Wanted: Memphis, Tennessee.

A team of college students from a campus ministry called Christ Ambassadors gave up their spring break to go on a mission trip to Memphis, Tennessee. It wasn't over seas, it wasn't on the beach (this time), and we didn't party hard. We got to exchange the average spring break experience with an extraordinary event of excitement over life-change. We were part of a movement that was bigger than ourselves. It wasn't about doing community service or street evangelism or even singing praise songs in the bus. It was all about people connecting with a God who is all about people. This is my own personal account. I hope you get excited about God because He's excited about you and He wants you to be excited about seeing other people get excited about Him.


Beautiful Souls
3 unforgettable people

Leigh Ann: She wanted us to feel bad. She wanted my witnessing partner and I to feel ashamed for holding up a sign on Beale Street that said "Everyone Needs Jesus." Her scoffing attitude soon became a broken heart when she shared with us that her brother had killed himself two weeks before. It turned out that she didn't really want to put us down at all--she just wanted someone to listen to her pour out all the sadness and confessions of anger toward God whom she claimed to love. In her brokenness, she stopped and thanked us for standing on Beale Street while holding a sign that says "Everyone Needs Jesus." She was convicted to do the same.

Jay Beene: He's a middle-aged man who has an old (and shabby) house in inner city Memphis. He likes, no, loves to let boys from the projects live with him in that old and shabby house. He loves it so much, he made it his personal ministry. It reminds me of something Jesus would do--have disciples that grew up in the ghetto and teach them how to live life right. Our team got to come to his house and do two full-days (cold then hot) of fence-building, insulating, painting, bracelet-sorting, bag-stuffing, bathroom-cleaning, wood-hauling work. He would encourage some of us to take a break and go with him to a church to feed some homeless people. At the end, he got us together and held back his tears of appreciation to tell us how "revived" he felt. He said that we gave him a thrust forward and took the weight of construction projects off his shoulders. Shoot. I'm glad we could do it. I'm SO glad we could do it.

Zaria: She's my beautiful, brown, little best friend forever that I met at a clothing outreach. Before I left for Memphis, I felt strongly that God told me to go to Wal-mart and buy bubbles, sidewalk chalk, a stuffed green dragon, and a jump rope for the children I would meet. I didn't just want to be a fun girl with cool hair without being able to have things to help me give them the truth of the Gospel. Just about every morning during my devotion time, I would pray for the children God would send me. I was waiting all week for this opportunity, but it didn't come until the very last and sort-of "unplanned" community service outreach. There they were. Zaria was the one who was glued to my side. Before we had to leave, I taught her the words and motions to a Bible verse (2 Corinthians 5:17). I gave her a little, green Bible and she was excited about writing her name in it. We swapped contact info. She's gonna grow in Jesus.


Real Talk
3 conversations I had on Beale Street

Me: "Is this the last time you're gonna do this?"
Drunk man: "Naw, I'm just gonna keep on doin' it. Jesus'll forgive me."
"You need to believe that God forgives you, yes, but you don't have to keep sinning."
"Listen... if Jesus was here... he would say, 'My son, come to me. I forgive you.'"
"Yeah, and he would ask you to let go of the stuff that you're holding on to."
"Okay... listen... the Bible says that liars and drunkards will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.... I'm not a liar... and I'm not a drunkard... Drunkards don't take care of their families. I take care of mine. I take care of my wife....... where's my wife? Where'd she go?"



Dude: "Oh, I'm always honest. Ask my girlfriend."
Me: "How does she know? She's not with you all the time, is she?"
"Every second of every day."
".......what do you think Jesus says about sex outside of marriage?........"
".......It's wrong......well..... Have YOU ever done it?"
".......no.........."
".....Good for you. I have."
"Jesus still loves you."
"I know THAT."
"And he forgives you."
"Sweetheart, I know."
"And he gives you the power to stop."
".............................................................."



Guy from New Jersey: "So you're tellin' me that Jesus loves me... no matter what..."
Me: "Yeah."
*explosive laughter* "Does he now? WOW. I tell you what, he's a good friend. I'll ask him to be my ring man.... *more laughter*"
"He died for you."
"....For me? Just me?"
"For you, for me, for her, for him, for that guy in the hat..."
"What about Muslims?"
"Absolutely."
*laughter*
"Do you believe that?"
".................No. I don't believe that. How can anyone love a kid from Jersey?"
"Jesus loves you."
"NO! Not even JESUS can love a kid from Jersey!" *walks away*


"Hey, thanks."
3 mission team members I want to thank

Mimi: Thanks for singing old hymns with me on the bus ride to Memphis. Thanks for showing me the true meaning of brushing your teeth.... for ten minutes. Thanks for sharing your oh-so-awesome hair styling skills with every other girl on the mission team. Thanks for being honest about how much you hated stuffing 5,000 gospel tracts into tiny plastic bags, but then realizing that 5,000 people can know the truth about Jesus and be saved. Thanks for nudging me to go with you into an outdoor blues concert with our Jesus sign because, when we did, everyone saw a cute girl from South Korea sharing God's truth. Thanks for being a leader.

Todd: Thanks for joining the paint crew even though you hate painting (and painting hates you). Thanks for changing a chaotic and potentially stressful job into a very enjoyable occasion. Thanks for all of your analogies. Thanks for stepping in when I was being bombarded by a college student who was shouting and pointing his finger in my face. Thanks for being on the Chi Alpha staff.

Katie: Thanks for taking lots of pictures of me (ha ha). Thanks for showing me the importance of considering what other people feel as significant. Thanks for helping me stamp a bajillion tracts when I really needed someone to be with me. Thanks for driving that big, honkin' bus. Thanks for leading us all in passionate prayer for people. Thanks for encouraging me to lead worship on the bus rides. Thanks for believing in me and my life calling.


The Change in Me
3 ways I'll never be the same

Honesty: I've never been able to express myself bluntly. I always want to beat around the bush when it comes to telling people what they need to hear. The Sunday before the mission trip, my pastor gave a sermon on Christians who are verbally suppressed. I made a decision that day that I wasn't going to let anything stop me from telling the truth of the Bible. I agreed that I wouldn't feel ashamed or apologetic about preaching the Bible without smoothing the sharp edges of the sword of the Spirit (Hebrews 4:12). I was able to do what I decided on Beale Street. Yeah, people got mad as you read in the conversations. They got uncomfortable when I said they were sinning according to God's standards. Some people exploded with anger, but I wasn't gonna let them go without telling them the facts. I love them too much to not do it.

"If I am content to heal a hurt slightly, saying 'Peace, peace' where there is no peace; if I forget the poignant word 'Let love be without dissimulation' and blunt the edge of truth, speaking not right things but smooth things, then I know nothing of Calvary love."
--Amy Carmichael


Trust: It might seem like my efforts to preach truth isn't effective. Yeah, you could say that. You have every scrap of visual evidence to come to that conclusion. How is painting a bunch of wooden beehives supposed to change people's lives? How is it that a person would decide to drop their beer cans and run down Beale street praising God when they look at a sign that says "Jesus Gives Hope"? Why would anyone want to turn to Jesus when I tell them to give up the way they want to live life? Honestly, I don't really know. But I can tell you that whenever someone started yelling at me because of the truth I spoke, I felt calm about it. I realize that I can only do so much, I can only hold up a sign for so long, and I can only quote so many verses before people storm off. For some reason I was totally okay with what seemed to be "failed attempts." I trust my Jesus to take it from there. He's faithful to complete the work that was started.

"So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty."--Zechariah 4:6

Reality: My self-righteousness has kept me from looking at myself in an honest light. I convince myself that I always have a good attitude, always say the right things, and often avoid doing anything wrong. Images of me climbing a ladder then getting to the top makes me feel like I have arrived. Then I would think, "Well, OF COURSE I haven't arrived... that's just.... silly." It is silly. I'm a person. It's okay to be wrong. I shouldn't be surprised if an utterance of a bad attitude escapes my lips, Heaven forbid. When I started to (slowly) grasp this concept of reality, I wasn't only running forward, but I began to sprint. It's amazing what I can learn from a sermon when I actually believe I need it. It's interesting how much I appreciate other people's help when I don't think I'm the only one who can do something effectively. It's so neat how the Holy Spirit convicts, slays my flesh, then gives grace--enough grace for me to stand up in my brokenness and praise him for doing it.



God wants to change people. He wants Memphis. He wants you. He wants to change you. He wants to change you so you can help him change people. No matter where you are, God's there and so is his power.