Love Come to Life

Stephanie and the Drewry MPT

Certain places have a way of cementing their significance in our lives when introduced during our formative years. For me, it is this hidden land off I-24, off the Pelham exit, up HWY 56 where I first experienced real love. You know, the kind of life-altering, soul-shifting love that, when experienced, redefines everything you’ve ever known about it previously? Real love. The first time I came to MTOP was the summer I was thirteen. My experiences working with the families of the Cumberland Mountains taught me about putting others before myself in the most basic of ways. For the next several summers, I came back to this special spot on the mountain and poured my heart into the work I was allowed to do and into the people I met. The love of Jesus became real for me. I saw the love of Christ come to life on that mountain, and a desire to get these experiences to translate into life in the real world down in the valley below was born within my spirit. 

Fast forward a few years. I had the opportunity to serve on summer staff at MTOP for three years while I was in college. These summers revolutionized the way that I operate at an almost cellular level. The end of the summer would always leave me riding high and determined to carry what I had learned down the mountain and into everyday life back at home. Months would pass and life would knock me around a bit, and before long my thoughts would be consumed with making myself feel better. However, an egocentric life has a way of paralyzing any sort of service for others. There is no sacrifice when we are focused on ourselves and not on others. There is no room for Jesus to work. College graduation came and I entered the workforce, but rarely would a day go by when those summers did not cross my mind or come up in conversation with someone else who had experienced the magic of the mountain. Yet, I often found myself really struggling with the fact that I wasn’t fulfilling my end of the bargain. What was happening on the mountain was not translating in the day to day. I felt unable to make the kind of impact or incite the kind of change in the valley that I had spent years witnessing up on that mountain. What was I doing wrong? However, there is the problem. 

The weekend of October 18-21 provided me with another opportunity to roll into Camp Cumberland Pines with a group of eighty-plus volunteers for a weekend of service. I was unprepared for the impact that this experience would have on my life. Really, I should know better than to think that I can’t be surprised by what the power of God can do to a heart. I’ve seen what He can do. My weekend at AIM was shaped by 1 John 3:16-17 which states, “This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears and you made it disappear.”  Boom. That’s it. That is the moment. This scripture opened the door and revealed the missing piece for me. It is a shift in focus. 

My MPT worked with a lady named Deborah over the course of the weekend. When we broke into our groups and were handed our notebooks with our jobsite information, we were all moved by Deborah’s story. The last few years had not been easy for her. The tragic loss of her husband in 2008 had been understandably difficult for her. It was apparent upon meeting Deborah that the biggest thing our group could do for her was to just be with her. Over the few days we were on the mountain, there was a lot of discussion of the Holy Spirit. Now, I don’t know about you, but that guy is tough to nail down and describe. Is it a feeling? Is it tangible? You get the idea. Our group was really lucky to be able to do some nice things around Mrs. D’s house that weekend. We painted a little. We defrosted a freezer, which I might add made us question our positions on global warming. This ice was thick. We put in some new flooring in her living room. All of these things were great and we were thrilled to do as many tasks as possible in the short amount of time we were given. But the best parts of our time together took place in those quiet moments of prayer, devotion, and conversation, when it became increasingly clear that something much bigger than ourselves was working amongst us. The Holy Spirit was present and he was creating a stir within all of our hearts to show us what it means to love. It didn’t matter that we had only known each other or Mrs. D for a matter of days. When our time together was finished, we knew that we had been a part of something really remarkable. We all sacrificed a little of our time and energy over that weekend, but what allowed Jesus to come in and work was the fact that we all, including Mrs. D, allowed that part of ourselves that we sometimes let stand back on the outskirts of life to come out and take action. We loved. We worshipped. We sacrificed. We served. All of us. When we open ourselves up to the possibility that we each carry something that is of value, to someone, it is really powerful to see what the Lord can do. Synergy is a real thing, and I know that the sum was truly greater than its parts that weekend. The Holy Spirit showed us how to love by sacrificing for another, physically and emotionally. We all rolled up our emotional sleeves and got our hands dirty.

So, how do I take the magic of the mountain down to the valley below? How do I continue to be a conduit of grace and love for Jesus? It is a moment by moment choice to take every situation and every interaction and pump it full of the love of Jesus by sacrificing of myself in some way. In every way. If someone is in need and I have something to offer, I have to use that as an opportunity to serve. The moment to serve someone is not hidden behind some big picture, grand vision, or massive project that I have to wrap my brain and heart around first. It is in these small interactions with others where I am given endless opportunities to serve and to share the love of Jesus. That is how to bring the mountain down into the valley. That is real love. We are called to live and love sacrificially just as Christ did for us. Real magic happens when the focus shifts to acknowledge the needs of others before our own and we allow Jesus to work. 

Stephanie Holland, Crievewood UMC

Overwhelmed with Joy

It was a busy day in June when I received a phone call from Tiffany Johnson, the Soles4Souls outreach coordinator. She was looking for the Grundy County Food Bank because of previous food distributions by the Ragnar Relay team. Once she explained that Soles4Souls wanted to do a shoe distribution in Grundy County, the wheels started turning. An event outside of our summer, the time of year in which we get to work with the highest number of families, would allow us to meet more needs of the community and continue fostering the relationships we have built over 37 years of ministry. It would also allow us to see the children we interact with over the summer and recruit new children to our summer programs. Among many other reasons, the excitement that began over that phone call turned into the very first Mountain T.O.P. Fall Festival.

On Saturday, October 27th from 10am - 2pm, we opened the gates of our camp to Grundy County residents with no charge to the public. Over 500 people showed up! I happened to be standing at the gate when it was opened and I couldn’t believe the steady stream of vehicles. People had lined the road and waited so that they could receive much needed items for the winter. We ended up giving out hundreds of books, coats, shoes, socks, hats, gloves and scarves. 800 of those books were donated by Scholastic. Coats were collected by the Murfreesboro organization, MOPS (Mothers of PreSchoolers), along with one of our Adults in Ministry participant churches, Kent UMC in Kent, OH. Socks were collected by the local youth group of Tracy City First United Methodist Church. Hats, gloves and scarves were collected in part by University of the South (Sewanee) students. Toiletries were distributed by the Grundy County Family Resource Center. Plus, many of our 20 weekend volunteers brought these items as well. 

Approximately 600 hot dogs, bags of chips and apple slices were served by a local church, Morton Memorial UMC in Monteagle, TN. Frito-Lay donated 700+ bags of chips. Sysco donated a portion of the hotdogs. Booths with carnival games, information and giveaways included eight local entities: Grundy County Rotary, Grundy County Early Intervention, HeadStart, Grundy County Health Council, Family Resource Center, Camelot Care, Tracy City FUMC youth and Beersheba Springs Health and Temperance Ministries. And the festival was funded by a large grant Mountain T.O.P. received from the Community Fund of the South Cumberland Plateau!

Watching all of this unfold (on a freezing cold day!) was truly overwhelming. After months of planning and organizing, everything worked beautifully. Kids were gleefully running through the field, jumping on moonwalks, riding horses, eating a hot meal and proudly showing off their painted faces. Families stood patiently in line anxious to receive new coats and shoes. Volunteers joyfully greeted everyone and worked hard to make sure everyone was having fun and their needs were being met. 

Later that evening, we had a sharing with our camp community about the day’s events. Story after story told of the gratitude from Grundy County residents, the life-shaping encounters our volunteers will cherish and the overwhelming evidence of the Holy Spirit moving throughout the day. There was not a dry eye in the room. One camper’s story in particular has stuck with me. Becky Strickland helped the Soles4Souls team distribute shoes among the families. As she helped a little girl take of her old, worn shoes and put on a brand new pair of shoes, she couldn’t help but think about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples the night before His death. How He must of felt as a He served, how they must have felt as they received, how powerful and significant it must have been to cleanse and make anew, to be cleansed and made anew. As she said, this act of giving new shoes can be likened to a “modern day foot washing.” Removing the old. Rising with the new. Coming one way. Leaving another. 

And so, we can say with blessed assurance that lives in our community have been changed for the better because of this event. We thank everyone who played an integral part in making it a success. We are full of gratitude and praise for this gift. 

To see pictures from the festival, click here.


Sam Tashman

The View From Here!

The Friends Cabin Men's Restroom is getting remodeled!

Here's some pics of the progress.

 

Recently, my friend who is the Development Director at the Lexington Rescue Mission (Lexington, KY) posted a link from the USA Today showing the shift in poverty for children and the elderly over the last 30 years.

Though we work in different social service sectors, we obviously are both seriously concerned about the poverty rate...what works, what's new, what the research and statistics tell. I've posted several times about this trend in education, that non-cognitive skills might be just as important as intelligence. Though character seems to play a huge role in the solution of how to help students, especially low-income students, become successful, it isn't the whole story. Emily Hanford, of American Public Media, writes:

Many advocates for low-income students are especially interested in the research on grit. Years of school reform focused on cognitive skills and standardized tests have not succeeded in closing the achievement gap. Perhaps teaching so-called “noncognitive” skills, such as grit, is a solution. But it’s important to recognize that people who are successful in school and in life have more than just grit on their side.

My thought is that "more than just grit" might actually be The Gospel. Hanford continues, "The idea that low-income kids need more grit fits neatly into a familiar narrative that poor people don’t work hard enough." John said it this way, "If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear" (1 Jn 3.17, MSG).

So, this past Saturday, we didn't just pass out shoes, socks, coats, or hot dogs. We LOVED.

- Much love, Julie

Over 500 People!

Early estimates are in: over 500 people attended the Fall Festival last Saturday at Camp Cumberland Pines. One of the coolest things about the whole day is that it was, in part, funded by a grant from the Community Fund of the South Cumberland Plateau. This fund was set up and managed by people from the community. The Fall Festival was an event for the community funded by the community. That's exciting to think about! Enjoy these pics:

All of the Fall Festival pictures

AIM Weekends 1 & 2!

We're having a GREAT fall! We had 52 campers AIM weekend 1 and 50 campers AIM Weekend 2! We've been able to work with 8 families! Here are some pictures of what's been happening!

Dobbins MPT Weekend 1

King home Weekend 1

Friday worship at AIM Pavilion

Sissom MPT Weekend 2

Nolan MPT Weekend 2

Ashby - Beginning of Weekend 2

Ashby - End of Weekend 2!

The View From Here!

CALM BEFORE A.I.M. WEEKEND #1

 

As you can see, Mountain T.O.P. is calm and empty on this last day before our first Fall A.I.M. Weekend.  On Thursday (that's tomorrow), we'll have 52 campers arriving to work on 8 families homes.  If you're coming to the mountain please drive safely.  We are very excited for you to arrive.  If you're not yet signed up for an A.I.M. weekend, there's still a place for you.

By the way, the Mountain T.O.P. Yard Sale is this weekend.  

Friday and Saturday 8-4pm at Camp Cumberland Pines.