SOS Family Album: Josh Killian

Gather ‘round, SOS family! We’re pulling out a few pages of the family photo album.

We love good stories. And old pictures. And timeless lessons and encouragements and reasons for hope. Who better to share all of those things than some of the SOS alumni family?

For all the stories of campers turned staffers with years of SOS shirts and memories, we’ve got to toss in the stories of the recruits who met someone in the SOS family, heard their stories of sweaty roofing and tight community living, of very long days and a weekly camp menu on repeat for 7 weeks of camp and said, “SIGN ME UP!”

In interviewing those staff applicants, I think it’s true to say that we feel both incredulous gratefulness that SOS alumni would still be hustling for our good and sending us the best people they know AND in awe of the way our strategic recruiting plans are shown big grace and generosity by our good God who lets us think we’re responsible for crafting a staff team each summer…we know who the real Director of Recruiting and Hiring is around here.

So, a favorite former staffer who found us and knit right into our forever SOS family:

Josh Killian

SOS Summer Staff ‘19

What did you learn through your years and experiences at SOS?

“I learned about the incredible vibrancy of Memphis.

The importance and effectiveness of daily Bible study, reflection, prayer, and most importantly, doing these disciplines with others!

I learned that while it feels like we can only be a bystander to so many things in this broken world, that this is a lie - we have the agency to make positive change from the smallest ways, such as a kind word to lift a spirit, to large ones, like helping to build a new roof on a house.

Oh, and I learned roughly a million things about how to roof a house and how to entertain a bunch of 12-year-olds on a rainy day ”

Memphis Favorites:

“Central BBQ
Elwood’s Shack
SOS move-in day
Liberty Park and parks on the river!”

How did your time at SOS impact you?

“...too many ways to count!

SOS provided me with some incredible lifelong relationships born in the blood, sweat, and tears of our work.

It brought me closer in my relationship with Jesus by committing to daily, intentional study and prayer and challenging my assumptions and convictions about the world.

It opened my eyes to many of the injustices in our world, not in other, far away places, but right here at home. It affects our friends, our neighbors, the people we see at the grocery store, the people we interact with daily - injustice abounds, and we have tools to help heal parts of this broken world.”

What does your life look like these days?

“Helping to install healthcare software across the country with Epic Systems!”

What’s your prayer for the SOS family?

“I pray that God will continue to use SOS as His hands and feet to continue to spread the gospel and bless so many people in Memphis.

I pray that campers from across the country will continue to engage with Jesus in the chapel in ways that they had previously had not and grow closer in their personal relationship with him.

I pray that team leaders will continue to be leaders by example, dedicating their time and effort into this ministry by pouring into both the people that attend SOS and the communities of Memphis that we serve.

And I pray that full time staff will continue to let God guide this ministry, and that He will to grow the incredible ministry that is SOS.”