Local Churches

Another great way to get involved with local, national, and international service is through your local churches.

Almost all churches have some type of missions projects they focus on. I know my church focuses on all three...the local community, national, and international missions. The leadership at Taylors First Baptist is very service and missions minded, and they have passed that on to church members teaching us to share the love of Jesus in a practical way.

Some of their local service projects include a Single Mom's Oil Change, Angel Food Ministries, and Impact Greenville. On a national level, we have sent teams to help Katrina victims and we also have groups that travel to other states that are in need of workers...like Texas, Baltimore and Maine. This year we have 8 international mission trips planned!

I have also participated with the international ministries. I and 15 other students from my church went on a mission trip to Bulgaria. In Sofia, Bulgaria we met up with other churches and divided ourselves into volunteer groups. One group visited an orphanage and spent time with the children all day while another group painted a playground for a public park. I was in a group that cleaned up a small park outside of an apartment building. This was a lot of hard work since the park had not been cared for since the fall of communism. In fact, when my group got done with the park, we discovered doghouse and a sidewalk that had been covered up by vegetation. We only had hand-held tools so I definitely worked up a sweat cutting down small trees, pulling up weeds, and cleaning up a swing set. This was one of the most full filling acts of service I had ever done because as soon as we cleaned up an area of the park, we got to see the faces of the children that came out of the apartment building to play in the park for the very first time. It was definitely instant gratification, and after all of that hard work I had some pretty strong arms!

So if you are not involved in church or if your church doesn't have projects like this going on...you can always come participate in Taylors First Baptist service/mission projects. I know the church welcomes anyone willing to help and serve.