“But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” Jeremiah 29:7
The Soul 2 Soul service project is a community service opportunity for our students to engage and serve our local community. Our church has been given the unique opportunity to host Soul 2 Soul this year! The week of Soul 2 Soul is Memorial Day week, May 30th-June 3rd. It will be our church’s first time hosting this event. We believe that we are fit to do so, and we’re excited to see what the Lord does with the opportunity. We are participating with three other churches in our denomination: Perry Presbyterian Church, New Life Presbyterian Church in Tifton, and Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Valdosta. These churches will come alongside us to help with the various service projects and needs in our community, but they also will be worshiping with us here at our church every night of that week. We will be working with various non-profits in the Houston County area, such as Perry Volunteer Outreach and Halo Group. We are also working with Mission Element, which helps local churches connect with non-profits and service opportunities in the area. Our very own, Mike McCord, who works for Mission Element and attends HLPC, is helping us in find projects.
As you can imagine there is a lot that goes into planning such an event. We have a lot of needs that I wanted to let you all know about. We have around $2,000 allocated for this effort along with another $2,000 from Perry Presbyterian Church. These funds will be used for food, materials, and other costs. God has been so faithful in providing for us the funds to help cover the costs. However, we still have needs that we desire to see met in the coming months.
First, we are looking for volunteers to help with leading service projects. We need adult volunteers who have some experience in manual labor. You do not need to be an expert. All we need is for you is to show up and be present for both the students and the neighbors that we’re serving. Secondly, we need volunteers to help with lunch and dinner. We have been tasked to serve dinner for two nights, Monday and Wednesday. Perry Presbyterian Church has graciously agreed to serve the other two nights, Tuesday and Thursday. Lunch will be low maintenance, as we will be serving sandwiches and chips. Finally, we are looking for families to help host female students in their homes. Both New Life Presbyterian and Redeemer Presbyterian boys will be staying in our youth building all week. All we need is for families to help with hosting a few female students.
We are thankful that God has given us this opportunity to help serve our community and to love our neighbors. Please pray for our students and for our church as we prepare for this week. Pray not only for our needs to be met, but also pray that God would work in us a compassion for our neighbors.
Our short-term mission opportunities like these are really “worship” opportunities. Typically, worship is defined by a worship service, but the Bible really defines worship as “that which we offer up daily through the giving of thanks and the deeds that we do in the service of others as demonstrations of our love for God with all our being and our love for our neighbors as ourselves.”
Whether you want to volunteer individually, or as a group, for one day or for the entire week, there are always worship opportunities for you through Soul 2 Soul to develop compassion and to be a part of God’s Kingdom work in Houston County. God is calling us to flesh out ministry in specific ways in our particular context. I want us to be the Salt and Light of our community, for God’s glory and the extension of His Kingdom here in Houston County. I hope you feel the same way and are grateful for the opportunities that God has set before us here at HLPC.
In the Grip of God’s Grace,
Zach Hood