WE WILL GO NEWS. MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE FOUNTAIN ON FARISH: after 3

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1 WE WILL GO NEWS March 2014 Vol. 3 Issue 3 MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE FOUNTAIN ON FARISH: after 3 weeks of open doors, we continue to celebrate the honor of sharing Jesus For WE WILL GO MINISTRIES, living out the gospel means our whole lives are on display. Now there are more spaces for our lives to touch those in our hood. Our desire is to lead an all-the-time life. Jesus is the only one worthy of our attention. We look to Him, and our faces are radiant. WE are inviting you to join us in our pursuit of His presence at the Fountain. Our desire is to lift up the precious Name of Christ in every way in everything and in every detail ALL are welcome to come and participate KIDS under age 5 MUST have a responsible adult/guardian with them. NO CHARGE to come inside and join in ALL will be asked to sign in, sign out, and give some basic information at the door. Need more information? Please contact us through info@wewillgo.org or phone: or through our website: The Fountain Schedule: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays & Saturdays from 3 pm 5:30 pm the space is open for Jesus-centered basketball homework help playground time games, ping pong, pool, and more 6:30 pm Men ONLY Bible discipleship 6:30 pm Women ONLY Bible discipleship For the young girl above (and the rest of the neighborhood who ve flocked to the old YMCA building), the opening of the Fountain on Farish represents more than a safe place to go after school. It represents a shared space for learning to live out the gospel. Our plan is simple: open the doors; lift up the name of Jesus; forgive; show mercy; invite everyone into the ways of Jesus. The way of Jesus is intimacy with the Father. Consider the name: the Fountain on Farish. We believe that where the river flows everything will live" (Ez.47:9). However, no river will be able to flow unless we go to the Source God alone. We come to God through Jesus who said, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within him" (John 7:37-39). George and James (left to right) are two regulars at the Fountain. It is their place of discipleship, and they are hungry for attention. Drugs are sold on their street every day, and we know they need another idea of what their purpose is.

2 COUNTING THE COST: for Jamie Rasberry work and ministry are both full-time I have lived downtown with We Will Go Ministries for 3 years now. People ask me all the time, "Are you still working too?" When I answer with a yes, the next question is, "How do you do that?" Almost 7 years ago the Lord blessed me with a really good job and a really good company to work for, knowing that several years later He would move me to live as an intern at We Will Go. His ways are always strategic and with purpose. I am very fortunate to have a job that allows me to work from home and have flexibility while living in the middle of a very busy ministry. I have asked the Lord many times if I am supposed to quit working and be a typical missionary full-time, but the Lord gave me two very specific answers. The first was simple correction from him. He said, "You are always to be full-time" The other was that I was to be responsible with the salary he has given me to pay my own bills, pay off some debt, and to give to others. So, that is why I am still working, simple obedience because He asked me to. While I do travel with my job, the Lord really challenged me that I have to take my ministry with me everywhere I go. I am a full-time missionary. I can't just leave it here on Cohea Street, or just reserve it for Sunday afternoon worship. Every day and in every place, I carry His presence and His love with me, even if that is in a meeting in Arizona, on an airplane, or just sitting across from someone in a restaurant while I am having my travel meal. Living missionally (missions minded) is just living the gospel, no matter where you are. One of my heroes is the apostle Paul. His lifestyle serves as a great example of one who worked to earn a living in the midst of ministry. Scripture mentions that he made tents at the same time as he presented the gospel in different cities (Acts 18). More than likely, it was his position as a Brown Elementary invites adults to read with their students. Bryston is Jamie s toothie-grinned match maker and seller of tents in the city centers Jamie (left) has discovered that Investing in the lives of Jackson s youth is as simple as visiting Alexis and her family that opened doors for the gospel to go forth and find acceptance. 2 Thessalonians 3:7-9 gives another hint toward Paul s motives for work as ministry. He says, We were never lazy when we were with you. We never accepted food from anyone without paying for it. We worked hard day and night so that we would not be a burden to any of you. It wasn t that that we didn t have the right to ask you to feed us, but we wanted to give you an example to follow. In a similar way, I know God has placed me downtown to be an example to those who are coming to Him for salvation and restoration. Working full-time and being an ministry intern full-time lets me share the challenge with neighbors. So many of our neighbors are out of work, looking for work, or some simply don't want to work. I get to share about the way God blessed me with a job, blessed me with an income and allows me to minister to people all over the country As we are praying for our friends to find employment or make enough money to survive, I get to be an example to them that you can live for Jesus and work. Even in the very beginning, God gave man a job. We don't think too much about Adam having a job, but God gave it to him, and he worked hard. Genesis 2:15 records, "Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it." Adam s activities gave him purpose and responsibility, but they didn t define him. Much like Adam, my job is not who I am, but it is what I do. I pray that in my job, my identity is always reflected in that. I am a follower of Jesus, a daughter of the King of glory, called to righteousness so that the light of Jesus might shine through me. I have a better idea of what Jesus meant when He said, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).

3 SCENES FROM TURKEY: Fab 4 finds treasure in Asia Minor Sent ones, Kelly Wilkerson, Levi Gill, Amy Lancaster, and Ashley Newsome spent a week encouraging missionaries and praying over the Turkish land. WWG missionary Meridith May continues to learn Turkish and connect the body of Christ in the city of Izmir. She served as the guide for the Jackson team. Highlights include prayer journeys through ancient Roman ruins in Smyrna, Ephesus and Pergamum and Turkish tea A RELEASED FROM HATE: WWG volunteer Jack Jamison tells his story When I first heard the story of WWG, I was drawn to check it out to determine if it was built on truth. After volunteering for several months, something deep in my soul was touched by the Lord. I didn t understand the depth of it, but I couldn t ignore it either. Recently, I began to understand what the Lord has been doing in my heart. He frees us completely, even when we don t ask or seek that release. I was raised in the suburbs of south Memphis Tennessee in a non-christian home. The area was solid middle class America in the 1960s. By the late 60s there was unrest due to the Civil Rights movement. In the early 70s our neighborhood began to change radically. The term white flight was coined to describe the white families fleeing as black families moved into the area. My parents were in their late fifties at the time and decided that they would not leave their home and move away. Very soon we became one of the only white families that remained in a very large neighborhood. I graduated high school from a school with a white population of two percent out of about three thousand students. This demographic change took place over about a five year period. My family and I got along well and I really had very few problems during my high school years. It was just the way things were. Openly I didn t have problems with anyone, but deep inside, there was resentment because property values declined drastically and dating across racial lines just didn t happen during those days. I didn t realize it until years later that I felt robbed of what should have been happy, carefree years of my life. I had to be tough for fear of getting walked on or worse because of being in a minority, so I developed an attitude of indifference. I wanted people to think they were better off leaving me alone. I left Memphis in 1977 and joined the Air Force. I met and married my wife in England, and after our return to the States, we would go back to Memphis to visit my parents regularly. It was always a good time, and we weren t really too bothered about the neighborhood. We were just cautious with our sons on playing outside. They, being raised in a military family, were taught to accept all, just as I learned to stand side by side with men of all races. We taught them that there

4 were cultural difference, but they should look at people as individuals. As I was getting ready to retire from the Air Force, my parents and one of my brothers developed terminal lung cancer. My dad died first and a few years later my brother. Left alone, my mom decided to see her house and move to Mississippi with us. Her home anywhere else would have sold for at least $500,000, but because of the depressed area, we could only get $30,000. That sealed the deal for me. I began to hate Memphis and all cities like it, including Jackson. I never was afraid, nor did I really hate individual people. It was more a hated for the ongoing situation where people move into a neighborhood and destroy it because they had no pride (or understanding) about t heir surroundings. They just didn t seem to care, so I avoided all cities as much as possible. When my Mom moved in with us I would tell her and Sue to just stay out of Jackson; it s just a little Memphis. There is nothing in Hinds County that you need, I would say. Just stay on this side of the Pearl River in Rankin County. My Mom died after about a year and a half. We buried her in Memphis with my dad and brother. Through the years Sue would try to get me to go visit my parent s graves. I was always too busy and never wanted to go. I would get irritated when she mentioned it. I never tried to hide my hatred for Memphis or Jackson. I used to say, I am probably only guy in the world who hates his hometown. Again, my resentment was never against individuals it was more global for the urban blight and crime caused by lost people acting like, just what they are, lost people. I was smart enough to know that black people may tear up their houses and neighborhoods but many white people destroy lives and property just as badly. It s our sin nature that drives the culture of destruction not race. Still, I didn t experience any freedom from the hate inside. In December of 2013 our youngest son Jacob was getting married in Memphis. I m sure that Sue was not looking forward to my usual anger at having to go up there. Honestly I wasn t either. I would have preferred to get the pictures rather than have to go to spend a weekend in my despised hometown. Oddly enough as the event came closer, I began to look forward to it. I thought it was just because it was our baby son (all six foot two inches and three hundred pounds of him). As Sue and I were driving up I asked her if she noticed anything different, and she immediately said, Yes, you re not mad about going up there. I said, That s right, I don t feel like I normally do. I was happy about going, but I really thought it had to do with the wedding. The next day before the wedding we had some time before we met up with my brother, so I decided to drive to other side of town where I grew up. We ve done this several times since my Mom died, but always with grief and foreboding. This time was very different. We made the usual rounds past the old house and school through the neighborhood etc. As we were leaving, I decided to drive by the first church I ever went attended. It was a Methodist Church that we would sometimes go to when I was a child. It is abandoned now, and the older Chapel has been torn down. As we sat there in back of the Church, I realized that it was the place I first met God. I never had the thought before. Within those walls I first began to realize that there is a God who knows all, sees all and loves all. It was always a very special, quiet and reverent place to go. I always felt close to the Lord there even though I didn t come to know Him as my Savior until I was 33 years old. A huge flood of emotion overcame me, and I experienced a release from decades of hate. It was a bondage that held my mind and heart captive for a very long time. I am a Christian, Sunday school teacher and an ordained deacon. I ve always been in Church and tried to serve the Lord since my salvation in I was just bound by sin that had become a part of me. I knew it was wrong deep down, but I wasn t trying to change it. I just figured that the Lord understood and that He would forgive me for it. This wonderful gift of freedom came from the Lord, but it s way was prepared through my experiences at We Will Go. Everyone there has such love for the Lord Jesus and His people both saved and unsaved. No one gets turned away and any correction is given in love. Getting to know people who live submitted lives daily has had a profound change on me. Our God is truly amazing; I am forever thankful for His mercy.

5 WEEKLY MINISTRY ACTIVITIES 3 PM Worship, prayer, and Kids Service. Love House Pavilion, 799 N. Congress St. 11 AM=Hands & Feet Clothing PM=prayer in the Peace House, 809 N. Congress PM Canned Goods 3-5 PM=Canned Goods ministry, Love house front 5:30 PM=Hands & Feet Clothing 6:30 PM=Bible Study, Peace 9 AM - 1 PM Workday with mission teams and volunteers, serving the neighborhood, sharing stories, meeting new friends. Thursdays and Fridays are ARTS days at We Will Go. A remarkable partnership between missionaries, neighbors, visitors, and volunteers creates a space for creativity and the Kingdom of God. It s literally a cultural hub where faith-filled interactions promote purpose and identity for ALL involved. arts@wewillgo.org if you are interested in taking part March wouldn t be complete without a glimpse of the fun we ve been having. Worshiping the King is our favorite hobby. The kids below are precious. Pray for their whole family. WeWillGo ARTS WeWillGo ARTS exists to: - Train, Mentor, & Disciple Men & Women - Produce & Sell Quality, Creative, & Practical Creations - Share The Gospel In The Marketplace Check out our online store: We Will Go is a faith ministry, entirely dependent upon the generosity and responsiveness of the Lord s people to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. It is our joy and honor to share the love of Jesus with our neighbors, friends, and visitors for the purpose of making disciples for His glory. Many of our friends are very generous, both financially and through gifts and supplies they donate to We Will Go. We trust our Lord and Savior to speak to hearts to provide. He is faithful Give Online: By mail: We Will Go 799 N. Congress St. Jackson, MS A l l g i f t s a r e 10 0 % Ta x Deductible HERE AM I. LORD, SEND ME. ISAIAH 6:8 CONNECT WITH US ON SOCIAL MEDIA.