Every year, during the week between Christmas and New Year's, college students from the five-state region gather at a Minneapolis hotel for a Christian leadership conference sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru). For one of those days, they come and serve our urban partners with us - delivering "Holiday Care Boxes" of food for needy families. This year nearly 1,500 students delivered meals to 1,400 families, going door-to-door on behalf of our urban church partners, and looking for opportunities to share the hope of the gospel with those they met.
We broke the students into groups, mostly according to the college they attend, and sent them to the urban church partners for orientation before heading into the neighborhoods.
Is it because I'm getting older? The college students look younger every year!
The day before the outreach into the neighborhoods, we offered an optional seminar to students interested in issues of Biblical justice, and God's heart for the poor. We conducted a two hour "poverty simulation" in which students role played being a family of five, with two incomes totaling $2,300 a month, and the students needs to go to stations to pay for things like: rent, transportation, food, child care, health care, etc. It's a great way for young people to walk in the shoes if the working poor. Afterward we debrief with questions like: did you run out of money, did you tithe, how can churches in the city (filled with working poor) help families like this one, what causes poverty, what surprised you about the experience, etc
And of course, we
have to serve pizza! Because after the poverty simulation, we wanted to keep the college students around long enough to give 'em a pitch for coming and serving with us in the inner city =-) Pray with us that God raises up a new generation of Christ-centered laborers to work in the harvest fields in the inner city.
Ruby and Sadie Lou came along too. They can't resist an opportunity to hang out with college students
and eat pizza...although Ruby was more excited about meeting college students, and Sadie Lou (our shy one) just wanted the opportunity to go to the hotel with Daddy (Momma and the boys stayed home).
We broke the students into groups, mostly according to the college they attend, and sent them to the urban church partners for orientation before heading into the neighborhoods.
Is it because I'm getting older? The college students look younger every year!
The day before the outreach into the neighborhoods, we offered an optional seminar to students interested in issues of Biblical justice, and God's heart for the poor. We conducted a two hour "poverty simulation" in which students role played being a family of five, with two incomes totaling $2,300 a month, and the students needs to go to stations to pay for things like: rent, transportation, food, child care, health care, etc. It's a great way for young people to walk in the shoes if the working poor. Afterward we debrief with questions like: did you run out of money, did you tithe, how can churches in the city (filled with working poor) help families like this one, what causes poverty, what surprised you about the experience, etc
And of course, we have to serve pizza! Because after the poverty simulation, we wanted to keep the college students around long enough to give 'em a pitch for coming and serving with us in the inner city =-) Pray with us that God raises up a new generation of Christ-centered laborers to work in the harvest fields in the inner city.
Ruby and Sadie Lou came along too. They can't resist an opportunity to hang out with college students and eat pizza...although Ruby was more excited about meeting college students, and Sadie Lou (our shy one) just wanted the opportunity to go to the hotel with Daddy (Momma and the boys stayed home).
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