Team Photo

Here is the team photo taken in the wee hours of the morning before heading back to Texas.

~Kyle Eaton

Thursday (Day 6)

Thursday was definitely a huge learning experience. The girls and guys split up for the  day, and the girls worked with Hope House in Kingsport. It’s a great organization and resource for pregnant women in need- they can attend educational classes and earn necessities like diapers and wipes, and there’s a home that moms can stay in for up to two years after they have their child so that they can get back on their feet. We spent a while getting to know Angie Morgan at first, the awesome program director at the facility.We did a diaper drive first at the Food City until lunchtime, and we collected tons of diapers, wipes, baby food, and money. It was kind of a stretch for me to approach people in that context, but it went really well.

After lunch, we attended a support group designed for the Hope House recent and expecting moms, that was led by quite a whirlwind of a woman. She was tough, and all of the girls that were in there with her (except for Brittney)pretty much failed our test at loving her and listening to what she had to say. That was really convicting. Here were all of these huge things that God was showing us throughout the week, and the first chance we got to test them out, we failed. Ouch.

We got back to the church and prepared for the Acts 1:8 panel that happened that evening: it was really great. It was a panel on mission both abroad and at home, and how things learned on trips and abroad should impact the way that we view our everyday missional lives at home. Here’s Acts 1:8:

“ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

The panel was lead by Tommy, and consisted of Pastor Steve from U-Turn, Ross, Bill Havens, and Jason and Jeff from GFC’s Global Outreach Team. They all had fantastic things to say and stories to share, but I think the biggest take-home was what someone said about mission in everyday life: that the best person to minister to and share the gospel to the Aborigines is a believing Aborigine- an insider to that culture, not an outsider. Who better to minister to collegians than collegians? Etc.

The U-Turners were able to attend the panel, and it was really great to see them one last time. We had some time to really converse with the women and get to know them more than we had earlier in the week, and I got to hear Christine’s story from start to finish. I had been with her Monday and Wednesday visiting people, but we’d never really delved to get to know each other. I also met a girl named Crystal, who’s about to graduate and go home in 2 weeks- it’ll be the first time her parents see her sober in 6 years, she is so excited about the transformation that Christ has done in her life. She may actually be moving to Denton soon, which would be crazy.

After we said our final goodbyes and they left the church, we had the last of our team testimonies, wrapped up the trip in the context of Matthew 17:1-13: the Transfiguration and our quite literal mountaintop experience. It was a huge blessing of a trip overall, I’m so thankful to have been involved in it and to have had the lessons that I had (however un-fun they might have been at the time.)

~Erica Sheets

Wednesday (continued)

Wednesday March 17, 2010

Whew! Today was a whirl-wind day, we were able to do things today in one day that could have been accomplished in a week. The morning began with the twisty turney road to Greeneville. After arriving to Mountain Vision we were split up into our groups from Monday and then we were off to go visit the elderly! Unfortunately, the lady our group was scheduled to meet was not up for company today, but with a little reorganizing a group of five girls three of us CollegeLifers and two from U-Turn, went with the occupational therapist Crista to visit these two very dynamic elderly women. The first Goldie, was just amazing to see what was to come because her floor was completely sunken in and we found out that the U-Turn men would be coming back in the next weeks to fix it. The next was Emma, she was a hoot! We all had to take a pit stop in the lobby of the assisted living home and we got caught talking with the coordinator and this little firecracker was on her way to find us. She asked us if we were singing to any other old ladies.

Once we got to Emma's room she showed us all her pictures from her life and the one that struck me the most was her wedding photo. It was a candid photo of her and her late husband running out of the procession with these just joyful faces. Emma's dress was beautiful and we learned she had designed it in a dress making class. We learned all about her life and her struggles like losing her husband after only eight short years of marriage and also we saw her faithfulness to the Lord. If there is one thing I want to take back from this trip its something I learned from Emma is that she knows God is sufficient for her and all I have to do is rely on Him in any struggle or even in the good times. She had such amazing dedication, and I can't say I will be waking at 2am every morning to spend an hour in prayer like dear old Emma but I know that I need to pray for a newfound dedication to my walk with Christ.

After lunch we went to the U-Turn for Christ men's ranch and got the grand tour. Tennessee is a beautiful place, and this place though it is a humble home proves it. All the projects that have touched the ranch over the past eight years have changed in from an old rundown house and a productive community who is bringing people to Christ and it is truly incredible. We were able to worship with the U-Turners and we got to hear Pastor Steve (the head honcho)  give his great testimony, as well as Kyle, then finally through a few tears I gave my own. I felt as if I could relate to everyone around me, we are all broken and all we need is Christ's love.

This evening we helped with a community outreach project at the church we are staying at where families could come and get free family portraits made. We had a small turn-out but I really experienced the Lord working immediately when they were here. For dinner we got to experience a local favorite of Pal's, where they serve you frenchy fries and razzies. It was really fun and the food wasn't half bad. I love being here and being able to be stretched and also being able to do these things with my Lifegroup has been such a blessing as well. Now I can't wait to see was plan God has in store for us tomorrow.

and to leave you with this Luke's dad shared this with us today through Luke Isaiah 58:10-14

~Sarah Simmons

Wednesday (Day 5)

Wednesday March 17, 2010

Today we journeyed back to Greeneville today, to work with U-Turn 4 Christ and Mountain Vision. We went out to visit several elderly people within the community who rarely see visitors. Kyle, Rachel, Brittney, and I visited Edda and Milton, an 80 year old mother who is taking care of her 50 year old son with MS. It was very interesting hearing Edda talk about growing up in the mountains of rural Tennessee in a family with 9 children. We had a great time visiting with them and singing along with the U-Turn band, who had come out with us. I believe it was just as encouraging to them as it was to us. The other 2 groups had similar experiences. Shortly after noon, all the groups met at the U-Turn 4 Christ men's ranch and spent some time worshiping together and hearing testimonies of God's goodness and work in people's lives.

We returned to the church around 4 and began to prepare for the free photo-shoot Ross Duncan had organized as a community outreach. From 5-7 there were only three groups who came to have their picture taken. This was initially discouraging considering we spent most of yesterday passing out flyers in the community, but looking back on the evening we realized that the Lord had a purpose in the small turn-out. A young 31 year old lady, Laura, came to have her picture taken and because there were not many people in the church Celeste and Kyle and a few others were really able to talk with her and love on her despite her severe anxiety.

After the photo-shoot, the group went to Pal's, a local burger chain, hailed to be as good as Whataburger. The burgers were good and the milkshakes were even better. Afterwards, we came back and spent some time sharing testimonies and talking about the day. And that was day 5.

~Sam Strader

Tuesday (Day 4)

   Today and this entire trip has been a huge blessing to me. I'm learning incredible amounts of things about the Church and how we should operate within the body on a day to day basis. One on the things I experienced today was working with Cindy, the lady who runs Hunger First. This is a wonderful organization that ministers to people who are impoverished, addicted to drugs, addicted to alcohol, just anyone that needs help. Grace Fellowship had partnered with her to start giving food to the people that come through her doors.She gives them food, clothing, and friendship. Cindy has a heart for the hurting and it is wonderful to see the Church reaching out through her. She is an amazing women who has been hurt by the Church and I hope and pray that the partnership that has formed with Grace Fellowship can help change her mind about who we are and what we are here to do. She has an amazing heart for these people and we really want to come along side her and help in whatever way possible, whether it be cooking, folding cloths, or washing dishes.
    One of the other things that I was able to do was pass out flyers for the free 8x10 portraits that Ross is taking tomorrow. I personally, have a hard time talking to people that I don't know. It's funny because I was praying that I would learn on this trip and God seems to be answering my prayer, but sometimes in ways that, at the time, I'm not exactly excited about. He is making me learn something that is way outside my comfort zone and even though it makes me uncomfortable, I'm glad that I'm learning. It's good for me to knock on doors and have to be confronted with my fear of talking to complete strangers over and over and over.
   The last thing that we did today was go to Walmart and by food for the people that are on the U Turn for Christ ranch. The only food that they eat is what is donated to them, so consequently, it is not always the best in the world. Some of the people expressed that they didn't have any good recipes or ingredients so we wanted to  provide them with recipes and buy the ingredients necessary to make those meals. It was wonderful shopping for them and knowing that this is something that we can give them, something that they will really enjoy for a while. We take our good food for granted and seeing them without it made us realize how much we have. This whole trip is teaching me about appreciating what you have and learning to be more involved in the Church.

~ Elise Atteberry

The Blessing of Portraits, Paint, Provisions, and the Power of God

Wow, what a blessed day. Now what does one mean by blessed? Well I wanna start off by talking about the community. Today Tommy Rutledge sent us out to a neighborhood community behind the church to do outreach. Tommy and Ross Duncan put together a plan to do family portraits at the Grace Fellowship Church (GFC) for the whole community for free. We were sent out to pass flyers and inform the people of Kingsport. We passed out 250 plus flyers and we were excited to see the community get excited about this free opportunity they were given. It's just like God gave us with the death of his son on the cross and our free opportunity for an eternal life in heaven. Anyway, I was lucky to get to knock on several individual's doors and inform them. One in particular was a former pastor who has been looking for a church in the area to attend. He was very welcoming,and  was the only one who let us in his house (which we did not expect anyone to do). He even gave us a mini sermon and said "Todays world is so I'm this and don't like that and those are not really christians cause they don't do and believe exactly how I do. We need to learn and realize that whether you're Methodist, Pentecostal, Baptist, Nondenominational, or whatever we all are christians regardless. We all believe, follow, and preach the word of God (the Bible) as the body of Christ we should be working together." It's funny how true that is we are all so wrapped up in who we are and how and what we do is better than what someone elses does when what we need to be doing is laying all down on one margin and one criteria that being GOD and him alone.

 Later this afternoon a few of us got to go with Jason (guy from GFC) and myself Luke heading up a team for painting a couples garage. This couple is having a hard time with their physical bodies. The husband has a broken arm and is very weak. The wife has to cary around an oxygen tank at all times do to an illness that she has. However, this couple was very happy, joyful, and thankful for our help. We only did prep work for the garage by cleaning outer walls of the building. However, I found termite damage in some of the walls in a limited area. So luckily we caught it early so it can be taken care of easily and swiftly.

After a long day's work though we all need to satisfy one very important thing: our hunger. So we made a trip downtown to a local barbque place to eat some ribs, pulled pork, chicken, and more. The food was more than amazing as we all satisfied our stomachs and our need for fellowship as a team. Now hunger not only comes to us physically, but also spiritually. Tonight we all sat down as we do everynight and reflected as a team on the day. Philip gave us a devotional and several of us gave our testimonies. He talked to us about expectations of this trip and what we wanted to get out of it. So he had us open up and read Jonah 4. So what does one take from all this? I know for a fact that would be blessing. God blessed the community, blessed the the couple, blessed our hunger, and last us as a team as a body of Christ as a church.

Luke Haug

72 hours later...

As I sit here in the quiet of the morning, I realize that our group has been together for 72 hours straight.  It is an exciting time for me as a leader.  I can't help but wonder if the feeling is anything like that which God might have as he leads us through certain situations in life.  72 hours is a very long time to spend with anybody.  It is enough time to begin to know people, or at the very least learn their idiosyncrasies.  Add into the mix a consistent regiment of 5-6 hours of sleep per night and you have a great formula for spiritual growth.  


Last night we had some time to decompress after a long day in Greeneville.   One of the guys in our group, Sam Strader, shared some incredible insight which God had been teaching him.  He shared Ephesians 4:29, which says,


^"29Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."


This time is exciting for me as a leader because we are starting to move out of the bubble afforded by the professional courtesies which many times surround Christians in their lives.  We are 9 days away from the building that everyone associates with the "church".  We are almost 1,000 miles away from the Wednesday night life group where we have food come together for a couple of hours and then go our separate ways.  


We come to the realization that the people around us have serious issues and flaws.  Not only that but we have no dorm room to run away to for alone time. Our usual confidants are hundreds of miles away.  Technology and entertainment are limited in their ability to distract. We are left with our thoughts and with God.  A scary thought.  Especially as it becomes more evident to us, after ample time for self reflection, that the situations and struggles in our own lives are beginning to overshadow the perceived issues that we once saw in those around us.  How are we going to react?  This is marriage, this is career, this parenthood, in other words, this is real life.


How will we react?  The last 2 months have been spent learning the gospel message, trying to overcome the perception that the gospel is something that happens in a specific point in our lives.  No.  That is the greatness of our God and the work of Christ on the cross.  The gospel brings eternal life which starts now.  Just as we enter into faith through Jesus Christ, we continue in faith through Jesus Christ.  He must become greater; I must become less.


The gospel doesn't change, only our understanding of its magnitude and how it impacts us.  The gospel may enter our lives in a piercing manner similar to that of a .22, but as it exits, lived out everyday, it should have the characteristics of a shotgun blast or nuclear explosion in our lives.  


Pray for us as we begin to experience everyday life.  C.S. Lewis and others have used the word quiddity to describe it.   It is the essence of life, what it is.  We are here, we are sinful, we are with other who are sinful. This is only for a moment in time, but what are we going to do during the moment in time?  How are we going to react?  What are we going to do with these opportunities to experience this quiddity, the realness or essence of this life we are currently in?  Continue to pray as God continues to stretch all of us...


~Kyle Eaton