The Spirit of Nashville

This week a terrible string of tornadoes whirled through middle Tennessee. Nashville was hit hard and so were other areas nearby. It was so sad, 25 lives were lost, many were injured and, hundreds of homes were destroyed. I texted a buddy the morning after the tornadoes came through and asked him if he wanted to join me in ministering to the affected area. I knew some people that lost everything and I figured I could stop at the store and pick up some essentials to help out with the disaster areas. This is the story of what I saw and what God did to Nashville and to my heart this week as told through my TikToks because that is what I use for video editing on my phone. There hasn't been much time to document simply because there is so much work to be done.

Day One: starts out like I said with by former student, now intern and great friend in Christ who helped me every single day. I made a video to brag on him for everything he was doing as a young man following Jesus. It also serves as our day one recap video.


Day Two: was really a knock down blow from God. I had not planned to go every single day but then when God started to show me how the love of people in Nashville was more infectious than the Corona Virus, I knew where God would have me every single day. We had so many helpers and as we started working God kept giving us more and more workers. We transformed one lady's entire home.




Day Three: we started working for some people on Russel Street between 17th and 19th street. One lady whose house was determined uninhabitable (it was missing both sides) whose husband was away in Europe when the tornado came through was so kind as we tried our best to help her with what she needed. We helped her neighbors and formed some great relationships. It was at this time the word going around town was that in North Nashville they needed even more help than the place we had been at the past two days but I felt such a strong connection with the Lockeland Community that I knew I had to keep serving there until they were back on their feet.




Day Four: I got the approval to bring students into the devastated areas to help. They had been begging me all week. I took them to that same community. I also had my kiddos with me since my wife was on a ladies retreat.



Day Five: I was completely wrecked with emotion watching the Holy Spirit move through this community. I knew it was happening all over town. As far as the eye could see in any direction there were volunteers helping (it was Saturday) they transformed the neighborhood in one day. I saw one post from a contractor hired from out of state that brought a huge crew to Nashville to do some cleanup jobs. He said in his post that he got here and every single job that they had been hired to do had already been done by volunteers. He sent his crew home.... day five we reconnected with our people on Russel street. We ended up moving every single possession of that lady we met on day three from her destroyed home to her storage unit. God really showed me that I had been living in sleep mode. This week was crisis mode, I don't expect to stay this way forever but I don't want to fall back into any kind of spiritual sleep. The Spirit in Nashville is the Spirit of God. It is the Spirit of Love. I am proud to know the people that came and served with me all week long!