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

Week One - Bon Homme & Mountain View

We had an incredible first week of Bible Clubs here at Street Reach Memphis! We were joined by Bon Homme from St. Louis and Mountain View from Nashville! Over a hundred children were ministered to throughout the week. Both teams had great energy during Bible clubs and during the afternoon service projects! Check out what happened at the sites running on Week 1:

Rosamond:

The Rosamond Bible club is located on Rosamond Avenue across from Brinkley Heights Baptist Church. This was the first week of Bible club at Rosamond. A group from Nashville, Mountain View, were working the site during the week. The first day of club there were only sixteen kids. However, God has more than doubled the number of kids attending Bible club. Thursday we were blessed to have forty kids at club! Please remember to keep the Rosamond Bible Club site in your prayers! Great job Mountain View!

Whittier:

The first week at Street Reach was great! Bon Homme came in all the way from St. Louis ready to go! On Monday we had only twelve kids but by Thursday we had over thirty! It was a blessing to see Bon Homme share Christ’s love with all the kids at Whittier. They ran a great club and did an awesome job working together as a team. Remember to keep the Whittier Bible Club site in your prayers. Great job Bon Homme!

WATCH THE VIDEO FROM WEEK ONE