How about catch up on all the to-do projects around the house? Finish all the books you've only made it part way through? Do an in-depth study on a favorite book of the Bible? Tackle a new hobby? Or maybe just sleep?
How about investing every one of those 800+ hours into the life of children? Well, I just compiled our numbers for the past 12 months and it turns out that's about how many hours our group put into the lives of kids. 820 hours of meeting, enjoying life, relating, leading, praying, and pointing kids all ages to Christ. Praise God!
Since the inception of the ministry in 2006, our mentors have put in an extraordinary effort. We've seen a total of 32.75 years of ministry dedicated to the lives of 20 different father-absent kids at Bethlehem Baptist, Hope Academy, and our community. What an amazing work of God! Here's a sampling of some of what the kids experienced over the past two months...
Last weekend we made a trip to
Feed My Starving Children to spend 2 hours learning about global hunger and help pack around 100 boxes (containing 36 bags of food each) for kids in places like Haiti and Somalia. For many kids this was the first time they ever served in this way.
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| Sorry, forgot to take pictures, but this is a pretty good stock photo :) |
In mid-June about 12 of us made it to an outing at Ham Lake Baptist Camp that included water fun (of course), a cook-out, and a Gospel-focused devotional.
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| Paddle boat mania. |
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| Talking about the nearness of God, purchased for us by Christ. |
And just two weeks earlier we participated in the
Young Eagles program which gives kids the opportunity to fly with pilots who donate their time. High winds forced us to reschedule, but 8 of us still made it and had a blast. The three older kids were surprised when the pilots turned over the controls to them soon as they were up in the air. Talk about a fun time for a teen-age boy!
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| Pre-flight briefing. |
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| Helping out with the pre-flight check. |
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| Andre, Jeremiah & I, ready to go. |
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| Our lively backseat. They were a brave pair. |
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| We saw a lot of post-flight smiles! |
