Passage Community Church youth return from Cassville mission trip
BRIDGETON – The Youth Group of Passage Community Church, a new church start meeting at 3859 Fee Fee Rd., Bridgeton, recently returned from a mission trip to HIS Children’s Camp in Cassville, Mo. HIS Children’s Camp is designed to be a non-denominational Christian camp providing a secure facility for abused, at-risk, and special-needs children.
The task for the group of 16 teens and adult leaders was to turn an empty field into a petting zoo by the end of the week. The end result was a circular zoo with a diameter of 170 feet. The youth group stretched and attached fence to telephone poles to form eleven pens for animals. Two of the pens were twice as big as the others to accommodate the larger animals.
Serving is the ultimate goal of the youth. Mark Cote, Passage youth pastor, says, “Mission trips allow our youth the opportunity to serve the Lord and others in a very practical, ‘hands-on’ way. Our theme this year was ‘Helping Hands 2’ following our trip last year to HIS Children’s Camp. Construction trips get us out of our comfort zone and can be difficult at times, but the experience strengthens each participant – youth and adult. We are stretched not only in the physical, but also in the spiritual – as we work, sweat and live together as a team for the week.”
In addition, the youth group conducted a carnival at another camp for abused children, Royal Family Kids’ Camp. “It was a joy to me,” Cote said, “to see our youth working with a group of children whose lives at home are full of pain, rejection and abuse at another camp one afternoon. We provided a day of carnival games for their enjoyment. They were able to give them an opportunity to smile, and just be children for a few hours. All of our adults were very proud of our team’s attitude, maturity and commitment – as they shared the love of Christ.”