Home » A Week in Nashville, TN: Church Planting Trip Edition

A Week in Nashville, TN: Church Planting Trip Edition

Hello everyone! For those of you who are currently deciding whether to go on a church-planting trip or a short-term mission trip, I urge you to go! I guarantee that you will not come back as the same person that you are right now but the Lord will teach you multiple things and change your heart in multiple ways. However, if you feel or know that the Lord is not calling you to go and is calling you to go somewhere else, please let the Holy Spirit lead you. I’m so excited to tell you about what God has allowed me to experience and witness throughout my week and a half in Nashville, Tennessee. I have always wanted to visit this city and I’m so thankful that I was able to go with this amazing group of individuals.

During the summer of 2021, I participated in a summer discipleship program where I learned many things through the sessions, witnessing God’s Word coming to life and experiencing God’s intentions behind His creations, and being reminded of the importance of having a relationship with God and sharing the Gospel. For part of the discipleship program, each individual was put into a group for a church planting trip in a particular city. I was able to meet the members of the Proclamation Church and reunite with a couple of friends, which one of them discipled me when I was a freshman at Meredith College. That was such a sweet time that I was able to spend time with them, even if it was for a short period of time. I was encouraged by the vulnerability of the members and I enjoyed hearing the good and bad of moving to a church plant and being a part of the team.

Being intentionally placed where God can use us for His plans so that we can fulfill our purpose is one of the reasons people move to different areas but are still able to follow their passions/calling. The reason why we move to a church plant after college, serve in college ministry/ministry, join the workforce, or go overseas is that Jesus is worthy and sharing the Gospel is worth it. We want to share the love, grace, mercy, and freedom that God so freely gives us. So even in the midst of trials and tribulations, it’s all worth enduring because Jesus is worthy! It’s amazing because the Holy Spirit is in us and we get to see the blessings of following and obeying God. What I am trying to say is that even though there is uncertainty about the future, we can trust in the Lord and His plans for the future. He has already laid out our days before us.

Even though we were able to do a lot of fun things in Nashville, I particularly valued the time I was able to listen to the stories behind the people we met. I was in awe of the story of a couple, who is a part of a different church, and the vulnerability they had in sharing their story and testimonies. They talked about some hardships in their relationship as a married couple and how the Lord has used their own struggles with anxiety and mental illnesses to use in the ministry and assist those who are struggling with it within the church. I was amazed by the way the Lord renewed their minds and showed them abundantly, unconditional love. I learned from their story that God can truly do the impossible even in people’s hearts. I was only saved a couple of years ago and I still have a lot of judgments and thoughts that the Lord is unraveling in my heart. I think it is so unbelievable and amazing that God made one’s heart new and clean through the unconditional love of another.


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