Back 59 middle school students serve Nashville through Mission 615

June 11th, 2012

59 middle school students serve Nashville through Mission 615
59 middle school students serve Nashville through Mission 615
59 middle school students serve Nashville through Mission 615
59 middle school students serve Nashville through Mission 615
59 middle school students serve Nashville through Mission 615
59 middle school students serve Nashville through Mission 615
59 middle school students serve Nashville through Mission 615

By the time a student reaches sixth grade, most still haven't been exposed the underbelly of their own communities—the homeless, addicted, broken, shamed. Most haven't stepped outside of their bubbles to intentionally love those outside of their circles. And most haven't even been more than 15 minutes from their own homes.

But all that changes when they enter Brentwood Baptist's Student Ministry. It immediately becomes double exposure—to a world they've never encountered before and how they can serve and share the gospel of love, grace, and mercy in Jesus Christ with those they meet.

This opportunity always happens at the beginning of every summer during Mission 615. This year, from June 4-6, 59 students in grades 6-8, with the help of 23 leaders—including interns, high schoolers, and parents, busted those bubbles and served ministry partners and those they minister to in the greater Nashville area.

They bunked in downtown Nashville for two nights, sending out eight mission crews each morning to 12 different sites: Nashville Rescue Mission, Room in the Inn, Youth Encouragement Services, World Relief, Harvest Hands, Welcome Home Ministries, The Next Door, Bethany Health and Rehab Center, Kipp Academy, Grace M. Eaton, Southeast Nashville Recovery, and Waterways Recovery Project.

They worked hard every day, gardening, playing with kids, meeting senior adults, cleaning, constructing rain gardens, serving lunch, and more. And each evening, they came together as group on top of a building in downtown Nashville to worship, study the Word, and share their stories from the day.

While Brentwood Baptist students were serving in Nashville, Station Hill students in grades 6-12 were serving their own area through Mission 931 in the Spring Hill, Thompson's Station, and Columbia areas.

The summer student events don't stop here for students. Still coming up, the Student Ministry will take middle school and high schoolers to beach camp and two more mission journeys to round out the hot-weather months.