Two commands in Mark 12 build the foundation of Christ’s message.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. (verse 30)
Love your neighbor as yourself. (verse 31)
Christ implores us to help the helpless and be a beacon of hope shining across a dark sea. Or, in this case, across the Gulf of Mexico.
The FCA Huddle at Mosley High School in Panama City, Fla., uses backpacks to ease the burden for students on Spring Break and children around the area, both hungry for different reasons. They partner with Hands and Hearts of Hope, reaching out to college students to share a life’s meaning beyond the beaches, and with the Elementary School Backpack Club through local churches, where the Huddle assists in providing ready-to-eat food for children brought home in backpacks for the weekend.
"Manna Bags" are given to students in Panama City for Spring Break.
Hearts and Hands of Hope is an organization founded by one of the Mosley FCA Huddle leaders, junior Catie Byrd, and her sister and mom. Their Manna Bag Ministry is a project where “Manna Bags” filled with beach necessities are handed out to students in town for Spring Break. Items in the bag have scripture pertaining to their use, such as “I am the light of the world” on sunscreen bottles, and Frisbees with Isaiah 40:31.
Ann Talkington, MHS assistant tennis coach and Huddle volunteer, realizes the need behind the heart of these service opportunities. “When you look at what it really means to be a Christ follower, it means to do and obey what Jesus said,” she says. “He came to serve, and not to be served, and that’s what we’re called to do as a ministry.”
Byrd is grateful for the opportunity to combine ministries. “It’s really cool that Hearts and Hands of Hope is getting to partner with FCA. We’re getting to do some ministry that helps us reach out to other people and tell them about Jesus.”
Junior tennis player Bailey Ann Corbin echoes the need for beach outreach. “We live in ‘Spring Break Central’- it’s pretty crazy here. I think everyone is eager to pitch in in any way to help get the gospel out to those people, because you can tell they need Jesus.”
“In Panama City, we have a special opportunity to reach so many young people during Spring Break, to give them a perspective of Christ and eternity, and not just selfish ambition, but for our own salvation and reaching others for the gospel. It really gives us a mindset of Christ,” adds Talkington.
“The word of God never comes back void,” reminds Corbin, “so when we give these Bible verses to people on the beach, we’re just planting seeds. It’s cool to see someone show up at church like ‘we just came because we heard about it from this beach bag.’”
In partnering with the local churches’ Elementary School Backpack Club, providing backpacks means providing sustenance for children whose source of food for the weekend comes from this service. Talkington knows the weight those backpacks hold, going to kids who don’t necessarily eat three meals a day and are at risk.
“They’re going to forget their homework and they’re going to forget lots of things, but they never forget to bring those backpacks back on Monday because that means they get them again on Friday.”
The weekend backpack ministry is an integral part of Mosley’s Huddle. “Whereas we encourage our Huddles to do at least one community service event per semester, they’ve taken this on and have been doing this for two years as an ongoing community service event that they’re raising money for to fill these backpacks every week,” Sean Aland, Southeast Coastal area representative, notes.
Mosley HS Huddle members display Manna Bags they assembled for their beach ministry.
Generosity spreads through the halls and into the hearts of not just the children, but also fellow students.
“These are students that may not be able to well afford their own lunches, but they’ve managed to bring in quarters and change to pay for their Pizza Lunch Fellowship or to give us offerings,” Talkington states. “It is definitely teaching them to love their neighbors as themselves, and that’s the heart of our ministry- to love God with all your heart and strength and mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself.”
To serve the heart of God is to impress upon the hunger for those longing to been seen, heard and loved.
This, Byrd believes, is exactly what God’s ministry stands for. “It’s just having a heart and love for people who are lost and people who the world doesn’t always pay attention to.”