Memphis Chronicles:The Clinics

Every morning this week we have divided into two groups to share the gospel with patients in the medical clinics. How it works is that after the patients are brought into the room and are waiting for the doctor to arrive, we enter the room as Spiritual Health Advisors because "here at Christ Community we care about your spiritual and emotional health as well as your physical". We ask them to rate their spiritual health as a transition into how they view God, and then hopefully a door to share Christ will present itself. It has been amazing to walk into the rooms and watch people open up and share about their lives, as well as an incredible experience to share truth of the bible with people. Plus I have sort of been forced into gaining confidence in evangelism with complete strangers, something I have not well practiced in at all.

Just a few thoughts of what I have taken away from these crazy, packed experiences...

-Everyone has a story to tell, and so many people are hungry for someone to sit and listen to their hurt and pain. We are all human, we are all broken, and pain is pain no matter what color you are, where you grew up, or what you believe. I am learning compassion.

-Allowing the Holy Spirit to lead your speech in sharing the gospel with people is essential. I really have no idea what that means in practice, but I have watched others who have shared with 100's of patients and I can see the compassion in their eyes and the truth spoken as the Holy Spirit leads them. There is something special about the way they interact with people that I have never seen before. Bathe it all in prayer.

-There is such a great need for the gospel to be spread in the city of Memphis. I see trends of people saying spirituality is going church and doing good things. Works based salvation is very common theme to see with the patients.Then again, I degrade the cross to what I do and do not do far too often myself.

-And finally?  I can't. I can't say the right things, I can't be compassionate enough, I can't share the gospel clear enough, and I can't relate to people's stories well enough. I can't.

God is so good, and I am so thankful for the chance to be here.

Memphis Chronicles: The Orientation

        After months without a blog post, I decided to pick it back up again to update my supporters and share about what the Lord is teaching me and how he is working here in the city of Memphis. Also, writing really helps me process, so this is a great way to sort out all I am learning, even if no one actually reads this.                                                                                                                                                             As some of you know, I am interning for Christ Community Ministries this summer which is primarily a refugee ministry in Memphis, Tennessee. I am also living with a family that lives in the inner city neighborhood of Binghampton as “intentional neighbors” in order to share the love of Christ to those that live around them.                                                                     
       After only being here a few days, the Lord has already shaken and convicted my heart. I find myself asking big questions, setting many goals, and learning things I never imagined I would learn.                

       The family that I am living with is wonderful. They have welcomed me into their home and chosen to continue life as usual while they raise their two kids and live in a broken neighborhood that is so different from where they have come from. I have already wondered how they do it. Their home is incredibly disciplined yet grace driven, and scriptural truth is taught and demonstrated everyday as they interact with one another. But when I walk out the door? I see poverty, domestic violence, addiction, brokenness, and sin. How do you raise kids here? How do they strategically love your family and your neighbors at the same time? They do it because they have been called to live here with great purpose and intentionality by loving people where the most need is. There is an incredible need for the love of Christ to be made known here. They have taken seriously the command to “love your neighbor”. How can I as well build relationships and engage in the neighborhood here this summer?                                                            

       Today I went to the clinic on day two of my internship with the new medical resident students. We were trained on the work of Christ Community, taught the model of discipleship found in Luke 10, and shown the ultimate goal of the Church found in the New Testament (crazy good!). After that, we were trained on how to “story” the gospel for oral based people groups, and communicate the whole gospel clearly. Tomorrow? We are going into the clinics for what they call “spiritual healthy advising”. We will enter into waiting rooms with a single patient and ask a few questions about their spiritual health as a door to share the gospel with them.                        
             I could go on for pages, and I have only been here 5 days. I look forward to updating things again soon. Thank you for your prayers concerning what the Lord is doing here!