Being on the mission field often requires a leap of faith. For some missionaries, however, that leap can seem more like a dive.
Mission Service Corps missionary Crystal Capps (third from right) is pictured with WMU members from Nichols Baptist Church in Mullins, which has “adopted” Capps and her ministry to senior citizens, “Compassion Connection.”Crystal Capps is one of 35 missionaries serving in South Carolina through Mission Service Corps, an organization of the North American Mission Board. These volunteers are considered NAMB missionaries, but are required to raise their own support. Despite the risk, Capps knew God wanted her to serve in her Greenville neighborhood.
“I felt like God was calling me out into the community,” said Capps. “I knew that he wanted me to step out on faith and reach out to those around me.”
To her surprise, God has provided for Capps’ financial needs through the people of Nichols Baptist Church in Mullins. The church chose to “adopt” Capps, providing support and allowing her to continue her ministry, entitled “Compassion Connection.”
“They have been so faithful,” Capps said of her sponsoring church. The church’s support has been “so huge for me and has made a big difference in my life.”
Her ministry, which she says is designed to help connect churches to needy senior citizens in the Greenville area, continues to grow and provide unique ways for her to share her faith.
Compassion Connection “helps me meet seniors with physical needs. By meeting those physical needs, I am able to help meet spiritual needs as well,” said Capps. “It’s important to develop a relationship with these people.”
Her work has provided some new opportunities, and Capps says she is seeing new needs arise in her community daily.
“We’ve had a number of seniors move into apartments [after being homeless],” said Capps. “They might need a bed, they might need a microwave or just something for their apartment to get started. I’ve been collecting furniture, so when these needs come I can just take it to them.”
Capps says she has been fortunate to find a church to “adopt” her, but the need for financial support is great.
“In talking with a lot of the other missionaries [in Mission Service Corps], they really get discouraged and it is very stressful,” said Capps. “If every church could do something like this, they would be able to truly encourage and minister to Mission Service Corps missionaries all over our state.”