July was full of dedicated people coming to serve with us. On July 7& 8, we had an energetic and caring group of youth and teens from Village Baptist Church volunteer, along with Village Baptist’s, Pastor Tyler Mock, pastor of Youth and Digital Connections. Despite some of the rain, it still was a joy-filled experience, and many things were accomplished; some of the volunteer work included cleaning outside and inside the building, power washing, painting, and even gardening.
This was Pastor Tyler’s first experience personally volunteering with us and what brought us to him was his belief in our mission and vision. He reflected on his experience, “It was a humbling experience because it’s so easy to gloss over the brokenness in our community and, so, getting involved at FAOIAM allowed us to reorient ourselves to be servants in our community. We were able to see an area easily described as “lesser than” but FAOIAM doesn’t have those words in their vocabulary as you all seek to love people with the love of the Father and that example was a blessing to me and my students on how we should be living.”
This was also many of the youth’s first-time volunteering here as well, while also learning about us for the first time. Having his youth and students being involved was a priority and a necessary experience. Pastor Tyler explained, “I felt the burden that my students need to see needs in their own backyard and what we can be doing serve our own community and be the hands and feet of Christ in our community displaying the Father’s love. We wanted to open their eyes to areas of our community where they can sow into and be a part of, for the kingdom of God.”
Village Baptist Youth stayed with us from around 10 am into 2pm and each task was met with a smile. What meant a lot to the youth was helping pray over Operation Inasmuch. One teen explained, “Most of the homeless community often do not have dignity or self-worth, and Fayetteville Operation Inasmuch helps give them that. And by working in and on the facility, it allowed us to give that too, because on our own we don’t have dignity, but we are children of God and all have value, worth, and dignity because of that.”
Thank you, again, Pastor Tyler Mock and the Village Baptist Youth for spending the afternoon with us. We appreciate your faithful hearts and genuinely understanding our passion to serve others, to love others, and to bless others.
