This week our incredible church has over 200 high school students and volunteers serving in St. Louis on the Big City ‘18 mission trip! We are so proud of them and the way they are serving this community. Want to know what they've been up to? Keep reading!
Every morning, groups of 30-50 students and leaders travel to different sites across the city to partner with local churches by doing two primary things: Vacation Bible School (VBS) and work projects.
Each site is hosting VBS for kids in the surrounding community. They’ve been canvasing each neighborhood, inviting kids to attend. Once the kids from the area arrive, our students play with them, hold the little ones, sing and dance to worship songs, and teach them stories about Jesus. The purpose is to show them unconditional love and reflect the unconditional love of God.
Not only is VBS bringing hope to these kids but it's also helping our students step out of their comfort zones, be used by God in ways they can’t imagine, and grow in their faith. Our hope is that our students are able to plant little seeds of truth and love into these kids and that someday they’ll grow up to follow Jesus!
After all the VBS fun, most of the sites are rolling up their sleeves for some work projects, which can include cleaning, pulling weeds, planting gardens, and whatever else the sites need them to do. It’s not glamorous work—and it’s very hot and sweaty down in St. Louis—but the fact that students can help these churches complete projects that never make it to the top of their to-do lists is a great way to serve them with humility.
Then, after a hard day of VBS and work projects, all our students gather together in the evenings for some powerful worship and great a message. The theme they’ve been diving into this week is replacing fear with love. In some way, we all fear something—whether that’s loving someone who annoys us, inviting a stranger to come learn about Jesus, or taking a step outside our comfort zone. However, God often brings us into situations outside of our comfort zones so we can overcome our fear and truly experience God’s love in our hearts, actions, and relationships.
The students’ focus this week is to let go of their fears, love God and each other, then let that love produce an overflow of love for the people they’re serving. God is already doing great things in St. Louis through the churches we’re partnering with, and it’s an honor to be used by God to help further that impact.
So, church, will you please continue praying for our students this week and as we head home over the weekend? Pray that they can replace fear with love, endure through the long days of serving, step out of their comfort zones, and grow deeper in their relationship with God. Thank you! You should be so proud of our students! They’re doing great work down in St. Louis!
