Summer Missionaries Make County-Wide Impact in San Diego
By Meredith Day
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A total of 18 summer missionaries arrive with eager expectation of what God will do through them.
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Taylor Morris has three goals for this summer.
“I want to grow in my walk with Christ, serve the community, and increase God’s fame in San Diego. That’s it—that’s my top three.”
Taylor is one of 18 summer missionaries serving through Vision San Diego to work alongside local churches and church plants as they meet needs in their neighborhoods. Beginning June 1, they’ll work with kids at community sports camps, plan block parties and Vacation Bible Schools, and minister through Faith in Action Xtreme, an effort to tackle five of the biggest problems in San Diego.
“These summer missionaries are vital to ministry here in San Diego, especially during the summer months, when we serve alongside thousands of volunteers from around the country,” said Anne Decker, Director of Partnership & Mobilization for Vision San Diego. “They really learn how to equip others to do ministry, and we hope that by experiencing missions in a culture other than their own, they go home with an even bigger vision of how God can work.”
Through partnerships with the California Southern Baptist Convention, Georgia Baptist Convention, and the North American Mission Board, eight additional students will serve as summer youth interns in local San Diego churches as part of Xtreme Summer, an initiative of the San Diego Southern Baptist Association. They’ll lead teens in training, Bible studies, and evangelistic events focused on meeting spiritual needs among San Diego’s youth.
“At a time when young people face obstacles we never would have imagined just a few years ago, it’s our calling to show them what it means to have a real, life-altering relationship with God,” said Narri Cooper, Xtreme Summer’s director. “If we want to see our city transformed, we have to reach this generation with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
That idea of city-wide transformation is what this summer is all about in San Diego. Over the last year, local churches and leaders have identified areas where the church can work with governments and non-profit agencies to meet real needs throughout the county. The result of that year-long investigation process is Faith in Action Xtreme, a list of five problems that San Diego’s leaders have invited the church to be an integral partner in solving. Volunteers are already serving as tutors in local schools, visiting homebound seniors, providing respite for foster parents, ministering to military families, and mentoring at-risk children and youth. The student missionaries will assist churches in planning and implementing outreach projects, allowing more volunteers to join in Faith in Action Xtreme and expanding the effort’s overall impact.
The additional support and encouragement the missionaries will bring is right in line with what God is doing in San Diego, says Director of Missions Dwight Simpson.
“I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep saying it: This is San Diego’s hour of favor with God. He is opening doors and moving in ways that can only be credited to Him. Our prayer for the summer is that we’ll continue to see ways we can join in the work He is doing.”
For more information on summer in San Diego, and how you can join in, go to www.visionsandiego.com/xtreme.
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