Sleep Out Saturday

While trick-or-treating the students also collected donations for S.O.S.

This weekend our youth group will be raising awareness for homelessness in our county. The way we raise awareness is a bit different then just collecting money and sending it to an organization (though we do that as well). Our students will be sleeping outside, all night, freezing cold, in a mock-simulation of what its like to truly be homeless.

Here's how it breaks down.

4:30 pm The students are dropped off with bags, sleeping bags, cardboard boxes, tents, etc. They fill out registration information (as they would do in a homeless shelter), and then go through a bag check. We the staff have the right to take any electronics, food, etc.

6:00 pm The students and staff then board a school bus which takes us to a rally of several hundred people, also sleeping out for homelessness. The crowd pumps one another up, jump up and down, and rock to a local band. True testimonies of homelessness are given, real families talk of their struggles, both adults and children.

9:00 pm We return to the church where the students are led around bond fires in acoustic worship and a short talk.

12:00 am A mock-soup kitchen is set up where chili and bread will be served, though limited amounts. Again, a homeless shelter isn't a buffet, you get your food, enjoy a warm meal and go on your way. We want the kids to experience some hunger, some discomfort.

1 am-7 am Students and staff try to sleep as much as possible. They sleep in cars, tents and cardboard boxes. Whatever makeshift home they can come up with for the night. It's always rough, junior high kids often give in and are allowed inside as it is mid November.

7 am Clean up begins around the parking lot/church before the services that morning. Breakfast is served later in the morning as kids lay helplessly along the youth room floors and couches.

11 am Most students and staff take the trek upstairs to the sanctuary for service. They are poked, prodded and for the most part, kept awake throughout the service.

12:30 pm They head home for much deserved naps and then homework.

They may never experience true homelessness in their lifetime, but Christ asks His children to have a heart of compassion, to love your neighbor as yourself, no matter what your neighbor may look like or what home they may or may not have. We are called to serve and love "the least of these" and that includes raising money, awareness and learning for ourselves the reality of homelessness in America today.

So pray for us, pray for the students to allow Christ to change their hearts, open their minds and see all the blessings He has given each of them.