{"id":920,"date":"2015-06-22T09:29:36","date_gmt":"2015-06-22T13:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/4twelve\/?p=920"},"modified":"2015-06-22T09:29:36","modified_gmt":"2015-06-22T13:29:36","slug":"developing-a-heart-to-serve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/4twelve\/developing-a-heart-to-serve\/","title":{"rendered":"Developing a Heart to Serve"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just last week over 50 teens and leaders finished\u00a0our yearly serving trip to the city of Lafayette, Indiana.\u00a0 When most people think of a mission\u2019s trip they usually think of a long trip in a bus to a location you have never been to before to meet people you have never seen before in order to do ministry to the people who need it.\u00a0 The problem is that so many times our own towns are forsaken so we can go to some strange location in order to accomplish these goals.<\/p>\n

It has become obvious to our church that there are so many parts of our own city where the Gospel is needed.\u00a0 It has become obvious even to our city that there are so many parts of our own town where people need help.\u00a0 It has become obvious to the heart of this Youth Pastor that we need to do something about this.\u00a0 So we started gathering as a team of teens, staying together as a team of teens, and devoting a week to building the hearts of our teens to love our own city.<\/p>\n

This year we targeted two key neighborhoods in which to serve.\u00a0 And we poured our hearts into those neighborhoods.\u00a0 We cleaned up the neighborhoods by picking up trash, we fell in love with the people of those neighborhoods by building relationships with the residents of those neighborhoods, and we helped strengthen the community in those neighborhoods by helping them put on block parties.<\/p>\n

So why would we do all of this?\u00a0 There is a twofold answer to this question.\u00a0 First these areas are in need of the hope of the Gospel and we want to share the Gospel with them. Secondly we want our teens to develop a love for serving others because of their love for the Lord.<\/p>\n

As this trip went along it was incredible to watch the response of several of our teens to the opportunity to serve others.\u00a0 They were so committed to serving these folks that it was obvious by the joy on their faces as they served.<\/p>\n

After the trip several of our teens posted comments on social media about the impact the trip had on them.\u00a0 I would like to share some excerpts from their posts with you.<\/p>\n

\"Faith<\/a>
Faith Church 4:TWELVE Student Ministries teens playing Red Light, Green Light with neighborhood children in downtown Lafayette.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Jesus said, \u2018Go out and be fishers of men.\u2019 I\u2019ve been so incredibly blessed to spend a grand total of 8 full days serving the Lafayette community with insanely awesome people.\u00a0 After this week, I have learned a lot about myself and my heart for God and His people.\u00a0 I\u2019ve created and built new friendships with people that will last a lifetime.\u00a0 Having the opportunity to share the Gospel with the teens, children, and adults in our community has really shone a light onto God\u2019s plan for my life.\u00a0 I\u2019m in love with this sacrificial love.<\/p>\n

I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve my community with the youth group this past week.\u00a0 I was so thankful I could go this year and am praying that I would be able to go next year\u2026. This trip has made me want to serve my community in any way I can whether by picking up trash, talking to people, or throwing neighborhood parties.\u00a0 There are so many other ways to serve others around me and I feel the need to continue to serve even without a group.<\/p>\n

It has been a blessing to be a part of the challenge trips the past 5 years.\u00a0 I\u2019ve strengthened and developed many relationships.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been changed for better by those around me on the trip and those in our community.\u00a0 I\u2019m very thankful to have an awesome youth group who love to serve the Lord. It\u2019s cool to be a part of ways we are impacting our community.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thank the Lord for a heart of serving that is being developed by teens who are seeing the need to love those around us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just last week over 50 teens and leaders finished\u00a0our yearly serving trip to the city of Lafayette, Indiana.\u00a0 When most people think of a mission\u2019s trip they usually think of a long trip in a bus to a location you have never been to before to meet people you have never seen before in order… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":922,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[33],"tags":[22913,22917,5158],"yoast_head":"\nDeveloping a Heart to Serve - 4:Twelve - Student Ministries Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/4twelve\/developing-a-heart-to-serve\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Developing a Heart to Serve - 4:Twelve - Student Ministries Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just last week over 50 teens and leaders finished\u00a0our yearly serving trip to the city of Lafayette, Indiana.\u00a0 When most people think of a mission\u2019s trip they usually think of a long trip in a bus to a location you have never been to before to meet people you have never seen before in order... read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/4twelve\/developing-a-heart-to-serve\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"4:Twelve - Student Ministries Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-22T13:29:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/20170523133333\/serving-trip-selfie.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Johnny Kjaer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Johnny Kjaer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/4twelve\/developing-a-heart-to-serve\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/4twelve\/developing-a-heart-to-serve\/\",\"name\":\"Developing a Heart to Serve - 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