Mercy Ministries is a faith-based residential treatment center for young girls and women who are facing a myriad of life’s challenges. Mercy Ministries does not charge for its services and, since 1983, has helped over 3,000 young women reclaim their lives – many of whom were broken to the point of attempted suicide. Mercy Ministries hosts several fundraisers throughout the year, with Race for Mercy being one of the most community-oriented.

In 2010, supporters of Mercy Ministries joined forces to raise awareness about the organization through Run for Mercy 5K and Family Walks. The events, were held in Nashville, St. Louis, Sacramento, and Charlotte, raised over $100,000 in funds to help Mercy Ministries continue providing support services to residents of their six centers in America.

In attendance were runners and walkers of varying abilities, all gathered to show their support for Mercy Ministries. Many runners were grouped into teams, with Mercy Ministries advocate Dave Ramsey’s team leading the way with an impressive 97 supporters. Team Exodus Health, while smaller than Team Ramsey, raised the most money through pledges – a staggering $10,000. A little friendly competition brought out the bright pink dresses and knee socks, landing Team Blair the prize of Most Team Spirit.

Mercy Ministries founder and president Nancy Alcorn, a Nashville native, was pleased that the Volunteer State lived up to its name, with over 1,000 runners in attendance. St. Louis was next in line with 500 registered runners and an average of $110 per runner in revenue raised. The race in Sacramento was followed up by a community tour of the facility, and in Charlotte, runners were looking forward to the potential of a groundbreaking of a future Mercy Ministries home there.

Each Mercy Ministries event was preceded by a symbolic balloon release, honoring the brave young women who commit to Christ each day through Mercy Ministries. The Race for Mercy in 2010 was so successful that Mercy Ministries repeated the event in 2011 and is fired up and ready for the 2012 races.

For information on how to sponsor a Mercy Ministries Race for Mercy event, please visit the website at www.raceformercy.org

I’m just going to share a little bit about my story with you today. Growing up, my mom didn’t want me. My grandparents decided that they would take me in. My life was just filled with turmoil, hurt, and confusion. And I just didn’t understand. I stayed a lot of the time with my aunts and uncles. One of my family members molested me. My grandfather passed away when I was ten, and when he passed away it was just like my protection was gone. I didn’t have anyone that was actually going to cover me anymore. And that’s when life did a drastic change. My family decided that they were going to show me how they really felt about me. Every day knives would be pulled out, I would be thrown across the room. It was just constantly like that.

To make matters worse, when I was twelve my relatives sold me to a neighbor for twenty dollars. They sat in the room and they coached me through the process. I was just so confused, and I was just like I want to die.

A year later I ended up in the foster care system. My depression got worse. I was already overdosing and then I started cutting more. To me cutting was a way to release how I was feeling. It was just past all that blood, those were my tears. Those were the things that I couldn’t get out in the natural way that I could get out by hurting myself. And it just constantly went on like that for years. My sophomore year in college I tried another overdose and I just remember laying in the hospital and I was like, “Lord if you’re not gonna let me die then you’re gonna have to help me live.” The next day I saw Mercy Ministries founder Nancy Alcorn on TV and she was just talking about Mercy Ministries and I applied. And I just remember walking through the doors of Mercy Ministries scared. I was destroyed. I just didn’t know what was going to happen or any of those things. And the Lord began to start revealing to me His love and His mercy and how He kept me even the times that I wanted to take my own life. And He had a plan and He wasn’t going to let me go but He was going to use this for His glory. And so you know I was just amazed by what He did there.

Schermerhorn Symphony Center Hosts Mercy Ministries Benefit Concert Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) June 14, 2012 — Mercy Ministries announces performances by country music talents Darryl Worley and Jimmy Wayne at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center on June 18, 2012 at 7:00 pm. Tickets are on sale now and range from $16.50 to $37.00. [...]

Nancy Alcorn, the Founder and President of Mercy Ministries, welcomed guests to the annual Merry Mercy fundraiser dinner and shared her vision for Mercy Ministries.

Mercy Ministries Founder and President Nancy Alcorn: Thank you so much for being here, thank you for giving up your time to come out tonight and to hopefully connect in your heart with something that I think is so amazing and that is just seeing lives transformed. Young women who have just been through so much – whether it’s all the things that you just heard about in the DVD, eating disorders, cutting, unplanned pregnancies, girls who have suffered from addictions. Even now for the last five years or so, young women who have come out of even sex trafficking issues where they’ve been held captive and used and abused in ways that we do not even like to believe happen in our nation. But it is happening right here in the United States. And Mercy Ministries is seeing that Jesus Christ is able to heal broken hearts regardless of the layers that may exist with that broken heart. That there is nothing too hard for him and Mercy Ministries has had the privilege for the last almost twenty-nine years now of taking in young women between the ages of thirteen to twenty-eight who really want help. And they want to come to Mercy Ministries where they are given hope. The first eight years of my career life I spent working for the government. And right out of college as I was doing my orientation, when I was training to work for the government, the first thing they told us was separation of church and state and you cannot share Jesus Christ.

I knew that the same Christ that changed my life as a very troubled teenager could also change the lives of those young women. And I found it very frustrating that we were told because of separation of church and state that you could not share. But I prayed for God to give me opportunities and I worked in the government system a total of eight years. And we would bring in the experts of the world, people that have been trained in the secular way of thinking which is once you’re this, you’ll always be this. But the problem I had with that is that’s just not what I had experienced personally and that is not what the Bible teaches. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If any person be in Christ, they are a new creation. Old things have passed away and all things are new.”

Mercy Ministries Resident:
My name is Beth. I came to Mercy Ministries because I was broken. I had been through multiple sexual abuses, multiple rapes and drug addiction. I tried to take my life multiple times. God has really delivered me and set me free in my 10 months at Mercy Ministries. I lived behind all these masks for 24 years. Now I know who I am in Christ. That is Who I live [for] today. That’s how I want to come up when I rise out of these waters—to be that person.

Mercy Ministries founder Nancy Alcorn:
You have plans and purposes, not only for her, but also for her precious baby boy. We bless this child in the name of Jesus. But Lord, we bless this child, this beautiful woman, this beautiful child of God that you have breathed life into.

Mercy Ministries Resident:
I’ve been in and out of jail. I’ve been stuck in the system.

Mercy Ministries Resident:
I just want to bury my past and be done with it.

Mercy Ministries founder Nancy Alcorn:
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Mercy Ministries Resident:
I am totally new. Nothing in the past has any hold on me or any grip on me anymore. I am just so excited to totally give up my past and not have to deal with my depression anymore or my eating disorder.

Mercy Ministries Resident:
I came into Mercy Ministries really broken and really tormented by fear.

Mercy Ministries Resident:
I’m Kristen. I’ve been at Mercy Ministries for about 4.5 months. I grew up in church but I never knew about that personal relationship with [God]. He has freed me from an eating disorder; He’s freed me from depression. He has given me back joy and life. He is showing me that who I am in Christ is solid and everything else is sinking sand.

Mercy Ministries Resident:
I’m Janice. God has dealt with me on so much. He has taken me out of being a little girl and into an adult. He’s the real ultimate Father in my life. He is not going to abandon me and I don’t have to worry about rejection.

Mercy Ministries Resident:
When I was 5 years old my mom abandoned me. Since then I have felt like my mother is just fake and everyone else is going to abandon me. For the last 4 years I’ve been struggling with eating disorders, self-harm, sexual and verbal abuse. I grew up in church and everything but we only went to put on the façade of a perfect family.

Mercy Ministries Resident:
I came to Mercy Ministries in May. I struggled with a lot of darkness and depression. I was dying. It’s okay to look in the mirror and to say that I am beautiful.

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