Greensburg—Approximately 965 students, chaperones and crew leaders spent a week of their summer sleeping on air mattresses in school classrooms, showering in a Disaster Relief trailer, and working long days in the hot sun building ramps, painting houses, repairing siding and more. Their goal as Kentucky Changers was to share the gospel through their work.

The students spent time before starting on their jobsites learning the “3 Circles” evangelism method. They needed to be ready to put their training to use and share their faith as they ministered to homeowners through service projects.

In Greensburg alone, the last of the four locations for the year and the project that saw the largest attendance, 28 jobs were completed. Applications for these jobs came through local community centers, churches, and other avenues.

“It’s hard to explain what makes you want to come back honestly,” Hannah Wittinghill, a junior from Green River Baptist Church, shared. She has been coming to Kentucky Changers for the last four years.

Wittinghill continued, “I mean, we pay money to sleep on air mattresses, in high school classrooms, work in the hot sun all day, go to worship and start again the next day. People are confused about why you’d want to do that. When you come, you understand more, honestly.”

For many participants, the allure of Kentucky Changers is the homeowners and their stories. One crew spent the week painting a house purple and teal. The family who owned the house had three children with autism. The family’s kids picked the color themselves.

Lori Boswell, a group leader from Worthville Baptist Church, signed up for roofing and “did not want to do painting at all,” she said. “But then I found out the story of the six children and that we were painting it purple, and I got excited.”

Caroline Whitman’s favorite thing about Changers is “how welcoming the homeowners are.”

“They’re so thankful about how helpful people are,” said the student from Pleasant View Baptist Church. “I’m coming back next year.”

She added, “You see everyone more willing to work for God throughout the week and a difference in the homeowners. The more you talk to them and love them, the more willing they are to talk to us and have lunch with us.”

Although JT Jones, an assistant crew chief from Sebree First Baptist Church and a student at Southern Seminary, sees the “big picture” of Kentucky Changers as an opportunity to “work hard so the gospel would be seen in our actions,” he also really enjoys the opportunity to invest in students.

He writes notes of encouragement to the kids, and in them he includes a passage of scripture for them to study. Throughout the week, he questions the students on their given passages. This year, he focused on biblical manhood and womanhood, giving the boys Deuteronomy 6 and Psalm 1 to study and the girls Proverbs 31.

Paul Minch, an assistant crew chief from Squiresville Baptist Church added, “The most memorable thing is watching these kids grow over a week’s time. Before the week’s over they’re family. And that’s only the love of God at work.”

He continued, “It’s not only these younger folks that grow, but watching them helps us older folks grow, and that happens every week you come.”

The takeaway of Pam Ramines, a Kentucky Changers nurse for the week, was the similarities of doing missions in their own backyard to overseas missions.

“I love doing international missions in Honduras. I’m amazed and astonished by how similar it is here,” she said. “International missions enlightens you to the needs that we have here, and it’s nice to be able to speak the same language, too. It surprised me to see how Jesus can be spread locally”

Kentucky Changers will continue next year with projects in Maysville, Northern Kentucky Baptist Association, Russellville, and Tates Creek Baptist Association. For more information on how to become involved, visit www.kywmu.org/changers. (WR)