Returning To Atlanta

In this episode, Asher Segelken reflects on his transformative experiences during a missions trip to Atlanta, exploring themes of personal growth, spiritual insights, and the impact of service. He shares his initial reluctance to participate in missions, the unexpected connections he made, and how these experiences shaped his perspective on faith and community service.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introductions
• 1:14 Reflections
• 6:45 Transformation and Cultural Shifts in School
• 10:49 Life Lessons from Mission Work and Future Reflections

Transcript

0:14

Okay. Hey, if you don't know me, I'm Asher and this is the small rebellions podcast. And today I'm going to be reading a blog post called returning to Atlanta. So I wrote this in October of 2016 and it's weird to think that that's like eight years ago now. This is right before the first election of Donald Trump, which is just crazy. Anyway, 11 months ago, November of 2015, I flew into Atlanta with 204 other people for a missions trip to the Appalachian Melons. It's strange to be going back to Atlanta in such a different capacity between these two times. I've always come as a storyteller, but I want to focus on what happened only just 11 months ago, at least as of the writing of that blog. Like I said earlier, it was a missions trip. It was my first ever missions trip where I had traveled somewhere with the intention of serving others. I had no idea what I was supposed to expect. I had no idea I would grow close to... who I would grow close to or what God would do in the midst of the week in the mountainous and gritty region of Kentucky. We were in a place called Big Creek, Bear Creek. Big Creek Mission, I think, is still run by Kevin Rogers. If you are looking for a legit ministry that's doing some awesome stuff, go donate there. Yeah. Okay, so we got that. Give me a second, just going back to the post there. I never wanted to go on a missions trip for a long time. fact, I wanted to avoid them altogether. Something... seemed so cliche about going somewhere doing service. mean, to me, the idea was fun, but I never thought that Christians were actually working there. I always thought it was to make people seem more Christian than most. So I regarded them as trips to give people a way to be moralistically superior to those around them. So I decided to hold off and I legit was like, like people go on these mission trips to, I don't know, just kind of show off. I mean, I think at that time I'd already heard about Missional vacations or vacational missionaries where it's like you'll serve in a place that's exotic and fun because you want to go there for vacation but then you can fundraise for it and have other people pay for it like Yeah, the whole culture of anyway I've heard of that. So I decided to hold off then I know where I promised in 2020 we got not 24 to 2014 to mr. Drueheim who's at the time was the head of school have student life at my high school and who remains a very good friend today. I told him I would go in 2015 and I kept my promise to him. So I signed up on the first day of school, went to the meetings. The next thing I knew I was on a bus in the middle of the night on the 91 all the way to Los Angeles where we'd unpacked, check in and head to Atlanta. The flight being an honor's five hours from LA was pleasant as I got to meet two old friends that I'd known for a while in a more real way for the first time. It's weird to think that would be the theme of the trip, quote, deep in the heart. As we got there, I was stunned by the fall colors that greeted us as we departed the plane, the thunderstorm that ensued and the team bonding that occurred as we awaited our luggage because it shipped on a later flight. I still remember the laughter on one side of me and the stormy view of the fall foliage on the other. And it was one of those, you know, there's not many times when you think it's a beautiful storm. But if you can imagine the light in the trees being a certain way, whereas, I don't know. Like you could see the full fall color and then you could see it was raining and it was like this like bright gray. was this, that's the only way I can really describe it. So anyway, the week that ensued was the changing of our school's culture in the most dramatic of ways. God met with so many people many of whom while attending Christian education their whole life had never accepted God into their hearts Some of whom I shamefully thought never would it was funny how God used those people start changing everything on our team and I can I can tell this story I Remember there was a girl And I I hope she's doing well but she was one of the cheerleaders and the whole cheerleading squad was kind of known for being pretty godless to say the least. And next thing we know, she's, you know, praying like a real prayer for the first time and we're all watching this. And me and my moralistic superiority in the bad sense, in the horrible sense, I was just kind of like, like people can't change. You know, transformation can't happen. And I'm literally watching these people who were maybe like the least Christian or the least inclined to religion, turn to God. And essentially that changed the tide of the entire trip. And I remember we came back from that Appalachian mission trip and everyone was different. It really was the groundswell that began a lot of substantial change. You know and so Did we change the whole school was there a revival at our school? No But was there culture shift? Yeah, it was a lot smaller than we were hoping and when I say we were hoping I was on the worship team and so we were wanting this big move of God and We got a small one And I can talk about that a little bit later. But anyway, just telling you I watched a lot of people who I didn't think were gonna come back to the Lord or go to the Lord and do their thing, which is incredible to watch the Lord work. There was a song called Out of Hiding that was sung over all 204 of us. And as I listened to it... I received a vision from God that was the moment I started really holding onto a lot of my doubts on Christianity when I was a middle schooler. And it was from the person that essentially I blamed for my doubt. And really I heard that my doubt was not my fault and that my teacher at the time who the Lord essentially blamed for this was being tested and did not meet the situation the way that the Lord had wanted him to. And I just kind of got this sense where just like, that was a test, he failed, it had repercussions. Your shame is not your fault, or not your shame. Your guilt is not your shame and your, well no, your doubt is not your fault. So you're not guilty and you're not to be ashamed of that. And so that was incredibly encouraging. I almost started crying there, but I held together until after, cause we did these small groups after the worship sessions. Then I explained to a small group leader what I had seen and heard from the Lord and then the reality of forgiveness overtook me and I was just weeping. And Brian was the guy's name. Brian, I hope you're doing well if you ever hear this. he had to... I really sort of soaked his shirt with my tears. And he was just there for me. And it was a life-changing moment. I'd always felt really bad that I'd ever doubted God. And... That was that. Along with this, I had what I would consider the first real conversation I would have with the school's missions teacher, Mr. May. And someone told me, think Drew told me he's somewhere in like Central Coast or something like that. Now I hope you're doing well, Mr. May, if you ever see this. We talked about school culture and the history of it and our partnership to reach our school. was indeed founded at that moment in a deeper way. And so really, just to kind of tell you how my high school worked, as far as culturally speaking, there was, you know, there was a school and then culture was really facilitated by student government, administration, the worship team, and the missions department. And so really the admin, of course, had an outweighed, you know, influence on admin. Creative worship was the new kids on the block that year. Mission's department was well established, kind of known as the more mystical part of the school. And then student government was student government, you know, and so you would have a mix of people. And so when I say there was a cooperation between him and I, I was kind of one of lead worship guys that year. And it was incredibly important that we would work with those people, with the missions team. and the rest that everyone would play well with each other. what ensued was a lot of missions and creative worship were very tied together, the other two did not really play as well with us as we had hoped. But all that to say, here's the end of the blog post as we concluded our time there. remember getting back onto that, long flight home and it I could only consider how my life was changed by the experience as a whole. As summer approached, I decided to go on another life-changing mission work at a school that has become a conviction of mine. That if I am to go somewhere to serve and then return, I must find a way to resume my service to those in the area. While I did not serve in Atlanta, this is my conviction has come up in my heart as I reflect on the process of returning to Atlanta. In short, I'll say this. Stepping into mission work and service has changed my life and perspective, brought me unexpected healing in unprecedented ways and has deepened my purpose during my travels and any return trips I hope to make to places I've traveled. And, and Atlanta is also, you know, since I wrote this has also been a very special place for me. do I really enjoy the city? No. but it has always been, it seems to always be the staging ground or the debriefing ground for a lot of mission work that I do. And so many of you know this, but I do a lot of work down in Florida, mainly Orlando area, winter park area. And the big thing down there, you know, it's a long ways from Nashville. It's about 12 hour drive. And so I have friends in Atlanta these days. And so I've essentially broken up the trip by doing the first four hours to Atlanta, then going down to Orlando, then I'll come back to Atlanta and then go back to Nashville. And so, you know, it's always been kind of this staging ground. And I wrote this blog post as a reflection while I was there for a film festival. I had made a film about growing up in America, interviewed 18 different kids in 18 different states. And, well, it got into a festival there and I was returning. just like, you know, I've, I've been here kind of high on the hog. I've been here as a servant. But most of the time, whenever I'm going Atlanta I'm there as a person that's either getting prepared to serve or has just served and is prepared to go back into real life. anyway, that is the returning to Atlanta blog post. hope you guys had a fun time with that. I will. I'll talk to you guys later.