A group from Trinity Park United Methodist Church gathers at Brantwood Baptist Church during a recent mission work trip. Pictured with Dawson (front) of Generate Camps staff are Trinity Park’s (front row, from left): Will Parker, A.J. Strahm, Aubrey Manning, Isaac Nolen, Aly Riggle. Second row: John Felgenhauer, Joe Parker, Sarah Baker, Lucas Tutrow, Mary Ellen Harding. Third row: Neal Hunter, Aidan Davis, Liam Flanagan, Darren Baker. Fourth row: Phil Strahm, Jacob Presser, Morgan Flanagan. Back row: A few Brantwood Baptist Church members.
Some rolled light paint onto the walls in the church hallway.
Others sorted and wiped toys with sanitizing wipes in an area for preschool children.
One day, they lugged a long, heavy pew down the stairs and across the parking lot so it could provide extra seating in the church’s fellowship hall.
An Ohio church was grateful when a group of youth from Trinity Park United Methodist Church in Greenfield recently traveled there for a mission work trip.
The church there is trying to renew and revitalize, group member Neal Hunter said they were told, and the work of a crew of teenagers meant many tasks were completed. “He (the church’s pastor) told us we probably moved it along, like, six months.”
The group spent the late June/early July week in the Cedarville, Ohio, area to offer community service and participate in Generate Camp programming at Cedarville University.
Groups from various churches were part of the week of camp, lodging at the campus and gathering for nightly times of worship. Each morning, after breakfast and team devotions, the groups spread out to various locations to serve, in partnerships arranged through Generate Camp by YM360, a church youth curriculum company.
The work site for Trinity Park’s group was Brantwood Baptist Church, where the pastor and several church members were on site each day to show them what needed done around the building and grounds.
“There was a lot to be done, and some of it was little — just small jobs,” group member Jacob Presser said. When they’d get done with a task, “We’d go find the pastor, and he’d have us go help with something else. There was always something to do.”
The church was appreciative so many things got done. “Their hard work along with that of some of our faithful members led to the completion of too many projects to even attempt to list,” the church posted on its Facebook page.
Hunter, an incoming junior at Greenfield-Central High School, also went on work trips to Milwaukee in 2018 and to Cincinnati in 2019 with the Trinity Park group.
He said people were excited to go on this year’s trip after the 2020 trip was canceled. The 2021 trip involved a smaller number of older youth who assisted the Generate staff, Presser said.
Along with the work they did this year, both Hunter and Presser talked about the evening worship times; moments from those were what stood out most to them from the week.
For Hunter, it was one speaker’s story about reaching out to a remote tribe in the Amazon. “They hadn’t even been reached the by Gospel,” he said, and when the speaker said there were 2,000 other tribes like that, “that really got to me.”
For Presser, it was the theme of the week: So Much More.
“I think the big takeaway for a lot of us was God loves us so much more than we could ever imagine,” he said. “I’d say that was the main takeaway for me.”
Presser, a recent Greenfield-Central graduate, said he’s enjoyed serving with his friends over the years on the youth work trips.
“It’s a really good group, and I feel like we all get closer and grow in our faith through the week.”
