It was an odd intersection: The majestic beauty of the old American West, the mystique of visiting with international students and the mystery of a burgeoning faith in Jesus. Melanie Lamar marveled at it all.
A native of New Hampshire, known for its small towns and vast wilderness areas, Melanie landed in Yellowstone the summer of her freshman year, one of dozens of college students enrolled in the Summer Missions program with Cru®. The program, which ran for seven weeks this year, provides inner-city evangelism and discipleship training as students minister to at-risk kids, immigrant families and homeless folks.
"I was still a baby Christian," she said. "I didn't really know much about the Lord. I knew I believed in God and I knew I wanted to live my life for Him, but Yellowstone really helped me to deepen my faith."
| “They taught us how to share our testimony and so it helped me to see the Lord's hand in my life, but it also helped me learn how to share my faith.” | As part of her assignment, Melanie worked in housekeeping, using the training provided by Cru to meet the physical and spiritual needs of guests and co-workers. "They taught us how to share our testimony and so it helped me to see the Lord's hand in my life, but it also helped me learn how to share my faith," she said. |
It was no "one and done" for Melanie, so the following year she re-enrolled in Summer Missions, this time heading to the Middle East, working with refugees and homeless families.
"I saw God at work in wild ways, in different ways, when I was in the Middle East," she recalled.
As Melanie graduated from college, the experiences from Summer Missions continued to simmer. Her early determination to become a physical therapist or athletic trainer was put on the back burner.
"Sports were where I put my identity and hope before Christ," she said. "I liked the idea of helping athletes be able to get back to the sports they love."
Her focus on helping athletes reconnect to the sports they love switched to helping people connect with their loving Creator.
"I wanted to do ministry in some sense but I wasn't exactly sure what," Melanie said, adding she had a passion for children, refugees and the poor. "My mom ran a daycare when I was growing up, so I've always loved kids."
One of her college mentors helped her to clarify her purpose.
"It sounds like it's basically just the marginalized in general," he told her.
That resonated with Melanie, who noted that during college she became acutely aware of economic divides and "kids with hard upbringings."
She considered numerous options within Cru when she heard about the Inner City division.
| “Everything that I had said that my heart was broken for, like inner cities, church partners are doing. I was like, this is what I need to do.” | "I was struggling because there was no ministry that did all of it," she said. "Either there's a ministry that works with kids in need or there's a ministry that works with refugees, but (Inner City) ministry works with churches to share the hope of the Lord with all these different communities." |
Melanie met with team leaders in Minneapolis to learn more.
"Their heart is to serve and mobilize the church to live out God's heart for the poor," she said. "Different partners do ministry with refugees or with kiddos. Everything that I had said that my heart was broken for, like inner cities, church partners are doing. I was like, this is what I need to do."
She signed on, conscious that her life experience more closely mirrored the wild lands of Yellowstone than America's urban core.
"I had no clue what inner-city ministry really looked like," she said. "I'm from New Hampshire. Boston was the closest city to me."
Several years after her new faith was cultivated in Yellowstone, Melanie is planting gospel seeds in the lives of the children she mentors and nurtures as part of the Minneapolis Inner City team. Among them are twin 7-year-olds, Tamara and Tali, who are thriving in a S.A.Y. Yes!® center.
"I don't think I realized when I said I wanted to work with kids just how much God would reveal and grow me in that," she said. (To read Tamara and Tali's story, click here.)
She has also invested time working with two refugee families, one from Afghanistan, the other from Sudan. This spring, Melanie began teaching one of the Sudanese teens how to drive, even taking the student two hours away for her driver's exam. Along the way, the teen shared about her Muslim faith and fasting.
"I have seen God just slowly opening up doors in conversations, seeing God provide conversations and seeing how trust is being established and grown, and trusting that the Lord will just use our time."
She remains grateful for the serving opportunities Inner City provides.
"It's really prepared me to engage with others and really broken my heart for those that don't know the Lord," she said.
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Lori Arnold serves as senior writer for Cru's inner-city ministry.
Thanks to Cru Inner City's multi-faceted model, Melanie was able to combine her love for children, refugees and the poor into a single ministry opportunity where she is living out the gospel through one-on-one relationships. Share Melanie's story on Facebook or other social media platforms by using this link:
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