SaturateColorado.com

When most students think about their summer vacation, they visualize themselves finding relief from the heat at the pool, or partying at a friend’s house, or just sleeping in.  For most, summer vacation spells freedom from teachers, homework, and classes.  But for some summer vacation means so much more.  Around 1,800 students are participating in PowerPlant projects across North America.  PowerPlant is an initiative of the North American Mission Board whose goal is to get students involved in church planting. 

This is the second year in a row that PowerPlant has come to the Denver area.  Korey Buchanek, founding pastor of Hope Valley Church in Green Valley Ranch served as the Ministry Coordinator and John Howeth, Director of Missions of Longs Peak Baptist Association served as the Project Coordinator.  They were joined by five collegiate students from all over the United States who are a summer staff working in six cities in the West.

Over 130 people gave up a week of their summer to come to the Denver area, not for a vacation, but to serve the people.  The students stayed at Arapahoe Road Baptist Church, where they participated in worship, Bible study, and church planting and evangelism training. But the real excitement happened in the mornings. After breakfast, the groups served in the communities that their church planter worked in.  They did sports camps, cleaned up parks, worked at food banks, Backyard Bible clubs, Vacation Bible schools, children’s nature camps, block parties, canvassing, and other service projects.  Many of the things that church planters couldn’t do without their help. 

The Denver project had youth groups from all over.  Centreville Baptist Church, from Centreville Alabama, worked with Rand Clark of Genesis Church.  Genesis Church is located in Castle Rock.  Castle Rock has 40,000 people in the city.  They have 3,000 in their target area and are expecting it to grow to 10,000 in the next three years.  Genesis wants to help their community glorify God by being passionate about people and caring for creation.  The Centreville group helped them by prayer walking, canvassing, doing community service projects, and hosting a block party.

• Southside Baptist Church, from Jacksonville, Florida, worked with George Garner of Ken Caryl Baptist Church in the Trail Mark Community to find a person of peace to start a Bible study that could become a church.  The students did a Kids Club to help develop interest among the people in the community.
• Hillcrest Baptist Church, from Franklinton, Louisiana, worked with Scott Kelly of ChristChurch in Superior.  Superior has a population of 12,000, 90% of which are lost. The students in this group held a children’s nature club.
• Friendship Baptist Church, from Lincoln Park Michigan, worked with Steve Scott of Living Branch Church in Englewood.  The ministry in Englewood targets a variety of people: all ages, classes, and races. The students did a Backyard Bible Club to serve the children and their families.
• Sherwood Baptist Church, from Odessa, Texas, worked with John Lewis of Ethne Church.  Although Ethne is a simple house church they’ve started various kinds of churches. The students worked with ethnic people groups doing prayer walking among the Hispanic community in Castle Rock and a sports camp among the Karen people group, refugees from Burma who reside primarily in east Denver.
• Grace Fellowship Church, from Norman, Oklahoma, worked with Korey Buchanek of Hope Valley Church at Green Valley Ranch.  The students with this plant did a Vacation Bible School, prayer walking, and other service projects.  

These 6 groups traveled hours to get to Denver for one common purpose – to live out the great commission in a very real way.  But, while the work that they did in Denver was great, what comes after the week is over is even greater.  Throughout the week, the students were encouraged to continue the same work at home.  In the Church Planting and Evangelism training sessions, the groups were taught to see the church as more than a building.  And that idea is taught even more on the ministry where they worked.  The churches they worked with may have had no more that 20 members, no regular meetings, or place to meet.  The students were forced to see that the church is not a building, but a group of believers that come together with a common love and hope.  So while the students were here they were a part of the church plants they worked with.  But they also learned that, even after they go home, they are forever connected to their church plant and every other believer they encountered.  Although they may be separated by miles and mountains, they will forever be brothers and sisters in Christ. They are connected by the hope they have in Him.  That is the church.