Quite a while ago my mom started working on a quilt for me made out of all my old World Changers t-shirts. I really never wear t-shirts in my adult life – but these particular shirts hold so much sentimental value that I just couldn’t part with them. For Christmas this year, mom gave me the completed quilt and I must say it is one of my most prized possessions. Last night as I hopped into bed and started to drift off to sleep my mind was filled with memories of the amazing adventures I had as a world changer. Each shirt has a story – and each story has such lasting significance in my life. World Changers was where I truly experienced Christ and it forever changed my heart. 
HERE are the stories of the shirts in my quilt (starting in the upper left-hand corner)…
Labor Provided By: WORLD CHANGERS This shirt comes in poster form and is commonly referred to as an LPB sign. Each crew posts an LPB at the worksite to tell the neighborhood what’s going on. At the end of the week when the work is completed, each crew signs their LPB sign and gives it to the homeowner as a memento along with a World Changers Bible. I worked on 22 projects in my 7 years of world changers and probably gave away approximately 350 LPB signs and Bibles.
Eh? My last summer on staff (2007) my team went to Ottawa, Ontario Canada to do a project. Additionally, all the funds collected by the mission offerings throughout the summer went to Canada. This was our team shirt and we wore it with pride at least one day a week throughout the entire summer!
PINEAPPLE This shirt was a gift from LARRY WILLIAMS, my PC in Jackson, Tennessee (2005). He is a DIE HARD Sonic Fan! I think I probably had at least 12-15 chocolate peanut butter shakes throughout that project weeks and I don’t even want to count the limeades! Larry was one of the BEST PC’s I ever worked with and I am truly blessed to have lived WC with him!
Trabajo Provisto Por This is the Spanish LPB sign. My third summer on staff I was on the Atlantic Team and we spent the first 6 weeks of our summer in PUERTO RICO. It was one of the best experiences of my life – I experienced God in a whole new way that summer and was truly touched by my time there.
World Changers, Est. 1990 This was the participant t-shirt my first summer on staff when I was on the SOUTH TEAM in Mississippi and Louisiana! That first summer was SUPER hard – but I made it through and served an additional 3 summers! (NEVER stay at a Brand New facility with a group of World Changers if the school is slated to open only a few weeks later. It equals DISASTER!)
World Changers, Philadelphia My last summer on staff my team did a project in Philadelphia in coordination with the Salvation Army. BEV was our PC and Bonnie was our Salvation Army Representative. Favorite memories from that week were staying in the castle and shopping with Bonnie spontaneously in the middle of the day (not to mention the post office box packing extravaganza)!! “we no like the multi”
Just Ducky This shirt is from the Peabody in Memphis, Tennessee. My second summer on staff we were in West Memphis Arkansas. On our Wednesday night off we went to the Peabody and saw the ducks! SO FUN!
World Changers CHICAGO This shirt was made by a church that participated in our CHICAGO project my second summer on staff. That was a really hard week for me – the accident that forever changed my life happened the week before and I was definitely not ok yet. BUT it was the BEST great send off of my entire WC experience. We danced ON TOP of the Expedition in the rain to “Eye of the Tiger”. ONCE in a lifetime!
Impact New Orleans My last summer on staff my team spent our first month in New Orleans working with Habitat for Humanity and Operation Noah Rebuild in Musicians Village – one of the areas most devastated by Hurricane Katrina. It was incredible to see the students build entire homes in the short time we were there. (this shirt also reminds me of SHAWN CHANGERS which makes me laugh SUPER hard!)
CUBS Before our project in Chicago started we hit WRIGLEY field for a Cubs game and went to the Taste of Chicago. I wasn’t feeling super awesome at the time (again that whole accident thing) but it was FUN visiting Erica in her hometown in the middle of the summer and the CUBS rocked!!!
World Changers on the Bayou My first and second summers on staff I did the project in Baton Rouge, LA. Florida Boulevard Baptist Church goes ALL out for the kids and decorates the entire church in this World Changers on the Bayou gear. My first summer Baton Rouge was the hardest project we did – a kid got bitten by a brown recluse, the ceilings collapsed in the girls rooms from an air conditioner leak, our associational coordinator was SUPER HARD to work with…BUT my second summer on staff it was one of my FAVORITE projects! There is just nothing like pickle pops and inflatable games to brighten the week!
WC SUPERMAN My second summer on staff the theme was HERO hence the design of the t-shirts. That was also the summer that the INCREDIBLES came out. Susan, Whitey, Lee and I looked STELLAR in our Incredibles face masks wearing these t-shirts! Haha! PUMPERNICKLE! STAFF This was one of my 4 staff t-shirts! The backs pretty much all said, STAFF, so this one says it all! Being on WC Summer Staff was an experience I will cherish FOREVER!
World Changers Stoplight This was the participant t-shirt my last summer on staff when the theme was OBEDIENCE. Definitely not my BEST color – but people didn’t miss us!
Piggly Wiggly This shirt was a gift from SHAWN DOSS (purchased by Sara Jessica Linkous) from my very first summer on staff. Shawn was my PC in Shreveport Louisiana {we stayed in Bethany, TX} in 2004 and 2005. Shawn is perhaps the funniest person EVER and he reminds me of Stuart from Mad Tv! Ha! Shreveport was always hysterical – from driving the golf cart to eating two cinnastix pizzas, to laying beef on Nathan’s cheek while he was sleeping and waking Shawn and Eric up with the bull horn when they decided to “sleep in” Shreveport was a BLAST.
Operation Noah Rebuild Operation Noah Rebuild was a ministry in New Orleans that was run by STEVIE G! an absolutely amazing man!! We worked with him for several weeks in New Orleans and he truly taught us our way around the city! He had an incredible ministry and it was an honor to partner with him!
World Changers This was my staff t-shirt from my 3rd summer on staff when I was in Puerto Rico and Florida! I would have to say that one of my best memories about this shirt is how wretchedly it smelled when I returned back to the states. Puerto Ricans don’t dry any of their clothing – they just hang everything to dry. WELL…for whatever reason the process left clothes seriously fetid. The morning that we went to Disneyworld after we THOUGHT we had re-washed everything, Kevin Sanders only made it to the car before realizing he was going to HAVE TO CHANGE because he smelled like PR and that is just not an ok way to smell! Ha!
I LOVE NEW YORK Emily and I both bought these shirts while we were vacationing in New York City just before my LAST project EVER as a summer staffer. I’m not sure that we bought them on the actual day of Anna’s wedding – but that entire week was greatly overshadowed by my intense desire to be IN my best friend’s wedding rather than playing in NY. However, we did see the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, visit Ellis Island, eat in Little Italy AND see M&M world.
Nothing Works like a World Changer This shirt just makes me laugh. It’s {quite obviously} a play off of the John Deere gear…but it is just such an encapsulation of the south…this shirt would NEVER make it in California!
World Changers The final t-shirt in my quilt is the FRONT of my staff shirt from my very first summer. I still remember the interviewing process, the day I found out I was accepted, flying to Atlanta for the first time, meeting my team, and starting the adventure of a lifetime! World Changers shaped and molded my heart and gave me a whole new understanding of SERVICE. God used the ministry to touch my life and I am forever grateful for that.
HERE are the stories of the shirts in my quilt (starting in the upper left-hand corner)…Labor Provided By: WORLD CHANGERS This shirt comes in poster form and is commonly referred to as an LPB sign. Each crew posts an LPB at the worksite to tell the neighborhood what’s going on. At the end of the week when the work is completed, each crew signs their LPB sign and gives it to the homeowner as a memento along with a World Changers Bible. I worked on 22 projects in my 7 years of world changers and probably gave away approximately 350 LPB signs and Bibles.
Eh? My last summer on staff (2007) my team went to Ottawa, Ontario Canada to do a project. Additionally, all the funds collected by the mission offerings throughout the summer went to Canada. This was our team shirt and we wore it with pride at least one day a week throughout the entire summer!
PINEAPPLE This shirt was a gift from LARRY WILLIAMS, my PC in Jackson, Tennessee (2005). He is a DIE HARD Sonic Fan! I think I probably had at least 12-15 chocolate peanut butter shakes throughout that project weeks and I don’t even want to count the limeades! Larry was one of the BEST PC’s I ever worked with and I am truly blessed to have lived WC with him!
Trabajo Provisto Por This is the Spanish LPB sign. My third summer on staff I was on the Atlantic Team and we spent the first 6 weeks of our summer in PUERTO RICO. It was one of the best experiences of my life – I experienced God in a whole new way that summer and was truly touched by my time there.
World Changers, Est. 1990 This was the participant t-shirt my first summer on staff when I was on the SOUTH TEAM in Mississippi and Louisiana! That first summer was SUPER hard – but I made it through and served an additional 3 summers! (NEVER stay at a Brand New facility with a group of World Changers if the school is slated to open only a few weeks later. It equals DISASTER!)
World Changers, Philadelphia My last summer on staff my team did a project in Philadelphia in coordination with the Salvation Army. BEV was our PC and Bonnie was our Salvation Army Representative. Favorite memories from that week were staying in the castle and shopping with Bonnie spontaneously in the middle of the day (not to mention the post office box packing extravaganza)!! “we no like the multi”
Just Ducky This shirt is from the Peabody in Memphis, Tennessee. My second summer on staff we were in West Memphis Arkansas. On our Wednesday night off we went to the Peabody and saw the ducks! SO FUN!
World Changers CHICAGO This shirt was made by a church that participated in our CHICAGO project my second summer on staff. That was a really hard week for me – the accident that forever changed my life happened the week before and I was definitely not ok yet. BUT it was the BEST great send off of my entire WC experience. We danced ON TOP of the Expedition in the rain to “Eye of the Tiger”. ONCE in a lifetime!
Impact New Orleans My last summer on staff my team spent our first month in New Orleans working with Habitat for Humanity and Operation Noah Rebuild in Musicians Village – one of the areas most devastated by Hurricane Katrina. It was incredible to see the students build entire homes in the short time we were there. (this shirt also reminds me of SHAWN CHANGERS which makes me laugh SUPER hard!)
CUBS Before our project in Chicago started we hit WRIGLEY field for a Cubs game and went to the Taste of Chicago. I wasn’t feeling super awesome at the time (again that whole accident thing) but it was FUN visiting Erica in her hometown in the middle of the summer and the CUBS rocked!!!
World Changers on the Bayou My first and second summers on staff I did the project in Baton Rouge, LA. Florida Boulevard Baptist Church goes ALL out for the kids and decorates the entire church in this World Changers on the Bayou gear. My first summer Baton Rouge was the hardest project we did – a kid got bitten by a brown recluse, the ceilings collapsed in the girls rooms from an air conditioner leak, our associational coordinator was SUPER HARD to work with…BUT my second summer on staff it was one of my FAVORITE projects! There is just nothing like pickle pops and inflatable games to brighten the week!
WC SUPERMAN My second summer on staff the theme was HERO hence the design of the t-shirts. That was also the summer that the INCREDIBLES came out. Susan, Whitey, Lee and I looked STELLAR in our Incredibles face masks wearing these t-shirts! Haha! PUMPERNICKLE! STAFF This was one of my 4 staff t-shirts! The backs pretty much all said, STAFF, so this one says it all! Being on WC Summer Staff was an experience I will cherish FOREVER!
World Changers Stoplight This was the participant t-shirt my last summer on staff when the theme was OBEDIENCE. Definitely not my BEST color – but people didn’t miss us!
Piggly Wiggly This shirt was a gift from SHAWN DOSS (purchased by Sara Jessica Linkous) from my very first summer on staff. Shawn was my PC in Shreveport Louisiana {we stayed in Bethany, TX} in 2004 and 2005. Shawn is perhaps the funniest person EVER and he reminds me of Stuart from Mad Tv! Ha! Shreveport was always hysterical – from driving the golf cart to eating two cinnastix pizzas, to laying beef on Nathan’s cheek while he was sleeping and waking Shawn and Eric up with the bull horn when they decided to “sleep in” Shreveport was a BLAST.
Operation Noah Rebuild Operation Noah Rebuild was a ministry in New Orleans that was run by STEVIE G! an absolutely amazing man!! We worked with him for several weeks in New Orleans and he truly taught us our way around the city! He had an incredible ministry and it was an honor to partner with him!
World Changers This was my staff t-shirt from my 3rd summer on staff when I was in Puerto Rico and Florida! I would have to say that one of my best memories about this shirt is how wretchedly it smelled when I returned back to the states. Puerto Ricans don’t dry any of their clothing – they just hang everything to dry. WELL…for whatever reason the process left clothes seriously fetid. The morning that we went to Disneyworld after we THOUGHT we had re-washed everything, Kevin Sanders only made it to the car before realizing he was going to HAVE TO CHANGE because he smelled like PR and that is just not an ok way to smell! Ha!
I LOVE NEW YORK Emily and I both bought these shirts while we were vacationing in New York City just before my LAST project EVER as a summer staffer. I’m not sure that we bought them on the actual day of Anna’s wedding – but that entire week was greatly overshadowed by my intense desire to be IN my best friend’s wedding rather than playing in NY. However, we did see the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, visit Ellis Island, eat in Little Italy AND see M&M world.
Nothing Works like a World Changer This shirt just makes me laugh. It’s {quite obviously} a play off of the John Deere gear…but it is just such an encapsulation of the south…this shirt would NEVER make it in California!
World Changers The final t-shirt in my quilt is the FRONT of my staff shirt from my very first summer. I still remember the interviewing process, the day I found out I was accepted, flying to Atlanta for the first time, meeting my team, and starting the adventure of a lifetime! World Changers shaped and molded my heart and gave me a whole new understanding of SERVICE. God used the ministry to touch my life and I am forever grateful for that.
1 comment:
I'm so jealous! I tried to have mine made into a quilt years ago, but couldn't find anyone to do it. I now know how to quilt, but I have no idea where those shirts are :( It looks great!
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