NEWS

Mission cited by FBI for making difference in Jackson

Therese Apel

Clarion Ledger

The drug dealer pulled up, got out of his car, and approached Amy Lancaster at a car wash in downtown Jackson.

"I've been looking for you," he said. "We've been watching y'all."

"You found me," she said.

Lancaster and her husband David founded We Will Go Ministries, which operates out of the old YMCA building on Farish Street. Not only do they work there, they also live there, operating a clothes closet, a food pantry and a a coffee shop. A garden and after-school activities for children are also part of the ministry.

Just before she went to the car wash, Lancaster had been praying that God would bring her some encouragement.

The man at the car wash first asked if he could shake her hand. Then he told her all he had ever been able to do in his life was deal drugs. He didn't want that to be his legacy.

"I have a son," he told her. "I need y'all to reach my son."

With tears in her eyes, Lancaster prayed with the man, and then watched as he got back in the car with his friends. And she said God told her, "Don’t leave them out. They’re sons too, they just don’t know it yet.”

Hard stories, unlikely friendships

As a Christian, Amy Lancaster said she sees Jackson as her Jerusalem, her mission field, and she says each person is important regardless of race, social standing, financial situation, or age.

She also tells the story of Josh, who "grew up abused by everybody in his family."

"His brother tried to kill him everyday," she said. "He had a severely hard story."

Josh was saved at Star Baptist Church, and he would volunteer at We Will Go. One day Lancaster asked him, "Josh, if you could do anything in the world what would it be?"

"And he said, 'It’s not possible.' I said, 'Don’t you ever say that to me, don’t you ever say something’s not possible, because that’s a lie. You’ve been taught that and it’s not true,'" Lancaster said. "He said, 'I’d be a missionary, but I can’t, I didn’t graduate high school, I was in special ed,' and it was like, I’m this I’m that, I’m black, I’m poor... And I said, 'None of that’s in the Bible.'"

Now Josh has been living at We Will Go for about a year, Lancaster said.

"And he’s fantastic. And how he loves people!" she said. "He lives right here, with Arnie. Arnie’s another story, he’s from Brooklyn."

Lancaster uses Arnie and Josh as examples that God can break down all kinds of walls.

"Arnie was a skinhead," Lancaster said, laughing. "And they’re roommates. He's got a beard down to here,and he looks like something out of ZZ Top. He’s got white power tattoos on his arms, and a ponytail down the back, and he is the kindest, most compassionate, praying man you’ve ever met in your whole life."

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Recognized nationally by the FBI

The staff of We Will Go — missionaries and people from the community in addition to the Lancasters — are used to visitors, so on Tuesday when the FBI rolled up, they were accepted with the same warmth as the family who was just leaving the clothes closet.

"Look at you down here on Farish Street," Amy said to Special Agent in Charge Don Alway, who is from Palm Beach, California, which has areas that bear a lot of similarities to Jackson, he said.

The FBI presented a certificate to Amy and David Lancaster on Tuesday, and they left Jackson on Wednesday to receive the 2016 Directors’ Community Leadership Award in Washington D.C. from FBI Director James Comey.

"David and Amy Lancaster, through We Will Go Ministries, have brought unprecedented support to the city of Jackson," Alway said. "We as members of the community have come to realize that we as a law enforcement agency can’t unilaterally protect the community. We need the partnership of organizations like We Will Go to help in that endeavor."

Amy's excited laughter is infectious as she talks about the honor.

"It's crazy," she said, and when asked how they were selected, she said, "I have no idea!"

In the afternoons, the Fountain on Farish is filled with children being tutored, and being told they can do whatever they set their minds to. Earl, one of the Lancasters' neighbors, visits the coffee shop every day and sings spiritual songs to the baristas. There are teenagers playing basketball in the gym.

Through the week, there are Bible studies and meetings, there's food for the hungry, clothes for the needy, rest for the weary, healing for the heartsick. And not just for the least of these, but for anyone looking for a safe place, We Will Go is a stream in the desert.

Beauty from what's broken

Inside the coffee shop known as The Urban 'Sip, there are picture frames, wood paintings, plaques, candles and other decorative gifts for sale. That's part of the way We Will Go helps people get back into life after things like jail or lengthy hospitalization. One day, as they were remodeling some old crack houses to make homes for the missionaries that work with them, David came to Amy with a picture frame made of wood, and asked her what she thought.

"It's beautiful, where did you get it?" she asked.

He had made it from the wood they had taken out of the home as they had remodeled it. Now those people who are broken and abandoned like those old homes make beautiful things from the pieces, Amy said.

"We can teach them how to use a sander and sand these pieces and turn them into a cross, and the fun thing is that this is the way the Lord sees you. You’re all broken and messed up, some of it’s your fault and some of it’s not, and the Lord doesn’t burn you up," Amy said. "He says, 'I can make something really fantastic with that.' And they can begin to really see that Jesus has a purpose and a plan for you, even though you’re a lot of broken pieces. A lot of times it’s a really healthy step where they can begin to believe in themselves again."

Believing for positive change

As Amy sat outside The 'Sip on Tuesday, everyone who drove by waved to her or called to her out the window. Everyone knows of the change in the Farish Street community. She said she just wishes that the skeptics could see it. She pointed to the buildings surrounding the area.

"People say, 'What are y’all going to do with that?' I tell them, 'Well it was a florist, so I’m believing for another florist.' 'What about that?' 'Well it was a grocery store, and I’m believing for another grocery store,'" she said. "There’s no reason why we can’t employ a lot of people around here. They say that’s radical, but no it’s not. That's the simplicity of what Christ did."

Shawn McDonald, who is originally from Los Angeles and still wears his Lakers jersey to represent his hometown, brought his godsister and her daughter to the clothes closet on Tuesday, the day before her son was to be born.

"David and Amy have done wonders in this community and are loved by a lot of people," he said. "These are wonderful people, and they pray for the community and the uplifting of it, and I don't think there are too many people who have been more dedicated than these people here. They're a big help, to be honest."

READ: Housing transformation in Farish Street Historical District

Contact Therese Apel at tapel@gannett.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.