Jonathan “JB” Brown said they were tired on the van that day in 2017, but it didn’t dampen their excitement.
His youth group had just spent the week with 2,500 other students running backyard Vacation Bible Schools, helping with sports camps and serving in soup kitchens in Dothan.
And Brown, who serves as students and education pastor at Elkdale Baptist Church, couldn’t shake the question: “Should we do something like this in Selma?”
Still a yes
Seven years later, the answer is still a resounding yes. In July, they held their seventh UNITED for the City Youth Missions + Discipleship Week.
More than 50 students and leaders from 17 churches gathered to serve at four missions sites around Selma. Each morning, they ran VBS at Summerfield Baptist Church and Valley Creek Homes, held a basketball camp at Ellwood Christian Academy and put on a kickball outreach at Felix Heights Apartments.
Then in the afternoons, they heard from Caleb Winningham, pastor of Valley Grande Baptist Church, with music led by Andrew Morris, worship pastor of First Baptist Church Trussville. Students also learned how to give their 15-second testimony and the 3 Circles gospel presentation.
Missionaries ‘everywhere they go’
“Our theme this year was ‘I’m the Missionary.’ We were trying to remind the kids that they’re the missionary in their homes and in their schools, everywhere they go,” Brown said.
During UNITED, churches of different denominations in the Selma area participated alongside Baptist churches, and groups came from other states as well.
Three additional local churches also helped out by preparing and serving meals for the group.
“The vision is we’re all united together under Christ,” Brown said. “One of the beauties has been seeing our sister churches who don’t have youth groups providing meals and helping out — they just want to be serving with others.”
For more information, visit elkdale.org/united.
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