Thursday, December 29, 2011

A Behind the Scenes Look at 2011…

Nancy’s Assistants, Katelyn and Reid, here. We know you hear all the highlights and stories from Nancy, but thought you might like to hear some stories and special moments from behind the scenes. For example, what happens when flights get cancelled? What if you forget to pack something because you’re in a hurry? What is the best part about working for Nancy Alcorn? That’s where we come in…

Katelyn
2011 has by far been the busiest, but greatest year in working for Nancy at Mercy Ministries. With 29 speaking engagements, other ministry trips, and many guest speakers in and out of all of our homes, we have had many highlights this year with a few bumps along the way. :) One such bump was in August when Nancy was traveling to share about Mercy to a group of influential business leaders in Charlotte, NC. Nancy was traveling in casual clothes (who doesn’t like to be comfortable when they travel?!) and had plenty of time to change at the hotel in Charlotte before the event. However, when Nancy went to open her suitcase, the suit she had packed was not in the suitcase! You see, I (Katelyn) had been helping Nancy throw everything in the suitcase before making our mad dash to the airport and forgot to put her suit in the suitcase – TOTALLY my fault! Nancy didn’t have enough time to go buy a new outfit, so what does any confident leader do? …wear her comfortable traveling clothes to the business meeting and be okay with it. The best part is that a woman came up to Nancy after the meeting and said, “Don’t worry about not wearing a suit…you’re dressed how the rest of us wish we were dressed!”

With as much travel that has been booked this year, there have also been several flight cancellations, which mean more last minute car rentals and coordination on our end. It also means Nancy has taken the more scenic route on a few occasions including driving through the Tahoe National Forest to be on time for a meeting in California. We’ve spent countless hours in airports and on the phone with airline agents, yet have seen more heart and life transformations this year than ever before! No matter what situations have come up this year, we’ve all learned the importance of being flexible and keeping our focus on the Kingdom.

Reid
I (Reid) have only been working in the Executive Office for about three months and the highlight of this year for me was being able to attend the Designed for Life Women’s Conference in Springfield, MO hosted by Debbie Lindell and James River Assembly. Not only was this my first time to hear Nancy speak live, but it was also my first women’s conference. James River Assembly had also sponsored our St. Louis Mercy residents to attend, and about 100 graduates came to the conference from all over the US. It was really impacting to see all the love being poured out on our Mercy family by others and I loved seeing all the hard work that goes into planning a conference like this pay off – it was AMAZING! It was also so powerful to hear Nancy speak and see so many lives changed through her message of freedom. I am so thankful to work for a visionary leader with so much passion to see others set free!

As we go into 2012, we look forward to seeing the vision of Mercy spread to even more men and women across the world. That means there will be more flights and hotels to book, more time to spend in airports, more airline agents to talk to, and of course, a few more bumps along the way. However, we wouldn’t change any of the planning and hard work that goes in to making it possible for the message of freedom to be shared with others!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Florida State Basketball Team Visits Mercy!

It is not every day that Mercy has the opportunity to host a Division 1 college basketball team, but such was the case on Wednesday. Head Coach, Sue Semrau, a long time Mercy supporter, brought her team to Nashville, Tennessee for a game against Vanderbilt scheduled on Thursday night. The team arrived at Mercy at 4:00 PM on Wednesday, the day before the game with Vandy, to tour the facilities of Mercy, have dinner with the residents, and enjoy a special time of fellowship.

The food was great, and several of the Mercy residents chose to share their individual stories with the FSU players and coaches. This was definitely a night that we will all remember for a very long time! Thought you might enjoy getting an inside look at some of the special moments from our time together, as well as a group shot that was taken immediately after the game.







 
Mercy showed up in full force to cheer on the Noles!!!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Christmas Event in St. Louis – What an Amazing Time!!!

This has been such a great week! I have been traveling around to the different homes doing Christmas events of all sorts, including one in St. Louis last week with our awesome supporters there. I want to give a special shout out to two people: Even Sponsor, Michelle Luecal, and Event Chair, Maria Spagnuolo. They did such a great job and we had such a wonderful time. I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the pictures from the event.

Mercy St. Louis supporters Kyle and Victoria McCarter pictured with their pastors, Rick and Marjie Hufton from Faith Family Church

Nancy and Maria pictured with four of our beautiful Mercy graduates

The room was beautifully decorated!!

Nancy pictured with Mercy Canada Executive Directors, John and Helen Burns

Special thanks to Amy and Holly who shared their stories with our guests

If you would like to read more about this event and see more pictures, you can read our web story on it here.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

John and Helen Burns -- Cross Country Tour in Every Mercy Home!

Not only are John and Helen Burns two of the greatest communicators in the area of relationships, but they are also the co-founders of Mercy Ministries in Canada, as well as pastors of Relate Church. John and Helen have literally traveled the nations of the world and have spoken to hundreds of thousands of people over the past 15+ years. John and Helen both are best-selling authors, with their two most popular books being "The Miracle in a Daddy's Hug" and "The Miracle in a Mother's Hug."

John and Helen chose to volunteer an entire week of their time to pour out love and encouragement on all of our United States residents at our four Mercy homes that are currently open - a total of 130 girls that they reached just this week! God used them in powerful ways to cause the girls to open up their hearts to feel again and to trust again. Check out these pictures of the time they spent in each home, because I believe a picture paints a thousand words. Thank you John and Helen for the impact you made on every one of us, staff included!!!

Monday, December 5th - John and Helen with Mercy Residents in Sacramento



Tuesday, December 6th - John and Helen teaching Mercy Residents in Nashville
John Signing Books for Nashville Mercy Girls

Wednesday, December 7th - John, Helen, and Nancy with Mercy Residents in St. Louis

John, Nancy, and Helen at the Merry Mercy Christmas Benefit in St. Louis


Thursday, December 8th - John and Helen with the Monroe Mercy Residents