Week Eight - Calvary Jr & Sr High and Boanerges BC

Guernsey -

The Lord gave us a little bit of a break from the heat this week. The Lord also brought us an awesome team from St. Louis, MC called Calvary Church! They were incredibly passionate and were loving on some kids hardcore. Our attendance stayed in the 50's and 60's for the majority of the week. On of the cool things is that we are still finding new families and more doors are still being opened to us. The kids have really opened up, and it's just wonderful to see their smiling faces. One of our 4 year-olds wold never talk until this week. His name is Quay Quay and is all smile and talking up a storm! God is really starting to knock down the barriers. Every child has expressed sadness at the fact that soon we have to leave them. So, please be in prayer that God will continue to place people in their paths who will love and pray for them. We are heading into our final week and cannot believe the summer is almost over. We are continuing to pray that God busts the seams on G-street! Great job Calvary! -Emily

Rosamond -

This week at Rosamond has been such an amazing week given by God. A senior high group from Calvary Baptist in St. Louis, MO got to help build the kingdom of God this week. Through their passion and hard work for the Lord we got to minister to 332 children this week in the community. It has been a huge blessing from the Lord to see all the kids smiling faces this week as the kids played and learned about the love and salvation of Jesus Christ. Great job Calvary! - Angela

National -

This week National Staff had the great pleasure of having Boanerges "The sons of Thunder" in from Cleveland, TN. Their team of ten faithful workers did an amazing job this week and their passion sparked passion in the kids. National also had 17 children from the Leawood site attend club. We had a ton of awesome stories from this week. first a team member, Cody, who was working at songs asked a four year old named Mikayla what they talked about in Bible story. The little girl looked at him and told him the WHOLE story of the conversion of Saul to Paul. Cody asked her who Saul was and the four year old looked up and said "he was a bad, bad man!" Another story from the week occured with Jahiem. Every single day when lunch comes our big boys Terry and Bryghton come over to help us carry them. On Tuesday, Jahiem wanted to help but all the boxes were twice his size! The truck driver told us to wait because she had juice pops and as she pulled the box down Jahiem's eyes got big and he said "look a box my size to carry!" Then as I was passing lunches out I said to get ready because here they come. I turned around to see Jahiem saying "get ready, here they come!" The same day Rashad asked me for a really long name tag because Jahiem gets one every day. I asked him what he wanted it to say and he thought for a minute before he said, "I got it! Make it say 'Jesus loves Rashad!'" Super cute kids! Austin came back this week for the first time since the second week of clubs. He ran up and gave me a hug. He was wearing a dirty, ruined shirt and he said "I got to come today because I got a shirt, I haven't been here because I didn't have one." His flip flops were broken and he ran around all day without shoes. hat very day we had three HUGE boxes of clothing delivered to Brinkley that Sara's mom had sent in the mail. The first thing I pulled out of the first box was a pair of Nike size 3 boys shoes! My first thought - AUSTIN!!! Later we found boys shirts in another box. The next day we had a team member take the clothes and shoes to Austin when she picked him up. He wanted them to wait while he put them on and then he ran out shouting "Thank you! I love you all!!!"All around it was an amazing week. Great job Boanerges!

- Erica

Kendrick -

A lot of times people will pick up the little kids and play with them. This week the first thing the team leader, Mr. Greg, did was pick up one of the older kids and throw him over his shoulders. All summer long this ten year old kid had never been thrown on someones shoulders like that. He loved it! It was a reminder that they need love and attention just as much as the younger kids. Usually you wouldn't consider a ten year old that old but here you do because the kids grow up so fast! Calvary remained enthusiastic and passionate about doing God's work throughout the entire week! Great job Calvary! - Jessi

Week Seven - New Hope, FBC Colliarville, Lakewood,

Rosamond:

This week the Rosamond Bible Club Site was run by Street Reach Staffers. A group of staff members united as a team in order to minister to the children at Rosamond. This week cast a variety of weather challenges. On Monday and Tuesday bad storms covered the Memphis area. God blessed us with the perfect amount of sunshine to run club on Monday. On Tuesday the club took place in the gym of Brinkley Heights. It was a neat week because we were in the midst of storms. After the storms passed the weather was miserably hot. The staff fought through extremely hot heat indexes to minister to the children. Even with all of the weather challenges it was a great week at Rosamond. -Jessica B.

Whittier:

This week Whittier was ran by a group from Alabama. New Hope Baptist Church came to minister to the children. This group ministered to the children through Bible story, crafts, games and songs. The children at Whittier participated in the telling of the Bible stories! The New Hope team involved the children to act out the story. The children really enjoyed being involved. New Hope was a dominantly male group. This team introduces the children to a variety of unique games. The children participated in potato sack relays, water relays, and a cottonball relay! The children at Whittier really enjoyed the relays! Relays introduced the children to some healthy competition. New Hope also played music through a sound system the music was upbeat and the children really enjoyed it! -Katie

Guernsey:

It was a great week at good ol' Guernsey. In spite of the insane heat, the Lord still brought out the kids our highest this week was 60, and it was one of the hottest days! Club was not able to run on Monday due to the rain. But, our kids were there waiting for us on Tuesday! The Lord is still opening up the doors and bringing new kids to site. We had FBC Collierville chilling with us this week. Having a local team was a cool and different feel. They loved being on site. I think one of our highlights was that we had a 6"9 13 year-old at site this week! If we have an NBA star from Bible Club, that will be legit! Satan tried to shut so many doors with horrible thunderstorms, but the Lord had other plans. It was Miss Mary's last week with us, and I know our kids will miss her a lot. I can't believe we only have 2 more weeks! I just hope the Lord busts the seams out of Guernsey those last 2 weeks! Until then, we will be keeping it real on G-street! -Emily

National:

This week National was run by a team of eight from New Hope Baptist Chuch in Alabama. The weather was crazy! It rained on Monday all day and we went to Gaisman in the morning and had club in the afternoon. It rained all Monday and Tuesday morning right before club started huge black clouds filled the sky. God is so good. After the rain left we were hit with a horrible heat wave for the rest of the week. Despite the heat, this team fully allowed for God to use them and God brought out the kids! The high point of the week was Thursday when 72 children were ministered to at National! A total of 24 different children from the Leawood site were brought over with Matt. One cool story from this week was that CJ had his birthday on Thursday and he turned four. On Friday we told him he was a big boy and he didn't run at all. He even helped with some of the younger kids! Another situation occurred with Jaheim. He wanted to help so he did water all week long. Please pray that God will bring more kids out next week. It was an awesome week and it was so cool to see God work in amazing ways! Great job New Hope! -Erica

Leahy's:

This was an awesome week with a team from Lakewood Baptist Church in Titusville, Alabama. A few team members had been to Leahy's while working with World Changers in a previous year. At the beginning of the week, Memphis was hit with multiple thunderstorms that left Leahy's half underwater. The kids lost power and water in their trailers for two days but we were able to start off the week with 22 kids! By the end of the week we had 40! Wednesday the Lord blessed us with a dry spot for the kids to have a nice area to play. The team did an awesome job this week being flexible with the schedule and rain mess. Also, they brought a new idea of club music, which the kids loved. There were multiple instances of kids discussing their futures this week. Including Gloria, who said she wants to be a photographer when she grows up. Also, at soccer club at Leahy's in the afternoon Antonio told me he would like to go to college. Please keep these kids in your prayers so God can bless their lives, not only now but in their futures. -Jessica

Week Six - Old Shooting Creek, Pickensville Association, Union Grove, FBC Vilonia,

Johnson:

This week has been great! Our numbers are picking back up and kids are coming out left and right in the heat. The kids are really opening up and Patrick has really turned around! He sparked a huge interest in being a Christian and got saved! A few of our team members decided to write the following...

The best thing about these kids is seeing them smile and them making us smile. I'll never forget how much Norma's face lit up when she beat me in hula hoop or when Adam helped count in four corners. The best thing I ever heard was when Lrantjus dropped his freezy pop on me and asked if I was a napkin because "we were both white." Ha! I seriously laughed until I cried. God has done amazing things here both in the children and in my heart. -Jessica

Kendrick:

This week the North Carolina team, Old Shooting Creek, served with us at Kendrick. God really blessed us with such an awesome team. Each day they poured out more energy and love than the day before. Even as the temperature got warmer and the humidity rose they were tired but not once did they complain! On Friday God gave us our record high of 42 kids! It was awesome and the team really left it all out there! Great job Old Shooting Creek! - Jessi

Leawood:

Leawood didn't run this week so we combined with National and a total of 17 Leawood kids joined us! The army of kids from the apartments finally came. Please continue to pray that Leawood would be able to open soon. We have 3 more weeks of the summer and two of them are hopeful for Leawood. Thanks and God bless! - Matt

Guernsey:

This week was another fantastic week at Guernsey with an excellent team! We love our family from Pickens county. The kids all seemed to love them as well! Three of our kids, Nathaniel, Jay & Roneka were all saved this week. Nathaniel got saved at the block party that the team held for all the neighborhood kids over at club Rosamond. We ran in the 40's this week and keep having new kids all the time! Over 70 different kids were ministered to this week. One cool story happened at the block party. One of our Guernsey grandmothers was led to the Lord by Buddy, one of our team members. He told her that the Lord would begin to bless her life. Not long after this, the grandmother won a bike for one of her grandkids! Buddy came back to her and claimed, "I told you He would bless you!" Tears filled her eyes. We are so thankful for the positive impact Pickensville had on our kids and on us. Three more weeks left on G-street! We'll keep you posted on the awesome work of the Lord. - Emily

National:

What a summer we have had so far at National! It has been absolutely amazing to see God work. This week we had a group from Pickens County run National. The first blessing we had this week came in the form of weather. Last week we prayed that God would take away the record highs we were supposed to have this week. Well, God is faithful when we call to Him in prayer because we only had one day this week that we had a heat-advisory. Our attendance for the week was Monday - 50, Tuesday - 61, Wednesday - 50, Thursday - 55, and Friday - 56. These numbers include the Leawood Bible Club site. There were many highlights from this week. The first occurred when Miss Cynthia took a three year old named Tinker home. Miss Cynthia was singing Jesus Loves Me and all of a sudden the little girl who never says anything starts singing along! Pickens county also had a block party on Wednesday on Rosamond. A ton of National kids came and had a lot of fun! This team was able to lead 14 people to Christ during this event. They also gave away a girl bike and a boy bike. A girl from our site named Alice won the girl bike and she was so excited! God knew who needed and deserved this bike. This same little girl did not have shoes the first week. She is still wearing the shoes that Bon Homme went and bought her during their time in Memphis. It was so cool to see her ride up to the park on Thursday with a huge smile on her face. God was at work this week and Pickens gave all they had to these children. We love you Mrs. Marsha, Mr. Marvin, Pastor Tommy, Mrs. Diane, Mrs. Cynthia, Mrs. Pauline, Mrs. Karen, Hailey, Emily, Tyler and John Bradley!!! Thanks again! -Erica

Rosamond:

The fourth of July is usually celebrated with traditions such as having a cookout or fireworks. The fourth of July at Street Reach is celebrated a tad bit differently. For the past four years, Street Reach has welcomed mission teams on the fourth of July weekend. Union Grove is a team from North Carolina. They have such a heart and passion for this mission. Union Grove has built long lasting friendships with the kids at Rosamond. This team showed their love for the children in a unique way. They brought stuffed animals and candy to the children. Union Grove did a good job! What a good week! -Jessica

Street Reach Week Five - Oak Hill, New Bethel, Berryville and Trinity

Guernsey:

This week has been an exciting week at Guernsey with 42 kids for a high attendance. We have had the Berryville team from Virginia in with us. They have brought a new element to Guernsey this week and that is puppets! The kids have really seemed to enjoy them. I think that a major highlight of this week has come from the barriers coming down in our older kids. They're really starting to blossom in front of our eyes. Giving them responsibility has really seemed to be working out. They've been being great role models for our little kids and that is just incredibly neat to see. The Lord is still bringing us new kids and we can't wait to see who else he brings. If we had all the kids on our role we'd be busting out the seems of Guernsey with almost 150 kids! Just continue to pray that the Lord opens the doors and hearts of our kids. We're halfway through the summer and can't wait to see what else God has in store! Until then, we'll continue to keep real here on G-street! - Emily

National:

National was blessed to have a team from Trinity Baptist in Manchester, TN return to Street Reach. God blessed us with some amazing weather that really brought the kids out. On Monday we had 57 kids come to club and Tuesday we had 63. The highlight of the week was that every day we had a ton of big kids! These kids were so well behaved and begged us to let them help with something. Taya helped with crafts and Terry and Bryghton were amazing at helping with songs. Terry even came up with a rap about Jesus. He said, "Sin one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and we can all go to heaven...Get saved!" Jahiem had a play gun and was shooting towards the sky and his brother Rashad said, "Don't shoot towards the sky! God's up there!" it was so cute! We love you Trinity! THank you so much for your hard work! -Erica

Johnson:

This week Johnson was run by a new team called Oak Hill! The highlihgt of the week was when God saved Adam! A team member named Matt wrote this poem about the week:

On our way to Memphis to speak the truth,

A couple of leaders but the rest are youth.

We are on a mission to go hard or go home,

to be a light in the darkness far from home.

This place is different from anything you have seen,

You might think it's pleasant or somewhat obscene.

Each day we go harder, digging deeper for God,

playing on His battlefield, and it's definitely not sod.

These children's lives are filled with hate and fear,

So we have to come wipe away their tears.

Lessons, Crafts, music and playing games,

the hardest part is remembering the names.

We are in the hood and it's very real,

the pain you see is the pain they feel.

-Matt Schloss Oak Hill Baptist Church

Leawood:

This was the first week for Leawood to be open. On Monday we only had three kids for about fifteen minutes before their mom took them home. That evening we were all a little frustrated. We stayed confident in God and prayed for ten kids. The next day God provided us with exactly ten kids! On Wednesday He provided twenty-four and on Thursday Dariel prayed to recieve Christ! It was her first day too, so that was great! On Friday we had 25 too and Soulim got saved. Even though our numbers weren't huge God saved 2 kids which surpasses the numbers that attended the site. It was so cool to see God grow our numbers from three to twenty five. Be in prayer for the kids and families around Leawood. Thanks for the awesome team from Oak Hill! God bless! -Matt

Kendrick:

This week at Kendrick we worked with New Bethel Church of Glen Carbon, Illinios. Throughout the week we averaged 15-17 kids daily. It was a blessing from the Lord to see the kids smiling and so excited to learn about Jesus. It was also exciting to see the kids asking about heaven and other tough questions. This second week is just as awesome as the first. Keep praying the Lord will bless us with amazing teams! -Jesse

Leahy's:

This week flew by once again with a group from Old Rice Road Baptist Church from Mississippi. A couple members on the team were returning veterans of Street Reach from different ministry sites. Therefore they were able to add their own personal touches to the site! The numbers grew during the week from 22 kids on Monday to 47 kids on Friday! We got a lot of newcomers and new faces at Leahy's! Even with our competition, Mexico and the USA in the World Cup, we were still able to minister to a ton of kids. I want to personally thank my team for such an awesome week and especially for their ability to find the newcomers. Also, for their amazing water day and gift bags! The kids thoroughly enjoyed both! -Jessica S.

Whittier:

Team Members from New Bethel wrote the following entry about the Whittier Site:

I don't even know where to begin...amazing! This year was my very first mission trip and it has really opened my eyes to my own heart and to the kids. There were so many "God moments" on this trip, and it only could have happened with the kids, staff and God.

It was such a blessing to have our group split because this week all eight Bible Club sites were open and the beautiful kids got to hear the word of God and feel His love. Our entire youth group learned that if we just listen and trust God, everything will work according to His plans.

Rosamond:

Wednesday marked the halfway point of the Summer. A group from Berryville, Virginia was in Memphis this week. The youth group from Berryville Baptist Church worked Rosamond. They brought the unique skill of puppetry to Street Reach Ministries! The Berryville puppet team performed at BIble Club each day. The Rascals brought a very diverse ministry to the children. The children were ministered to through songs, dances and Bible stories via the Rascal's puppet team. This was a neat week because the children were exposed to new things. What a great week! Please continue to pray for the children. We only have half of the summer to go! A girl who has just started coming to Bible Club began asking questions about Jesus. Please pray that the seeds that have been planted in her heart will be watered and she will grow. Pray that she will continue asking questions about who Jesus is. Pray that God will work in her heart. -Jessica B.

Week Four - FBC Liberty Texas, Green Forest UMC, Old Rice Road, New Bethel and FBC Gleason

National:

This week at National we started back up after a week off with an amazing team of 16 from First Baptist Gleason. We started out with 16 kids and on our highest day 57 kids were ministered to. The highlight of the week was on Thursday night during our share time. Every single team member was broken over the events of the week and what God was showing them through kids at National. Also on Friday one of the kids, Ashley, was asking a lot of questions about Jesus and we are hoping that someone on another team will come in and maybe she will come to know Jesus as her Lord and Savior. Also one of our kids, CJ, really opened up and started talking this week. Every time someone would say "I love you" he would say "I love you" back. God worked in awesome ways at National this week and when the team left we had little kids and big kids in tears because they did not want them to leave. We love you Gleason!!! Red One!!! - Erica

Rosamond:

This week a college group from New Bethel United Methodist Church came to Street Reach. They ran the Rosamond Bible Club site. We had to end club early all week because of the weather. There was a heat advisory every day! The group from United Methodist Church were troopers! They loved on kids even through the hot, humid weather. During our morning Urban Discipleship I asked the group to write down their thoughts from the week. This is their response:

When our college youth group was deciding where to go on our first "college only" mission trip, we had the choice between New Orleans and Memphis. While we had already done mission work in New Orleans, we wanted to return because of the lure of Bourbon street, the mystery of voodoo and the need for Katrina clean up. While all of those reasons were enough to convince most of our group to return there, I still had a tug at my heart to go to Memphis. God spoke to me from the beginning to come here. When we first arrived at Street Reach they told us that God had hand picked us to be missionaries in their church. This spoke deeply to me because I truly saw the Holy Spirit working through our group. Also the history and mission of Brinkley Heights spoke volumes to our group.

The first day that we did our Bible Club with the kids was truly an eye opener to this city and its need. From the delapitaded houses to trash filled sidewalks, I never realized this existed in the birth place of blues. The children were a reflection of this need. Even though their clothes were dirty and their shoes were on the wrong feet, we each saw hop in their eyes. This is what kept us all going through the heat and tantrums, the long walks home and the wight of carrying children on our shoulders. Their thirst for love and affection constantly reminded us, "it's not about me." Thursday was our last day for evening devotion. Usually these nights are filled with guitar playing, mood lighting and calls to the alter. Street Reach keeps it real 24/7 and that meant so much to us. Pastor Tim and the congregation told stories of children coming to Christ and children leaving this world forever. There wasn't a dry eye in the cafeteria when Pastor Tim told us of a three year old girl who was killed by her father. We also learned of a massive gang shooting that happened only three blocks from our site on Rosamond. This literally broke my heart. I wanted to run to our kids houses and hug them all.

As our week is coming to a close I wish we could do this every week with our kids and have an endless summer full of Bible Clubs and fun. But as Pastor Tim has told us countless times, we are fighting a war and these children are the future to help with this war. We will all leave this place reluctantly but we will leave knowing that we have started planting the seeds for future missionaries and lovers of Christ. - Christina Harris from New Bethel UMC

Guernsey:

This week was a great week at Guernsey. Our kids have had so much fun with our team from First Baptist in Liberty, TX. All 19 of us got an incredible opportunity to minister to 30-40 kids every day. It was wonderful in spite of the heat, and the Lord really brought the kids out. Our kids had so much fun re-mixing "Little Red Wagon." We had "Red Lamborghini" and "Little Red Caddy." Give these kids a creative edge, and they will run with it. We're really starting to break down the walls and barriers. And by we, I mean Jesus. It's just incredible to see the work the Lord is doing in these kids. I can't wait to see what the Lord continues to do. We'll be keeping it real on G-Street! -Emily

Kendrick:

This has been an amazing week to see God work at Kendrick. Green Forest church from Arkansas did an outstanding job and represented Christianity great. Throughout this week of crazy heat advisories the team dilligently brought kids to site and did a spectacular job ministering to them. Despite how hot and how tired they were, not once did they complain.

The high point of the week was Friday, the last day for the team. Not only was it the last day it was also the hottest however the team went out and finished the race well. They fought the good fight.

It has been great seeing all the children change from being weary and withdrawn to smiling and laughing just as every child should. It's been a great week working with this wonderful team and now family. God used this amazing team to pave the way for summer ministry at the Kendrick site. Great job Green Forest! -Jessi

Week Three - Broad River & Ebenezer

Rosamond:

This is the third week running the Rosamond Bible Club. A group of ladies from the Broad River Association came to Memphis to run the club site. What an amazing week it was! New children came to club each day. With water day, Thursday was definitely the high point of the week. The ladies put together a plethora of fun water stations for the children. The kids rotated in groups for a sponge relay, water bottle races, and a balloon toss! At the end of the day all the ladies and children were soaking wet! The majority of the children came back to club on Friday. Fridays club ended an amazing week! Great job Broad River!

Guernsey:

We had a great week at Guernsey with the Ebenezer team! It was great to have Everett, Jeanne and their family back with us! They brought their youth group who did a great job interacting with the kids and running a fun club on Guernsey! The week had some challenges with some flat tires and broken tents but Ebenezer persevered and really gave it all they had! A lot of kids got ministered to and it really was a great week! We're looking forward to seeing Ebenezer back next Summer! Great job Ebenezer!

Johnson:

It was a wonderful week at Johnson with a Broad River team! The kids were so happy to see some familiar faces! In everything from picking up and dropping off kids to water day Broad River gave it all they had! The kids had a great week and they can't wait to see Broad River back again next summer! Great job Broad River!

Leahy's:

We had a staff run site on week three at Leahy's! The whole staff gained a new appreciation for all the hard work that team members put into preparation for Bible Club! A lot of kids were ministered to and the staff had a great time building relationships and making new friends! The highlight of the week was Popsicle Friday! We're excited to see God continue working at the Leahy's Trailor Park!

WATCH THE VIDEO FROM WEEK 3

Week Two - Grace Alabama, Pickensville, Wright City and Iantha Baptist

We had a great second week at Street Reach. Hundreds of kids and community members were ministered to through our great missionaries in that week! It was wonderful to have Grace and Iantha back and we were grateful to meet Pickensville and Wright City for the first time!

Rosamond:

This was the second week that the Rosamond Bible Club site ran. Last week we finished up the week very strongly with 42 children. This week the Rosamond site was run by a combination of two teams. Groups from Pickensville and Iantha came together to run club. We got blasted this week with the first dose of hot weather but the Bible Club kids kept coming out. The theme for the week was LOVE. The teams poured themselves out for the children and showed them what love really is. The Steven Curtis Chapman song, "When Love Takes You In" is the perfect song to describe this week. Great job Pickensville and Iantha! -Jessica

National:

This week at National a total of 103 kids were ministered to. Our team missionaries were the Acteens from Wright City, Oklahoma. The Acteens were made up of three high school females and two adult chaperones. The highlight of this week was Thursday's lunch. We had 53 kids and a total of only 50 lunches. After telling the Bible story of Jesus feeding the five thousand and saying a quick prayer amazingly ALL of the kids were fed! There were even two lunches left over! It was an amazing week and God worked through the Acteens in a mighty way! Great job Wright City! -Sara

Leahy's:

This week we started the first week at the Leahy's site. The site missionaries this year are Gabriel Maldonado and Jessica Stephenson. Gabby, being from Puerto Rico, helped a lot during the week with the language barrier with the Hispanic children. Grace Baptist Church from Oxford, Alabama was the team at Leahy's for the week. This was Jessica's home church who she had been coming on a team with for the past 3 years. The site grew from the low 30's to the high 40's throughout the course of the week. Grace ended the week with a water day which was a lot of fun for the kids and the missionaries. Great job Grace! -Jessica

Guernsey:

This was opening week for Guernsey and it was fantastic! We had a team of 11 from Grace and we were very fortunate to have them. We went from 17 kids to 85 which was a highlight in and of itself. The team and the kids really enjoyed water day. We cannot believe all of the incredible things that the Lord is already doing on week one. Let's keep this rolling on into the Summer for Jesus! Great job Grace! -Emily

Johnson:

This week at Johnson was all around amazing. It was the first week that the site was open and we ministered to a total of 104 kids! That is all Jesus' doing and we praise God for everything that He is doing. There was at least two little boys who got saved which was definitely the highlight of the week. Adding children to God's kingdom is a miracle and a highlight all in one! Praise God! The team this week was from Grave Baptist Church and they really stepped up to the plate and did a great job. Great job Grace! -Sela

WATCH THE VIDEO FROM WEEK TWO