Our trip to Kingsport, TN could best be summed up by the words of one of the participants, Kurt, in our final debrief. Kurt explained that when believers humbly gather together to serve a community, giving up comforts and their free time, Jesus ALWAYS shows up; “it’s not a matter of IF, it’s a matter of WHEN.”
As is delightfully typical of most Adventures In Missions trips, I watched Jesus show up to do a work in both the hearts of the missionaries and the those the missionaries served. I watched missionaries hearts grow and scales fall off their eyes when they heard heartbreaking stories told by children who’ve suffered unspeakable things. I watched missionaries experience a fresh revelation of Jesus’s will for their lives. Lastly, and most importantly, I watched the missionaries grown in their faith and expectation for Jesus to do impossible things and to speak to individuals in ways they didn’t think possible.
I know the work the missionaries did at the various inner city service projects both encouraged the host ministries and will help them to accomplish their various missions more effectively but my prayer is that the love and hope poured out through prayer, in Jesus’s name, in the moments when the missionaries were able to connect one on one with individuals would have a wild-fire type effect. By that I mean that the broken and oppressed would hold on tightly to the love and hope they experienced through Jesus and that it would grow and transform their lives. That transformed people would be able to give it away to others that are broken and oppressed; that love and hope would catch like a wild-fire and transform for the city.
My prayer is that Isaiah 61:4 would become the reality for those living in Kingsport, TN. That, “they (those previously broken) will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities destroyed long ago. They will revive them, though they have been deserted for many generations.” I believe the broken will be the ones to rebuild their city and I count myself blessed to have been apart of that, along with all the missionaries who served this past week.
