Following a long, exhausting day of neighborhood clean-up and prayerwalking, young Ishmael of Philadelphia gets a ride from Pastor George back to headquarters.For one week in mid-June, nine Lexington County residents put feet to Philadelphia’s nickname: the “City of Brotherly Love.” Could a group of such modest size leave even a tiny mark on the Pennsylvania city of about 3 million? Group members believe they have made a difference in the lives of a particular community they encountered. Equally, they know the city has changed their own lives.
Marlon Hutchins and sons Joshua (left) and Jeremy study and discuss the morning’s devotion, “Ready to Work Unhindered.”The group of nine is a mission team, primarily members of Saluda River Baptist Church in West Columbia. Together, they answered a call from the North American Mission Board to travel to Philadelphia as part of the PowerPlant program, which trains youth to work alongside church planters to reach out to neighbors with the gospel of Christ.
Saluda River associate pastor George Skinner, his wife Heather, and youth team member Marlon Hutchins led the Lexington group. Three students count the trip as their second PowerPlant mission, serving last year in Sioux Falls, S.D.: Brandon Blackwell, Lexington High School ninth grader; Bryson Howard, Lexington Middle eighth grader; and George Skinner, Pleasant Hill Middle eighth grader. The others are first-time missionaries: Jeremy Hutchins and Joshua Hutchins, both eighth graders at Lexington Middle; and John Thomas Peagler, eighth grader at Northside Middle.
Church planters and missionaries trained and empowered teams each morning with the “how-tos” of reaching and leading the unchurched to take their first steps in a personal relationship with Christ. Then, students and leaders met the spiritually and ethnically diverse Philadelphia residents at their doors, engaging them in conversation to gauge their ideas on religion.
“While the ethnicity of the people changed from door to door, the thing they had in common was their lack of understanding about how to get to heaven. They didn’t know Jesus,” said George Skinner. “We can’t take for granted that just because a lot of people here at home go to church, they have a saving knowledge in Jesus Christ. We need to consistently share the gospel wherever we are.”
After a week of direct evangelism, city street clean-up, schoolyard landscaping, and prayerwalking in Philly, the Lexington PowerPlant team returned to their homes energized and open for God to use them as everyday missionaries.
“The fact is that 83 percent of Lexington County residents are not actively involved in a Bible-teaching church,” said Heather Skinner. “Our mission field is vast, and there are places right here in our community where God is working and wants us to join him.”
For more information about the NAMB’s PowerPlant missions opportunities, visit www.Power-Plant.net. Learn more about the Lexington Youth PowerPlant Team at www.SaludaRiverBC.com.