Divine intervention led a Nashville, Tenn.-based group of disciples to Pine Bluff, and that same power led them to a serving opportunity right in their own temporary neighborhood.
“It’s a miracle,” Phillip Etheridge described.
Etheridge is a volunteer with the Eagles Discipleship School, which began June 29 and concludes Aug. 8 in Nashville and trains students from South America.
Where they had stayed in Nashville, Etheridge said, would not be available to host the group, so Etheridge called Family Church Pine Bluff Pastor Roosevelt Brown for help, and Brown opened the church to the small group led by Robin Ruiz of Tarapoto, Peru.
“Would you mind if we come and serve the community and see if there’s a way we can be of help on mission?” Etheridge said he asked Brown.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Saturday morning came, and the Eagles helped police and fire personnel along with other community members clean up the area from Poplar to Olive streets and 17th to 24th avenues. Volunteers for the city-organized cleanup met at Family Church on 23rd and Poplar.
The first responders provided tractors and other machinery for mowing vacant lots, while others, such as members of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff women’s soccer team, bagged litter and other debris. According to a news release, police have previously canvassed the area and noted residents’ concerns as part of the Group Violence Intervention’s G-40 initiative, the goal of which as GVI Director Kevin Crumpton said is to take back the city’s streets 40 blocks at a time from gun violence.
“God was like, we’ll provide everything for you,” Etheridge said. “You just come along and see how you can love people.”
One way was to pass out copies of “God’s Gift: New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs.” The verses are written in the New International Version.
“We want to preach the gospel because we want the people to know the light of Jesus,” said Ruiz, who preaches at a university in Tarapoto. “I think everything needs for Jesus to save our souls, save our bodies and our families, save everything in our lives.”
