Mike Souder has taken classes at Eastern Mennonite Seminary. Kara Yoder, current seminary student, and Peter Eberly, 2007 MDiv, are on the planning committee. Chris Johnson, 2010 MDiv, is the evening guest speaker.<\/em><\/p>\nYou don\u2019t have to go far to find people in need.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why, rather than packing up for a service trip in a faraway community, more than 200 local middle and high school students are banding together this week to help organizations and residents in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.<\/p>\n
\u201c[I] grew up serving locally before [I] had the privilege of serving internationally or even out of state,\u201d said Mike Souder, director of the youth service effort called Renew. \u201cIt\u2019s important for people to learn to serve in their community \u2026\u00a0 to serve the people that serve them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Camp connects local churches<\/h3>\n
The camp, now in its second year, brought together youth from 17 local churches for five days of service and nearly doubled the number of campers it had in its inaugural year.<\/p>\n
Souder, who is also the outreach pastor at Grace Covenant Church, organized this year\u2019s camp along with Adrian Mills, daytime projects director, and evening activities directors Cris Lopez and Gordon Weirich.<\/p>\n
The camp\u2019s mission is threefold, according to Souder: to strengthen campers\u2019 relationship with God and the community, as well as the relationships among local churches.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a really cool way to meet other people from churches in our area,\u201d said camper Caroline Shank, 15, daughter of Merle and Sue Shank.<\/p>\n
To fully focus on the camp\u2019s goals, students have been camping at Harrisonburg High School since Sunday, despite the school\u2019s proximity to their homes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou really need to get away to have time for your world view to change,\u201d Souder said. \u201cIf they went home every night, they would lose the momentum of what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Youth serve at 50 sites<\/h3>\n
On Wednesday, students helped build a porch at First Step, a shelter for victims of domestic violence, ran the food bank at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, served meals at the Salvation Army and performed yard work and cleaned at multiple other locations.<\/p>\n
By the time camp ends Friday, the teens will have worked at about 50 different sites.<\/p>\n
For camper Iain Slater, 13, a self-proclaimed \u201ccity boy,\u201d the week gave him an opportunity not only to appreciate hard work, but to strengthen his faith.<\/p>\n
\u201c[I originally thought] it was a week of a lot of work,\u201d said Iain, son of Joseph and Terri Slater. \u201cWhen I came here, I found it was so much more, especially spiritually. We\u2019re glorifying God in our work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Article courtesy of the Daily News-Record<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Need’s Already Here Mike Souder has taken classes at Eastern Mennonite Seminary. Kara Yoder, current seminary student, and Peter Eberly, 2007 MDiv, are on the planning committee. 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