CLOWNS Brittney Farrar (right) of First Baptist Church in Bay City and Brooke Jowell of University Heights Baptist Church in Huntsville make balloon animals for children at a Missions Funfest held at Park Lake Drive Baptist Church in Waco. (Photo by Ken Camp)

Acteens learn flexibility at Waco missions event
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___WACO--Texas Acteens spent a rainy Saturday afternoon in makeshift raingear, knocking on the doors of homes "with Big Wheels and bicycles out front" and inviting children to missions carnivals at several Waco-area churches.
___Five Waco Baptist Association churches had planned "Funfest" carnivals for March 3. The Funfests offered free games, crafts and other activities for children ages 5 to 12.
___Each of the carnivals was staffed by young volunteers attending Acteens IMPACT (an acronymn for In Missions Preparation As Christian Teens). The annual missions event at Baylor University for teenage girls is sponsored by Woman's Missionary Union of Texas.
___The carnivals originally were slated as outdoor events, but a cold rain started falling on Saturday morning and grew heavier as the day went on. The churches and the Acteens adjusted by moving the Funfests into often-cramped indoor facilities on short notice.
___After setting up a variety of booths, the girls put on everything from raincoats to trashcan liners and began going door-to-door in neighborhoods, inviting children to the carnivals.
___The afternoon missions action project provided an opportunity for Acteens to carry out the IMPACT theme, "Go Beyond," according to keynote speaker Brandon Barnard.
___"We don't deserve to go across the country or around the world until we're willing to go across the street," said Barnard, youth ministry consultant at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark.
___Christian discipleship demands that believers go deep, go wide and go beyond, he told the girls. The starting point is being, rather than doing, Barnard said.
___"God wants to control your intimate thoughts, your relationships, your appetites and your desires," he said. "God is far more concerned with who he wants you to be than what he wants you to do."
___Barnard challenged the girls to deepen their personal relationship with God through a relationship with Jesus.
___"You become like the people you spend time with," he said. "Spend time with Jesus. Start imitating him. Take on the mind of Christ."
___The desire to share the gospel grows naturally out of a maturing, vital relationship with Christ, he added. "Once you have tasted God's goodness, you can't helping sharing."
___

The Baptist Standard