Urban Plunge!

Jan. 22-24th Our Students Plunged In!  The Des Moines Urban Plunge invited our group to leave the comfort of the suburbs and the safety of the small town, and experience ministry in the inner-city of Des Moines; giving your group hands on experience with nine different faith-based social service agencies in one weekend. Our students went to jail, fed the homeless, and so much more… kind of like when Jesus said, “I was in prison… I was hungry….” Together, we met two needs in Des Moines:  1) By getting involved and increasing the volunteer capacity of local DM ministries.  2) Engaging followers of Christ to: “move out of the pews and into the streets.” The nine ministries included: Children and Family Urban Ministries, Joppa Outreach,  Serve Our Youth Network at the Polk County Youth Detention Center,  Central Iowa Shelter and Services, The Trinity Center:  at Luther ( A nursing home that helps meet the challenges that Alzheimer patients and their families face), and Reggie’s Place, among others.
Sunday morning we worshiped at two complete different church services,  A predominately African American church with over one hundred years of history in Des Moines: Corinthian Baptist Church, and A bilingual service at Trinity Methodist church

Our students did SO WELL to reach out, stretch outside their comfort zones and meet needs of those around them. They were pioneers – the first in our youth group to explore this ministry opportunity and I am very proud of them.