A Note From Tracy Hipps: The Impact of the Gospel

This year we have seen the power of God manifested in all that we do. We saw the power of God meet the exact needs of 800 children in a Title One School with miracle pops. We were a part of touching more than 1,300 moms for Mother’s Day and able to serve an awesome meal from The Fish Market and Grace’s Kitchen to 120 moms from 15 different organizations at South Highlands Presbyterian Church. The part that we love more than sharing resources is the gospel that is proclaimed and displayed in all of these places. Lashundra Smith, a mom of four who has been in a wheelchair for almost a decade as result of domestic violence, shared how the power of God has worked in her life. Former Chief Nunn of Birmingham blessed us with her powerful voice before we honored Ms. Smith’s mother for the blessing she has been to her daughter. It truly has been a remarkable season here at CSM.

Summer is our busiest time and each year KAA camp marks the starting point. This is the best week of my year, and I am always so excited to see what God will do with the kids and adults who attend. This was my 27th year to take a group to KAA, loading 100 people the first week of June on to buses for an overnight ride to Missouri. Willie Banks, our Warehouse Manager, at the age of 51, experienced summer camp for the first time! The best part was that his son also attended and they were able to share the amazing experience together. We also partnered with the Birmingham Police department who identified some children who truly needed to experience the power of God. The camp counselors poured into them and their lives will never be the same. We also had the privilege of watching 17 kids come to or recommit to Christ. It is always amazing to see the power of the gospel displayed and people moved in a powerful and life-changing way. We now have new disciples for Christ and it is our goal to make sure we produce multiplying disciples. Each of these students will continue to be mentored by their leaders and will walk with them long-term to see them grow in their relationship with the Lord.

This summer we are working with multiple camps that involve more than 500 children and 40 groups throughout Birmingham inner city. We have two new camps this year, and we are invested in making the process positive for the sponsoring churches and the children attending. These students are continuing with their school studies, learning about Christ, and having A LOT of fun. We are excited to work with these kids each day and help them have a great summer.

TSA staff present Tracy with a check.

A disciple who will make other disciples is called a disciple-maker. We are so committed to this that we have 10 college age interns who are working at four of our church partners. These students are learning about inner-city ministry, working in churches, and holistic community development. A local company, TSA, sponsored a golf tournament in our honor and the proceeds allowed us to recruit these interns to make a big impact in the city this summer. We have seen some amazing results in just a few weeks as we have invested time into our interns so that they in turn impact our city working alongside CSM staff and ministry partners.  Disciple-making is the objective for the summer in our city, so that we multiply the impact for the internal and external change of lives in the city.

The summer requires an intense amount of planning to make all that we want to happen successful. For years, a key component to this success was a dedicated prayer team who met and prayed for the city and our work monthly. This year we had several experience health issues and they are no longer able to meet. We now have several teams of people praying for CSM but we need your support in prayer to do all that we believe God had called us to do. Just this past week, the tornado affected several areas of our communities and we were ready to serve the very next day. Relief and recovery efforts will be on-going, particularly in the Fairfield area where we work with community partners. Please pray that we are empowered to multiply the Gospel impact these last few weeks of summer and into the fall.