Connor McCollum’s 2012 Missions Trip to Jackson, Mississippi When I went to Jackson I was expecting a lot of interaction with the community but in reality we had none. If you remember from my support letter I said that we were going to Jackson to help reduce racial tension. We did do that but we did it in a very different way than I expected. Most of our time was spent looking very white and out of place but that was a main point of us doing hot, dirty, work in an African American community. We arrived at Prince of Peace Lutheran church on Sunday at around 5 o’clock. The rest of our night consisted mostly of going through orientation, showing us around, playing games to get to know each other, giving us our schedule, and “club.” Club was composed mostly of worship, a Youthworks leader sharing a little bit about their lives, and then we would have a short lesson. The next day is when we started to work. We went to the John Perkin’s Center which was a little bit like a community center and a church combined. After working there for just a few hours I was just about ready to collapse thanks to the heat and humidity. When we got back to the church I remember thinking to myself, “how am I going to do this for another 3 days?” That night, right after club we had church group time which is exactly what it sounds like. In church group time we discussed our days and got to know each other better before praying as a group. One of the things we asked for during our prayer was protection from the heat so we could better serve God and the community. Even though the next day was actually hotter the Lord helped us cope with it better. On Wednesday night we got a chance to Worship at a Pentecostal church. However there was a guest speaker that night and his preaching was very unbiblical and he was targeting our group. After talking about his accomplishments and how many people he got to speak in tongues he asked us to all bow our heads and close our eyes. He then said “If you love God but have never spoken in tongues, raise your hand,” so I raised my hand. Then he told everyone who raised their hand to come up front. Out of guilt, honesty, and trying to have an open mind I went up along with many of my peers. I also tried to keep what I had learned in the Bible previously, in mind. We were given his 5 step process to being filled with the Holy Ghost. When I did what he asked, nothing happened for me. Things around me however started to get more and more chaotic. There was shouting, jumping, crying, and “speaking in tongues.” Strangers would come up to me, place their hand on my head and talk to me trying to get me to speak in tongues. After a very long 15 minutes or so it began to die down and the preacher asked everyone who had spoken in tongues for the first time to go up on stage. I didn’t speak in tongues so I stayed back surprised to see all the people that were up there. It all ended very abruptly. As we left and got in our vans we were all confused at what had happened. Thankfully, when we got back to where we were staying Dave, our youth group leader, gathered us all together so we could talk about the night. He went straight into the Bible explaining to us what it says about speaking in tongues and the spiritual gifts and how they are meant to be used. For over two and a half hours he talked but it felt like so much less time than that.
I feel like through that night Satan wanted to divide our group. In fact, it worked for a little while, but with prayer and a combined effort God did the opposite and we became closer as a group. Please understand that I’m not attempting to take a theological stance on speaking in tongues, only that what this man was doing this evening was prideful, not biblical. What happened on this mission’s trip and the challenges that it held really helped me grow in my faith. So I want to thank you, because without your prayer and financial support this trip wouldn’t have been the same.
The Mural We Painted at Genesis Food Shelf
Me with Some Teammates
Thank you for helping me go on this trip!