Spring Break ‘08

By: Aric Carrol & Derek Bargatze

Students Living A Mission recently facilitated a week of service in the Nashville area. Twenty youth and their leaders from Oklahoma City, OK, drove to Nashville for spring break in order to build stronger relationships within their team by serving others and learning God’s word. Their team joined the SLAM team, as well as students from the Institute, for an exciting week of learning, serving, and growing together.

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A Day’s Details

NSHVLL Week Spring Break ‘08 was packed with activity. Each day began at 8:40 am with a bible study led by various Institute students. Then, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm the team participated in service projects. After each intense and tiring day of service, the team met for dinner at “Nyumba,” the Institute student center. During dinner, the Institute’s Immersion teams performed traditional songs and dances from their countries. Each night, a specific people group was featured: Monday night was an African theme, Tuesday night was a Guatemalan theme, and Wednesday night was a Filipino theme. After dinner, the evening activities continued with a bible study by Gregg Garner. The evenings concluded at 10:00 pm after a time of Late Night activities, which consisted of a relaxed time of games, fellowship, and skits performed by Institute students.

Throughout the week, in the evening bible studies, Gregg spoke about the power of being in active participation with God. He encouraged the Oklahoma team to believe that God wants to use them to transform everything around them, everywhere they go. The students were impacted by this message, even deciding one evening to have more times of discussing God’s word rather than continuing with the scheduled Late Night activities. Their last night concluded with times of prayer and worship that seemed to build a team unity they had never felt before.

People Served

Three locations were served during this intensive week of ministry: Nashville Rescue Mission, YMCA Camp Widjiwagon, and MDHA High Rise Apartments throughout the city. At the Rescue Mission, they served food to the homeless and helped bring order to the donation warehouse. At Camp Widjiwagon, they helped clean the shoreline of Percy Priest Lake, as well as the rest of the campsite. At the High Rise Apartments, they cleaned the homes of those who were unable due to a disability or old age.

Staying in Touch

Since the Oklahoma team left, we have stayed in touch with many of their team members. Several of the students have communicated that NSHVLL Week Spring Break ‘08 changed their lives forever.They feel confident in their ability to continue living like Christ in Oklahoma City.

Times of service and learning are crucial for any ministry that desires to actively participate with God. For the Oklahoma team, it is our prayer that they continue believing that God wants to use them to transform their community. It was a privilege to serve them and facilitate a week where they can focus solely on service and learning God’s word.

You can watch a video of NSHVLL Week Spring Break ’08. More pictures are also available by clicking here.