ATLANTA (ABP) -– It was a beautiful moment for the people of Goodman, Miss., and the teenagers from First Baptist Church in Greenwood, S.C. After days of building, the teens completed a new playground in Goodman — where children once had to play in the street.
On a Tuesday evening this summer, the teens and children walked hand-in-hand toward the playground, with the children’s excitement building as the slides, swings and playhouse came closer into view.
“When we got within 50 feet of it, the children started running,” said the church’s youth minister Blake Kendrick. “It was a thrill to watch them play on it for the first time.”
But the smiling, climbing, running and playing wasn’t all that caught Caroline Burch’s eye. It was one local man who stood at the end of the slide to make sure the children didn’t go too fast or hurt themselves. It was the other adults from Goodman's Walden Memorial United Methodist Church who gathered to watch the children. It was the laughter, the conversation — the community — that made Burch grateful to be in Goodman in that moment.
“Our playground helped make that happen, but the best part is, even without the playground, the little church would have been that way — community in the most sincere sense of the word,” said Burch, 18.
Burch was one of 16 teenagers who traveled to Goodman to serve with the Methodist Church. Walden Memorial's pastor, Martha Williams, suggested the youth could make a difference by building a playground.
“There was nothing in the community for these children to do. There was no gathering place,” said Steve Street, CBF of Mississippi’s coordinator, who connected the South Carolina church with Williams’ ministry in Holmes County.
Ranked statistically as one of the nation’s poorest counties, Holmes County is a focal area of Together for Hope, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s rural-poverty initiative focused on 20 of the poorest counties in the United States. Together for Hope’s goal is to work alongside local people and at the direction of local leadership who know the community best.
Under the theme “Let the children come to me” (Mark 10:14), the middle- and high-school students explored the importance of children in Christ’s eyes. They also learned about socio-economic issues, racial reconciliation and hospitality.
“The [Walden] church welcomed us and really taught us a great lesson in Christian hospitality,” Kendrick said. “They were really open to being in conversation and dialogue with us.”
As a finishing touch on the playground, the youth group nailed together two extra pieces of wood, and to the top of the playhouse they added a cross – a reminder of the reason for all their efforts.
“The children of Goodman, Mississippi … will continue to grow in that church and become community leaders,” said Caleb Hopkins, 17. “Our work made it easier for kids in Goodman to come to Christ.”
On the last day, Kendrick knew the youth had made a difference for local children, but he didn’t know how much it had meant to the church until Williams issued an invitation. She invited the youth to return and for Kendrick to preach when the church moves into its new building.
“It was a profound thing for her to say,” Kendrick said. “Wherever I am, I want to be part of that service.”
-30-
Read more
CBF Rural Poverty Initiative website