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Nashville
This month we’re heading on over to Nashville! Be sure to visit our city's page for more information about serving with us in “Music City USA”.
News from the Nashville City Director
This summer, CSM Nashville has been blessed with six amazing hosts, two of whom have been attending Nashville-based universities, Trevecca Nazarene and Belmont. I have asked Julie Bird, who will be a sophmore at Trevecca Nazarene next year, to share how her experience so far has effected or changed her views on Nashville.
- Jes Williams, CSM Nashville City Director
Nashville, TN; Music City USA; the buckle of the Bible belt; home of the Tennessee Titans. From a tourist's perspective, this city is filled with glamour and cowboy boots. But after having spent a year here in Nashville, I find it is a great mistruth to assume that is the extent of Nashville.
Venturing here last fall to attend Trevecca Nazarene University, my heart has been broken time and time again by the endless amount of stories told by people who have come to be some of my best friends. It is after joining the CSM staff that I am encouraged by what is being done on a larger scale. And while I am encouraged by what is being done, I am also more aware of where the systems are flawed. But in the midst of this “brokenness”, God is and has undoubtedly been at work.
Long conversations and late schedules are worth every minute as groups begin to delve into various issues and brainstorm the possibilities of what it would look like to live radically in the world today. But perhaps the most beautiful evidence that God is alive and well can be found in human interaction: laughter, tears, hugs, playing tag, finding out how people got where they are, smiles, and conversation both meaningful and mundane. Through friendship and genuine love, dignity is being restored. And if only for a moment, dreams are dreamt again.
And so we are discovering what it is to genuinely love; what it really means to live out the greatest commandments of all: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matt 22:37, Deut 6.4-5) and to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:39, Lev 19:18).
There's no place in the world I'd rather be right now than serving here with CSM; watching the lives and mindsets of many, including myself, transform as they are continually challenged to see the world through God's eyes.
- Julie Bird, CSM Nashville Summer 2009 City Host
Local Resources
Local News Links
- Child Holds Water Drive for Homeless June 6, 2009
- Groups Search For Housing For Tent City Residents June 3, 2009
- Nashville Coalition Pushes Immigration Changes June 2, 2009
- Non-Profit Breaks Ground On Homeless Facility May 21, 2009
CSM Urban Updates
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