PHOTOS PROVIDED BY ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH, LAKELAND
Members of the Soul in the City missionary team help to landscape a yard this summer.
The summertime means hitting the beach and going on vacations for many folks, but for dozens of Central Florida youth it marked a red-hot opportunity to do missionary work.
More than 83 students in sixth- through 12th-grade participated in the “Soul in the City” event July 23-27 at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Lakeland. The mission week camp drew students from all over the Diocese of Central Florida, including St. Michael’s in College Park (Orlando), Holy Cross in Sanford, St. Alban’s in Auburndale, St. Luke and St. Peter in St. Cloud, St. Barnabas in DeLand, and All Saints’, Lakeland.
With the support of eight adult leaders from visiting churches and 25 adult staff/volunteers from All Saints’, Lakeland, the youth group ministered and accomplished projects in a whopping 28 different sites this year, according to the Rev. Kathy Hulin, director of Family Ministries at All Saints’, Lakeland.
“It was a hugely successful event with lots of enthusiasm from the places/organizations where we served, and with students and leaders who enjoyed the fun, fellowship, and sense of accomplishment from their work sites,” Hulin said.
A group of All Saints’, Lakeland, missionary workers take a quick break from a work site.
This year’s group began each of their mornings with a breakfast and a morning devotion before setting off to work from 8:45 a.m. to noon, Hulin said. After breaking for lunch at All Saints’, the group set out for another work site from 12:45 to 3:15 p.m.
The group then took some down time for showers and swimming at a local YMCA before returning for dinner at All Saints’, Hulin said. The group finished the day with group games on the church’s youth floor, worship in the nave, more down time, and lights out.
“Soul in the City” youth extended their missionary reach and then some this summer. Work sites included taking care of some of the senior members of All Saints’ Church; outreach to the N. Lake Wire neighborhood of Lakeland through the outreach work that deacon Bob Johnson is leading at All Saints’ Church; Florida Baptist Children’s Homes; Parker Street Ministries; TLC Animal Shelter; Anchor House Ministries; Volunteers in Service to the Elderly (VISTE); City of Lakeland Lakes Division; A Woman’s Choice; Lakeland Police; Lakeland Fire Department; and The Dream Center.
Soul in the City youth are all smiles this summer while doing missionary work in Polk County.
The work has been gratifying for many as more than half of this year’s group had participated in a prior Soul in the City event and at least 25 percent had participated in multiple years, Hulin said. “We also had recent high school graduates who returned for their final time,” she said.