(Top row – L to R) Rev. Jimmy Spear, Wyatt Rogers, Rev. Nick Larson, Megan Potthast, Hunter Rogers, Jonathan LaHue, Kim Potthast. (Bottom row -- L to R) Chloe Prewitt, Aliyah Lundsford, Sarah Butler, Julia Bower, Eli Gaffney
Each year the DOC – Disciples on Campus college ministry in Columbia, MO takes a mission trip over winter break. This year a dozen DOCers spent the first week of January serving and learning in Memphis, TN. The DOC group was hosted by Kingsway Christian Church in east Memphis.
The group served alongside organizations such as St. Mary’s Soup Kitchen—providing a 150 year-old daily cup of nourishing hot soup; Friends for Life—serving the needs of the HIV/AIDS community; Mid-South Food Bank—feeding the needs of many Tennessee counties; Room in the Inn—offering overnight shelter to the Memphis homeless community. These organizations provided the chance for the week to include: serving hot soup each morning, laundering shelter bedding, packing food, and learning about the needs of both the poor and homeless of Memphis. The group also had the opportunity to engage in the historical significance of several Memphis landmarks. It was a moving experience to learn more about the slave trade (touring Slave Haven a station on the Underground Railroad) and to connect with the witness of the National Civil Rights Museum.
Each winter break mission trip builds on the community of the DOC group’s weekly gatherings giving the students a chance to spend a week away from school/home with a great group sharing in service, worship, play and fellowship. The DOC group consists of those students at school at one of four Columbia institutions and also those who are from a Columbia congregation attending school elsewhere. A majority of this year’s group have known each other since middle school through many years of participating in the NEOLA summer church camp program. In DOC they continue to build on what have now become long term friendships. DOC is a joint student ministry of First Christian Church and Broadway Christian Church in Columbia.
Submitted by Jimmy Spear,
First Christian Church, Columbia