Outreach Article...

Just like the other pastors thought it would be good for me to write the article for the local newspaper, they also told me that I would be writing another article for the outreach calendar that the church sends out every month. So here is the article that I wrote for that. I thought that some people might want me to post some of the work that I am doing at my internship so that they could kinda see the things that I am doing down here in Kansas.

Last week, as you probably already know, the high school youth group went on a mission trip to work with the Salvation Army in the Denver area and attend a conference called Nationwide Youth Roundup. The trip was a great experience for the youth as well as myself and I think that our eyes were all opened up to the idea of serving people and more importantly, serving Christ. One of the highlights of the trip for the students was serving at the Salvation Army, where they ran a day camp for some elementary school students. Our students spent a good majority of their days playing games and loving on a group of kids that they had never met before in their lives. They would play games like soccer, four square, and baseball with the children and had a great time. It was such a blessing to me to see the smiling faces of the children everyday when we would pull up in our vans. The way that their faces lit up when they saw our students and when they were playing the various games was an awesome sight.

At one of the evening sessions at NYR, we were challenged by the speaker to never miss an opportunity to grow in your spiritual life. He said that God gives you multiple opportunities on a daily basis to reach out to people around you that you may or may not know. He encouraged our students not to miss those opportunities that God has given them to be a witness to those around them. I was reflecting back to that today and I realized something. It was really easy to take advantage of every opportunity to reach out to people like the children and employees of the Salvation Army, because we were on a trip where that was our primary goal. The hard part is reaching out to the people that we come in contact with in our daily lives and never missing an opportunity to reach out to the people that we come in contact with in the Norton County area.

So many times, we go about our lives without even realizing that God is placing people in our lives that need a touch from Him. How are you doing at never missing an opportunity to reach out to the people of your community? Are you making a point to seek out people that need a touch from God? Are you allowing God to grow you by serving Him and the people in your community?

Hopefully these words can encourage you as much as they have encouraged me. Thank you to everyone who has supported this ministry, whether it was with your prayers or with your financial support. You have really invested in the lives of your students, and for that, I am grateful. God Bless! Philippians 2:12-13