Organizations Receive Summer Help from Middle School Students
Summer vacation took on a new dimension as Middle School students volunteered their time earlier this month to work at Hope Inn Christ, Hearts for Homes, and Life Fellowship Church.
“Our students responded beyond our expectations,” said organizer Tom Shiflet, director of Technology and Bible teacher.
This first mission retreat, open to 12 girls and 12 boys in Middle School, began on Monday, July 11, when students received training and instruction. For the next two full days, with the girls staying in one Liberty family’s home and the boys at another, students served each day in the community.
At Hope Inn Christ, a Christ-centered home for young men just released from juvenile detention, students painted fences, worked in the garden, and painted the kitchen.
At Hearts for Homes, a Christian-based outreach ministry that provides no-cost home repairs to low-income elderly homeowners in Denton County, students worked in the yard of a home of a woman who was in need.
At Life Fellowship Church, students helped reorganize storage buildings, pulled weeds and trimmed hedges, weeded a playground, and dug up the cement foundations of old playground equipment to make room for the new.
After working each morning, students then shared their Christian faith through performing a dramatic skit and building friendships throughout the community.
In the skit, several students had hearts on their shirts, and in those hearts were pictures of things in which people attempt to fill their lives. One student had a broken heart on his shirt, and another student shared his faith in Christ with him and gave him a heart that was whole, complete, forgiven, and loved.
Student Tatum Barber said she really enjoyed helping at the church and sharing her faith. “The best part was speaking to all of the kids we met who were playing basketball and seeing more than half of them accept Christ as their Savior!”
Shiflet said this missions effort began with his own growth in his faith while on vacation earlier this summer. He said he was praying about how he was living the Christian life, and the verse in the Bible he was reminded of was 1 Samuel 16:7. In this passage, Samuel anointed David king over Israel, and God reminded Samuel in this verse that, “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Hence the theme for this community missions effort was called, “What’s in your heart?”
Shiflet said of the retreat, “I am so proud of our kids. They represented Liberty well, and more importantly, they represented the love of Christ to many, many people.”
After the retreat, students excitedly talked about planning future missions endeavors in the summer or at Christmastime.
Students who participated in this missions retreat were Tatum Barber, Taylor Barber, Natalie Belokin, Megan Borth, Peyton Brown, Regina Brown, Caroline Currin, Sydney Duininck, Jacob Fife, Addisyn Goodson, Morgan Harrison, Nick Horton, Kyleb Howell, Leah Lawler, Miranda Lehman, Hannah Liszewski, Will McClain, Jack Newland, Clayton Odom, Connor Price, Dakota Sanchez, Grace Sitzes, and Jack Ward.
Shiflet also wanted to thank the following leaders and volunteers who made the retreat possible: Craig Brandon, Shari Brown, Brock Burroughs, Jolynn Clintsman, Kate Davis, Gay Marrs, Carrie Shiflet, and Michelle Smith.