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Set Apart: World Changers Impacts San Diego

By Erin Henderson

In July, 138 missionaries from Colorado, New Mexico, Northern California, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming ventured to San Diego for the city’s first-ever World Changers project. Each day, they painted, sanded, put in flooring, built fences and landscaped at work sites throughout the county. And at night, they gathered together for a time of worship led by San Diego church planter Kevin Campbell. This year’s World Changers theme, Set Apart, helped participants remember their main mission: to demonstrate God’s love through their hard work.

World Changers is about “loving people enough to give 100% each day you work here,” said Adrian Bagamasbad, whose crew painted and landscaped at the home of an elderly resident. Bagamasbad had experience in evangelism prior to World Changers, but quickly found a passion for the labor-intensive side of missions. That labor took place at sites as diverse as Habitat for Humanity homes, a boxing gym for at risk youth, and a foster care group home.

World Changers participants also had the opportunity to build relationships with San Diego churches. On Sunday, the crews attended worship services throughout the county; during the week, those churches provided lunch for the workers.

That local church connection is important, said Ricky Briery, a youth minister at First Baptist Church Farmington, New Mexico, who came to World Changers as a first-time mission team leader. His first career, carpentry, served him well during the week. Briery’s Hammerheads crew worked on a Habitat site, as well as several projects at Generation Church in northern San Diego County. He said World Changers reinforces his perspective on youth ministry and the role of young people in the church:

“Many adults in the church view youth as the future of the church, but they’re not just the future. They are a vital part of the church now.” 

For more information on World Changers, go to www.world-changers.net.