May 15, 2025 • 32 mins
What does it look like when faith moves beyond Sunday services to transform an entire community? Amy Lancaster of We Will Go Ministries shares a powerful story of answering God's unexpected call to serve not overseas, but in downtown Jackson—their "Jerusalem."
The journey began when Amy and her husband David sold their home and prepared for international missions, only to hear God redirect them to Jackson's deepest needs. What started with simply giving neighbors sandwiches has grown into a comprehensive ministry that feeds 30,000 people annually, provides daily children's programming, and engages thousands of volunteers in meaningful service.
Against the sobering backdrop where one in four Mississippi children live in poverty, We Will Go creates spaces of hope by restoring abandoned buildings and offering practical assistance to approximately 900 families monthly—many headed by grandparents supporting multiple generations on meager fixed incomes. Yet their approach transcends mere charity. "We sit with every single neighbor and pray with them," Amy explains, emphasizing the dignity of relationship over transactional giving.
Perhaps most compelling is how the ministry dismantles barriers to service. "Maybe we've made it too hard," Amy reflects, encouraging listeners to simply "start with something." Whether reading to a child, tending a community garden, or replacing a fence, every skill becomes valuable in God's hands. The impact flows both ways, as volunteers—from church groups to corporate teams—often find themselves deeply transformed through these encounters.
Amy's own family embodies this transformation. All three Lancaster children, now adults with professional degrees, have chosen to return home and join We Will Go using their skills in accounting, ministry leadership, and media.
Ready to discover how your unique gifts might bring hope to your community?
Visit wewillgo.org to explore volunteer opportunities that match your interests and availability.
As Amy reminds us, "God doesn't have a plan B. His plan is to use me and you to be the difference in the world."
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
When you need some hope and inspiration to build
collaboration.
Hope Mississippi is yoursalvation.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
One in four kids live in poverty.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
One in five are food deprived.
Build collaborations and buildhope with those who are
struggling.
Build collaborations and buildhope with those who are
struggling.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hope Mississippi.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Hello and welcome back for another episode of Hope
Mississippi.
We're so glad you're joining ustoday and I have Amy Lancaster
with me with we Will Go.
Hey, Amy, good to have you.
Tell us just a little bit aboutwe Will Go and how it got
started.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
First of all, thanks for having me Glad to be with
y'all.
Dave and I have been marriedfor almost 33 years, so our
whole marriage, our desire hasbeen to serve the Lord like with
our whole life.
What does that look like?
And so initially we thoughtthat would mean overseas
missions.
God gave us three little kidsright off the bat and we started
taking them on mission and thatwas almost all overseas.
(01:23):
That was our initial thought,is it would be overseas.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Isn't that cool how God works.
He brings you together withjust the right person.
My husband has that same lovinggiving, and you can accomplish
so much more when you worktogether.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yep.
And so that covenant you know,marriage is a covenant, it's
very holy to God so he glued ustogether.
God glued us together, and thenour desire was well, we really
want to honor you with our life,not just on Sunday, not just
doing a good thing, not justbarely making it through life,
but we really want to honor you.
So that started out with usjust partnering with a lot of
(01:59):
different ministries and withour church and different things,
so we would go overseas.
Then we will go, ministries andwith our church and different
things, so we would go overseas.
Then we will go really turnedinto a real non-profit on its
own over time.
Our thinking was that God wasgoing to move us overseas.
We sold our house, we got outof debt, we were partnered with
a lot of ministries, going allover the world, just coming
alongside ministries and comingand helping them, taking our
(02:20):
children with us as they weregrowing up.
And then about 20 years ago, theLord spoke to us very, very
clearly.
We had an invitation to stay inAfrica, which we wanted to do,
and the Lord said no.
And I always tell people it'sreally important when you're
seeking the will of the Lord.
He's a good father and goodfathers say yes and no.
And as a good father, he saidno.
He said Jackson, and we werenot planning on moving to
(02:44):
downtown Jackson.
I grew up in North Mississippi,david grew up in South Alabama,
and so the idea of moving todowntown Jackson was not even on
our radar.
But the Lord spoke very clearlyto us, and what the Lord spoke
to me and David on the sameexact day was Jackson is your
Jerusalem.
It is on fire.
And then God said my peopledon't care anything about it.
(03:04):
And we were very shockedbecause we were planning on
moving to a Muslim country andlearning Arabic and reaching the
lost.
And the Lord said right here.
So, long story short, we saidyes to the Lord.
I always tell people it's just awaste of time to tell God no or
maybe or later or whatever.
Just yes is a better answer.
And we moved down here with ourlittle children back in 2005,
(03:26):
officially moved, and from theinitial days of just giving our
neighbors a sandwich andinviting people to our home to
where we are now, it's the sameheart, it's just more, it's just
more people, and so that lookslike just loving your neighbor.
Jesus poured the entire gospel,the entire Bible down to love
the Lord, your God, all yourheart, soul, mind and strength.
(03:48):
And I always say to people ishe your God?
Are you saved?
Do you know the Lord?
And then the second commandmentis just as important as the
first commandment, and that isto love your neighbor.
And that is everyone.
There's no one that I candiscount.
And so our whole heart is thathas to look like something
tangible all the time, sevendays a week, not just one day a
(04:08):
week.
And of course, as you know,that involves all kinds of
neighbors, people that live herein Jackson, people that come
and serve.
We have visitors this morningthat are volunteering from a
school.
So how do we share the gospelin a really, really tangible way
?
It started from again movinghere giving our neighbors a
sandwich.
To you know, now we're feeding30,000 people.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Our pathway with regard to ministry is very
similar in that when I marriedmy husband, he already did
Honduras medical and dental sowe did that we would work all
year long, getting everythingtogether to go down there and
share for two weeks.
But what we really came to beconvicted of is that there are
huge needs right here inMississippi.
(04:50):
One in four of our kids livesin poverty.
One in five are food deprivedand God's plan is to use us to
be his hands and feet.
He says when we do it unto theleast of these, we do it unto
him.
Describe the many services thaty'all are doing here at we Will
Go.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Well, it's changed a whole lot.
Of course, as ministry does, itgrows and morphs.
Initially we didn't dochildren's ministry at all, so
initially, literally was justliving in the middle of it and
reaching our neighbor literallyat our house.
And then over time God had uspurchase several houses.
We stored 13 houses in themiddle of it and reaching our
neighbor literally at our house.
And then over time God had uspurchase several houses.
We've restored 13 houses in theFerris District and then this
commercial property, what we'resitting in right now.
(05:33):
It used to be the YMCA.
It was built in 1940 in theFerris District, across the
street.
Here it used to be a hamburgerjoint and a liquor store and an
insurance office and a hugegrocery store, and so that has
just expanded into.
We really focus now on threemain things.
One is what we call essentialfood, so meeting people right
(05:53):
where they are.
You mentioned how our neighborsright here in Jackson many,
many are extremely poor.
Many grandmothers are takingcare of a lot of kids and on a
very, very low income.
So last year, like I said, wefed about 30,000 people.
So that goes on every day.
So we're doing something withfood every day picking it up,
sorting, praying for people,ministering to people, giving
(06:14):
groceries.
Then every day we're doingsomething with kids ministry.
So we do after school ministryevery day for Jackson Public
School kids.
Some we pick up from school,some get off the bus, so that's
every day and we really focus onreading and Bible and really
that kid encountering the loveof Christ.
That's every day.
And then we also have summercamp that goes on all summer.
(06:35):
And so then the third part isengagement, which is this piece,
which is how do we engage withpeople that don't know what to
do?
Like I said earlier, you know,a lot of people know that
Jackson's broken and they knowthere's a lot of issues with our
school system, or they knowthere's poverty, they know
there's need, they know there'shungry people, but they're
overwhelmed and so they don'tknow what to do.
So engagement is how do we getGod's people plugged in?
(07:00):
So we have last year we had5,000 volunteers and we'll
probably pass that this year andso we're going to say yes.
If somebody says, hey, I wantto do something, we're going to
say yes, that might mean thatyou come and you read to a child
in the afternoon.
Right now there is a schoolacross the street that's helping
unload a truck and pack bagsfor 120 neighbors that are
coming in the morning.
(07:20):
We try really hard.
How do we get the body ofChrist really out of the pew?
And we try to make it as easyas we can to say you can come
serve for an hour, for a day.
We also have teams that comeand stay here.
We had a team of 37 fromAmarillo last week and they
stayed for five or six days.
So many times it's also amission trip, right.
So it's somewhere people canactually come and learn and
(07:42):
actually do the things they readabout in scripture.
They really do want it to looklike something tangible and
we're like, okay, come on, weplug them into what God's doing
and prayer walk with them andspend time encouraging them in
their walk.
Of course, there are a lot ofvolunteers that don't know the
Lord yet, so we see a lot ofvolunteers that get saved while
they're here serving, which isfun.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Let's talk about your location.
I served on the Supreme Courtfor nine years and you are just
a stone's throw from the Capitoland the Supreme Court and yet
you're surrounded with poverty,surrounded by high crime, single
mother homes or eitherhouseholds where the
grandparents and so the need istremendous and Jesus ministered
(08:23):
to people oftentimes before heshared the gospel with them.
And that's what you're doingevery day is meeting those needs
.
You facilitate groups coming in.
If a church group wants to comein, how do they do that?
Speaker 2 (08:42):
It's super simple.
So, like I said, we're going totry to make it as easy as
possible.
The easiest way is just go towewillgoorg.
All the information is there.
There's a little link.
You click one button and ittakes you to a visit us email
and then, if you want to justcall, the phone number's right
there on the website.
If you want to email, you cansay hey, I want to bring a
wonderful team that helps thathappen.
(09:03):
Some teams want to come for anhour.
Some teams want to comeconsistently.
We have volunteers that comeevery single week.
There are volunteers that comeon serve Saturdays.
We had a Saturday this pastweek where a lot of people work
during the week and they want tocome and bring their families
and their kids.
So we had a bunch of peoplecome from a lot of different
churches this past Saturday wesigned kids up for camp.
We had a fun family festival inthe backyard.
(09:25):
Some Saturdays we're givingaway groceries and praying for
people.
In two weeks we're going to beplanting our neighborhood garden
.
We've got two big gardens righthere out the back door.
All they need to do is justsend us a message.
It's super easy.
Or call us on the phone, go towewillgoorg and just say, hey,
how can we help?
And so I always tell peoplestart with something, just start
with something.
We're going to make it as easyas we possibly can and many
(09:49):
times it just starts with comingon a Saturday for two or three
hours when you're off work, orcoming in the afternoon with
your kids.
The school that's here thismorning is a homeschool group,
so we're going to do our best totry to make it, you know,
really work for you and thenfrom there just see what God
does.
A lot of times the businessescome, so that's pretty fun.
(10:09):
We have a lot of businessesthat they really want their
employees to serve the community.
They know we're Christian, theyknow we're going to share the
gospel, they know what we'redoing.
They get their employeesinvolved.
Sometimes they'll come and readto the kids.
Sometimes they'll come anddonate books.
Sometimes they'll come andsponsor a child.
Camp is coming.
So a lot of times companies orbusinesses or we had a Sunday
school class the other day andthey will sponsor kids for camp
(10:33):
Because, again, like you said,the kids and families that we
served are just really, reallypoor people.
I grew up really poor andthere's nothing wrong with that?
As the people of God church,we're supposed to come alongside
and meet them where they are,just like you said, like Christ
did.
Christ said hey, sit them alldown, we're going to feed them.
And the disciples said how inthe world would we find enough
money or enough food?
(10:54):
And the Lord just said just sitthem down, it's going to be
great and he blessed what theyhad, which in that story, was
one little kid's lunch here.
Sometimes it's one pallet offood and we're like, okay, lord,
multiply this.
And then that comes through adonor or through a company or
through a church or through aschool and they say how can we
help?
Sometimes I'll do a peanutbutter drive.
(11:16):
Or sometimes they'll sayfinancially, can we support?
Yes, you can.
Hey, can we bring you know,vegetables?
Yes, you can.
So it's all those piecestogether that actually gets it
done, which I think is reallyfun.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
So from the provider standpoint, there is no excuse
not to get involved, because youcan use a willing hands and
they can be mentors and tutorsor so many different things.
And you said that you came uppoor.
We came up poor in my family,but I can remember watching God
(11:52):
provide through individuals,through organizations and
churches, and it was throughGod's provision that I realized
man, he cares about me Exactlyright.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I think a lot of times in our culture maybe we've
made it too hard, maybe we'vemade it too complex, maybe we
made the gospel too complex.
You know a lot of the neighborsthat we love on do know the
Lord.
You know some of them pray ashard as me and you do.
A lot of them have not everbeen exposed to the gospel.
You know a lot of our neighborscan't read.
We focus a lot on literacy.
There's a lot of people thattheir literacy is really really
(12:30):
low and so if we can teach thisfourth grader or this second
grader to read the word of Godfor themselves, guess what they
do?
They take that word home tograndmama.
And the majority of the folksthat we are ministering to is
about 900 families every monthand out of that about 80% are
people that are my age and older, that are in their 50s, 60s,
(12:52):
70s, that are taking care of alot of people on about $700 or
$800 a month and that's supposedto cover food and rent and
utilities and school andeverything.
So it's a very challengingsituation for our family.
So we try to meet them rightwhere they are.
Sometimes we find that there's,you know, six children in the
(13:12):
home and they need tutoring andwe say, hey, can they get off
the bus?
And you know, can we love onthem and help with their
homework and can we pray overthem and teach them the gospel?
And the mom will be like, well,we don't, we can't afford it,
and that's okay, we really wantto bless your family.
And then vice versa, sometimeswe'll find that the child that's
here came from a school.
Their family is really, reallyin need of groceries and we're
(13:34):
like, that's great, we've gotyou.
You know, we'd love to blessyour family.
So again.
And then there's many timesthere's a church or a Sunday
school group or a business or acompany.
Our hearts are broken forJackson, our hearts are broken
for the city, and we're likeyou're great, come on.
And so then we'll give lots ofdifferent ideas.
(13:55):
You know what might work.
And everybody might not feelcalled to kids.
Everybody might not feel calledto food.
Some people might be, you know,excited about the gardens.
Great, I need your help.
So we're going to try reallyhard to say how can we pray with
y'all to get you plugged in?
Sometimes people hear education.
They think, oh gosh.
And I tell people if you canread.
(14:15):
If you can read you're a tutorhere you can come and sit with
the eight-year-old and read thatbook.
If you have any love of Jesusin you, you can come and push
your kid on the swing, you can.
And so I think a lot of timeswe maybe we've made it too hard
or too complicated in which wereally we will go.
We really want to break thatdown into listen.
(14:36):
The gospel is very simple.
Jesus, if you remember, allthese little kids are coming to
him.
The disciples are saying hey,hey, hey, hey, get away from the
rabbi.
We're, you know, we'reimportant, he's important, he's
(15:00):
this big teacher.
And Jesus rebuked the disciplesand said bring all the little
kids over here.
And he says unless we're likelittle kids, we won't get into
the kingdom of heaven, we won'tmake it.
So Jesus is the model ofsimplify it, make it simple.
The gospel is simple enough fora child.
Then I'm always going to saylet's go slower, you know, take
it easy.
We had some volunteers theother day and they were just so,
you know, I think they wereexcited, but they were going so
fast and I said, hey, just pick,just take one neighbor and sit
with that grandmother and praywith her and just listen to her
(15:23):
and just take your time, andthey were blessed because they
actually got to know somebodythat was very different from
them.
She ended up praying over themwhen they prayed over her.
You know, instead of that wholemaking it so hard, she's a
grandmother and she's got 10people she's taking care of.
She has a name.
I said take time.
Her name's Sarah.
She's my neighbor, I know her.
(15:43):
She's taking care of her90-year-old mama and her sister
and her daughter and theirchildren.
So she's got 10 people.
So just sit down and listen.
So I think you know, I don'tknow.
Sometimes, as a believer, Ithink we just make it too hard.
And the Lord, he, did not makeit hard, it's the gospel that
does the saving right.
And then we, as the servants,get to partner with the Lord,
(16:08):
and that's how I feel about it.
I get to live here, so I get topartner with the Lord and what
he's doing and I get to say comeon, yeah, you can help me, you
can help me plant that.
Come on, you can help me unloadthis truck, you can help me.
That'd be great.
You can bring peanut butter,that'd be wonderful.
And then, beautifully.
We had some volunteers recentlyand they got ready to leave.
They'd been here maybe an houror two and I just said, hey, can
(16:29):
I pray for y'all real quickbefore you go?
And I got through praying andthey're weeping, they're just
weeping and I said what's wrong?
And they said what's this?
And I said it's Jesus, it's thepresence of Jesus, and this man
, very important man, veryimportant businessman, he said
I've never felt that and I thinkhere are these people that walk
(16:52):
around.
Well, he's just as important,this important businessman that
came to we Will Go to serve,right that.
I stopped for him and I got toshare the gospel with the man
and he's thinking he's just hereto, you know, to unload a truck
, and he did, but his soul isjust as valuable as the right.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Absolutely.
We're all children of the Kingand the challenges are great in
Mississippi generational povertyand we know that it's important
that that daily need be met.
But we also know that educationis such a vital part in
breaking that generationalpoverty and also the
(17:32):
relationship that you areintroducing these kids to with
Christ.
I know it's being poured inthrough their grandmothers
oftentimes, but when folks knowthat the reason you do this is
because you love them and youlove Jesus, that makes all the
difference in the world, doesn'tit?
It does.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
One of our little boys.
His grandmother's trying toraise him and one day his other
grandmother came to see me here.
He was here.
He's in our after school and wepick him up from school every
day.
And she comes and she says Ineed to talk to you.
And I'm thinking, oh, she seemedkind of angry.
I said okay, she took meoutside.
I said what's the matter?
And she said do y'all teachthese kids about Jesus?
(18:12):
You teach them to pray forpeople?
I said yes, ma'am, and sheseemed kind of upset and she
said let me tell you whathappened yesterday.
She said he got home from hereand she said my next door
neighbor is in a wheelchair andshe broke her hip or something.
And she said he just went overthere and started praying over
her leg and laid his hand on herand laid his hand and started
praying for her.
Did y'all teach him that?
I said yes, ma'am.
(18:32):
She said good, he can keepcoming then.
That is precious Right.
And he's eight and so he'scatching and applying the gospel
as a little kid and he'switnessing.
I didn't know that, but he'sgoing home to his family, which
is a very hard family situation,and he is praying healing over
(18:56):
his grandmama's neighbor whobroke her hip, and so it's just
a real gospel and I think ifpeople really get a handle on
who Jesus really, really is,really who he was in the flesh,
as a person walking aroundfeeding people, loving people,
stopping for people, stoppingfor the woman at the well,
touching the leper, touching thesick, touching the blind, he
(19:17):
was not afraid and he wasteaching his disciples, which is
me what are you afraid of?
Like that's the number oneconversation that I have with
people is they're very, veryafraid.
So they're afraid of people.
The neighbors are afraid ofcrime, they're afraid of all
these things and I'm like, yeah,but if you've got the love of
Jesus in you, that overtakes anyfear.
That's present.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
And he provides all that we need.
You know, we act like we haveto be the one that does all the
change, but all he asks is thatwe be faithful with those
talents that he has given us.
That's it, that's it.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
He's the Savior, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Well, I'm reminded, some people have given
significant financialcontributions and you've been
able to take vacant businessesthat would otherwise be places
of crime and you've turned theminto places of hope.
But I'm reminded, recently youposted a message to me saying
that you needed groups duringthe summer.
(20:16):
Y'all only have a few employees, but you rely on the army of
God to show up.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
We do, we do.
We couldn't do what we dowithout volunteers.
It would be very hard and notdone as well.
So we love the body of Christto come.
So, like I said, last year wehad 5,000 and that looks like a
thousand different things.
With kids especially, the morevolunteers the better.
With our food ministry, themore the better, because we're
(20:44):
not just here's a box, go, go,go, go go.
We sit with every singleneighbor and pray with them, and
that's 900 a month, so we needas many people them and that's
$900 a month, so we need as manypeople coming and, like I said,
sitting with this grandmotherand praying with her and her
family and loving her.
Well, with summertime it issuper busy, super great.
We've got 100 children in thisbuilding every day, so we have a
(21:07):
day camp.
That's a summer all day long.
So we do breakfast, lunch,snacks.
The kids do bible, they doworship, they do art.
We have a swimming pool here inthis big building out back.
We teach women every singlesolitary day, so it's a lot that
they rotate through.
We do summer reading, so welove plugging volunteers into
what's going on and a lot ofpeople in the summertime maybe
(21:29):
have a little bit more time.
I had a mom that came sat andshe said I really want my
daughter to serve, but how doesthat work?
And I said, well, if she'sunder 18, she needs to come with
an 18-year-old or older.
So that can be you, that couldbe an older sibling, that could
be a youth pastor, it could bejust one person, it could be a
big group.
Again, people just reach out tous and we are going to do our
(21:50):
absolute best to try to makethat fit with what's going on
here and fit with maybe aSaturday.
Again, people have all kinds ofdifferent schedules.
We need every single solitaryvolunteer that we can, for two
reasons.
Number one the reason thatwe're doing that everything is
to glorify the Lord.
Number two you don't know whatall you're going to receive,
right?
So a lot of times as avolunteer, we think, oh, I'm
(22:13):
going to go.
I mean, you talked about wheny'all go to Honduras and stuff.
I'm going to go and it'samazing.
I'm preaching the gospel and itis.
But you know as well as me,because we've talked about it,
you're so changed and you're sotouched and you're so different
because you've got to ministerand receive in a whole different
culture than you're used to,which is the goal.
Then you go back to yourhometown and to your people and
(22:35):
you go I could do that, I couldprayer walk my town, I could do
this stuff in my little churchor whatever.
So that's the reason for it.
Yes, we need it, but we're notbeing greedy.
We want you to get on fire forGod and for that to spill over
into your school, your church,your neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Absolutely.
I've never given to God that Ididn't get tenfold back in such
blessings.
I'm thinking about the traumathat a lot of the folks that
come in here have experienced.
What we know is that povertycauses a lot of trauma, and then
many of these people live inhigh crime areas.
When you talk about sittingdown and talking to someone,
(23:16):
you're not just listening to astory.
We know from science thatthey're unpacking that trauma.
They're listening ears thatcare about them and, as they
feel safe and can unpack that,there's healing.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Absolutely.
I'll tell a quick little story.
One of our grandpas came oneday and he and his wife are
taking care of about 12 peopleWith COVID.
They all moved into their homeand they could never move back
out, and so they've got allthese kids, grandkids, all these
different generations it's justa lot and they're really poor.
And so he came about six monthsago the first time to get
groceries.
And people just hear about usfrom different places, and so he
(23:53):
comes and he was very stoic andvery angry and I sat down with
him and I'm a pretty good talker, I'm a decent communicator, and
so I'm usually can get peopletalking about themselves.
He was just shut down, shutdown, how can I pray for you?
He was, like you know, just astone wall really, and I just
kept on and kept on, and kept on.
I'm a grandmother too, you know, and how can I pray for your
(24:14):
grandkids and what's going onwith your family?
And nope, nothing, nothing,nothing.
And so finally I just startedpraying for him.
I just had my hand on hisno-transcript down his face and
(24:42):
I said Mr Miller, are you okay?
And he just collapses on me.
Just, I mean, just hugs me.
This big old, huge, you know,big old black man.
And I'm thinking what is?
I said, mr Miller, what is it?
He said I can't remember thelast time I had anybody really
look me in the eye and ask howI'm doing.
And he said I've been trying tohold myself together for the
past 30 minutes while you'vebeen trying to pray for me and
(25:03):
talk to me.
And he said you really do wantto know.
He was so overwhelmed thatsomebody really cared about him.
And of course then we'restanding out in the parking lot.
He's crying, I'm crying.
Then he opens up.
We spend another 30 minutes mepraying over his hip and his
wife and his kids and hisgrandkids, you know.
And now he comes every month.
He's just full of joy.
And he came back the next timeand he said we've gone back to
(25:25):
church.
I had gotten so depressed I hadjust given up.
And he said we're going back tothe Lord.
He said we're reading the Bibletogether as a family every day.
He's just like one of myfavorite men.
But to your point, it juststarted with just sitting down
and asking about his family.
And how are you just sittingdown and asking about his family
and how are you Like?
(25:45):
Is there anything I can praywith you about?
How are y'all doing, and Ithink that again back to the
simple right.
What did Jesus do when hestopped for that woman at the
well?
What did he do when he stoppedfor people?
He really spent a lot of timeslowing down and loving well.
And that means listening, thatmeans taking time, and I think
that's something that I alwaysencourage people.
(26:08):
There was a team that camerecently and when they would
talk to our neighbors, they kindof stood up and the neighbor's
sitting in a chair and I cameover behind them and I pull up a
chair.
I said it's okay, have a seat.
And I said people like for youto just listen to them, eyeball
to eyeball, and just talk abouttheir dog.
And one of them were teenagersand they said we talked about
the game shows they liked for along time before we ever prayed.
(26:30):
I said that's great People.
Wherever you're at, think aboutit.
If someone knows your name, yourname is Dawn.
They don't just call you.
I don't know.
That's that strange little ladyTo talk to you as a person.
And how's your family?
How's your dad?
Before we got started, I loveyour daddy.
How's your family doing?
How's your husband doing?
We're humans, we're not robots.
(26:52):
And then you get to say nowtell me, dawn, how can I pray
for you today?
Tell me what's going on withyour husband.
And it's amazing the way theHoly Spirit moves on people's
hearts and it's a joy.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Absolutely, and if you're sitting on the sidelines,
you are absolutely missing outon what God would have you to do
, so wewillgoorg.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Wewillgoorg.
Super easy.
Everything is there that youneed.
And if you just say I want toclick on there, you can call me
on the phone.
Just say, hey, I heard thiswhat I do all the time,
especially if you've never been,I'm going to do it.
As soon as we get through, in aminute, just call me, email me
and say, hey, I just want tocome see and I've done it with
(27:36):
you, I've done it with lots ofpeople and just walk around and
we'll just pray about it andmaybe you feel really connected
instantly with the library wejust built a brand new library.
Or you're like man, I lovegrowing tomatoes.
I'll walk around with you,we'll talk, we'll pray, you can
meet our team, and then you'relike you know what I'd like to
bring my family?
Or I'd like to come myself.
Let us help you get out of thepew, let us help you get out of
(27:59):
that stuck place.
And out of that stuck place andmaybe it is that your Sunday
school class, you know, collectscanned corn.
Great, let's do that.
But start with something andthen we're going to help you the
best we can, you know, make itlook like something.
There's a team that came andreplaced it with a rotten fence.
They wanted a hammer.
They were men, they weren'tinterested in reading a book.
(28:19):
Well, that's okay.
We needed that fence replaced.
God needs hammers too, doesn'the?
God needs hammers too.
And David was like look at, theLord brought us a man group to
replace the fence.
So yeah, we're going to do ourbest to Amy.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
I so appreciate all that you do.
I want to hear just a littlebit about how God has just
brought your entire family intothis ministry and the blessing
that it has been to your familythat is a wild story that I'm
still unpacking that with God.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
As you know, we raised our children here, of
three kids Jonathan, olivia andSarah.
They all went off to college.
I homeschooled them.
We grew up down here in theFerris District and I never
imagined that they would comeback here.
You know, I really didn'tpressure them, david, and I
didn't even I don't even knowthat we really prayed or pressed
them.
We wanted them to serve theLord, whatever that looked like,
and all three of them chose tocome back.
(29:10):
And Jonathan is our oldest.
He's 31.
He's our accountant, he'smarried, has two little kids.
Olivia is our middle child.
She's 29.
She's married, has two littlekids and she runs all the
ministry areas, does a beautifuljob.
And then Sarah is our youngestand she does all the media stuff
.
And they went to college andthen they came back and brought
(29:36):
all this wisdom and knowledgeand skill and they chose to live
here in Jackson.
It's amazing to me still.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
I'm reminded that you and your husband both have a
very good education and youbrought that and it equipped you
to be successful in thisministry.
Remind me what's your educationbackground.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Mine is dentistry and David's engineering.
And so I often ask young peoplebecause we have a lot of
partnerships with colleges, witharea colleges Belhaven, jsu,
mississippi College, millsap sowe always have college students
that are here.
So I'm always saying to themnow tell me why you're doing
what you're doing.
What is God calling you to?
Sometimes they look at me likeI'm silly, but I'm like,
whatever you're doing, the Lordwants to use that for his
(30:15):
kingdom.
And so, like my husband withhis engineering, he is like the
best project manager.
There's nothing he can't figureout in bigs.
And so sometimes I'm up, likewith the college kids, I'm like,
okay, listen, you're gettingthis big education.
You're getting this bigeducation to use it for the Lord
.
So if it's law, great, how haveyou prayed about?
How could God use that?
(30:35):
And sometimes they're likethat's a new concept to them.
But if you have the gift ofgetting an education, if you
have the blessing of getting,like Jonathan, getting an
accountant's degree, okay, howcan you use that for the Lord?
It might be in a ministry, itmight be in a business that you
need a godly people to bepracticing.
(30:57):
It's very fun to me that theLord uses regular folks and
we're just regular folks and Ithink again, especially in
ministry, I think a lot of timespeople think, well, I have to
have a big, you know PhD or abig MD of or go to seminary.
And if God leads you toseminary, please obey the Lord.
But if that is not your thing,that does not mean that you
(31:18):
don't minister the gospel at all.
You and your role, you know,being a judge and justice and
lawyer, my goodness love.
Many people might think well,what does that have to do with
the Lord?
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Everything it does you take him with you into what
you're doing, and we need godlyfolks in every area of work.
Well, our prayer is that, asyou've listened today, that
you'll be moved to ask God howdo you want to use me, in
whatever place that you findyourself?
(31:50):
Because I promise you, the joyof serving others is like
nothing else, and we cannot seethe fruit that is going to come
from our labor, just like thelittle boy that went home and
prayed for a handicapped personin a wheelchair.
But God has that plan.
(32:12):
He doesn't have a plan B.
His plan, his only plan, plan Aand only plan is to use me and
you to be the difference in theworld.
Amy, thank you for all thaty'all are doing here and what a
great, great visit we've had.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
It's a joy.
Love you Dawn.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Love you too, wewillgoorg, you will be blessed
.
Have a great day, hope,mississippi.
When you need some hope and inspiration to build
collaboration.
Hope Mississippi is yoursalvation.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
One in four kids live in poverty.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
One in five are food deprived.
Build collaborations and buildhope with those who are
struggling.
Build collaborations and buildhope with those who are
struggling.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hope Mississippi.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Hello and welcome back for another episode of Hope
Mississippi.
We're so glad you're joining ustoday and I have Amy Lancaster
with me with we Will Go.
Hey, Amy, good to have you.
Tell us just a little bit aboutwe Will Go and how it got
started.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
First of all, thanks for having me Glad to be with
y'all.
Dave and I have been marriedfor almost 33 years, so our
whole marriage, our desire hasbeen to serve the Lord like with
our whole life.
What does that look like?
And so initially we thoughtthat would mean overseas
missions.
God gave us three little kidsright off the bat and we started
taking them on mission and thatwas almost all overseas.
(01:23):
That was our initial thought,is it would be overseas.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Isn't that cool how God works.
He brings you together withjust the right person.
My husband has that same lovinggiving, and you can accomplish
so much more when you worktogether.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yep.
And so that covenant you know,marriage is a covenant, it's
very holy to God so he glued ustogether.
God glued us together, and thenour desire was well, we really
want to honor you with our life,not just on Sunday, not just
doing a good thing, not justbarely making it through life,
but we really want to honor you.
So that started out with usjust partnering with a lot of
(01:59):
different ministries and withour church and different things,
so we would go overseas.
Then we will go, ministries andwith our church and different
things, so we would go overseas.
Then we will go really turnedinto a real non-profit on its
own over time.
Our thinking was that God wasgoing to move us overseas.
We sold our house, we got outof debt, we were partnered with
a lot of ministries, going allover the world, just coming
alongside ministries and comingand helping them, taking our
(02:20):
children with us as they weregrowing up.
And then about 20 years ago, theLord spoke to us very, very
clearly.
We had an invitation to stay inAfrica, which we wanted to do,
and the Lord said no.
And I always tell people it'sreally important when you're
seeking the will of the Lord.
He's a good father and goodfathers say yes and no.
And as a good father, he saidno.
He said Jackson, and we werenot planning on moving to
(02:44):
downtown Jackson.
I grew up in North Mississippi,david grew up in South Alabama,
and so the idea of moving todowntown Jackson was not even on
our radar.
But the Lord spoke very clearlyto us, and what the Lord spoke
to me and David on the sameexact day was Jackson is your
Jerusalem.
It is on fire.
And then God said my peopledon't care anything about it.
(03:04):
And we were very shockedbecause we were planning on
moving to a Muslim country andlearning Arabic and reaching the
lost.
And the Lord said right here.
So, long story short, we saidyes to the Lord.
I always tell people it's just awaste of time to tell God no or
maybe or later or whatever.
Just yes is a better answer.
And we moved down here with ourlittle children back in 2005,
(03:26):
officially moved, and from theinitial days of just giving our
neighbors a sandwich andinviting people to our home to
where we are now, it's the sameheart, it's just more, it's just
more people, and so that lookslike just loving your neighbor.
Jesus poured the entire gospel,the entire Bible down to love
the Lord, your God, all yourheart, soul, mind and strength.
(03:48):
And I always say to people ishe your God?
Are you saved?
Do you know the Lord?
And then the second commandmentis just as important as the
first commandment, and that isto love your neighbor.
And that is everyone.
There's no one that I candiscount.
And so our whole heart is thathas to look like something
tangible all the time, sevendays a week, not just one day a
(04:08):
week.
And of course, as you know,that involves all kinds of
neighbors, people that live herein Jackson, people that come
and serve.
We have visitors this morningthat are volunteering from a
school.
So how do we share the gospelin a really, really tangible way
?
It started from again movinghere giving our neighbors a
sandwich.
To you know, now we're feeding30,000 people.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Our pathway with regard to ministry is very
similar in that when I marriedmy husband, he already did
Honduras medical and dental sowe did that we would work all
year long, getting everythingtogether to go down there and
share for two weeks.
But what we really came to beconvicted of is that there are
huge needs right here inMississippi.
(04:50):
One in four of our kids livesin poverty.
One in five are food deprivedand God's plan is to use us to
be his hands and feet.
He says when we do it unto theleast of these, we do it unto
him.
Describe the many services thaty'all are doing here at we Will
Go.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Well, it's changed a whole lot.
Of course, as ministry does, itgrows and morphs.
Initially we didn't dochildren's ministry at all, so
initially, literally was justliving in the middle of it and
reaching our neighbor literallyat our house.
And then over time God had uspurchase several houses.
We stored 13 houses in themiddle of it and reaching our
neighbor literally at our house.
And then over time God had uspurchase several houses.
We've restored 13 houses in theFerris District and then this
commercial property, what we'resitting in right now.
(05:33):
It used to be the YMCA.
It was built in 1940 in theFerris District, across the
street.
Here it used to be a hamburgerjoint and a liquor store and an
insurance office and a hugegrocery store, and so that has
just expanded into.
We really focus now on threemain things.
One is what we call essentialfood, so meeting people right
(05:53):
where they are.
You mentioned how our neighborsright here in Jackson many,
many are extremely poor.
Many grandmothers are takingcare of a lot of kids and on a
very, very low income.
So last year, like I said, wefed about 30,000 people.
So that goes on every day.
So we're doing something withfood every day picking it up,
sorting, praying for people,ministering to people, giving
(06:14):
groceries.
Then every day we're doingsomething with kids ministry.
So we do after school ministryevery day for Jackson Public
School kids.
Some we pick up from school,some get off the bus, so that's
every day and we really focus onreading and Bible and really
that kid encountering the loveof Christ.
That's every day.
And then we also have summercamp that goes on all summer.
(06:35):
And so then the third part isengagement, which is this piece,
which is how do we engage withpeople that don't know what to
do?
Like I said earlier, you know,a lot of people know that
Jackson's broken and they knowthere's a lot of issues with our
school system, or they knowthere's poverty, they know
there's need, they know there'shungry people, but they're
overwhelmed and so they don'tknow what to do.
So engagement is how do we getGod's people plugged in?
(07:00):
So we have last year we had5,000 volunteers and we'll
probably pass that this year andso we're going to say yes.
If somebody says, hey, I wantto do something, we're going to
say yes, that might mean thatyou come and you read to a child
in the afternoon.
Right now there is a schoolacross the street that's helping
unload a truck and pack bagsfor 120 neighbors that are
coming in the morning.
(07:20):
We try really hard.
How do we get the body ofChrist really out of the pew?
And we try to make it as easyas we can to say you can come
serve for an hour, for a day.
We also have teams that comeand stay here.
We had a team of 37 fromAmarillo last week and they
stayed for five or six days.
So many times it's also amission trip, right.
So it's somewhere people canactually come and learn and
(07:42):
actually do the things they readabout in scripture.
They really do want it to looklike something tangible and
we're like, okay, come on, weplug them into what God's doing
and prayer walk with them andspend time encouraging them in
their walk.
Of course, there are a lot ofvolunteers that don't know the
Lord yet, so we see a lot ofvolunteers that get saved while
they're here serving, which isfun.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Let's talk about your location.
I served on the Supreme Courtfor nine years and you are just
a stone's throw from the Capitoland the Supreme Court and yet
you're surrounded with poverty,surrounded by high crime, single
mother homes or eitherhouseholds where the
grandparents and so the need istremendous and Jesus ministered
(08:23):
to people oftentimes before heshared the gospel with them.
And that's what you're doingevery day is meeting those needs
.
You facilitate groups coming in.
If a church group wants to comein, how do they do that?
Speaker 2 (08:42):
It's super simple.
So, like I said, we're going totry to make it as easy as
possible.
The easiest way is just go towewillgoorg.
All the information is there.
There's a little link.
You click one button and ittakes you to a visit us email
and then, if you want to justcall, the phone number's right
there on the website.
If you want to email, you cansay hey, I want to bring a
wonderful team that helps thathappen.
(09:03):
Some teams want to come for anhour.
Some teams want to comeconsistently.
We have volunteers that comeevery single week.
There are volunteers that comeon serve Saturdays.
We had a Saturday this pastweek where a lot of people work
during the week and they want tocome and bring their families
and their kids.
So we had a bunch of peoplecome from a lot of different
churches this past Saturday wesigned kids up for camp.
We had a fun family festival inthe backyard.
(09:25):
Some Saturdays we're givingaway groceries and praying for
people.
In two weeks we're going to beplanting our neighborhood garden
.
We've got two big gardens righthere out the back door.
All they need to do is justsend us a message.
It's super easy.
Or call us on the phone, go towewillgoorg and just say, hey,
how can we help?
And so I always tell peoplestart with something, just start
with something.
We're going to make it as easyas we possibly can and many
(09:49):
times it just starts with comingon a Saturday for two or three
hours when you're off work, orcoming in the afternoon with
your kids.
The school that's here thismorning is a homeschool group,
so we're going to do our best totry to make it, you know,
really work for you and thenfrom there just see what God
does.
A lot of times the businessescome, so that's pretty fun.
(10:09):
We have a lot of businessesthat they really want their
employees to serve the community.
They know we're Christian, theyknow we're going to share the
gospel, they know what we'redoing.
They get their employeesinvolved.
Sometimes they'll come and readto the kids.
Sometimes they'll come anddonate books.
Sometimes they'll come andsponsor a child.
Camp is coming.
So a lot of times companies orbusinesses or we had a Sunday
school class the other day andthey will sponsor kids for camp
(10:33):
Because, again, like you said,the kids and families that we
served are just really, reallypoor people.
I grew up really poor andthere's nothing wrong with that?
As the people of God church,we're supposed to come alongside
and meet them where they are,just like you said, like Christ
did.
Christ said hey, sit them alldown, we're going to feed them.
And the disciples said how inthe world would we find enough
money or enough food?
(10:54):
And the Lord just said just sitthem down, it's going to be
great and he blessed what theyhad, which in that story, was
one little kid's lunch here.
Sometimes it's one pallet offood and we're like, okay, lord,
multiply this.
And then that comes through adonor or through a company or
through a church or through aschool and they say how can we
help?
Sometimes I'll do a peanutbutter drive.
(11:16):
Or sometimes they'll sayfinancially, can we support?
Yes, you can.
Hey, can we bring you know,vegetables?
Yes, you can.
So it's all those piecestogether that actually gets it
done, which I think is reallyfun.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
So from the provider standpoint, there is no excuse
not to get involved, because youcan use a willing hands and
they can be mentors and tutorsor so many different things.
And you said that you came uppoor.
We came up poor in my family,but I can remember watching God
(11:52):
provide through individuals,through organizations and
churches, and it was throughGod's provision that I realized
man, he cares about me Exactlyright.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I think a lot of times in our culture maybe we've
made it too hard, maybe we'vemade it too complex, maybe we
made the gospel too complex.
You know a lot of the neighborsthat we love on do know the
Lord.
You know some of them pray ashard as me and you do.
A lot of them have not everbeen exposed to the gospel.
You know a lot of our neighborscan't read.
We focus a lot on literacy.
There's a lot of people thattheir literacy is really really
(12:30):
low and so if we can teach thisfourth grader or this second
grader to read the word of Godfor themselves, guess what they
do?
They take that word home tograndmama.
And the majority of the folksthat we are ministering to is
about 900 families every monthand out of that about 80% are
people that are my age and older, that are in their 50s, 60s,
(12:52):
70s, that are taking care of alot of people on about $700 or
$800 a month and that's supposedto cover food and rent and
utilities and school andeverything.
So it's a very challengingsituation for our family.
So we try to meet them rightwhere they are.
Sometimes we find that there's,you know, six children in the
(13:12):
home and they need tutoring andwe say, hey, can they get off
the bus?
And you know, can we love onthem and help with their
homework and can we pray overthem and teach them the gospel?
And the mom will be like, well,we don't, we can't afford it,
and that's okay, we really wantto bless your family.
And then vice versa, sometimeswe'll find that the child that's
here came from a school.
Their family is really, reallyin need of groceries and we're
(13:34):
like, that's great, we've gotyou.
You know, we'd love to blessyour family.
So again.
And then there's many timesthere's a church or a Sunday
school group or a business or acompany.
Our hearts are broken forJackson, our hearts are broken
for the city, and we're likeyou're great, come on.
And so then we'll give lots ofdifferent ideas.
(13:55):
You know what might work.
And everybody might not feelcalled to kids.
Everybody might not feel calledto food.
Some people might be, you know,excited about the gardens.
Great, I need your help.
So we're going to try reallyhard to say how can we pray with
y'all to get you plugged in?
Sometimes people hear education.
They think, oh gosh.
And I tell people if you canread.
(14:15):
If you can read you're a tutorhere you can come and sit with
the eight-year-old and read thatbook.
If you have any love of Jesusin you, you can come and push
your kid on the swing, you can.
And so I think a lot of timeswe maybe we've made it too hard
or too complicated in which wereally we will go.
We really want to break thatdown into listen.
(14:36):
The gospel is very simple.
Jesus, if you remember, allthese little kids are coming to
him.
The disciples are saying hey,hey, hey, hey, get away from the
rabbi.
We're, you know, we'reimportant, he's important, he's
(15:00):
this big teacher.
And Jesus rebuked the disciplesand said bring all the little
kids over here.
And he says unless we're likelittle kids, we won't get into
the kingdom of heaven, we won'tmake it.
So Jesus is the model ofsimplify it, make it simple.
The gospel is simple enough fora child.
Then I'm always going to saylet's go slower, you know, take
it easy.
We had some volunteers theother day and they were just so,
you know, I think they wereexcited, but they were going so
fast and I said, hey, just pick,just take one neighbor and sit
with that grandmother and praywith her and just listen to her
(15:23):
and just take your time, andthey were blessed because they
actually got to know somebodythat was very different from
them.
She ended up praying over themwhen they prayed over her.
You know, instead of that wholemaking it so hard, she's a
grandmother and she's got 10people she's taking care of.
She has a name.
I said take time.
Her name's Sarah.
She's my neighbor, I know her.
(15:43):
She's taking care of her90-year-old mama and her sister
and her daughter and theirchildren.
So she's got 10 people.
So just sit down and listen.
So I think you know, I don'tknow.
Sometimes, as a believer, Ithink we just make it too hard.
And the Lord, he, did not makeit hard, it's the gospel that
does the saving right.
And then we, as the servants,get to partner with the Lord,
(16:08):
and that's how I feel about it.
I get to live here, so I get topartner with the Lord and what
he's doing and I get to say comeon, yeah, you can help me, you
can help me plant that.
Come on, you can help me unloadthis truck, you can help me.
That'd be great.
You can bring peanut butter,that'd be wonderful.
And then, beautifully.
We had some volunteers recentlyand they got ready to leave.
They'd been here maybe an houror two and I just said, hey, can
(16:29):
I pray for y'all real quickbefore you go?
And I got through praying andthey're weeping, they're just
weeping and I said what's wrong?
And they said what's this?
And I said it's Jesus, it's thepresence of Jesus, and this man
, very important man, veryimportant businessman, he said
I've never felt that and I thinkhere are these people that walk
(16:52):
around.
Well, he's just as important,this important businessman that
came to we Will Go to serve,right that.
I stopped for him and I got toshare the gospel with the man
and he's thinking he's just hereto, you know, to unload a truck
, and he did, but his soul isjust as valuable as the right.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Absolutely.
We're all children of the Kingand the challenges are great in
Mississippi generational povertyand we know that it's important
that that daily need be met.
But we also know that educationis such a vital part in
breaking that generationalpoverty and also the
(17:32):
relationship that you areintroducing these kids to with
Christ.
I know it's being poured inthrough their grandmothers
oftentimes, but when folks knowthat the reason you do this is
because you love them and youlove Jesus, that makes all the
difference in the world, doesn'tit?
It does.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
One of our little boys.
His grandmother's trying toraise him and one day his other
grandmother came to see me here.
He was here.
He's in our after school and wepick him up from school every
day.
And she comes and she says Ineed to talk to you.
And I'm thinking, oh, she seemedkind of angry.
I said okay, she took meoutside.
I said what's the matter?
And she said do y'all teachthese kids about Jesus?
(18:12):
You teach them to pray forpeople?
I said yes, ma'am, and sheseemed kind of upset and she
said let me tell you whathappened yesterday.
She said he got home from hereand she said my next door
neighbor is in a wheelchair andshe broke her hip or something.
And she said he just went overthere and started praying over
her leg and laid his hand on herand laid his hand and started
praying for her.
Did y'all teach him that?
I said yes, ma'am.
(18:32):
She said good, he can keepcoming then.
That is precious Right.
And he's eight and so he'scatching and applying the gospel
as a little kid and he'switnessing.
I didn't know that, but he'sgoing home to his family, which
is a very hard family situation,and he is praying healing over
(18:56):
his grandmama's neighbor whobroke her hip, and so it's just
a real gospel and I think ifpeople really get a handle on
who Jesus really, really is,really who he was in the flesh,
as a person walking aroundfeeding people, loving people,
stopping for people, stoppingfor the woman at the well,
touching the leper, touching thesick, touching the blind, he
(19:17):
was not afraid and he wasteaching his disciples, which is
me what are you afraid of?
Like that's the number oneconversation that I have with
people is they're very, veryafraid.
So they're afraid of people.
The neighbors are afraid ofcrime, they're afraid of all
these things and I'm like, yeah,but if you've got the love of
Jesus in you, that overtakes anyfear.
That's present.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
And he provides all that we need.
You know, we act like we haveto be the one that does all the
change, but all he asks is thatwe be faithful with those
talents that he has given us.
That's it, that's it.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
He's the Savior, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Well, I'm reminded, some people have given
significant financialcontributions and you've been
able to take vacant businessesthat would otherwise be places
of crime and you've turned theminto places of hope.
But I'm reminded, recently youposted a message to me saying
that you needed groups duringthe summer.
(20:16):
Y'all only have a few employees, but you rely on the army of
God to show up.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
We do, we do.
We couldn't do what we dowithout volunteers.
It would be very hard and notdone as well.
So we love the body of Christto come.
So, like I said, last year wehad 5,000 and that looks like a
thousand different things.
With kids especially, the morevolunteers the better.
With our food ministry, themore the better, because we're
(20:44):
not just here's a box, go, go,go, go go.
We sit with every singleneighbor and pray with them, and
that's 900 a month, so we needas many people them and that's
$900 a month, so we need as manypeople coming and, like I said,
sitting with this grandmotherand praying with her and her
family and loving her.
Well, with summertime it issuper busy, super great.
We've got 100 children in thisbuilding every day, so we have a
(21:07):
day camp.
That's a summer all day long.
So we do breakfast, lunch,snacks.
The kids do bible, they doworship, they do art.
We have a swimming pool here inthis big building out back.
We teach women every singlesolitary day, so it's a lot that
they rotate through.
We do summer reading, so welove plugging volunteers into
what's going on and a lot ofpeople in the summertime maybe
(21:29):
have a little bit more time.
I had a mom that came sat andshe said I really want my
daughter to serve, but how doesthat work?
And I said, well, if she'sunder 18, she needs to come with
an 18-year-old or older.
So that can be you, that couldbe an older sibling, that could
be a youth pastor, it could bejust one person, it could be a
big group.
Again, people just reach out tous and we are going to do our
(21:50):
absolute best to try to makethat fit with what's going on
here and fit with maybe aSaturday.
Again, people have all kinds ofdifferent schedules.
We need every single solitaryvolunteer that we can, for two
reasons.
Number one the reason thatwe're doing that everything is
to glorify the Lord.
Number two you don't know whatall you're going to receive,
right?
So a lot of times as avolunteer, we think, oh, I'm
(22:13):
going to go.
I mean, you talked about wheny'all go to Honduras and stuff.
I'm going to go and it'samazing.
I'm preaching the gospel and itis.
But you know as well as me,because we've talked about it,
you're so changed and you're sotouched and you're so different
because you've got to ministerand receive in a whole different
culture than you're used to,which is the goal.
Then you go back to yourhometown and to your people and
(22:35):
you go I could do that, I couldprayer walk my town, I could do
this stuff in my little churchor whatever.
So that's the reason for it.
Yes, we need it, but we're notbeing greedy.
We want you to get on fire forGod and for that to spill over
into your school, your church,your neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Absolutely.
I've never given to God that Ididn't get tenfold back in such
blessings.
I'm thinking about the traumathat a lot of the folks that
come in here have experienced.
What we know is that povertycauses a lot of trauma, and then
many of these people live inhigh crime areas.
When you talk about sittingdown and talking to someone,
(23:16):
you're not just listening to astory.
We know from science thatthey're unpacking that trauma.
They're listening ears thatcare about them and, as they
feel safe and can unpack that,there's healing.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Absolutely.
I'll tell a quick little story.
One of our grandpas came oneday and he and his wife are
taking care of about 12 peopleWith COVID.
They all moved into their homeand they could never move back
out, and so they've got allthese kids, grandkids, all these
different generations it's justa lot and they're really poor.
And so he came about six monthsago the first time to get
groceries.
And people just hear about usfrom different places, and so he
(23:53):
comes and he was very stoic andvery angry and I sat down with
him and I'm a pretty good talker, I'm a decent communicator, and
so I'm usually can get peopletalking about themselves.
He was just shut down, shutdown, how can I pray for you?
He was, like you know, just astone wall really, and I just
kept on and kept on, and kept on.
I'm a grandmother too, you know, and how can I pray for your
(24:14):
grandkids and what's going onwith your family?
And nope, nothing, nothing,nothing.
And so finally I just startedpraying for him.
I just had my hand on hisno-transcript down his face and
(24:42):
I said Mr Miller, are you okay?
And he just collapses on me.
Just, I mean, just hugs me.
This big old, huge, you know,big old black man.
And I'm thinking what is?
I said, mr Miller, what is it?
He said I can't remember thelast time I had anybody really
look me in the eye and ask howI'm doing.
And he said I've been trying tohold myself together for the
past 30 minutes while you'vebeen trying to pray for me and
(25:03):
talk to me.
And he said you really do wantto know.
He was so overwhelmed thatsomebody really cared about him.
And of course then we'restanding out in the parking lot.
He's crying, I'm crying.
Then he opens up.
We spend another 30 minutes mepraying over his hip and his
wife and his kids and hisgrandkids, you know.
And now he comes every month.
He's just full of joy.
And he came back the next timeand he said we've gone back to
(25:25):
church.
I had gotten so depressed I hadjust given up.
And he said we're going back tothe Lord.
He said we're reading the Bibletogether as a family every day.
He's just like one of myfavorite men.
But to your point, it juststarted with just sitting down
and asking about his family.
And how are you just sittingdown and asking about his family
and how are you Like?
(25:45):
Is there anything I can praywith you about?
How are y'all doing, and Ithink that again back to the
simple right.
What did Jesus do when hestopped for that woman at the
well?
What did he do when he stoppedfor people?
He really spent a lot of timeslowing down and loving well.
And that means listening, thatmeans taking time, and I think
that's something that I alwaysencourage people.
(26:08):
There was a team that camerecently and when they would
talk to our neighbors, they kindof stood up and the neighbor's
sitting in a chair and I cameover behind them and I pull up a
chair.
I said it's okay, have a seat.
And I said people like for youto just listen to them, eyeball
to eyeball, and just talk abouttheir dog.
And one of them were teenagersand they said we talked about
the game shows they liked for along time before we ever prayed.
(26:30):
I said that's great People.
Wherever you're at, think aboutit.
If someone knows your name, yourname is Dawn.
They don't just call you.
I don't know.
That's that strange little ladyTo talk to you as a person.
And how's your family?
How's your dad?
Before we got started, I loveyour daddy.
How's your family doing?
How's your husband doing?
We're humans, we're not robots.
(26:52):
And then you get to say nowtell me, dawn, how can I pray
for you today?
Tell me what's going on withyour husband.
And it's amazing the way theHoly Spirit moves on people's
hearts and it's a joy.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Absolutely, and if you're sitting on the sidelines,
you are absolutely missing outon what God would have you to do
, so wewillgoorg.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Wewillgoorg.
Super easy.
Everything is there that youneed.
And if you just say I want toclick on there, you can call me
on the phone.
Just say, hey, I heard thiswhat I do all the time,
especially if you've never been,I'm going to do it.
As soon as we get through, in aminute, just call me, email me
and say, hey, I just want tocome see and I've done it with
(27:36):
you, I've done it with lots ofpeople and just walk around and
we'll just pray about it andmaybe you feel really connected
instantly with the library wejust built a brand new library.
Or you're like man, I lovegrowing tomatoes.
I'll walk around with you,we'll talk, we'll pray, you can
meet our team, and then you'relike you know what I'd like to
bring my family?
Or I'd like to come myself.
Let us help you get out of thepew, let us help you get out of
(27:59):
that stuck place.
And out of that stuck place andmaybe it is that your Sunday
school class, you know, collectscanned corn.
Great, let's do that.
But start with something andthen we're going to help you the
best we can, you know, make itlook like something.
There's a team that came andreplaced it with a rotten fence.
They wanted a hammer.
They were men, they weren'tinterested in reading a book.
(28:19):
Well, that's okay.
We needed that fence replaced.
God needs hammers too, doesn'the?
God needs hammers too.
And David was like look at, theLord brought us a man group to
replace the fence.
So yeah, we're going to do ourbest to Amy.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
I so appreciate all that you do.
I want to hear just a littlebit about how God has just
brought your entire family intothis ministry and the blessing
that it has been to your familythat is a wild story that I'm
still unpacking that with God.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
As you know, we raised our children here, of
three kids Jonathan, olivia andSarah.
They all went off to college.
I homeschooled them.
We grew up down here in theFerris District and I never
imagined that they would comeback here.
You know, I really didn'tpressure them, david, and I
didn't even I don't even knowthat we really prayed or pressed
them.
We wanted them to serve theLord, whatever that looked like,
and all three of them chose tocome back.
(29:10):
And Jonathan is our oldest.
He's 31.
He's our accountant, he'smarried, has two little kids.
Olivia is our middle child.
She's 29.
She's married, has two littlekids and she runs all the
ministry areas, does a beautifuljob.
And then Sarah is our youngestand she does all the media stuff
.
And they went to college andthen they came back and brought
(29:36):
all this wisdom and knowledgeand skill and they chose to live
here in Jackson.
It's amazing to me still.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
I'm reminded that you and your husband both have a
very good education and youbrought that and it equipped you
to be successful in thisministry.
Remind me what's your educationbackground.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Mine is dentistry and David's engineering.
And so I often ask young peoplebecause we have a lot of
partnerships with colleges, witharea colleges Belhaven, jsu,
mississippi College, millsap sowe always have college students
that are here.
So I'm always saying to themnow tell me why you're doing
what you're doing.
What is God calling you to?
Sometimes they look at me likeI'm silly, but I'm like,
whatever you're doing, the Lordwants to use that for his
(30:15):
kingdom.
And so, like my husband withhis engineering, he is like the
best project manager.
There's nothing he can't figureout in bigs.
And so sometimes I'm up, likewith the college kids, I'm like,
okay, listen, you're gettingthis big education.
You're getting this bigeducation to use it for the Lord
.
So if it's law, great, how haveyou prayed about?
How could God use that?
(30:35):
And sometimes they're likethat's a new concept to them.
But if you have the gift ofgetting an education, if you
have the blessing of getting,like Jonathan, getting an
accountant's degree, okay, howcan you use that for the Lord?
It might be in a ministry, itmight be in a business that you
need a godly people to bepracticing.
(30:57):
It's very fun to me that theLord uses regular folks and
we're just regular folks and Ithink again, especially in
ministry, I think a lot of timespeople think, well, I have to
have a big, you know PhD or abig MD of or go to seminary.
And if God leads you toseminary, please obey the Lord.
But if that is not your thing,that does not mean that you
(31:18):
don't minister the gospel at all.
You and your role, you know,being a judge and justice and
lawyer, my goodness love.
Many people might think well,what does that have to do with
the Lord?
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Everything it does you take him with you into what
you're doing, and we need godlyfolks in every area of work.
Well, our prayer is that, asyou've listened today, that
you'll be moved to ask God howdo you want to use me, in
whatever place that you findyourself?
(31:50):
Because I promise you, the joyof serving others is like
nothing else, and we cannot seethe fruit that is going to come
from our labor, just like thelittle boy that went home and
prayed for a handicapped personin a wheelchair.
But God has that plan.
(32:12):
He doesn't have a plan B.
His plan, his only plan, plan Aand only plan is to use me and
you to be the difference in theworld.
Amy, thank you for all thaty'all are doing here and what a
great, great visit we've had.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
It's a joy.
Love you Dawn.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Love you too, wewillgoorg, you will be blessed
.
Have a great day, hope,mississippi.
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