Youth Ministry

Benton Harbor Trip

Coming or going – I’m not sure which state I’m in. It has been quite a week traveling to Benton Harbor, MI, with six high school youth and four other daring adults. It was a week of many blessings, wonderful fellowship, new friends, hard work and serious play. The work was great; the weather was gorgeous; the beach was wonderful; God is good and our senior highs and advisors are a truly delightful group to be with (though we get joy out of teasing Scott mercilessly. The best part was we all came back healthy!

Our “home” for the week was First Presbyterian Church of Benton Harbor and we were quite comfortable. Don Buyze is the work camp coordinator for this church of about 90+ members, which is incredibly active in their community. They have many outreach programs and strive to welcome any and all. Don is very kind and was supportive of us all week. Several church members and the pastor met with us on Monday night to tell us stories about themselves, their city, their community, and their church. It was fascinating to hear about the exciting city Benton Harbor was once upon a time and about the plans to bring it back to its glory. Given time, I think they will do it.

Don “hooked” us up with Habitat for Humanity for our work week. We were able to work with youth groups from Ann Arbor and Sawyer, MI, St. Louis and the great city of Milwaukee! It was great to get acquainted with brothers and sisters in Christ from far-flung places, and to be reminded that we are part of something much bigger than ourselves. We had expected to be painting homes in the community that needed TLC, but instead, we were privileged to work on four different Habitat new home constructions. It was great; we worked with contractors, professionals of many types, other youth groups and community members. Our group learned some new skills which will benefit us as we go on other mission trips. We were involved in installing siding, leveling a backyard (with shovels…), picking up trash on the worksites, interior painting, tarring a new foundation and doing other prep work to the foundation. We spent a day working in the Habitat Restore, clearing shelves of donated material, washing them down and rearranging the stock. Ladders were installed in basements of the new homes, and at the warehouse, we moved precut lumber and sawhorses for a worksite and swept up the floor. Habitat does a great job of cleaning as they go. Working hard felt good!

On Wednesday afternoon, we ventured to Holland, MI, to visit Hope College. The visit was prearranged and a sign in the entryway of the admissions office welcomed the youth by name. We had a nice tour and four youth spent time asking questions of the admissions officer. The visit was great and now they have experienced a small, liberal arts college. After, we browsed downtown and had dinner before returning to Benton Harbor.

Each afternoon after working, we packed our dinner food in a cooler and headed to Silver Beach in St. Joseph, near where we were staying. It was a beautiful park and there was swimming, games, the inevitable chasing of the seagulls by Scott, and dinner cooked on the grill. Afterwards, we watched the sunset and talked about our day - a beautiful experience with beautiful people.Our senior highs have an amazing group and a willingness to work things out in Christ’s love. We all need that kind of mutual support and accountability to be the kind of Christians we're called to be, and it was great to see our youth living it out and learning from it.

Our Director of Youth Ministry, Debbie Adams, once again did a great job planning and leading the trip! So many things went really smoothly because of her forethought and hard work. Hooray and big thanks to her for a great week for all of us, and one that made a difference for the people of Benton Harbor!

“…Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:58

With Much Love,
Pat, Debbie, Nathan, Scott, Kayla, Corey, Jessica, Leah, Morgan, Lauren, & Devin