HITCHCOCK — Many churches focus on summer missions trips to foreign locales from Mexico to Russia and India. But as travel prices increase, funding these short-term, English-language trips — sometimes referred to as McMissions — becomes more of a challenge.
Mimi Sellers, local director of Child Evangelism Fellowship, said her volunteer staff is set to prepare teens, seniors and others with free time, open hearts and a desire to share Christianity for local mini-ministries.
No vaccinations, passports or airfare required — although the ability to speak Texan would be a plus.
Volunteers Wanted
Child Evangelism Fellowship has a 70-year track record of educating children about the Bible. It has volunteers or missionaries in 150 countries. It conducts group activities in homes, schools and by mail.
Locally, the organization runs Hitchcock’s popular Camp Good News and works with children and youth throughout Galveston and adjoining counties.
Sellers said the ministry would benefit from volunteers who could do clerical or grant writing work at the fellowship’s Hitchcock office, as well as donations for their children’s programs.
Marcia Rozelle of Dickinson is an area coordinator for the fellowship.
“I was training teens who were going to teach in our youth ministry,” she said. “They were somewhat rambunctious. At first, I felt it was never going to work, but there was a little 6-year-old boy at one of our clubs. He had been badly burned and was scarred, deformed and very shy.”
A transformation came over both the handicapped child and his previously wild teenage teachers, Rozelle said.
“Our youth loved on this boy,” she recalled. “Some of the children clung to our teens as if they were life preservers — it was hard for them to let go at the end of the club session.”
As for those Christian teens who volunteer to help fellowship get its message out this year, Rozelle said they will grow from the experience.
Bible Class
Not all the workers are young. Juan Gonzales has volunteered for the last three years. The Texas City grandfather turns an apartment complex laundry room into a weekly Bible classroom for kids ages 4 and older.
“Word-of-mouth brings all the kids to the washeteria each Wednesday,” he said. “It’s a small room with people coming in and out with laundry.”
It is not too surprising that the seven to 25 children who visit Gonzales each week can easily drown out any noise from the nearby appliances as they sing, recite verses and play games.
And he tells stories each week in serial fashion. The children who can attend consistently not only find out how the story ends, but also receive yellow T-shirts.
But the benefits extend beyond prizes and even hugs, volunteers said.
“Their love gene will be turned on,” Rozelle said. “And they will grow up and become more responsible than they have ever been before.”
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More info
To learn more, go to www.cefgalveston.org or call 409-316-0691.
