If you do ministry with kids, you desire to see them move from hearing about Jesus and seeing Jesus modeled to interacting with Jesus and owning their faith. I was able to experience this very thing this weekend and boy will it be memorable for me. What you see here is a group of middle schoolers who decided to put on a bake sale in their neighborhood to raise money for an initiative called the Set Free project that my church has started.
In India, there are thousands of kids that are forced into slavery because their parents are tricked into debt by rock quarry owners. Brookwood, partnering with a local pastor in India have set hundreds of slaves free. Now they need housing, food, education, and skilled labor training.
These students heard about what Brookwood was doing for the kids and teenagers in India and decided, on their own to do something about it. They had a bake sale and were flagging people down to come buy cookies and other baked goods.
I only heard about this because a mom in our ministry was out touring local yard sales. She saw them and inquired about the purpose of their sale and they shared what I shared above.
As God would have it, we were talking about the Ripple Effect of decisions we make, out of a series called Force Field. I got the opportunity to honor their decision and thank them for what they chose to do.
What’s cool about this is that no one told the students to do something for those kids. They just decided they couldn’t stand idly by. I’m honored by their decision to live out the values that God has placed in them.
There are a few things that we must do to encourage our kids to make a difference in this world:
- Show and model a love and compassion for others
- Raise awareness and provide opportunities for people to participate
- Honor positive decisions (what’s praised is repeated)
- Help students develop an ear, an eye, and a Spirit for seeing opportunities to give
It’s time that the church is known for how we love other people, rather than how we think about other people.
Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.
John 13:35
Thanks Logan and friends for influencing me to be a better man!
Repeat ….That is AWESOME!!! God bless those kids for their serving and caring for “the least of these.” It did my heart good to see that.
Definitely an encouragement to a lot of people. So proud. Thanks for the comment!
I wish everyone could have seen them live! Their passion was so amazing. They were flagging down people on the street. Their little faces were so excited to tell us about why they were doing what they were doing. They even had the Set Free India brochure the church gave out to show people. My husband and I definitely drove away blessed by those sweet young men.
Thanks so much for taking the picture and sharing the story. They have definitely inspired quite a few people!
Thank you so much for sharing about Logan, Zack and their friends idea to help. They were so excited about how many people stopped and donated. They were even inspired by a woman who told them the best we could do is pray. After that they were even taking prayers as a donation. I do not believe they are done and are hoping for a chance to do more. They are brainstorming right now and I am sure as we are learning that God will speak to them or through them somehow.
Awesome! Let me know how I can help!!