University of Mobile Students
Change Lives in New Orleans

A catastrophic hurricane and its effects changed New Orleans in 2005. Service and a desire to help others is how University of Mobile students changed New Orleans in 2007.

“Even if it was just nailing together a porch on a house, you’ve made a big difference for someone’s house and someone’s life,” said University of Mobile freshman Melissa Reeves of Enterprise, Ala.

On Nov. 2-4, 134 University of Mobile students participated in UM’s Urban Plunge, an annual 48-hour mission experience for UM students, serving in ministries in New Orleans.

Reeves and her UM teammates helped build a Habitat for Humanity home, and also served at the Bridge House, a substance-abuse center for men.

“It was neat to see the difference you could make in someone’s life in just two days,” Reeves said.

These were just a few of the many ways University of Mobile students served, impacting lives in New Orleans.

“Each group had their hands in a different ministry. Everyone was changing lives through service,” said UM junior Jaye Herrod of Prattville, Ala., also Urban Plunge co-coordinator.

Herrod said the groups met people’s physical needs so that the door would be open to the Gospel. “It’s sharing Christ’s love in a tangible way.”

During the student-led Urban Plunge, 12 teams of students helped tangibly meet needs by participating in one or more service projects. This included gutting houses, working to build houses with Habitat for Humanity, prayer walking, organizing food pantries and clothes closets, and evangelizing.

Their acts of service and every moment of the trip were important.

“Every hour counted and was needed in our help,” said Urban Plunge participant Alicia Conn. Conn’s team served at a children’s ministry, prayer walked in the French Quarter of New Orleans, and helped a local woman rebuild her house.

“No time went to waste. I can only hope that I can make every hour as valuable every day as we did this weekend,” said the University of Mobile freshman from Cyprus, Texas.

One team’s co-leader said his group changed lives through prayer. Matt Goins’ team, which was labeled “the background of the entire trip” by UM Campus Minister Neal Ledbetter, prayed throughout the missions experience. They prayed for the other teams, their ministries and for the people they met. “We prayed for a lot of people,” the junior from Bay Minette, Ala., said.

As he and his team walked downtown praying for the citizens of New Orleans, “my eyes were open to new experiences,” he said. His group also ministered to the homeless, praying for them and giving them food.

“It was rewarding seeing all 134 people getting out of their comfort zone and being stretched,” said Herrod, who coordinated much of the trip.

Students were not only being stretched, but were also being impacted. Reeves said she could see a big change in the members of her group toward the end of the trip—everyone had a changed heart, including herself. She said the experience “encouraged people to look for everyday opportunities to change people’s lives every day.”

Students from the University of Mobile have been traveling across the nation to serve others for 10 years during the Campus Ministries-sponsored Urban Plunge, which is under the direction of Ledbetter. Some years, teams have all served in the same city; other years, teams have spread out to cities across the Southeast.

Urban Plunge is just one of the ways University of Mobile students impact lives. Other Campus Ministry events include monthly local projects; The Bridge, a mission trip during which students help a new church reach out to their local community; the Youth Hostel Mission Trip, a month-long trip in which students travel across Europe building relationships with people they meet; and University of Mobile School of Christian Studies mission trips to countries such as Brazil, Scotland, and Niger.

Students who participated on the 2007 Urban Plunge trip know it is possible to change lives in 48-hours—through prayer, diligence and hard work.

“Our goal was to change lives and leave changed,” Herrod said. “And I think we succeeded with achieving those goals.”

By Rebecca Capone, senior, communication
Photos by Neal Ledbetter and Stephanie Barnes