Urban Immersion

In March we hosted 31 college students from Ole Miss and the University of Pittsburgh for our first Urban Immersion … our spring break of living, working, and learning in the inner city.

      On our very first afternoon we held an outreach at a run-down trailer park on Orange Blossom Trail (OBT). We met Vanessa. She was sitting at the bus stop. We almost passed her by, but as soon as we told her about our outreach and free food, she came right over.

      After we finished passing out fliers, we saw Vanessa speaking and crying with some of the students. She used to be a bookkeeper, but hasn’t had a job for some time. Now she sells her body every night in order to have a place to sleep. She was in great physical and emotional pain — she has been abused by the men who hire her.

      As one of the students prayed with her — explaining that Jesus forgives us and cares for us and will answer our prayers — she prayed to ask Christ in her life. After some critical phone calls on her behalf, God provided a bed in a shelter for abused women!

      Besides the trailer park, the students went to a former hotel (now an apartment complex) where poor families live. They played with kids, talked to parents and homeless people. Both places are areas where local ministries which partner with Here’s Life Inner City go regularly. They also helped clean up our office and some transitional housing.

      The students were really bold, taking opportunities to talk to people on city buses and in the apartments and trailer park, and praying for people. Some students even went to the hospital to pray for a man they met who was having heart surgery.

      Many spoke of growth in passion for praying, and many spoke of a growing passion to build into lives of children. Friendships were forged and hearts were expanded to see people who are often unseen (homeless) and to pray for those who are hurting and struggling to survive.

      When the week was over, the partner ministry that works at the trailer park on OBT, called to tell us that the new owner of the trailer park saw their Easter outreach fliers and asked to talk to someone from that ministry. He asked if they would like to start doing church in a trailer that he is setting aside. It would be available 7 days/week!