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Christian service inspires life-changing decisions
Short-term mission experiences offered through Mennonite Mission Network’s Christian Service programs have inspired countless men and women to devote their lives to service. One reason they are so effective, according to Christian Service director Del Hershberger, is that participants can gain valuable hands-on experience and acquire skills useful in future careers. “People don’t want to hear about the theory behind leadership,” Hershberger said. “The best way to engage their hearts and minds is to give them a task to do and offer them some guidance. Christian Service programs do just that. They build the foundation for a life’s vocation.” That was exactly what happened for Josh Stevens and Christie Goering Schmid. Each served in a Christian Service program during college. Stevens participated in a RAD (Reaching and Discipling) team that went to Mexico City in 1999-2000. Schmid worked with youth from Denver’s housing projects with DOOR in 1998 and 1999. Since then, both have chosen careers in youth ministry. Stevens works with his wife, Erica, at the Power House, a youth ministry in New Haven, Ind., that he first learned about during his RAD training at the Great Lakes Discipleship Center. During the initial training period, participants take part in local outreach programs. The Power House is located near the GLDC building.” "The Power House works hand-in-hand with GLDC,” Stevens said. “It’s a ministry training ground for people in RAD. I saw that the Power House was reaching kids that many youth groups and churches would have a lot of trouble reaching. It opens up the doors to be able to reach them. “One thing I’ve found with the kids is that if you show them you care, they’ll let you in pretty quickly,” he said. “A lot of them look tough on the exterior. But they aren’t really interested in how knowledgeable you are. They want to know you care about them.” As for Schmid, her work with Denver’s housing projects through the DOOR program inspired her to major in social work. She now works at New Horizons Ministries in Seattle, a ministry for runaway and homeless youth. Recently, she also traveled with a Christian Peacemaker Team to Iraq. “Working with Glenn Balzer, [national director of DOOR], was a life-changing experience for me,” Schmid said. “He taught me so much about service, the Mennonite faith, the city and life in general. When we initially gathered our first summer, Glenn gave our team a devotional one day at 6:30 a.m. He said, ‘This summer you will learn to give of yourselves to God, the youth that come here and the city you are in. You will give and give and give until you have nothing left, and then you will find that it is in those places that Jesus will pour himself out into your service.’ “It was the very city that I went to ‘serve,’ my first summer at DOOR, that in the end served me and brought healing to many places in my life,” she said. “Personally, I have found that through service I find life within my faith. Also, I have found that through relationships and life with those whom many call ‘the least of these,’ I am able to see and understand Jesus the most.” For both Stevens and Schmid, their short-term experiences also helped them see their faith from a new perspective. “My summer working at DOOR was a great time for me to explore my Mennonite faith in active ways,” Schmid said. “I grew up within the Mennonite church, but this was where I was able to explore many values of the Mennonite faith, ask questions and see how many people put their theology into action.” Stevens said short-term mission opened up a world of opportunities that allowed him to see what his Christian faith was about. “It gets you outside of your church walls and helps you experience the world in a new way,” he said. “The changes that come through an experience like RAD affect the way you live out the rest of your life. Mennonites traditionally have been very radical about living out their faith. The short-term program gives you the opportunity to test that out.” |
