David and Amy Lancaster - Founders of We Will Go Ministries

Six years ago, David and Amy Lancaster, the founders of We Will Go Ministries, moved their three children to a house on Congress Street. They never thought they would be led to the inner city of Jackson, Mississippi. People warned them of the dangers of this neighborhood. They were told that their neighbors are on crack, people are dealing drugs, and so on. However, the family decided to begin holding church services and bible studies every Sunday, Tuesday Thursday at their new home on Congress Street. Their missions are clear: grow people deeper as disciples of Christ; share and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ; and encourage and equip the body of Christ. We Will Go Ministries is a great ministry that helps out people no matter what their personal life entails. They are not it in for the money, the property, or the self glorification. They are in it because they were called by God to do it. They do not discriminate towards anyone or any lifestyle. Whether you are just down on your luck or high on drugs, if you need help, they are there with open arms. As the leaders said, "We are rebuilding Jackson...one corner at a time."

Saturday morning, in the spring of 2011, the Lord gave us the greatest opportunity to fellowship with We Will Go Ministries. This was our first time experiencing volunteer service in the backyard of someone's home. During the few hours of volunteerism, we witnessed how much faith Amy and David poured into their ministry. When Amy told us, "Something has got to change here. We must see people as a soul and not by the color of their skin or their gender. That's what God is doing with us here. We are saving souls!" We all immediately sensed the spirit and passion from her words and were amazed by her story. We were really impressed on how Amy shows no favoritism and gave hugs to everyone even though some looked sticky and were smelly. Amy also knew everyone by name and greeted them as such. Amy said, "A person remembers when you treat them as equals and the first opportunity to do so is to say their name."

Some of the Organizational Behavioral principles We Will Go Ministries practice are (1) Values, (2) Training, and (3) Group Dynamics. We Will Go Ministries certainly has Values. They preach what they believe and believe what they preach. David and Amy Lancaster live in the neighborhood they preach in and embrace the community they are trying to uplift. While many other churches speak about helping the city of Jackson, We Will Go Ministries is trying to revive the spirit of Jackson one base, or street corner, at a time. We Will Go ministries believes in Training. Every missionary has to sign a six month contract and live in one of the church homes in the community. The missionaries learn how to minister Christ to people while being taught how to lead. The weekend we were there, one of the missionaries was given a project to complete and a group of volunteers to complete it in. Amy gave direction when needed but it was the missionary that had to lead the group to completion. This may not be a hard task but little by it will give the missionary the confidence necessary to trust in her decisions and grow as a leader. Group Dynamics is also a key organizational behavior for We Will Go Ministries. We Will Go Ministries uses a lot of volunteer work from other churches so they have to have good Group Dynamics to keep multiple church volunteers working together to complete different weekend projects. Without Group Dynamics, it would be difficult to organize and mobilize diverse groups into a functional, cohesive force to accomplish the task at hand.

Some recommendations to improve We Will Go Ministries are (1) improve finances through social networking, (2) construct a better working relationship with the City of Jackson, (3) motivate more of the community to become active, and (4) communicate better within the organization.

Improve Finances through Social Networking

During our conversation with Amy, there were numerous times she mentioned how financial miracles happened exactly when they needed money. However, life is a challenge and full of surprises. While it can be a struggle to pay bills and provide food and clothes for the needy who come to their door, we feel a more improved financial support is needed. One way we suggest is the use of social media like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Not only would the local community be able to support the ministry but they can then generate donations from around the world and further increase their message of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Improve and Construct a better working relationship with the City of Jackson

David told us about the concern between the City of Jackson and We Will Go Ministries concerning land on Cohea Street. The City of Jackson was reluctant to just hand over the