Paul Bowers
When a group prepares for a mission trip, one of the main things they hope for is an abundance of chances to reach out and help people. They can work and sweat all they want, but unless they cross paths with actual humans, their efforts will be in vain.
Such was the case as a group of 14 adults and students from the Fellowship of Oakbrook anticipated their summer mission trip to Binghamton, New York. While the group of Summerville residents worked on several fundraisers and prepared materials, skits and music for the days to come, they began to pray.
“I was praying that God would give me opportunities,” says Alex Sauer, a rising junior at Summerville High School. His prayers were answered. Whether it was playing basketball with kids from the neighborhood, talking to a drug dealer on the sidewalk, or offering food to children who hadn’t eaten in days, a new opportunity waited around every street corner.
For many, this trip was a positive first experience in the mission field.
“I never went on one [before], and I wanted to see what it was like,” explains Craig South, a rising senior at Northwoods Academy. “I’m trying to figure out if that’s what I want to do with my life.”
Early in the morning on June 8, they met up with members of the Screven Baptist Association and 3 other missionaries from Texas, California and Arizona, then loaded up their suitcases and departed for the small upstate city. To a certain degree, the group didn’t know what to expect at the end of their long, northward van ride.
Upon their arrival, the missionaries centered their work around the Carroll Street Ministry Center, an inner-city soup kitchen, church, community center and safe haven. On their first full day in town, they set up a midday block party in the park next to the Ministry Center, complete with face painting, balloon animals, a jump castle, cotton candy, refreshments and live music from the Fellowship of Oakbrook youth praise band. However, the turnout was disappointing.
“It looked like it used to be such an upbeat, bustling town,” says Sauer in reference to the city of Binghamton. “Now it seems like a ghost town at times.” As the day wore on, the group began to look down the nearly vacant sidewalks, wondering where all the people were. They were glad to meet with the locals and make a good first impression, but they were hoping for a bigger crowd after all their hours of practice and preparation.
As the missionaries sat down to dinner that night, the frustration was palpable. None were willing to give up, but many began to wonder when they would see the opportunities for which they had prayed.
“There’s always that fear of a culture boundary,” says Ryan Brownlow, the Fellowship of Oakbrook youth pastor. “Are they going to relate to you? Is there going to be a racial boundary? I think you find, when you do things like that, that people are people.” As the days rolled by, the chances for ministry became increasingly apparent.
In the afternoons, the group put on a Vacation Bible School for the kids in the area, promising entertainment, fun games, and snacks. They engaged the children with interactive skits and energy-burning activities, all the while sharing the love of their God.
For some children, the promise of food was enough to draw them in to the VBS. Well-to-do South Carolina natives watched and listened in shock as some of the children explained their desperate home lives and financial situations, all the while cramming fruit and Cheetos and donuts into their mouths—their first meal in days.
The missionaries discovered many unexpected opportunities as they walked the streets of Binghamton during the day, praying for the city and talking with the people they met.
At some point during the trip, everyone in the group met Tracy, the neighborhood drug dealer. He was surprisingly open about his profession, and in time he opened up to deeper topics of spirituality and beliefs. One of the girls even gave him her brand-new Bible so he could read it himself.
One man came to the Ministry Center in the afternoon asking for a bite to eat, and he was greeted with a fresh lunch and warm smiles.
Of course, the children they met had stories to tell as well. There was the young girl with the sad, staring eyes who seemed to carry a tremendous burden and was often left with responsible for taking care of her younger brother. There was the high school freshman who struggled for acceptance and preferred to spend the majority of his waking hours watching television. There was the girl who got stabbed last year at school. There was the fourth grade boy who left during VBS to make a drug deal in the park.
Needless to say, hearts were broken.
“It made me appreciate my background and my life and my environment,” says Shane Mims, a rising senior at Northwoods Academy. More importantly, he adds, “Despite the environment, the kids still wanted to be loved. Every kind of person, no matter how hard they look, they’re all searching for something.” By the end of the trip, several of them found exactly what they were looking for.
On their final night in Binghamton, the praise band put on a small concert inside the Ministry Center. A small crowd showed up, and the band, which consists of youth group students and youth pastor Brownlow, played as they had never played before. For the first time, they completely forgot about themselves and focused on the act of worship.
Next, the teenagers from Summerville performed a pantomime drama set to a song by the Christian rock band Skillet. Through gripping symbolism and rhythmic movements, they presented a tale of temptation, failure, and redemption through Christ.
Then, with the room dead silent, pastor Rick Martin, who works at the Ministry Center year-round, delivered a stirring message and invitation to everyone present. This was a defining moment for the group. They had spent the past few days building relationships with these people and attempting to show and explain the basis of their faith, and now would see if their message stuck.
That night, several young people and one adult made a decision to accept Christ as their personal Lord and savior. All in all, 7 people made that decision during the course of the group’s stay. That night, the missionaries’ dinnertime demeanor was far removed from the first night’s air of disappointment. They laughed and talked with the locals who lingered in and around the building, and the joy they experienced far outweighed their exhaustion.
“I think we touched hearts,” says Shane Mims as he reflects back on his first mission experience. “People who thought that Christianity was a joke saw that you can still enjoy life and be a Christian. They saw that God can help.” Brenda Jackson, Screven’s Director of Church and Community Ministries who accompanied the group on the trip, agrees that the group made a positive impact.
However, she says, “I think even more than that, we come back different people. Our lives are the ones that are changed.” Perspectives were shifted radically.
“Even though it’s over there, it makes you think that it might be the same here,” says Craig South in regard to the suffering he witnessed. Indeed, there are sections of the Charleston area that closely resemble Binghamton in terms of poverty and desperation. On another level, though, everyone suffers. Everyone struggles. This is a universal fact of life, but it often takes a lifetime for some to come to grips with it. Not only did the missionaries return home with a new gratitude for the ease of living in their hometown, but they also gained a new compassion for all people.
“I think the students who went certainly grew closer together, and they’re a lot more open with their faith…I think it kind of brings them out of their shell,” Brownlow remarks.
What these teenagers and adults from Summerville witnessed in New York was not the result of pure human will, generosity or hard work. In fact, the credit due in this situation is not to the missionaries, to the Baptist Association, or even to the Church at large. Ask the people who went on the trip, and they will attribute any and all success to the God who they choose to serve. Even when they began to doubt, He pulled them through.