World Changers closing celebration to be held in Northport July 24–26

A closing celebration for World Changers will be held July 24–26 at Northwood Hills Baptist Church, Northport.

The event will include times of fellowship and worship and a Saturday evening celebration of World Changers’ 30 years of ministry, said Rusty Selman, pastor of Northwood Hills.

“Two of the main forces that drove this ministry to accomplish all that God used it for were people and relationships,” Selman said. “This weekend is an opportunity to gather and celebrate all that God has done with friends and co-laborers.”

World Changers began in 1990 when a group of 137 youth and adults spent a week in Appalachia doing construction work and sharing the gospel in the neighborhoods where they worked.

For the next three decades, World Changers partnered with government agencies across the country to provide free labor to improve homes in mostly low-income neighborhoods. Many municipalities formed lasting relationships with the ministry’s leaders and relied on World Changers as a way to stretch their budgets for community improvement.

For volunteers, World Changers offered a unique missions experience that blended construction work with real-world, relational evangelism.

LifeWay Christian Resources assumed operations of World Changers in 2011 through a partnership with the North American Mission Board, but announced on May 1 that World Changers would be discontinued.

The work of World Changers will continue through the efforts of multiple faith-based nonprofits with historic connections to the ministry, including Metro Changers in Alabama.

All former staff, summer staff and coordinators are invited to attend the closing celebration.

“We would love to see all national staff, coordinators and summer staff and their families join us for this time of celebration,” Selman said.

Registration for the event is open at northwoodhillschurch.com/World-Changers-Celebration. The website includes details of the weekend, including lodging options and worship opportunities for July 26.

(TAB, Baptist Press) Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.