well I plan on changing that!

Which is why I really enjoy working with Mercy Street, It's a direct connection! I'm not only helping out these young people but they are stretching me in so many areas as well. Im yearning to connect with each of them deeply and also be a positive female role model that society rarely highlights.
Only what we do for Christ will last, and serving is what I was placed on this earth to do. I pray that God uses all of us to make these young people's lives a little easier and bring them hope. Prayerfully they'll be able to see Christ more and more each week.

High School Bible Study

We are growing deep and wide in our Tuesday night Bible Study! The depth is coming from both the focused lessons written by Mercy Street staff, and the vibrant faith of our amazing small group leaders.

We spent the month of September on the topic of Friendship. We believe that bad company corrupts good morals, so we wanted to start the year off by challenging our students to FIND good friends and to BE good friends.  The month of October will be devoted to discussion surrounding Faith. We will start by addressing WHY we need a Savior, then spend a couple weeks discussing what a vibrant faith looks like practically. The first three Tuesdays of every month we eat together, play some games, have a short talk that frames our lesson, and then spend about an hour fleshing things out in small group settings. The LAST Tuesday of every month is a PARTY night where we take the kids out for fun and fellowship. Our prayer is that the laid back change of scenery will give the leaders opportunities to establish deeper bonds with our students through Christ-filled conversation and lots of laughter.

We would LOVE for you to get involved in our Bible studies! Mentors, students, parents and friends are all welcome to come hang out with us as we lock arms and walk toward Jesus.

Preview of the next several posts: Small Group Leader bios! We couldn't be more thrilled about the quality of leaders the Lord has led to Mercy Street. You'll have the opportunity to get a glimpse into their lives here on our blog in the weeks to come.

The God Who Provides

I saw an old white man with a long beard and faded collar shirt, screaming in the intersection of Hampton and Singleton the other day.  On the other corner was a young guy in his twenties with a long beard and nasty backpack, screaming and stumbling and obviously strung out on something.  Just the night before I’d watched a car pull up to my neighbor’s house – the man was feigning for meth and they cussed and threatened each other’s lives in the name of the precious drug.  I thought about some friends who abuse prescription drugs so heavily that they’re no longer mentally or emotionally present in our conversations; they’re walking zombies.

The scenes running through my mind only perpetuated my feelings of hopeless about the state of our world.  There’s tragedy on every corner of every neighborhood in the world.  So many people who are abused – physically, sexually, emotionally, verbally.  So many kids are abandoned; whether by dads who bolt at birth or workaholic parents who don’t know the children who sleep in their home.  So many people are suffering from mental illness while others are enslaved to addictions they never intended to start.  All of us our victims and perpetrators, wounded and wounding.

 

I thought about how mentors sign up to meet some of the specific needs of our community in West Dallas, but then mentors have their own burdens that keep distance between them and their students.  Then my shortcomings came to mind and I was discouraged by my inability to do more for our high school girls.  I passed Fiesta, then Pinkston, then the homes in Lakewest, and I felt utterly hopeless for the tragedies of our world to turn around.  Sometimes it feels like the cycle of selfishness is carried by each of us and breathed onto everyone around us, and it can all feel so helpless.  

Our God is the God who provides. That ray of truth burst through my hopeless cloud and brought my cynical thoughts to a halt.  Initially I thought to myself, “Yeah right God.  You’re going to provide new dads for all the abandoned kids in the world?”  And I felt the weight of the truth that our God is the Father who provides for His children.  I tend to reject that idea because I’ve heard it misused so many times – as if God is a big piggy bank who pours out coins on his children when they behave.  But when I choose to reject the TRUTH that our God is a God who provides, I’m choosing to deny the power of Christ’s sacrifice for us.  

I thought about the story of Abraham, where he explicitly refers to God as his provider.  His conversation with his son, Isaac, is such a startling yet refreshing story of faith.  As they were heading up to the altar to offer a sacrifice, Isaac said to his dad: "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"  And Abraham replied, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." (Genesis 22)  Ultimately, God did provide the lamb for that offering – and it’s a foreshadowing of the offering He provides for every single human being to ever walk the face of the earth.  The offering is Jesus Christ, who came in human form, to defeat death and extend an invitation for us to rise with Him in the newness of life.

Because Jesus came to dwell among us, He provided a way out of the addictions that hold us in their grips of death.  Because Jesus died on our behalf, He provided a way for those of us who are drowning in despair to find life.  Jesus provided the ability for us to get off ourselves long enough to enter into someone else’s life – to love them right where they are, in the middle of their mess.  Jesus provided a way for us to share in His work of redemption in the lives of individual students in West Dallas even when we feel like we don’t have any time or answers.  God has provided everything we need to follow Him wholeheartedly and serve the world around us.  The answer is to run after Jesus with all our hearts; to live like He lived and value the things He valued. It seems like an impossible task until we remember He's already made the way for us. 

Keepin' it Real

She gasped and her clasped her hand to her mouth: “You did WHAT?!”  I’d just opened up to a mentor of mine about the messy situation I was in and suddenly wanted to crawl out of the window and ride in the trunk until we reached Chick-fil-a.  I started sweating the moment I saw the shock on her face – that was precisely the response I was so horrified to receive.  I’d just invited her into a secret part of my life because I trusted her and craved her wisdom, and I felt totally judged. 

She quickly apologized and admitted that’s the worst response she could give to a high schooler who’s just made such a vulnerable admission.  I appreciated her apology, but it was a little too late.  Her feelings of shock and repulsion were revealed in her response to me and there was no recovering.  The wall went up.  Of course she could reflect on her response and try to make it more palatable for me, but what was in her came out in her initial moment of disbelief.  I decided she was not a safe person to be honest with when my life wasn’t sunshine and roses.  I resolved to keep our conversation on the surface from then on, if I was going to converse with her at all.

High school students are thrown into grown up games and find themselves in situations that might be shocking and difficult to handle.  How do we create a safe place for them to share things they desperately need to talk about? How do we avoid gasping and screaming out of utter disbelief?  Here are a few things to consider when working toward creating a safe space for your students:

1.       Be honest with yourself!  My mentor’s response revealed a degree of self-righteousness.  The Bible says our hearts are all desperately wicked until Jesus comes along and cleans us up on the inside.  When we’re honest with ourselves about our own secrete desires and selfish motivations, we won’t be surprised by the sins of others.
2.       Be honest with your students!  How can we expect our students to be vulnerable with us if we never share our struggles with them?  They’ll be intimidated by our perceived perfection and assume we’ll never understand their situations.  We don’t have to vomit all our deepest, darkest secrets on them prematurely, but we can share insecurities and ways we’ve missed the mark.  Our transparency assure them we’re in the same boat as them: sinners in need of a Savior. 
3.        Ask honest questions.  Once you’ve paved the way to vulnerable sharing by being real with your own shortcomings, invite them to join you.  Students rarely initiate conversations about sensitive issues or deep areas of angst.  They need to know you don’t expect them to be perfect and that you’re interested to take things deeper.  Find casual moments to ask pointed questions, such as car rides or while you’re watching games.  I guarantee you, they’ll feel special when they realize you want to really know them and not simply the image they portray.

You’ve earned the right to go deeper with your students by the time they’re in high school.  Students are hard pressed to find safe places to share their junk.  Provide that space for them by initiating the move because they’re dying to be known!   

Back to School Excitement

Girls' movie night!

If you come around Holystone Street, you'll hear a buzz of excitement as we launch into the new school year. We've got parties, Bible studies, trail rides and soccer leagues coming right around the corner. All we need now is for you to join the fun!

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you read about some of the exciting opportunities. We love creating space for you to use your gifts to serve the community. For instance, we have an incredible mentor who loves to bake! She's starting a baking class at Mercy Street on Sunday evenings to share her skills while loving on our kids. If you're passionate about writing or sports or fashion or business, let us know because there's a place for you to serve our community.

Here are some specific events to keep in mind:

• The Back to School Kick Off  is next Tuesday, September 6, at 7:00pm. It will be a night of food, fun and fellowship for high school students, along with their parents and mentors. We'd love for you and your students to join us to hear about all the exciting events this coming year! 
• High School Bible Studies will hit the ground running every Tuesday starting in September. The first 3 Tuesdays of the month, girls will meet at Mercy Street at 6:30 and the guys will meet at Carlton's place. The last Tuesday of every month will be a night of celebration where we all come together for fun outings and games. The Bible studies are the best ways for students to be involved in life here at Mercy Street and we're always looking for more volunteers to serve!
• Sports Seasons are starting up and we're thrilled to announce some new changes. Lee Jackson has been hired as our new Director of Sports Ministry and he's a dynamic man of God. He's looking for some more soccer coaches to come pour into our soccer kids so let us know if you're interested! We're also excited about Danny Garippa coming on board as the Director of our Bike Shop. Consider grabbing your students and joining us on a group bike ride in the area - our first one is on Saturday, September 10th.

Please check out the calendar on the  Mercy Street  website for dates on parties, potlucks, sporting events and more. The more the merrier around here, so be in prayer about ways you can join in the festivities this school year!