I spent Friday afternoon with our Dallas Exposure team, which consisted of about 13, 5th grade guys and girls. The phrase “they’re just kid’s,” while still applies because of their age, does NOT apply when describing what they can do for the Kingdom.

They started at our summer lunch food site and helped us get setup and begin serving lunch to the kid’s who were coming that day. I then took a large majority of the students to Triden Village Apartments to help Prince of Peace Lutheran Church (one of the churches we are collaborating with) flyer for their event on Saturday (we also were able to flyer for the summer lunch program). We broke up into three teams of 4 and were off to put flyers on 1100 doors.

Our team of 4 (5 if you include me, although I tried to stand back a bit) started off a bit frazzled because of the two sets of flyers they had to juggle, while collating and putting them onto the door. It was a great opportunity to ask them some questions because they were complaining about the difficulties. I suggested we take a minute to brainstorm and see what we could do better (thank you Dylan Lucas and the student team for your wonderful training ). They were GREAT! They came up with a plan B that they felt might be more efficient and were off once again with their newly founded plan. They tweaked the plan even more as the day went on and also began directing each other on which floors they were taking, etc. Their communication was incredible and while we may not have been the fastest team, they certainly were a focused and driven team, who worked together well. The team became even more focused when the clouds open up and dumped sheets of rain down on our heads. I imagine that they won’t forget that day for awhile…”remember that time on our mission trip in 5th grade when we were flyering that apartment complex and it started pourding down rain and we were getting soaked…?”

We were sitting down at one point rolling and rubber banding the flyers and began talking about our families and discovered that we were all the oldest in our family. That didn’t surprise me because of what I had observed about our little part of the team. I was so proud of them and floored at how their minds worked and what they could accomplish together.

I pray that their experience over this last week has opened their eyes to needs in our community and have given them a boldness to go out as the hands and feet of Jesus and share his love with others. I pray that they will also have a growing confidence that their age does not disqualify them from making a difference. Let’s encourage our kid’s and students to not sit on the sidelines until they are older. They can be world changers NOW.

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12

-  Jennifer DeStefano

Day 1 – We had PLENTY of helpers to kick off the day and fed 16 kids.  This was A LOT less than expected, but it was still so fun to get to see them. We gave all the kid’s nametags so we could call them by name which was a HUGE win to gaining trust with them. One of my favorite stories of the day was actually about a Bent Tree student who wants to serve this summer. He is 13 years old and went on Dallas Food trips the last couple of years.  His heart was so captured on those trips that he was disappointed this year when he didn’t see a student trip that allowed him to continue working serving with the food initiatives. His mom found out about the Food4Hunger: Summer Lunch Program and he was all over it. To watch him love on kiddos yesterday was a blessing. Student ministries, this is what it’s all about! Creating an environment where the Holy Spirit can capture the hearts of our students and unleash them to live on mission. Cole knows what he’s called to and he’s living that out. LOVE IT!

Day 2 – We had 30 students today thanks to the summer school buses letting off right in front of our space (also a snafoo, but a blessing in disguise). We were able to engage many parents and actually had to turn kid’s away today because we ran out of food. BIG difference from yesterday. I sat down at a table with Kelmitt and Kenneth (who were ADORABLE by the way) and their mom Cynthia and started talking with them. Cynthia then asked me what the volunteers do. I explained a little bit and she wants to help serve. She said that she LOVES serving at her son Kenneth’s school and would like to help here too. That made my day!

Day 3 -  Our numbers are slowly increasing as summer school buses have been dropping off at the school around 12:15 and then again at 1:00 pm. We have also added more games to the mix so that there are things to do with the kiddos. This has been a great buffer as we interact with the kid’s and families. At the end of the lunch time as we were getting ready to pack up and some of the families were heading home, I received a running start hug from Kenneth. It was one of my favorite moments from this week. It made the heat, the setup, the time, absolutely and totally worth it! What a priviledge it was for me to be the vessel through which Jesus wrapped his arms around little Kenneth. Perhaps Jesus arms were wrapping back around me too.

Day 4  – It was the first day I wasn’t able to be onsite. I MISSED it tremendously, but was so stretched as I released the details to a faithful and capable servant who graciously filled in for me. God humbled me through that experience. He reminded me that he was at work without me there. That I don’t have to be in control all the time, because really, that’s just a mirage anyway, He is the one in control and I can trust him with the details. I seem to be learning this lesson often. :(

Day 5 – I have a confession. I’m writing this last part of the post three weeks later, so I don’t remember Friday details, only that I was EXHAUSTED after the week. This may have helped me release week 2 to the servant who would be onsite all that week, because I knew I wouldn’t have the energy to sustain the program alone. It HAD to be done through Him and with a great team of servants. If you have served at all so far this summer, THANK YOU! It has been a tremendous blessing to have such great servants there onsite loving on the families in our community. I’m so excited about what God is up to.

Jennifer DeStefano – Site Coordinator