The Blessing Is in the Backpack

An excerpt from...

The Blessing Is in the Backpack

By Lisa Blount, Program Coordinator for Blessings in a Backpack, Stockton, California
January-March 2014

I started Blessings in a Backpack through my church because I felt God placed it on my heart to do something that not only had impact, but also met a practical need. As a school volunteer, I saw the great needs of many of our children. While I couldn’t meet every need, I could meet a specific one: feed the children.

First I had to set up a program and find an educational site to support, and then raise funds. My church had a relationship with The Center, Peniel Mission in Stockton, California, that became our educational site choice. Although it is not a school, they run an after-school academic program that allowed us to serve them as we would a school. It also helped that Bob and Lisa Margaron, WGM missionaries and directors at The Center, were my neighbors.

The children who attend The Center are from schools with 100 percent participation in Federal Free Meal programs and are in the poorest parts of our city. Kids in this program are fed during the week, but many do not have enough to eat over the weekends.

Blessings in a Backpack provides elementary school children with a backpack of food to take home for 38 weekends during the school year. Items include easy-to-prepare, ready-to-eat foods, such as beans, mac and cheese, oatmeal, and fruit. Better test scores, improved reading skills, positive behavior, improved health, and increased attendance have all been attributed to the success of this program.

My church held a month-long fundraising campaign to raise enough to support 50 kids for a three-year commitment, the minimum the program requests. Teachers have determined it takes about three years to see the gains in students in the program. We now have raised funds to support an additional 10 kids for three years. One hundred percent of the funds raised goes to buy food.

We handed out the first backpacks in January 2013. I do the shopping, my team packs the bags and delivers them to the Margarons, and they distribute the bags every Friday afternoon of the school year.

Anyone can start a group to serve their community!

MORE: Blessings in a Backpack is a nonprofit organization currently feeding nearly 62,000 children in 437 schools in 42 U.S. states and three countries. For more information, go to www.blessingsinabackpack.org.

Caring for The Least of These

An excerpt from Caring for The Least of These

By Robyn Moore, Kenya
January-March 2013

Being a part of the Africa Gospel Church Baby Center from its inception has been my delight. As partners, World Gospel Mission andAfrica Gospel Church Kenya knew the orphaned and abandoned in Kenya needed help and we asked the Lord, “Where do we start?” We were inspired to start a center that would be a place of rescue for abandoned infants and toddlers with the hope to then get them into forever Christian families. So we started with little more than a desire to help these precious little ones, following the Lord’s command to care for the orphans and abandoned little ones, the “least of these.”

How can you become a partner of AGC Baby Center?

Pray: Pray for the staff. Pray that the Lord will give them strength and wisdom as they care for the little ones. Pray for the babies. Many of the babies come to the center in desperate need. Too often their physical state is so fragile and their little bodies are in serious condition. Pray for the nurses on staff as they bring them back to a healthy life.

Go: The AGC Baby Center would love to have you visit. For those of you who love to hug and kiss babies, you will definitely have the opportunity! Check out www.wgm.org/teams.

Give: AGC Baby Center babies are like every other baby. They love milk. For the youngest babies, infant formula in cans has to be purchased. Because of the support of a local Kenyan company, the baby center is able to get the formula at the very reduced price of $5 per can. You can help put that satisfied smile on a baby’s face by helping purchase formula. Visitwww.wgm.org/formula.

The Least of These ministry is very close to my heart. Dr. Michael and Kay Johnson started this ministry to help street children, and now I am part of a team that is expanding this ministry into a wholistic healthcare and educational outreach. Our primary ministry is working with children’s homes, special needs schools, and abandoned baby centers in Nairobi, Kenya. God has brought together a vast and diverse team to help care for the “least of these”—orphaned and vulnerable children.

You can join the global Least of These support team by choosing one of the following options:

Pray: That the Least of These workers will stay healthy as they work in the unhealthy conditions in which these children live. Pray also that the children will see Christ in the workers with whom they interact and will come to know their Father in heaven.

Go: If you are interested in being a volunteer with Least of These, contact recruiting@wgm.org. Volunteers can bring peanut butter, toys, games, crayons, and a host of other goodies for these precious children.

Pass It On: If you know someone who may be interested in volunteering, please pass on this information or send them towww.wgm.org/leastofthese.

When God Says Go

CHURCH CHALLENGE

College Wesleyan Church (Indiana)
When God Says Go
By Sarah Westfall, Contributing Writer
January/February 2009 Call to Prayer

Almost daily, we see the devastation caused by natural disasters or local crises on the nightly news. Do we as a Church simply shake our heads and wonder, “Why, God?” for a brief moment, only to go on with our daily lives? What if just part of the “why?” is that God wants His Church to actually step up and be the Church, the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to people in need?

Last summer, southern Indiana experienced the worst flooding in over 90 years. The city of Columbus, Indiana, was one of the hardest-hit areas. Several inches of rain came down in a very short amount of time, so the waters rose quickly. Many people had only minutes to get to higher ground before their homes were filled from the flooding. Most affected residents had very little time to rescue more than themselves.

The devastation left by the flooding was overwhelming. The interiors of homes were ravaged by the waters. Walls, floors, and family valuables were caked with the mud and debris that had been carried in by the strong flood currents. Most homeowners had to completely gut large portions of their homes, tearing out drywall, carpeting, and even wall framing in order to avoid decay and the growth of harmful molds.

However, many people did not have the time or resources to make their homes livable again. Although some homeowners received government aid to help with repairs, many either did not receive assistance or did not receive enough to cover all the expenses. Even if residents were able to purchase supplies, many did not have the needed skills or time away from their jobs to do the projects on their own. Hiring workers only costs more money. For many, the situation seemed impossible.

Only two hours north of Columbus, members of College Wesleyan Church in Marion, Indiana, decided that they needed to help.

“Earlier this summer, we had begun discussing how we as a church need to be ready to respond to emergency situations that come up locally, nationally, and globally,” said Jim Vermilya, College Wesleyan’s volunteer outreach pastor. “Then, just a couple of weeks later, we received word from Pastor Wes Jones of Flintwood Wesleyan Church (in Columbus) [who was] asking for teams to help them with post-flood clean-up projects. It seemed rather obvious that God was wanting us as a church to respond to the situation, so we did.”

Before heading to Columbus, the team did not know what to expect.

“Most of us had seen the brief television footage that was taken during the flood, but after the waters receded, the TV crews left,” said Pastor Jim. “So when we arrived there a month after the flood hit, what we saw [at] the outside of the city was quite different from what we saw on the insides of the homes.… When you walk into a home, seeing the water-stained line a few inches up from the floor where the flood waters once were, and when the smell of black mold hits you in the face as you walk through the door, you really start to get a sense of what these people are going through.”

On three separate Saturdays, flood relief teams from College Wesleyan traveled to Columbus. They gutted interior drywall and insulation, cleaned and packed away salvageable items, hung new drywall, cleaned homes, and took the time to talk to and encourage the flood victims. The teams went home tired and blistered, but they had learned what it meant to be a missions-active church, to say “yes” when God said “go.”

Maybe your church also wants to be more missions-active right where you are by responding to crises in your area. To you, Pastor Jim offers this advice: “Don’t just talk about it; do it. Plan ahead. Be preemptive so that you are ready when the crisis hits. You cannot respond to every crisis, but you must be ready to respond to those that the Lord prompts you, so be ready.”

Here are some practical suggestions for making it happen:

• Set aside crisis funding in your annual outreach budget, so you, too, can mobilize teams from your church to go and give hands-on relief.

• Create a list of crisis relief volunteers you can contact when a need arises.

• Have an annual Crisis Relief Supply Drive, asking each church member to bring in nonperishable items, bottled water, or cleaning supplies. You can then store the items until a crisis occurs and aid is needed.

• Research ways that other churches or organizations provide aid to people in need.

• Determine an area in your church building where you could house displaced families, if needed.

• In your Sunday service or small groups, have a prayer time focused on crisis relief. Ask God to prepare the church with the wisdom, spiritual sensitivity, and courage to act.

Is your church actively engaged in missions? I want to know. Write me at tellthecall@wgm.org.