Incarnational Living

by Rachel Anderson

“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is LOVE.”

1 Corinthians 13:13

As I sat down to write this blog and began reminiscing over my first five weeks at Mercy Street, I soon realized that I could not even attempt to explain all the Lord has taught me about His character and missional living, so bear with me as I try to cram a lot of thoughts into one small blog.

Each week we have a fun packed schedule with our junior interns where we conduct many trainings, teachings and weekly serving programs, with the aim to challenge and build up our sweet junior interns. In addition to this we are also given a small group (huddle group) of young girls to disciple. My huddle group partner, Miss Chelsea Boyd (shout out!) and I would go through a different passage from Luke each day and then of course have a time of discussion. This is such a beneficial time to really build a relationship with the girls and to walk together each day as sisters in Christ.

But before I let my excitement get the best of me, I wanted this blog to be about the ministry that continues after the doors of Mercy Street are closed. As you all know, Mercy Street truly grasps the need of living within the community, and living here has opened up my eyes to the complete necessity of setting up home right in the midst of the neighborhood. The bible tells us that the Son “became flesh and DWELT among us” (John 1:14) and after a short five weeks I have witnessed the effectiveness of His followers doing the same thing.

For instance, I am living with an awesome family who are involved at Mercy Street and from the minute I got here, the doorbell has not stopped once. Every evening I come home to find a different group of young people hanging out in the living room, and even now as I write this blog Princess and Raymond (both junior interns) are downstairs with their feet up, chilling with a cup of tea. Not only does this create a comfortable environment for people to feel loved and wanted, but it serves as a constant reminder to make serving the Lord and others a lifestyle, however that might look.

The experience has been an amazing roller coaster to say the least. God has taught me so much and I am eternally grateful for His grace in giving me opportunities to meet so many wonderful people who continue to inspire me with their desire to sacrificially serve the Lord in ALL they do.

All praise and Glory to the King of kings!

Challenging my Expectations

by Chelsea Boyd

It's the middle of the junior interns' week 3 here at Mercy Street, and our summer is in full swing! As I sit down to give you an update, it all feels a little bit like a blur. I'm excited to sift through things that I'm thinking and feeling through this post. So you might have just gotten aboard the crazy train as I spill my thoughts--welcome aboard!

As I've mentioned before, the leadership institute seeks to do two main things for the junior interns : #1. Pour into them #2. Give them chances/challenge them to pour into their community. So for a broad view of things, the mornings are spent on #1 and the afternoons on #2. Every day the morning program is relatively the same-the students arrive at Mercy Street tired and with very little energy. We will play a few games or do a dance to try (key word try) to get them pumped. We have a morning devotional time in our small groups, which has easily been my favorite part of the day. I lead a huddle group of 8th-9th grade girls with my wee little Irish friend Rachel (she is the best). Let me tell you, we have grown to love these girls so much! Three weeks is long enough to start to understand how they each work individually, what they wonder about, what they struggle with, and how much they really care about digging deeper into who God is. Huddle group time is designed to teach the junior inters a model for spending time with Jesus on their own, so we basically talk through their quiet times with them. It's awesome to witness them respond to scripture with questions and then understanding...I have come to love each of my girls on an individual level and I am excited to see what God teaches them and leads them to and challenges them with over the rest of the summer!

Each day of a week has a set activity for the afternoons. On Monday, the junior interns lead a program called "Super Monday" in 4 government-subsidized apartment complexes in West Dallas. Each site has around 8 junior interns and 2 or 3 senior interns, and we are expecting anywhere from 60-100 kids at the program. It consists of a game, song/dance, memory verse stomp, skit, and Bible story. I love seeing the junior interns taking ownership and loving on the kids while we are in the apartments. I find myself challenged as they exceed my expectations every week-when given the chance to work hard, serve, and love, they rise to the occasion. I wonder--in what other areas may I have too small of an expectation for these students? How can I further challenge them spiritually, socially, emotionally, relationally? I also ask you as you read this--do you underestimate young people based on where they come from or the "attitude" they portray? If so, give them an opportunity and see how they might surprise you, too.

Tuesdays are my personal favorite day. Mercy Street started a church and Pastor Jerry straight brings it with an hour and a half of theology every week. He knows his stuff and I feel so locked in when he's teaching because he is so passionate about it! If I step back for a second, though, and think about what's happening, my heart feels so excited. I’m in a room full of young people who, like all high school students, are having lies thrown at them from all sides in life. Here is a man in front of them telling them the truth. And he's doing it dynamically and interactively and no one is falling asleep! (Usually.) It’s a beautiful thing. I usually pray so hard in these moments that what Pastor Jerry is telling them will sink into their hearts and drown out the lies that they believe. I desperately want them to drink deeply of the truth and know that Jesus is better than the things that the world has to offer. I pray even now that God uses those teaching times to ground them in and excite them about the truth.

Tuesdays are also field trip days. We want to expose the students to areas of Dallas they might not have been before and tell them about ministries and opportunities that exist in the Dallas area. We're trying to build dreams-it's exciting stuff!

There are 13 non-profits in West Dallas. On Wednesdays we split into teams and serve all around the community. The students are at the same site every week. I take 3 of my girls to a ministry called Brother Bill's Helping Hand, and we LOVE it. Brother Bill's started as a food pantry in the 1940's (!!!!), and has developed into an incredible organization with a grocery store, clinic, and various classes to serve the people of West Dallas. My ladies are worker bees, let me tell ya. We have done a variety of tasks, and they work us pretty hard to be honest! My girls have not complained ONCE. They look forward to serving with the awesome people at Brother Bill's every week, and they serve with their whole hearts and a smile on their faces. Yet another time when my expectations have been surpassed by these amazing young people.

Thursdays we have electives at Mercy Street. The students could choose what elective they chose based on their interests, and they get to spend 2 hours learning more about something they are already interested in. The hope is to further their excitement and knowledge about their elective and equip them to further pursue their interest in the future. The electives are: bike shop, business technology, hip-hop, and dance. This is another program in place to help students dream and help them to look into the future of what God might have for them.

Well, there you have it! A layout of a week in Mercy Street's Leadership Institute and all of my thoughts about it. I LOVE what I'm doing this summer. Absolutely love it. I am being challenged spiritually and stretched farther than I've been stretched before. It's really exciting to me! I love the community of people on staff and getting the chance to step into that. I love West Dallas, and my whole heart wants these students to love and serve Jesus with their whole hearts and lead this community into a better future. I feel blessed to be one of the broken vessels that God's choosing to use to get his glory in this community.

Confessions of a Senior Intern
by Tim Thomas

What’s up! This week has been a great inspiring and learning journey. Walking with my boys has opened up many relationships for us to grow closer together. I have enjoyed the conversations and the fun times we’ve created. I found that the interns love to rap and I love to join in. I rap from time to time, but these teens can go all day. Aaron Williams, the head rapper, will have you rolling and laughing so hard your tears will starting flowing like a stream. Today is the young man’s birthday (June 25). He turns 17 and I have really enjoyed walking with him as a friend and now as a leader I can really grow close to him. God has done amazing things in this young man’s life. He is stepping into a really confusing and hyped point in a teenager’s life. His character brings bring a room full of down people to life at any given moment. This is what the Confession of a Senior Intern has this week. Who knows what next week will bring.

We're Leaving

by Stephen Painter

            We're leaving. Even having just arrived, we are quickly going away. We potentially have only the rest of summer at Mercy Street. We certainly have only a short life before we leave to stand before God accountable for our actions. The former is rapidly approaching and the latter could happen at any moment. With this in mind, I am ecstatic to tell of the amazing work being done in West Dallas right now.

             We are now two weeks into our journey alongside the junior interns. Coming into the internship, I willingly admit that I was skeptical of how effectively we could disciple high school students in only a little over two months time. However, I have been blown away by the picture of discipleship that has begun to develop between the senior interns and the junior interns. I find it an interesting dynamic that each of the junior interns are unique in the spiritual nourishment they need. Some are only infants in their faith while others are surprisingly mature spiritually. Yet in the midst of this dynamic, it is obvious that there are significant relationships developing between many of the senior interns and junior interns. For example, this last week we began to implement a reward system for junior interns out of every huddle group that have displayed zeal in their learning, teaching, and/or serving. These awards are called Troll-phy's because they are certificates with a troll in the background (clever, right?). Within my own huddle group, I have found that rewarding the guys for what they have done right really fosters a stronger relationship between us and inspires in them a desire for deeper growth. Dunta Gaffney received the reward in my huddle group for his great questions last week. By encouraging him when he asks good questions, his curiosity has seemingly skyrocketed, which in turn has created many an opportunity to disciple him. He is one of many students who have already proved that they are willing to be discipled and excited to be transformed by the love of Christ. In light of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20), I am beyond excited about the discipleship I've begun to witness. This has been evident in many of our activities this past week.

            By God's grace, we have been greatly blessed in our work. Super Monday, which is the junior interns primary ministry, was a massive success! This really surprised me. I say this because four of the four apartment sites that we minister to had absolutely no kids there when we arrived. In other words, it was like we went to any typical day at a VBS, but no kids were there. Again, by God's grace, each site was able to adapt by sending people out to gather kids that were in the area.  I truly believe this was a great opportunity for both us and the junior interns to learn how to adapt to unexpected situations. Each site was able to pull off games and a skit, and more importantly, each site was able to establish a great first impression with those living in the community. Following Super Monday, we were able to rest up before our upcoming week of adventures.

            Truly, the rest of the week was filled blessings from our Papa. My personal favorite weekly meeting is the theology session on Tuesday's with Pr. Jerry Wagner from Mercy Street Church. This past Tuesday, he discussed the communicable character of God and made it easy to understand in both a simple and enlightening way. Tuesday's are also our exposure trip days. We visited an urban farm in Bonton, which is in South Dallas. They are ministering to a community, deemed a food desert by the USDA, by providing homegrown food. Never before did I expect to enjoy watching a group of people feeding chickens as much as I did the junior interns! On Wednesday, we went back to our service organizations. This is our opportunity to partner with other organizations in West Dallas who are also here to "do some good in the hood" as Carlton likes to say. This was the highlight of the week for one of the junior interns in my huddle group. He has the opportunity to serve by teaching sports to second graders. Already having a passion for sports himself, this was a perfect fit for him in service. Thursday was a great conclusion to the week. In the afternoon, the junior interns go to electives that they selected when signing up for the internship. These electives consist of business tech, hip hop and rap, dancing, creativity, and the bike shop. As the senior intern monitoring the bike shop, I can legitimately say that I look forward to this time every week now. We have the opportunity to learn the basic mechanics of bicycles from Terell Duncan, a junior intern that has worked in the bike shop for five years now, and follow the lesson up with a beautiful bike ride. After electives, we planned out Super Monday for the next week and finished the day. Entirely satisfied with the outcome of week number two with the junior interns, the only thing to do is thank God for blessing His ministry so immensely.

            Ministering to West Dallas is a process. Discipleship is a process. The Holy Spirit convicting us and sanctifying us is a process. Brittany has wisely observed and noted that as senior interns, "We are a small part of their process" of growth. Carlton recently exhorted the senior interns with Ephesians 5:15-16, which reads:

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of time, because the days are evil.

We are not promised tomorrow, or even the next breath. We're leaving very soon. Whether Jesus comes back or the time arrives for us to leave and go elsewhere, time is of the essence. My hope and prayer is that all of us would have a mind set towards eternity in heaven, and that we would reflect that in how we live. I pray that for you, me, the people God has placed in our lives, and those at the ends of the earth. In Jesus' famous high priestly prayer, he prayed, "I have glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do" (John 17:4). Let that be our prayer when our time is up. Thanks be to God, and to Him be the glory forever!

"The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Grace be with you. Amen." - 2 Timothy 4:22

Welfare of the City
by Susanna Carlson

Hi everyone! Honestly I’m not quite sure how to start this off – I’ve never been part of a group-type blog before. But here it goes…

I am amazed that I have already been at Mercy Street for a month. In some ways it feels as if I just started yesterday and in other ways it feels as if I have been here for many months. Already on this journey there have been bumps and wobbles, mistakes and frustrations, laughter, love, and a whole lot of passion for the Kingdom of God. So far this summer has been exhaustingly busy and borderline emotional. I am confident that it will continue to be so and quite frankly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

This past week, my college group at church (Park Cities Presbyterian for you Dallasites) began a series about the Gospel in college based off of Tim Keller’s series called “The Gospel in Life.” As we began to read through Jeremiah 29, one verse in particular jumped out at me:

“But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord in its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

 – Jeremiah 29:7

            I am not sure if my jaw literally dropped or not but it felt like it did. Here it was – here was the passion and calling that every day is becoming more near and dear to my heart. At the time this verse was written, the Israelites were living in Babylon, a very powerful and corrupt city. What a command God gives His people! Instead of telling them to keep to themselves and avoid the city and culture at all costs, He commands them to seek the welfare of the city. To love the city and the people within its walls. To live in Babylon and put down roots (Jeremiah 29:6).

            Just like the Israelites in Babylon, I believe I am being called to seek the welfare of Dallas. I believe that I am called to be committed, to put down roots. That can be tricky right now – I will only be here for a summer before I move back to college. To make it even more confusing I have no idea where I will end up after I graduate. It could be Dallas, or it could be pretty much anywhere else. But a few verses down, the Lord gives another great promise:

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

- Jeremiah 29:11-13

            So for this summer, I am here. I am at Mercy Street and desiring to love and pour into some really neat high school students. I am here in Dallas desiring the welfare of this city.