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Florida Gator on the Go
Joy Ride
Church leaders conduct capital campaigns and present sermons on tithing to raise money for new buildings, but neither strategy would be effective for the college students benefiting from University of Florida’s Christian Campus House. Instead, CCH campus minister Bob Gailey is raising money for the ministry’s new building in a more unorthodox way—by riding his bike.
Gailey has always enjoyed long-distance rides, but his current journey, which began May 5, is his longest yet. After circling the north and south rims of the Grand Canyon, he’ll spend the summer riding through Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, and Alabama.
Brad Jones, associate/youth minister at Oakwood Forest Christian Church (Kingsport, Tennessee), accompanied Gailey for the first week; Gailey is finishing the remaining six weeks on his own, pulling a small trailer with camping gear and other supplies.
Friends and supporters of the campus house gave one-time gifts or pledged money for each mile of Gailey’s journey, and every cent will go towards CCH’s loan with Church Development Fund (Irvine, California).
“We had the opportunity to purchase a 6,000-square-foot building, and CDF is helping us,” Gailey says. “It’s almost unheard of to find property so near the campus, and it will allow us to grow our ministry of being a spiritual home away from home for college students.”
Gailey is blogging about his journey and staying connected to family and friends through phone calls along the way—plus one short break in June.
“I’m interrupting the trip for five days to perform Brad’s wedding,” Gailey says. “It’s going to be quite a summer.”
www.ufcch.com
http://bggothedistance.blogspot.com
Happy Campers
How can short-term missionaries make a long-term impact, and how do in-country leaders benefit from Americans wanting to serve internationally? World Wide Youth Camps (Grayson, Georgia), which ministers to orphans and other at-risk youth in several areas of Russia and Ukraine, finds the answer in mentoring.
“We recruit local mentors who can lead ministry year-round, and support and mentor them with spiritual and social development,” says Greg Perry, WWYC’s executive director.
American teams help facilitate the ministry’s summer camp experiences, which include Bible lessons, games, crafts, and sports; each participating child meets his mentor during camp and receives regular, friendly visits and prayer support from these adult, in-country leaders long after the short-termers return home.
World Wide’s strategy differs from many mission organizations not only in this mentoring emphasis, but in its focus on children.
“Eighty-five percent of all converts to Christianity make that decision by age 14,” Perry says. “Yet 90 percent of church missions funds go to adult efforts. We focus on planting seeds among youth.”
Russia and Ukraine historically understood this principle; during decades of communism, the USSR organized Young Pioneer camps to identify promising young people and indoctrinate them with atheistic and communistic ideas.
“After the fall of communism, these countries looked for other ways to use the camps,” Perry says. “Today World Wide Youth Camps uses those same facilities—once used to proclaim the nonexistence of God—to teach parentless children about the Father who loves them.”
www.wwyc.org
All Together Great
Through the work of Journey Christian Church and its nonprofit organization Building Better Communities (both in New Orleans, Louisiana), groups throughout the city have started to recover from Hurricane Katrina—and expand the church.
“We have a long-term vision to develop 12 community centers with 12 church plants, and BBC is laying the groundwork,” says Rick Grover, Journey’s lead pastor. “One church already launched in St. Bernard parish, and a core group of 50 has come together for a second one. So ready or not, it’s time to plant a church!”
Journey is ready, in part because of help from several other church of Christ and Christian church ministries. Among those who are partnering with BBC and Journey to launch a New Orleans congregation in early 2009 are Richland Hills (Texas) Church of Christ; Stadia: New Church Strategies (Irvine, California); Kingdom Builders (Dallas, Texas); Southland Christian Church (Lexington, Kentucky); and Central and Westlink Christian churches (both in Wichita, Kansas).
“We hope this will be the first of many partnerships to plant churches in our city,” Grover says. “Already we are seeing cross-cultural ministry and racial reconciliation happening in this urban context, and it’s great to work with churches of Christ to accomplish the mission.”
www.journeyneworleans.com
www.BBCNola.com
Jennifer Taylor, one of CHRISTIAN STANDARD's contributing editors, lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
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