By Emma Thompson
The NYC GoTrip team had a wonderful experience during spring break. The team left on Saturday, March 16 and returned on Friday, March 22. While in NYC, the team stayed at the Metropolitan New York Baptist Association (MNYBA), and partnered with an organization entitled “Let My People Go” (LMPG). LMPG is aimed to equip local churches to fight human trafficking and love vulnerable people.
In preparation for the trip, the group read “humility” by Andrew Murray, as well as Philippians two. The week’s theme being heavily concentrated on serving others and showing humility.
Each day the team had a morning devotional/ briefing, divided into their 4 ministry groups, assigned to an area of the city, and were faced with a new challenge. At the end of each day, they did a collective debrief.
The OBU team was also joined with a couple of ladies from a church in New Jersey, as well as a small group from Alabama.
On Sunday, the team split into two groups. One group attended Everlasting Church, and the other went to The Brooklyn Tabernacle.
Monday, the mission focus was purely on having conversations with vulnerable people. Each member of the group carried around 2 Nutrigrain bars, one for themselves and one for the person they conversed with. As the teams walked in their area, they took turns having two people at a time start a conversation with someone they saw.
“Our first day, we simply walked the streets and had conversations with people,” junior Biblical and Theological Studies major Clayton Freeman said. “This brought great joy and conviction to my heart, as I want to engage in conversation with vulnerable people more often, after all, we are all vulnerable people in need of a sufficient Savior, Jesus Christ.”
The team members learned throughout the week that we, as broken people, have the ability to relate to everyone, because all people are broken.
“You’ll start to find that these people aren’t those people, they’re us,” founder and executive director of Let My People Go Raleigh Sadler said. Sadler led each briefing and debriefing, and even served alongside the group at times during the week.
On Tuesday, the focus was on ministry related to labor trafficking. The group was educated on fair and direct trade products, and the importance of knowing what sort of demand you are creating in the economy. The teams did a sort of “scavenger hunt”, finding restaurants, cafes, and stores that are fair trade.
On Wednesday the group split into two halves again. One team volunteered passing out meals in Jefferson Heights, and the other worked with City Relief passing out bread, soup, socks, and even hot chocolate.
On Thursday the team visited the New Settlement Community Center in the Bronx. The community center offers a variety of classes for children including swim, dance, martial arts, etc. Part of the team worked clearing out the garden so the kids will be able to use it in the spring. The rest of the team passed out flyers around the area for an event hosted by the center.
“By walking the streets, joining together with other ministries, and sharing Jesus, we both grew as a community and poured into the community of NYC,” Freeman said.
”Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.“
Philippians 2:3-4 NKJV
