Avoiding Evil

For the second year in a row I am doing the 30 Hour Famine with the teenagers at my church. Last year we had around 45 participants and raised $7,000 for world vision. I didn’t know it until a couple days ago, but according to the 30 Hour Famine website our church was listed first in the top five fundraising churches in the state of Missouri. I was very surprised by that because we are a smaller church. Our students did an awesome job last year raising money and our church really came through for us as well. Last year there were also some grants that World Vision recieved, for every $1 that we raised World Vision recieved $3 in grants. Our $7,000 with the grants gave World Vision $21,000. We were able to feed 58 chilren for a year.

If you are unaware of what the 30 Hour Famine is, it is an event designed for youth that helps them to feel and understand what it is like to go without food and it helps them to understand the needs of our community, nation, and world. It gives them an opportunity to see that they can make a difference in the world. The students make a commitment to go 30 hours without food and then they get people to pledge $1 per hour that they fast. $30 will feed one child for a month. If our students get 12 people to donate $30 dollars they can feed a child for an entire year.

The students start their fast during school at 12:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon. They go without eating until 6:00 p.m. Saturday evening. I have them come to the church at 6:00 p.m. on Friday and stay till we have a huge meal on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. We play games, have bible studies, do community projects, and do several other things that help our youth to understand what its like to be in need.

This year our schedule is a lot tighter. I gave the youth lots of free time last year to do their own thing, but this year I decided to keep the group actively involved with one another for a larger majority of the time. Some of the things on our agenda for tonight include drive by prayers, a digital camera rally, two devotional/praise & worship sessions, and the beginning of our tribal games.

It is a lot of work, a lot of organization, and you have to be with your teenagers for 24 hours but it is a fun and powerful way to get the message across to them. This year I want our youth to recognize how much they really have and how much they can give to those who have nothing.

UPDATE*** The youth did their digital camera rally tonight. Each van had a list of items that they needed to take pictures of and each item was designated with a certain amount of points. The team with the most points won. They came back with some really creative pictures. One group went to the local fire station to get several pictures. To get 4,000 points one of the team members had to ride in a fire truck with its lights on while singing Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash and they did it. I was impressed. As always I try to get the teams to go to the Pastor’s house and to the church secretary’s house to get pictures of them as well. It’s good fun.

UPDATE 2*** The tribal games have begun. This year I took the game TRIBE given to us by World Vision and I changed it a little bit to fit our group. Each student received a card with a child’s name and home life on it. Each child also had a disability of some sort. The students had to take on the disabilities of the children they were supposed to be. So if they got a card that said they were blind, then during all of the tribal games they had to wear a blindfold. We had students who had to care heavy backpacks, students who had to wear blindfolds and eye patches, students who had to wear nose plugs, and students who had to put splints on their legs or tape their fingers together. We divided them up into 5 tribes, selected tribal leaders, dressed them up, had tribal music, tribal chants, dances, and the whole works. It was a blast!!!

UPDATE 3*** Late night worship went well. We turned all the lights out in the sanctuary and had the students enter silently. They were given a candle as they came in and asked to sit up front. We started with one candle lit and as each student prayed they lit the next person’s candle and then that student prayed. I thought it was a powerful time of reflection and worship as we just sat in silence and then in prayer.

UPDATE 4*** We have about 38 participants this year in the 30 Hour Famine event. Many of our students couldn’t come because of basketball, band, work, and all the other things that keep teenagers from coming to church. It’s time for bed and I forgot my sleeping bag. It’s going to be a cold night for me…