We saw 65 churches involved with Serve Memphis with at least 61 salvations. We had churches as far as Michigan serve as well as participants from Oklahoma who were a part of Serve Tulsa. Disaster Relief of Tennessee made lunches for volunteers on Friday and Saturday and cooked a fantastic meal for the rally on Friday. We hosted a Serve Tour Rally on Friday night at Bellevue where we shared about partnership opportunities, resources from Tennessee Baptist and Send Relief, and had Bryant Wright preach.  The weather never got out of the 30’s all weekend, and yet the volunteers continued to serve with a smile. I believe this will provide a lot of momentum for the ministry center in Memphis. 

By the Numbers

Stories

One overall theme was the blessing stated by leaders to have multiple churches represented from different races:

“We looked different on the outside, but in our hearts, we were like-minded, having the same love for the community and was of one spirit.”

Pastor Jackson at Brown Missionary Church

Volunteers were able to bless a church plant of Brown Missionary Baptist Church – Riverview church with several different projects on their building.  They finally got to use their sanctuary for the first time due to window units that were installed to provide heat/air. 

Volunteers were in some of the roughest neighborhoods giving out free hamburgers with mobile grill ministry. We saw 38 salvations from this one project in 2 days.  One local pastor commented “the fishing is good in the hood”.

“I had a few wow moments. It was good for them to see Christ Centered people of different races serving the local church just because they have a love for Christ and His created people.” 

Pastor Kelvin of Christ Fellowship

Volunteers at Coleman Elementary School replaced broken swings, installing mulch over exposed concrete on the playground, and fixing the drainage beside the playground. It made a huge difference to their 3 playgrounds.  Administration and teachers were very grateful. 

The group from Believer’s Choice Life Church was a predominately black group and the group from Bellevue was a predominately white group. They intentionally split up from their original group and paired up with another person from the other group to spend time in prayer and service together. They wanted to show the love and reconciliation of Christ tangibly.

Project leader from Bellevue

Volunteers were able to bless 3 black pastors with updates done at their homes: one got a new roof, one got new flooring, walls painted, and a new tub, and one got his ceiling repaired and new kitchen countertops.  All three pastors were extremely thankful and worthy to be blessed.  

Volunteers packed over 100,000 meals at the ministry center – some to be used by Disaster Relief and some to be given to local food banks in Memphis.  

Visited 85 fire stations in Shelby County with encouragement bags for each first responder.  Each fire station was prayed for and in a lot of cases with first responders.  

Volunteers blessed Coleman police department with a meal – one officer commented “it makes it worth it when people serve you for serving them.”

Volunteers while serving at a school was able to minister to a principal who recently lost his brother to cancer.

Volunteers working at Binghamton Christian Academy had a gospel conversation with 10 middle schoolers who rededicated their lives to Christ.