"And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus." -Matthew 14:28-29. Like Peter, God has called me to step out of the boat and onto the waters of trust, obedience, faith, bravery, and boldness. In doing so, I will be a part of the Cross Church School of Ministry this year.

Throughout this next year in the School of Ministry, I will be blessed with many opportunities such as:

• I will be working full time at Cross Church Springdale in Missions Department and at the Compassion Center where I will have the opportunity to share the gospel around Northwest Arkansas, America, and the world, help those in need, and learn the in's and out's of a Christ-centered non-profit. 

• I will be going on three mission trips. One will be in Malawi, Africa, and the other two will be here in North America. These mission trips will allow me to advance the gospel, help those in need and to just simply be a part of the lives of so many people.

• I will also be going to class every week and graduate this year with over 25 credit hours in seminary towards my masters degree.

I am asking for your help in two ways:

1) Pray! Please lift me up in prayer as I step out of the boat and begin this journey on the path that God has called me to. I ask that you pray for God to use me in unimaginable ways, for wisdom and discernment for God's will in my life, for the church as a whole, and against the spiritual warfare that will come as well.

2) Financially. I have a goal of $6,500 that will help cover the cost of the three mission trips, educational expenses, and the advancement of the gospel in Northwest Arkansas, America, and the world! Every donation helps and is important and will enable me to be present and help others in need.

God has blessed me with this incredible opportunity and I would like to invite you to share in this excitement with me! I am beyond grateful for your love and support and will keep you informed about my progress throughout this year! Thank you so much for supporting me and being a part of my life.

• Happy New Year!

  Posted a week ago

  Hi friends and family! I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year! It is officially 2018 and I now have 6 months left in the School of Ministry. It’s crazy how time flies when you're doing what you love!
  
  Over Christmas, I spent some time with my family and flew to Atlanta to spend time with my NOW FIANCE (!!!!) and then we drove to Florida to spend time with his family as well. AND WE GOT ENGAGED!! Woohoo! It was a wonderful ending to 2017.
  
  Thank you all for your prayers and support! A lot has happened over the past 2.5 months: we had our Blessing Baskets ministry, Christmas program, and continued preparation for exciting things happening in 2018.
  
  During the remainder of my time in the School of Ministry, I will be continuing to work at the Compassion Center and the missions department as well as go on another mission trip to Detroit in April and the Southern Baptist Convention in June. I will also be attending other events and helping out with camps for kids and students this summer. And to bring it all to a close, I will be getting married to the most incredible man of God and I’m beyond thrilled to get to do life and serve God with him for the rest of my life.
  
  Please continue to pray for me during these next 6 months, as they will be very busy and exciting!
  
  Thank you all so so much!!!
  
  

  Posted by:
  Savannah Mercer

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• A Crazy Good Month

  Posted a week ago

  A little over one month ago, I went on a week long trip to Washington, D.C. Now, I had never been to Washington, D.C., but I had heard all about it from people who have, seen pictures and places in D.C. in movies and the news, read about it in school, etc. While in there, I had the privilege to tour the capitol with Congressman Steve Womack, tour the White House, visit the Arlington Cemetery and several other monuments and museums. We also attended church at one of our local church plants in D.C., Redeemer City Church. In the pledge of allegiance, we say, “One nation, under God,” for a reason and this trip helped me to better understand the origin of that. Going on this trip also helped me to learn how I can be praying for our nation and it’s leaders.
  
  Last week, I was invited to attend a class at UAMS Northwest on grant writing. Due to my passion for children, the needy, and hunger, this class was very beneficial for me and the path that God is leading me on.
  
  Over the past month, I have been able to be a part of many things that we do to help those in need throughout our community and get a “behind the scenes” look at what goes into making these incredible ministries happen. Some of those ministries include the Compassion Center, Feed The 479, Radical, Impact, and Blessing Baskets. This past weekend was our 25th annual Blessing Baskets ministry at Cross Church where we serve groceries for Thanksgiving meals to those in need. Not only do we serve them physical food, but we also hold a service prior to handing the Blessing Baskets out where they will be fed spiritually, too. This year, we saw 374 people trust Jesus as Lord and Savior and were able to help 2079 families. Praise God! He is moving and lives are being changed and I am so blessed to be able to be a small part of it what God is doing.
  
  With that being said, I have also changed my ministry track as of a month and a half ago from Women’s/Millennial Ministry to Missions. Long story short: when God called me into ministry, it was for missions. The closer the beginning of School of Ministry got, the more I began to think about what I wanted to do and what I thought was best. Not what God wanted me to do and was best. So I decided to try Women’s/Millennial Ministry. I did really enjoy and love what I did and who I was with, but God didn’t call me there. He called me to missions and I knew it. So now I am at the Compassion Center and in the missions department. Sometimes God lets things like that happen so that we may learn to trust Him more and not doubt that He will work all things out for the good of those who love him and for HIS GLORY (Romans 8:28) and to lean on Him more and not on ourselves.
  
  Thank you so much for reading this and I pray that you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

  Posted by:
  Savannah Mercer

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• Malawi, Africa

  Posted a week ago

  Hi everyone!
  
  Thank you so much for taking time to read this. Since I first heard about Esther's House a few years ago, I knew that I had to go there some day. Well, y'all, that some day just happened and I am beyond excited to be able to share my experience with you!!
  
  I got back from Malawi (where Esther's House is located) a few days ago and I am still in such awe of what God is doing there. It's unreal. We always hear that God is omnipresent, but seeing another culture (and on the other side of the world) worshipping and learning about God just puts that into a new perspective because although we may speak different languages and have a different culture and way of worshipping, we have the same God.
  
  While in Malawi, I had the opportunity to share the gospel in villages with people who had never had a relationship with Jesus and disciple those who do, minister to and love on kids, orphans and widows and help/learn from the missionaries. We were also able to participate in the graduation of the very first Pure Mission School of Ministry which was such a cool thing to be a part of. Every experience was so different and so incredible in its own way. 
  
  When we went out into the villages to share our testimonies and the gospel, we split up into groups of two with our translators and literally just started walking down a dirt road towards homes to do just as we are told in the Great Commission when Jesus says, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” I mean that is literally what we did. First of all, I had never done anything like that before that day so that in itself was nerve racking. Secondly, if you know me well, you know I talk a lot but I’m definitely not a public speaker, so add that to the list. But it was during the time of village evangelism where I truly and fully relied on the Holy Spirit to move in and through the words that I was speaking because, lets face it, I wouldn’t have been able to even produce the slightest sound on my own. So as we were walking down this road, I was talking to my translator and just taking in everything around me. Some moments later there were two men that were walking toward us so we stopped and I started talking to them and just carrying on a casual conversation which eventually led into me sharing my testimony with them. God was clearly already working on their hearts because the questions that followed were of pure heart conviction and with total reliance on God, I was able to lead them to Christ.
  
  Later on that day, I had the opportunity to share my testimony again in another village. We came upon this village where there were women outside cooking, tilling the soil, and taking care of children and men who were tilling the soil and making brick and just going about their day-to-day lives. It was so neat to watch them make the brick that they build their homes with and just the process of it all. After talking for a while, I began to tell them my testimony. A vast majority of them said that they already have a relationship with Jesus, but that they wanted to hear more of my story so I started to tell them more and when I had stopped again, several of the people sitting around listening started talking and realizing that they actually hadn’t asked Jesus into their lives, so I had the opportunity to talk to them about what that meant and they wanted it. They wanted Jesus. When we got up to get ready to go, one of the men making brick for the home he was building asked us to write our names in the brick before it dried and I would be lying if I said that I didn’t tear up at that (or at everything you just read, if we’re honest). 
  
  After we met back up with everyone,there were a group of about 15 to 20 children over near a building and a few of us went over and talked to them and taught them how to play duck-duck-goose and red light, green light. I’m not sure who had more fun in that moment, us or the children??? After that, a group of Malawians from the village broke out into spontaneous worship with singing and dancing and it was just the most amazing thing! It was in their language, but I knew it was worship and thats all that mattered. 
  
  As if it wasn’t already an incredible experience, the following Sunday, we went back to the same village for church. Not in a building, but as a people. After all, thats what the church is anyways. God does not need walls and roof to move. WE ARE the church. We had church as a people..outside in an open area and under a tree. It was absolutely breathtaking.
  
  On another day, we had something called Widow-Kiddo Day in which around 60 kiddos and 60 widows came to learn about God! During the kiddo portion of the day, they sang and danced in worship and broke out into smaller groups for the lesson. During the widows portion of the day, they sang and danced in worship too and they didn’t let age stop them one bit! I mean even the ones that seemed to be barely walking were worshipping. They would put their canes up in the air and wave them around as they were worshipping, they would dance (better than me) and were just full of joy. After worship, I had the privilege to teach a lesson from the book of Esther on understanding that God has us where we are at for a reason and that we are to be brave and obedient in that (once again, I was nervous and once again, God showed up and walked with me through it).
  
  Every night, we spent time talking about all that God did that day and had a sweet time of worship. On the last night, we had a bonfire in the prayer garden at Esther’s House with some of the children and the missionaries. One of the sweetest moments was looking up during one of the songs and seeing the kids swaying back and forth and singing along as they could. The missionaries also talked to us and gave us a few words of advice and encouragement as we got ready to head back home.
  
  I still cannot believe that God blessed me with such an incredible opportunity to go and see the world and His love through a different lens, seeing how much joy they have regardless of their situation and seeing their hard work was just astonishing. I have never seen such joy like what I saw in Malawi. Every single day I was left speechless and in awe of how great our God is. The cool thing is that while I was pouring into their hearts and their lives, they were pouring into mine too and they probably didn’t even know it. All I can think is THANK YOU JESUS. 
  
  I am studying the book of Job right now and something I just read that really stuck out to me following my time in Malawi is Job 26:14 which says, “Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power, who can understand?" How true is that! What I saw experienced in Malawi is just a small part of everything that God is doing all over the world and I am so blessed to have been given such an amazing and life changing opportunity.
  
  I encourage all of you to go check out Pure Mission and Esther's House to see stories and learn more about what they are doing for His Kingdom and what you can do to help!
  
  Again, thank you SO much for taking time to read this (I know it's long)!
  
  Love,
  
  Savannah
  

  Posted by:
  Savannah Mercer

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