World Gospel Church

We have arrived this evening at Dean Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Lake Cormorant, Mississippi.

We are all settled in and excited for church in the morning as well as a visit and meal to Calvary Rescue Mission, a men’s home where we will be doing ministry this week!

We are ready for church this morning at Dean Hill Missionary Baptist Church after helping to set up! 

Today we arrived at Calvary Rescue Mission, a men’s homeless shelter that has been here in the Memphis area for over 50 years. We heard from Robert, the “Chicken Man” known for his famous fried chicken, a little bit about the ministry of Calvary, and what we’ll be doing this week!

We are making "Arroz con Pollo," along with salad and dessert led by Jim, our team expert on Puerto Rican food. We will be serving this meal to the men arriving at Calvary Rescue Mission tonight. 

We are starting in on several projects at FOBICC including painting prep, painting, clean-up, and yard work. Everyone is working hard in the hot Memphis sun. 

Today at Calvary Rescue Mission, we were blessed to receive a tour and hear the history of Calvary from Chief, one of the staff.  

From April of 1972 to July of 2018 they did ministry in the same building every night holding chapel and feeding and showering on average 30 men every night. That’s over 17,000 chapel services, not to mention the Christmas services and gift-giving they hold for the community.

Since 2018 they’ve moved into a new building that they’re able to hold nearly triple their previous capacity and provide educational services and discipleship classes as well.

According to Chief, the ministry is fully funded by God’s grace, and he told us a number of stories that involved faithful PUSH (Praying Until Something Happens). The ministry has a number of incredible stories that Chief shared including over 20,000 people who have been saved over the years. 

Calvary Rescue Mission from precipice to today, is a testament to God’s faithfulness and His provision and we are grateful to have the opportunity to serve there this week.

This evening after dinner our worship team lead us through Build Your Kingdom Here, Lay Me Down, and Sweetly Broken! It was wonderful to sing together in worship, thanks worship team!

10 young ladies from the group had the opportunity to serve at a drop-in site for women who are in need of food, laundry services, clothes, a shower, or just a safe place to be for a few hours.

The girls served food to the women and got to chat with them. They also gave them items for showering and washed their laundry while they were showering or eating. They retrieved clothes from the clothing room for the women. They also counted and sorted donation items from people.

Some of the girls also spent time organizing one of the areas of the house that needed some sorting and reorganization. The woman in the photo is Sandra and she is one of the facilitators of the site, along with Whitney. They do their best to love the women where they are at.

Tuesday morning we partnered with Metropolitan Inner-Faith Association to deliver meals to vulnerable seniors and families in crises in the city of Memphis. We split into 3 teams to deliver our meals throughout the city. 

This afternoon we got the opportunity to serve at Urban Farms which is a program of a church here in Memphis that funds a program called Knowledge Center. 

A few of our team got to spend time with the pre-k through 2nd graders and the rest picked tomatoes, and weeded through the garden!

We literally turned the place upside down and did a very thorough job of cleaning the cafeteria today. 

Today at Fellowship of Believers in Christ Church (FOBICC) we got to work on several projects including fresh coats of paint in two rooms, putting up a huge whiteboard, and lots of organization!

Pastor Jackson expressed his gratitude and encouraged us to pray against fear in the community. 

It’s been a blessing to serve Pastor Jackson at FOBICC this week!

Today we got to spend our rec day in Memphis enjoying a time at Mud Island (pictured), the Bass Pro Shop Pyramid, Central BBQ (yum!) and The Civil Rights Museum.

Last night we had one last time of worship out by the cemetery at sunset and sang In Christ Alone and No Longer Slaves. It was an absolute blessing to serve and worship with you this week World Gospel Students,  go and be the light in the world!