In the mountains of north Georgia, Camp Pinnacle provides a place for those who share its mission — to lead people to Christ, promote Christian character and promote world missions.
For fourth-grader Stephanie Patten and more than 900 other Girls in Action (GA) members at Camp Pinnacle last summer, “world missions” began in nearby Appalachia, where two special projects ministered to people in need. Through a week of hands-on activities and a personal visit with Bill Barker, director of Appalachian Regional Ministry, the girls discovered the needs of people in central Appalachia — home to 37 of the nation’s 100 poorest counties. With those needs in mind, the girls began making lap quilts for senior adults in the Appalachian region. Adult volunteers prepared for the project by cutting scrap blocks for 70–80 quilts and creating a simple block pattern with a cross in the middle.
Patten explained that the girls got around a table and sowed pieces of cloth together. As they worked, conversation turned to the people who would receive the quilts and how the girls wanted to decorate and personalize the blocks with fabric paint.
“Before we started, one of the leaders prayed for the people who would get the quilts,” Patten recalled. “I knew I was helping someone that needed it. It felt good. We wrote things like ‘Jesus loves you!’ and drew crosses and stars.”
Adults quickly stitched the blocks together, then showed the girls how to do the hand-quilting and hemming. As a companion project, girls brought items to Camp Pinnacle for hygiene bags to donate to the Freeda Harris Baptist Center in Pike County, Ky. The center provides benevolence ministries as well as Bible study and community classes for area residents. GAs learned — and were amazed — that the new, clean underwear in the hygiene packs might be the first that some children would ever receive.
Karen Pace, Georgia Baptist WMU consultant, said teaching Camp Pinnacle’s GAs to be on mission begins with teaching them to maintain a close relationship with God.
“[We’re] helping kids learn to love God more than anyone else, then being obedient to Him,” she said. “I don’t see how anybody can love Jesus and not be on mission.”
Pace encourages children’s missions leaders to investigate ways they can involve kids in North American missions. Leaders can connect with missionaries via their state conventions for good ideas, and she contends that helping boys and girls see how God is at work near them will naturally lead to excitement and involvement in missions. (WMU)
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