Destination Projects

50 Sundays kick off interview was in Norfolk, Virginia, at Upward Church with Campus Pastor, Jesse Melendez. Upward’s motto is “Don’t do life alone,” and I definitely felt an inspired community of believers with a welcoming come-as-you-are open door.

“Upward is a multi-campus, multi-state church, with its two main campuses in Norfolk, VA and in Pensacola, FL. Upward Churches are spreading across America as they aggressively make the Gospel relevant and accessible to our generation.” The senior pastor of Upward is Craig Walker  author of  Catch: The Art of Fishing for Souls and Right Message: Wrong Method.

Jesse was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to sit with me and discuss his ministry and walk with Christ.”God doesn’t choose people who has it all together. He doesn’t choose those that  look like they are the ones who should be called for the job. He grabs broken people, people with pasts, people with problems, people with issues, just like  you and me….He grabs broken people. And that is what we are here in this church we are broken people… I’ve heard people say to me,  I’ll come to church when get some stuff done in my life – when I get things done in life, and get things in order. No! Come as you are.. You aren’t here by accident… God is looking for broken people to do a work in.”

50 Sundays next destination is Asheville, North Carolina to meet with an urban ministry and mission congregation called Haywood Street Church (HSC).

Haywood Street Church (HSC)  is pastored by Brian Combs. Pastor Combs bio states, “Cloistered in suburbia, Rev. Brian Combs was reared in middle-class North Carolina, assimilated to and educated for the predicable.  Until he met the incarnate absurd: a homeless transvestite prostitute, a woman and man of holy revelation.  Convicted of street solidarity in Atlanta post seminary, he chased Jesus under the highway overpasses, rocked crack addicted babies, slopped in the soup troughs, loitered downtown with the pimps and pushers and schizophrenics.  Absolute that church should be every bit as raw and real, every bit flesh and blood.”

The Haywood Street Congregation was established in 2009 by Rev. Brian Combs and today 400 meals are served at the Downtown Welcome Table each week and between 75 and 100 gather for worship every Wednesday.

The Haywood Street Respite is a safe place for homeless adults to rest, and get three meals a day and other assistance to help them recuperate following a hospital stay or illness.

HSC also runs a community garden project called the Love and Fishes Bountiful Garden to grow organic food for the Downtown Welcome table and HSC visitors. They also run a clothing closet.

“Our liberation is bound up with those who are most dismissed. The invitation is come here to receive rather than to fix. To be empty handed for your first encounter.” …”Expect to have an experience of holy chaos, expect to have an experience of grace at the table.” (Pastor Combs)

Tim Terry’s story is one of severe grace and redemption. In 1987, when he was 22, Terry was sentenced to 30 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter after killing his wife. He left two young children (ages 1 and 3 years) behind and a lot of family members hurt over his crime. In prison, Terry continued on a dark path, earning the title of notorious dope dealer racking in $5000 a week in deals. That was until, Paul Gray of Kairos Prison Ministry,  whose story was the “spitting image” of Tim’s, came to challenge Tim with a message from Christ. According to Terry, Gray said that if God didn’t show up in his life in such a radical way during 30 days of prayer, Bible reading and seclusion from the secular prison populous, Gray would turn in his BIbles. As it turns out, God encountered Terry in a mighty way.

“Terry said he adopted a Christian lifestyle and led fellow inmates in prayer. He used this “newly found” faith to stop using drugs and start developing a new outlook on life.” He started a prayer group on the compound, and that group grew so large that it started bringing a concern to the warden. In addition, Tim attended a parenting class taught by Dwayne Moore that helped him understand how to reconcile with his children.”

Shortly after his release from prison in September 2002, Terry began working with others immediately in the Greenville, SC area and helped establish Soteria World Outreach then, Changing the Way. Tim’s current  passion is a Christian organization called Jump Start Ministries, a state-wide program, where pastors and ex-offendors volunteer their time to help inmates

God is truly a God of reconciliation.You can read more about Tim’s awesome transformation and personal Victory in Jesus by visiting his website.