MJ… Mission Jackson… it is our service opportunity, our weekly incursion into the city, our ministry, and our passion. I hope this article will give you a better understanding about it. First, you should know that Mission Jackson is a ministry of Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson, TN.
Next, let me give you a quick list of the main points:
- Mission Jackson is led primarily by a group of Christian volunteers.
- We have about 10 ministry sites scattered throughout the city of Jackson, but we desire to expand and serve more neighborhoods.
- We meet in these neighborhoods – in the street – nearly every Sunday afternoon.
- We set-up crafts tables, portable basketball goals, tarps to sit on, and organize other activities.
- We have fun, love on kids, and share the love of Jesus!
- Each week, we share the Word through scripture, prayer, and Bible story time.
- We have a weekly snack time and organize community cookouts a couple of times a year.
- We watch for maturing students and begin bringing them to our main church campus for more in-depth spiritual growth opportunities. We have a program called “D2” that teaches these students discipleship responsibilities, exposes them to full worship services, community service projects, and provides academic tutoring (as volunteers are available).
- We engage the parents of these students with the Gospel. Some of these parents visit our main campus and join in worship and Bible study opportunities.
- We organize larger event and need based opportunities for MJ students. Some of these are: an annual backpack project that provides school supplies and prayer for individual students, summer church camp, and an annual Agape Christmas Banquet for the parents of the students.
- There is so much more, but I will stop here for the sake of brevity.
So, what about this “day in the life” thing? Let me tell you about the day we had yesterday. Review the photo gallery below to get a visual on the day. Here we go… Sunday morning started with an awesome message by our pastor, Jordan Easley. He challenged us to focus on Kingdom work rather than exhausting ourselves in an effort to build our own little kingdoms in this world. That afternoon, my MJ team met and prepared our ministry site for the students who would come. We ended up with around 33 MJ students on site. A few of them had an opportunity to visit our main campus and hear Kevin Dyson speak. Kevin is a former Tennessee Titan professional football player. These young men also shared a meal with a room full of Christian men and heard the Gospel proclaimed. Most importantly, 5 of our MJ young men accepted Jesus as their Savior during this event! Praise the Lord! The students who remained at our site were blessed to hear the Carbonell sisters share the Bible story time. Rachel and Grace did an awesome job. I was amazed at how attentive the students were as they listened to the story of the baby Moses and his entrance into Pharaoh’s house. The Lord allowed us to finish the afternoon just ahead of a large storm that poured torrents of rain upon the city. It was an excellent day indeed!
Be sure to click on the last photo thumbnails below because they are panoramic pictures.
