Saline Baptist Youth Mission Trip

Saline Baptist Youth went on a summer mission trip to Jacksonville, FL. Five of our youth were able to head to Florida and work where God could use them. River City Baptist Church welcomed the group during Sunday morning worship service. Andy and Melody Stant, Youth leaders for River City, and some of their youth group invited the SBY kids to lunch and fellowship after service. 

Monday morning found the group at a local elementary school that is serving as a temporary home of The Giving Closet Project. This project was started by a local teacher, Jennifer Smith, seven years ago when she noticed a need amongst her students not just for the school supplies many places collect for students in the fall, but also for clothing. Mrs. Smith, founder and CEO, met with SBY to explain how and why she started the project and how the work the kids would be doing would impact kids in Jacksonville. Saline Baptist Youth sorted through stacks of clothes to be sent to local schools for kids referred to the project. 

Monday afternoon brought more clothes sorting and organizing as the group was put to work at City Rescue Mission. SBY was presented with a quick history of City Rescue Mission, started in 1946, the services provided, and how CRM helps their community. After that the kids set to work resetting racks of donated clothes by size and color at the CRM thrift store.

Hillcrest Baptist Church hosted a mobile food pantry Tuesday morning. Our SBY group along with a dozen other volunteers and Mobic Food Pantry staff braved the Florida heat to pass out food and household supplies to 98 households. Most families walked down through the line of tables collecting the items, but some families required their supplies to be collected and loaded into vehicles by the kids. This gave the kids a few more minutes to learn of some of the hardships felt by these families.

Ask any of the kids involved in this mission trip and they will likely tell you the time spent at Prisoners of Christ had the biggest impact of the week on them. Prisoners of Christ works with ex-offenders reentering and transitioning out of prison into life in Duval county. Cliff Davis, Missions Operations Director of Prisoners of Christ, had these words to say in the June newsletter: “ The group consisted of 5 high school students from Saline Baptist Church, and they provided much needed sorting through our storage area, removing junk, and doing thorough cleaning and reorganizing. This was a full day’s work that allowed them to answer God’s call to serve as well as helping POC regain space for future donations and organizational planning.” …

“Two of our program guys also came and served with this group. Thomas and Julian willingly gave up their day to help and they shared their individual stories with these young people, telling them about the harsh realities of prison life and their amazing stories of restoration and reentry.
We are so grateful for the hard work and pleasant spirit that these young volunteers displayed as they cleaned and lifted and sorted through years of collected “clutter’ that can so easily build up over time. The transformation of our storage space is amazing and is something that would have taken us several weeks to accomplish on our own.
Thank you to Brad, Cori, John, Conner, Libby, Leah, and Anna for their incredible help, their willing and friendly spirits, and their strong arms. Your hard work shows your desire to serve on mission wherever God leads you…even to Jacksonville, Florida.”  Cliff’s kind words only give a glimpse into the connection made with Thomas and Julian and how their stories impacted the kids. 

Wednesday evening the group headed back to River City Baptist Church for fellowship with their Youth group and Bible study lead by Pastor Samms. Afterwards the group headed to Neptune Beach for night time crab hunting. 

Thursday found the group back at the Giving Closet Project with a load of donated school uniforms in need of sorting by color to help facilitate the clothes going to the appropriate schools. After these various activities the group loaded up and headed for Juniper Springs. The kids welcomed the cold, clear water of the springs. 

Friday was a day of fun and relaxation. The group headed back to Neptune Beach for souvenir shopping. After lunch the group went to Hanna Beach for swimming and sand castles. Saturday morning the group loaded up and headed back to Missouri.