By By Lydia Grimes
features reporter
Usually when you think about mission trips, a picture of a steamy jungle or other exotic locale comes to mind. But the need for inner-city evangelism is just as important, and Jerry and Linda Weeks of Brewton are off on a mission trip to London.
The Weeks have become a part of the organization Operation Mobilization, which operates all over the world.
The Weeks began attending First Presbyterian Church in Brewton, primarily because of the members actively supporting missions.
The couple left home on Oct. 22, on the first leg of their journey to London, England. They will be gone for three months, working as helpers. One of the groups is devoted to reach the Muslims that live in the area. According to Operation Organization’s Web site, there are more than 1.8 million Muslims living in London, along with the other nationalities from all over the world.
Jerry Weeks was a school teacher and technician in the Brewton area for 20 years. He came to T.R. Miller High School in 1974 to teach math. He spent five years there before moving to Faulkner Junior College in Bay Minette. He moved back to Brewton in 1980 and was hired to teach and start the computer program there. In 1999, he became the computer technician with the Escambia County Board of Education.
Last year, when he retired, he and his wife, Linda, began to think about doing missionary work.
The Weeks said they will have each Saturday off and they plan to do some sightseeing while they are in England. In fact they plan to stay another week there after the mission trip is over in three months.
Operation Mobilization began with a homemaker who prayed for her local high school back in the 1950s. One of the students to whom she gave a Bible later became a Christian during a Billy Graham crusade. He and some friends began a program in Mexico to reach the lost, and later moved on to operate in Europe, establishing Operation Mobilization. Today there are more than 5,400 workers with Operation Mobilization working in more than 110 countries.