Chronicles of a Road Trip
Project Capstone Trip.
Our final assignment at The Center for Global Action – Worship Track!
I piled into a van for two+ weeks with nine teammates to engage in evangelism, serve in outreaches alongside local churches and host worship gatherings in several major cities along the East Coast. We had the opportunity to partner with Burn 24-7, an organization passionate about missional worship, intercession and Holy-Spirit inspired evangelism.
The following stories will document a few of my favorite memories from a road trip that tuned our hearts into how God is at work in the U.S…. and changed our lives forever.
The Camaraderie of Pain (Virginia Beach, VA)
Liz, Amanda and I decided to rent a tricycle from a military veteran working along the boardwalk. In the midst of our conversation, he confessed his struggle with PTSD. Just a few minutes before we arrived, a tire had blown out on the sidewalk in front of his office, and he had hit the floor. We were able to pray with him in the middle of his shop. My teammate Liz told him that she saw a lot of joy in him through our conversation… amazing, considering how much he had suffered during his four tours in Afghanistan.
As we pedaled down the boardwalk, a middle-aged man walked past us in his workout clothes. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was supposed to talk with him. Ten feet further down the boardwalk, I braked the bike and ran after him (yes, that was slightly awkward). Thankfully, he was stopped at a crosswalk, and we struck up a friendly conversation.
My new friend had sad eyes. We made small talk for a while, and I asked if there was anything I could pray for him. He grew still. “I’ve experienced a lot of loss in my life,” he said, softly.
Though he wasn’t ready to re-visit the painful story of his life in that moment, we sat and talked for a while and prayed together. He just needed someone to remind him that he wasn’t alone.
Tricycle selfie (Zoe Anna, Amanda & Liz!)
New Beginnings (Goldsboro, NC).
Our team’s hosts at our last stop volunteered our manpower to help pack up a pregnancy center for its new location: a spacious house with an open, welcoming kitchen.
Everything in the new center – from the hardwood floors to the brand new cabinets and countertops – was donated for the furnishing of this beautiful home. Its purpose is to provide counsel and a home for women with unplanned pregnancies, with continued support offered during the first two years of their child’s life.
Our team leader, Arden, asked if we could dedicate the new center by praying and worshiping in it.. The moment we walked in, my gaze fell upon the upright piano situated against one wall: brightly painted and a bit dusty, but in tune with itself!
Drew tuned his guitar, and Arden beat on a drum in gentle rhythm as we began to sing:
You’re full of life, now, full of passion. That’s how He made you! Just let it happen. And He calls each one of us by our names… and He whispers to your heart to let it go and to be alive. (“Let it happen”, by United Pursuit)
My eyes teared up as I pictured hundreds of kids whose lives were cut short here on earth, now playing with Jesus, giggles laughter erupting from their smiling faces.
Worship in the new pregnancy center (Goldsboro, NC)
Then, one of my teammates changed the words of the song to pray: “So let them have a beginning, so they can run through the fields with you!”
Yes! We can declare these things, I thought. So I sang: “They will have a beginning. And they will run through the fields with you!”
Our souls filled with hope. We sang over the mothers- and fathers-to-be. We sang over the children who haven’t yet breathed earth’s air… and over those who never will.
The director of the pregnancy center worshiped and prayed alongside us. There were tears in her eyes as she thanked us over and over again for coming out to bless their center.
…more to come…
Our crazy-wonderful team: Ben, Andrea, Liz, Amanda, Zoe Anna, Andrew, Marybeth, Drew, Stephen and Arden
