I met Em in 2007, just days after I graduated from CBU, just before adult life had to formally begin. We were World Changers. We worked long days with sleepless nights, but there was literally nothing better. I think because she is coming tomorrow (and perhaps because I went to Evangelism Training earlier this week - which was totally my job when I was on staff) I keep having these amazing little flashes back to my WC days - to some of the most incredible people I have ever known and a hugely foundational aspect of my relationship with Christ. I went on my first WC project when I was only 16 - a group of us loaded up in a menagerie of vehicles and headed for Casper, Wyoming. I was placed on a construction crew where I was a “Dandy Sanding Roof Rat” and spent 5 days roofing, painting, installing new siding, and generally repairing the home of an elderly woman whose house was in desperate need of some love and attention. We built planter boxes and purchased flowers already in bloom. It was an amazing experience - tangibly being the hands of Jesus - His love in action - His story being told through my life. He captured my heart that week and I have never been the same. Truly. That was all it took. He changed my world.
I honestly don’t even remember how applying for World Changers Summer Staff happened. I don’t know who told me it was a thing - maybe Tedd Brent - my youth pastor and the man I credit with introducing me to World Changers in the first place - God bless his soul. But I do remember having a phone interview, and I remember the day that Walter flew to California and met me to interview me in person, and I remember when he asked me to describe my relationship with the Lord in less than five words and I said “continually growing” and his response gave me a deeply settled and peaceful feeling that maybe, just maybe I was going to be a missionary and nothing in life and ever sounded more right. I also remember exactly where I was the day I got the official call that I had been accepted and would officially be a World Changer. My actual WC experience was way harder and far more beautiful than anything I could have ever imagined, but it was undoubtedly part of the plans the Lord had for me and it will forever be a savored part of my story.
My first summer on staff I was on the South Team with Rachel, Calvin and Nathan. It was hard. Our team dynamics were a challenge and our projects brought a myriad of obstacles. In Jackson, Mississippi we had the youth group that had sharpie races down the hallway and destroyed the unfinished wooden doors and the group leader who did donuts on the freshly laid sod at the brand new high school that was scheduled to open that fall. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana the air-conditioning in the church broke, pooled in the ceiling, and the crashed through flooding multiple girls rooms and destroying all their possessions meaning we literally stayed up all night after night washing and drying sleeping bags and clothes. There was also a boy who got bitten by a brown recluse and was desperately ill. However, in the midst of all that, we saw hearts turn to the Lord and there was something compelling about being a part of His family in such a dynamic and daily way. We were giving every ounce of ourselves to serving Him and loving loudly for all to see and hear. I loved waking up in the morning knowing all I had to do was love people in Christ’s name. Our last project of the summer was in Shreveport, Louisiana and there was this amazing volunteer named Sara Linkous. I didn’t know it at the time, but Sara would soon become my best friend and would be a WC Summer Staffer herself a couple summers later. God gave me some of the most amazing gifts through WC. I absolutely never could have known. At the end of the summer I remember feeling so very convoluted about whether or not I would return - World Changers felt like my heartbeat and yet it had been such a hard summer and I was so tired; yet, when the question was formally asked, there was zero hesitation. I said yes.
My second summer I was on the Tennessee team, though we spent very little time actually in Tennessee. My team was FANTASTIC and Whitey (aka. Chris White) even made a trip to California to visit alongside his gorgeous wife Bri in fall 2014 to fulfill a promise made that summer - that he would come visit prior to having his first child! We had projects in Jackson, Tennessee; West Memphis, Arkansas; Chicago, Illinois; and then headed back to Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Shreveport, Louisiana. It was kind of an incredible thing to do those projects over again. It redeemed them in a way. The Tennessee Team was FUN. Period. We had a code word for group hug - PUMPERNICKEL - and played World Changers Jeopardy in the opening celebration. We had great adventures in our “downtime” and all got along so well. We met Larry Williams and consumed entirely too much Sonic but that was the fun part of WC - you didn’t sleep and you worked crazy hard, but you made the most wild and outlandishly memories doing totally normal and mundane things like going to happy hour at Sonic EVERY SINGLE DAY. We were supposed to have separate debriefing meetings at the close of our time together, but Bill Kisner sat us down and asked us if we wanted to all just meet together, because never had a team been so connected or wholly invested in one another as we were.
My third summer was NOTHING like the first two. I was on on the Atlantic Team - we started our adventure in Puerto Rico and then ended in Florida. World Changers PR is totally it’s own animal, it’s amazing and incredible and absolutely one of my favorite places on earth. I fell in love with the people and there is NOTHING quite like a frappe after working (aka. sweating) with all your might. Worshipping under the stars with the sound of the waves crashing is phenomenal and a concert of prayer with an ocean breeze cannot be paralleled. The tastes and scents of the island are so vivid and they’re all rushing back to me even as I type this. I loved everything about being there. We got to build houses in Puerto Rico which is significantly different and getting to write Scripture in the walls and on the foundation of a home is a monumental experience that isn not soon forgotten. Leaving the island was like having something ripped from within me - it stayed there and I came home. Puerto Rico will forever own my heart. However, I will say I am glad I no longer smell like Puerto Rico - that was questionable to say the least.
My final summer on staff I led the New Orleans Team and worked with Emily and Michael - the two teammates I have remained the closest to - and Brian. We started the summer with three projects in New Orleans and it was incredibly moving and heart-wrenching to see how much recovery from Hurricane Katrina still needed to be completed. The devastation in the city was still so very real. We focused our efforts on Musicians Village and spent a great deal of time working with Project Noah Rebuild as well as Habitat for Humanity. We then headed North and did a project in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and one in Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA. Allowing me to end my WC career with an international experience. Our summer together was probably my very favorite. I have more memories than I could ever record. We laughed harder and louder and our friendships were deeper, we slept even less than usual and loved the kids with every ounce of us. Perhaps for me it was because I knew it was the end. I knew adult life was just around the corner and this was my last chance to live the World Changers life. Or maybe it was just the right places with the right people or the right moment in my relationship with the Lord. Whatever it was, it was the perfect finale to an incredibly chapter in my life.
In totality, I was able to do a total of 19 projects as a summer staffer plus an additional three as a participant when I was in high school for a grand total of 21. I worked with over 5,000 participants, saw approximately 380 low-income homes repaired and about 10 built up from the foundation. I spent almost a year of my life in the mission field in totality, which is crazy when I think about it. It was hard but so fulfilling and I absolutely loved it. Sometimes I wonder if the Lord will call me into that again. It was undoubtedly the best job I’ve ever had and I would do it again in a second. I miss the World Changers days. I miss the days of prepping and the calm stillness just before a project began as we prayed knowing the kids would begin to arrive any time. I miss traveling the country with my team and knowing all kinds of crazy was waiting just around the corner. God worked in incredible ways in my own heart and right in front of my eyes. There are moments I will never be able to forget. Moments when students knelt before the cross and found Jesus or homeowners finally confronted the issues that had stood in the way of accepting salvation as they watched our kids decide to be love. World Changers was powerful and tangible and it made so much sense to me. It taught me how to be a servant, how to love people, how to show up and pour in and come alongside and I will forever be grateful for the ways the Lord used it to mold and shape me. I may never change the world in quite the same way - but I will forever be a World Changer.
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