Being changed while changing the world

Sherri Brown

A paint crew works to transform an elderly resident's house. More than 1,300 volunteers worked in Georgia this summer as part of the more than 22,000 member nationwide workforce sponsored by the North American Mission Board.

They were just a bunch of middle school kids assigned to paint a house during a week of World Changers in LaGrange. They acted the part.

Sometimes they worked, mostly they goofed off. They painted themselves as much as they painted the walls of the peeling yellow house in the midst of a dingy neighborhood.

Then it all changed.

The 12 crew members - including a couple of adults - were getting close to finishing the paint job for the young family: the father away at work at a local textile mill, mom at home with two young children. A utility worker stopped by and the kids overheard him say he was cutting off the utilities, including the electricity, gas and water.

Crew chief Rod Gochnauer, from Franklin, N.C., talked to the worker and discovered the family owed $293.

"I called the project coordinator to see if anything could be done to help them," Gochnauer said. "Before I could get off the phone, my kids were coming to me and giving me money. They raised $185 right there. It just put me on the floor. A couple kids were crying because they could only give me a couple bucks. I told them, 'Don't worry, you're giving all you've got.'"

The supervisor came by and heard about the situation. He headed to a nearby project and told that group what was going on. They came up with $158. Then he told a third crew and they pitched in $43. That was more than enough to pay the bill and later that day Gochnauer presented the family with an envelope stuffed with dollar bills and loose change totaling $389.

"She just cried. She wanted to pay us back, but I told her no, it was a gift. I think she was pretty much overwhelmed."

The utilities were back on that afternoon.

As for the students, "I think they finally got why they are here. We couldn't have asked for a better day after that happened. This helped the kids more than it did this family. God showed up big time," Gochnauer said.

Sherri Brown

World Changers volunteers pray before heading to work in LaGrange. There were more than 100 cities nationwide that hosted World Changers projects, including six in Georgia.

Since 1990 World Changers has been providing mission opportunities for students across the United States. This summer the North American Mission Board-sponsored program will include more than 22,000 volunteers working in more than 100 cities worldwide. Volunteers spend a week at each city rehabbing houses at no cost to homeowners.

Georgia is one of three states that choose to manage its own projects through Serve Management Group in Cumming. This year Georgia hosted World Changers weeks in Atlanta, Augusta, Jonesboro, LaGrange and two in Savannah.

"World Changers opens up areas of ministry for our youth and at the same time opens our communities that may be resistant to the gospel. It's also a new way to do missions for our local churches and associations," said Jim Richardson, consultant for GBC Men's Ministries, who oversees Georgia World Changers projects.

It worked in LaGrange. The couple that had their utilities turned back on by a paint-spattered group of middle school students recently attended Bible school and worship services at a nearby Baptist church.

While World Changers projects are funded through the fees collected from the participants, they are managed through GBC Men's Ministries.

For more information about either participating in or sponsoring a World Changers project, check out the web site www.studentz.com or call (770) 936-5259 or 1 (800) RING-GBC. You may also email Jim Richardson at jrichardson@gabaptist.org.

Your church's giving through the Cooperative Program is vital to the missions and ministries of the GBC and the Southern Baptist Convention.

Sherri Brown

Taylor Spovoda, from Perry, left, Katie Horton, from Columbiana, Ala., and Lacy Murphy, from Perry, clean paint brushes at the end of a work day.

For more information or to order free educational materials on the Cooperative Program, contact the GBC Cooperative Program office at ahill@gabaptist.org or (770) 936-5240 or at 1 (800) RING-GBC.

You and your church may send Cooperative Program gifts to: Dr. J. Robert White, Executive Director, Georgia Baptist Convention, 2930 Flowers Rd. South, Atlanta, GA 30341-5562