Nine teenagers from Only Believe Ministries in Botkins took time off from their summer breaks to put new siding up on a house belonging to a Wapakoneta family.
While each year the church teenagers usually take a missions trip to places like Honduras, Arizona and Puerto Rico, this year, it was decided they would lend a helping hand to those who need it around home. A week's work of labor went into tearing off all the old siding, prepping the house, completing some repair work, putting new siding up and redoing the fascia.
"We do quite a bit of outreach into our local communities through a variety of different means, but this year we wanted to really be an impact in a kind of a different way," Youth Pastor Tim LeMaster said. "You know, doing jobs like this -— you can't always do it. It's kind of a lot to put together to be able to do it, but we wanted to just invest into our local community and let them know that we're not always about going away to do this type of stuff. We're willing to come and serve and get our hands dirty right here in our local community as well."
Students aged 13 to 18 participated in the church's missions week. In addition to sacrificing a week of their summer, LeMaster said the students also helped pay for supplies needed to complete the work on the home.
"We just really believe that as Christians, we should live and act like Jesus lived and acted,” he said. "He was our example, and Jesus said that he came to serve and not to be served, and so he came and just showed people love and practically met needs, and that's what we want to model for our students, that you can do that right here at home as well."
See Saturday's newspaper for the full story.