Team building, outreach and a side of rice
TULSA, Okla. — That’s not worship music playing over The…
Nutritious meals for Kingdom Kids
Church members work to feed people in need in Central America.
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The final count: 23,974 meals.
That’s not a bad day’s work for the more than 80 Christians who gathered in the gym of the Pleasant Valley Church of Christ in Van Buren, Ark., to help feed children and their families across Central America.
Members of the Pleasant Valley church worked alongside members of the Rena Road Church of Christ and the Mulberry Church of Christ and students from the Lions for Christ ministry at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith to assemble easy-to-transport packets of rice, vegetables and nutrients.
Related: Team building, outreach and a side of rice
“We all felt a sense of joy and accomplishment as we worked together serving God,” Pleasant Valley elder Lonnie Meyers told The Christian Chronicle.
Kids Against Hunger, a ministry of Misión Para Cristo, sponsored the event. The nonprofit, founded by Church of Christ members Benny and Donna Baker, began in 1997 when the Bakers, working with one evangelist and a congregation of 12 members, helped to open a medical clinic in Jinotega, Nicaragua. Now the mission works with 24 Iglesias de Cristo (Churches of Christ) and has a staff of 82. The nonprofit serves more than 2,500 children and 12 schools.
Volunteer Eli McCoy shows off completed meal packets at the Kids Against Hunger event.
In 2013, working with One Child Matters, the ministry launched a child sponsorship program, later named Kingdom Kids, and helped to create child development centers operated by churches and schools. The ministry sponsors children at eight locations in Nicaragua.
In 2017, Misión Para Cristo entered into a partnership with the Good Samaritan School in Catacamas, Honduras. The school started the current academic year with 371 students. In 2022, the ministry began partnering with Christ School in Duty, Haiti. Kingdom Kids now serves more than 200 children in three countries.
Since January 2022, Kids Against Hunger has packed more than half a million meals. Four additional packing events are scheduled for 2024, Benny Baker told the Chronicle.
At the Van Buren event, “it was great to see multiple churches working together to pack food for children,” said Mulberry church member John Callahan, “and having fun while doing it.”
Members of three Churches of Christ and a campus ministry pack meals for Misión Para Cristo.
Multiple age groups volunteered at the event, including seventh grader Katelyn Roe.
“I had a great time,” Roe said. “I met new people and got to visit with my congregation and other congregations. The most important part was I did it for the Lord. I’m ready to do it again next year.”
ERIK TRYGGESTAD is president and CEO of The Christian Chronicle. He is a deacon of the Memorial Road church. Reach him at [email protected].
