Some children go without meals, sleep on the floor and have nobody to read to them. Meadowbrook Baptist Church in Waco is working to change that.
“Meadowbrook has always had a heart for missions since its beginning in 1959,” Pastor Cary
Killough said.
One of the larger missions the church is involved with is Sleep in Heavenly Peace of Waco, a nonprofit organization that provides wood and tools to build beds for children, ages 3 to 17.
“Here in McClennan County, we have over 4,000 children who do not sleep in a bed at night,” said Amy Castello, missions and family pastor at Meadowbrook Baptist Church.
“Sleep in Heavenly Peace started because they realized that for a child to do well in school, they need to be well-rested. That’s hard to do if you’re sleeping on a couch, floor, or in a bed with two or three other siblings.”
‘Walk alongside other ministries’
The church became involved with Sleep in Heavenly Peace Waco a few years ago when the organization started its Waco chapter.
“I felt strongly when I felt called to be a mission’s pastor, that our main job is to walk alongside other ministries and agencies that are doing things well,” Castello said. “We don’t necessarily have to create our own thing but to collaborate with other people.”
In September 2023, Meadowbrook sponsored a bed build event for the organization in which local volunteers built 30 beds and provided bedding for them.
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At the end of the bed build event, Meadowbrook offered to let Sleep in Heavenly Peace use their church in another way. The church’s youth group had moved from an old wing of the church to another facility, leaving that building empty.
“So, Sleep in Heavenly Peace asked if they could use it, and we said, ‘yes,’” Castello said.
Sleep in Heavenly Peace of Waco uses the building to house its tools, and the group holds a community build event there once a month.
Christopher Taylor, chapter co-president at Sleep in Heavenly Peace of Waco, said working for the organization has been a blessing in many ways.
“To me, the best thing in the world is to go and deliver the beds,” Taylor said. “To go in there and see the kids’ smiles on their faces when they get a bed, to know what this means to them, it is a true blessing to do that.
“In addition to that, I love getting to do what I believe God has called us to do, and to be able to partner with many other like-minded people that just want to serve him and serve others.”
‘Part of the passion and calling of God’
Meadowbrook Baptist Church also partners with other local ministries, such as Shepherd’s Heart Food Pantry of Waco. On the second Friday of every month, the church hosts a mobile food distribution in their parking lot.
At least twice a year, the church hosts Meadowbrook Loves. The event helps the ministries and agencies the congregation supports by sending them volunteers to finish projects.
Church volunteers also work with a local elementary school to feed kids when school is not in session, along with supporting Christian Women’s Job Corps, Beloved and Beyond Camp, and other local ministries.
“We believe missions are part of the passion and calling of God for our church—or any church, for that matter,” Killough said. “Our family here at Meadowbrook loves to give to—and be involved in—missions.”
Emily Hughitt, a student at Howard Payne University, served during the spring semester as an intern with theBaptist Standard.
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