Spring break finally came for Cornerstone University students during the second week of March. Many were looking forward to putting the school books down and picking the sunglasses up; taking trips to a warmer location, or just relaxing.

A group of CU students did head to a warmer climate in Memphis, Tenn., but they did not to take a break. They were there to work.

The trip to Memphis was one of three Global Opportunities trips that took place over spring break, March 13-19.

“The Memphis team worked with an organization called Service Over Self (SOS),” said Gerald Longjohn, director of ministry development.

“SOS has targeted one of the most dangerous and under-resourced neighborhoods in the nation, and the organization has established a center that equips groups to come in and learn about the neighborhood,” Longjohn said.

SOS works with groups to help people of the neighborhood cleanup, renovate, do yard work and other miscellaneous chores.

Longjohn said, “A request for the trip was made late last summer by Crystal Richards, a CU alumna who has a connection with SOS from past experiences.”

“The appealing thing to me was that it offered a genuine cross cultural experience,” Longjohn said. “It is a ministry that captures the Gospel well.”

Heidi Chinn, CU senior and one of the members of the GO team to Memphis, said she was encouraged to work with SOS by Richards for the last three years. When the trip was an option over spring break, she knew that Memphis was where she was supposed to spend her break.

“Now that I’m back, I cannot deny that the team was there for God’s purposes and that we all took away something different, something unforgettable, and are charged to seek God’s direction in ministry,” Chinn said via e-mail.

Chinn explained the reason why the organization helps people in the neighborhood.

“Many people of that community fear that property values will rise and the people of the neighborhood will no longer be able to afford their homes,” she said. “SOS exists to help people living in poor conditions to gain a sense of ownership over their property while giving the SOS staff and campers opportunities to serve by cutting down trees, painting, planting flowers, installing a new roof, and above all, by serving in the name of Christ.”

Chinn had the opportunity to go with SOS site leader Marlyn “Big Dog” Brown one afternoon on an errand. She was expecting to help him pick up more tools from SOS and return promptly to the work site, but God had other plans, she said.

Brown and Chinn went to a bus station to deliver groceries to a man who was leaving his wife and baby and was headed to see some family in another city.

“This man’s story made me scream inside, and by the time we arrived at the station, I did not even want to see his face for fear that I would only become more angry because of the things he’d done,” Chinn said.

Upon arriving at the site, the man was nowhere to be seen until they walked out back by the parked buses. Chinn delivered the groceries to the man herself.

“I handed over the groceries to a man who was wearing a huge grin and spouted many thanks,” Chinn said. “Needless to say, God taught me through the man at the bus station, through a woman so large she couldn’t get out of bed, and through a crack addict and alcoholic that He’s bigger than it all. His love stretches beyond the smell of urine or booze, beyond the dirt and grime, and beyond the mistakes and forgives.”

The week-long trip held a lot of hard, manual work for the GO team, but the consensus is that it was worth it.

“Hand’s down, everybody says it was excellent,” Longjohn said.