Summer is in full swing with vacation plans well under way for many. However, Two Cities Church student ministry spent a week of their summer break being the hands and feet of Jesus serving needs through Mendenhall Ministries.
Two Cities Youth Pastor Justin Moormann brought 71 of the 230 students’ grades 9th through 12th and 14 adult leaders June 7-14. The group stayed in the MM dorms.
In 2012 Moormann was a volunteer at another church where one member was acquainted with John Perkins and Mendenhall Ministries. At that time Moormann came with a youth group of 20-25 students and helped harvest vegetables at the farm still in operation for the ministry. “They were helping meet the felt needs of people back here in town and also having a doorway to talk about the spiritual needs,” he said.
Moormann also had the opportunity to meet and talk with Perkins whose caring for people made a big impression upon the young man. “He (Perkins) said I don’t care who you are, what’s going on, he always put Jesus first. There was something about being with him. I just need to sit and listen and learn, and receive wisdom. Our students felt that; our team felt that. That’s where our relationship began.”
Life happened for Moormann; he moved and got married. Then Covid hit in 2020. Mission trips were shut down same as businesses. However, Moormann reached out to MM who also felt the sting of Covid when youth groups cancelled their visits. If the ministry was willing Moormann who was now at Two Cities would bring teenagers for mission work. That summer 25 students trekked in vans to Mendenhall, MS. He explained, “What I think is important is to not let comfort be the primary thing you chase after. We know that as adults but in this generation now, it’s how can I stay comfortable? As you get older you know comfort grows complacency and it doesn’t allow the walk out and try new things heart posture. I’ve just seen a resiliency lacking in the last 15/20 years of working with students to handle and deal with hard things.
“Lack of resiliency and overabundance of anxiety is crippling this generation of youth. What I know is us getting in a van and now a bus and two vans and being on a car ride for 13 hours; watching our students not be on their phones for a week, not because they have to or are told to but because other students said put them away.”
After Mendenhall Ministries reached out to area churches and city officials about community needs, the teens from Two Cities found themselves serving residents in various ways. They made repairs to several homes in Magee and Mendenhall including replacing a roof and lawn work; they spent time daily at Raleigh Annex apartments with 35 to 40 kids there. Every day there was a devotional play time on the MM campus from noon to 3:00 pm for kids to join. In addition, they held Vacation Bible School at various churches in the county as well as held a community night at the Mendenhall Ministries church sanctuary Thursday evening, June 12 before their departure home Saturday, June 14. As Moormann said they were meeting felt needs.
He added there is a strong possibility of bringing two groups from the student ministry in the coming years.
“If there’s a message I challenge our students with it’s let’s go do something we’ve never done before; let’s go do hard things. You’re investing in the future you by not staying in the comfortable.”
