CHANGING THE WORLD, ONE KID AT A TIME

Several years ago, we set a goal in our youth ministry to sponsor one kid on every continent that we could sponsor a kid on as a youth ministry.   We're not there yet, but so far, our Encounter High School Ministry sponsors 5 kids or organizations monthly by asking students to bring $1 a week to our weekend services to help us sponsor them.  Here's who we've been sponsoring for quite some time now:

1. A boy named Marvin in El Salvador through World Vision
2. A girl named Ruby in India through World Vision
3. A girl named Luyando in Zambia through World Vision
4. A boy named Hector in Tecate, Mexico through HIS Ministries.
5. An orphanage called Welcome Home where I adopted 2 kids from in Uganda

We are still very much committed to trying to help our students wrap their heads around the larger needs in the world through education and action for those who live in extreme poverty and this month, we did 2 things to add some more fuel to this fire:

WE VISITED HECTOR.

We made a day trip to Mexico on 11/11/11 to visit Hector and some of his peers at a Day Care center in Tecate where he goes daily and through which we sponsor him. In the process, we played with him, loved on him, put a name to a real face with some of our students and Hector, and we brought he and his family some food & household basics:  rice, beans, flour, sugar, potatoes, avocados, salsa, salt, oil, pots/pans, dish soap, and laundry detergent.   In the process, we found out that Hector's Dad whom I've met before recently left his mom for another woman and kicked Hector's mom and he and his siblings out of the house.  They are now living full time at the daycare center.  Words cannot describe how huge an impact this partnership is having with our students and Hector's family.  Maybe these pictures might help.

WE ALSO HELD A "NO MEAL, ONE DAY" FASTING AND WORSHIP NIGHT.

We partnered with One Meal, One Day - an event that Compassion International puts on and we invited our students to skip a meal (or all their meals for a day) and bring the money they would have spent on food that day to youth group for a worship event so we could sponsor the poor around the world.

The result?   Students fasted and prayed and gave $354 toward the Famine in the Horn of Africa and pledged enough money each week for us to add another child to our sponsor list.   I'm so excited to introduce our students to a girl from Thailand that we now sponsor through Compassion International.   Her name is Keke.  May God use our youth ministry to completely transform her life as we partner with Compassion.

Here's some pictures to tell this new story.