College Students Take Their Ministry Across the U.S.
“Extending the Gospel to every heart, every neighbor, everywhere.” This simple mantra is the vision of EveryHeart, a cross-country worship ministry led by six young men eager to share the love of Jesus Christ. Among the six are Cornerstone University’s own Brennan Joseph and Josh Davis, both of who will be seniors this fall.
Over the summer, this ministry on wheels has been traveling to predetermined U.S. cities where the team serves local organizations and churches in need. Throughout their week stay in each location, the group holds Christ-centered worship in public locations such as parks, beaches and street corners. The idea is to serve, spread love and connect people to local churches so they can continue growing in faith.
Joseph serves as EveryHeart’s worship arts director. He grew up in Spring Arbor with fellow ministry members Jonah Engle, Brandon Valentine and Caleb Hurt.
“When I was in high school I started to fall in love with music,” said Joseph. “I started getting the idea of leading worship and playing in my youth group band.”
As Joseph and his friends dispersed around the country after high school graduation, their passion for serving continued to grow. When Engle came up with the idea for EveryHeart Ministries, the band was drawn back together in pursuit of spreading God’s message across the U.S.
“I prayed about it for months. It was just such a wild idea,” said Joseph. “God used all of us in our own ministries to develop us to get to this point. Prayer is what brought this thing into existence. We had a dream and an idea. We just started praying, and God did the rest.”
As the idea started taking shape, Joseph committed to joining the team along with his Cornerstone roommate, Josh Davis, who is the group’s worship arts coordinator.
“We meet so many cool people, and we hear so many cool stories,” said Josh. “We have a saying that we use as a team, ‘You never know what is waiting on the other side of your obedience.’ And that is so true! All it takes is being obedient to the tug the Lord puts on your heart to talk to somebody. A lot of times these encounters lead to much needed conversations. And some of these conversations have led to eternal decisions to follow Jesus! It’s such a joy being able to share the love of God with people.”
Every adventure has its successes and its challenges, and the EveryHeart team’s journey has been no exception. Still, in the face of obstacles, the team remains positive.
“People had me doubting what we were doing for a little bit, but we’ve just seen God do so much,” Joseph said. “We’ve seen people get healed, people give their lives to Jesus and so many people empowered and saying yes to mission in their neighborhood.”
So, what does the future hold for EveryHeart’s ministry? At the end of June, the team set up camp in Austin, Texas, and they plan to serve in three more cities before returning home for the fall semester. It’s clear though that, upon their return to daily life, these six young men will retain the profound impact this journey has had on them, as is illustrated by Joseph’s optimism:
“It’s causing us to dream wilder, be bolder and walk in more obedient lifestyles.”
