by Joel Elmore

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When youth choose to live out their faith through service, they may never know who is watching or how their example may inspire someone else. That was the unexpected impact of Impact Missions’ visit to HopeTree this summer.

Through Impact Missions summer camps, youth from churches across Virginia spent the summer giving back to organizations making a difference in their communities. At HopeTree’s Salem campus, they spent a week painting both of our Therapeutic Group Homes (TGH), one home for boys and one for girls. The goal was to help create a warmer, more welcoming place for youth in foster care to call home.

HopeTree’s TGH program provides a safe, stable, and nurturing home environment for youth ages 11 to 17 in foster care who are unable to safely return to their families. Through evidence-based practices, compassionate care and individualized plans, we equip youth with the tools they need to heal, grow, and thrive. For young people who have experienced instability, creating a place where they feel a sense of safety, welcome, and belonging is an important part of that care.

Our hope was that the residents would enjoy the refreshed look of their homes. What we soon realized was that the Impact Missions volunteers were giving them something more: an example of what it looks like to put faith into action.

“I am here because God has been so good to me, and I want his goodness to reflect in my actions,” said one youth volunteer. “Hopefully, I can inspire someone else to have the same kind of relationship that I have with him because he has blessed me in so many ways, and I want someone else to have that same opportunity.”

While the volunteers hoped their service would inspire others, they may not have expected it to reach one of the young people living in the very home they were helping to paint.

“I think that it was pretty cool that there was a group of my peers willing to do something like this,” one TGH resident shared. “It makes me think that this could be something that I could do someday to give back.”

That response has stayed with me. Since our founding as the Baptist Orphanage of Virginia in 1890, faith has been part of HopeTree’s ministry. Today, youth in TGH have opportunities to grow in their relationship with God through Bible studies, participation in Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and involvement with local churches.

But it was this single act of kindness shown by Impact Missions that spurred others on in their own faith journey. These volunteers demonstrated to our residents that faith-driven service is not something reserved for adults. Young people can inspire other young people simply by choosing to live out what they believe.

This is one of the opportunities we have as churches and faith-based organizations. When we give young people meaningful opportunities to serve, they experience what it means to use their time, talents, and faith to care for others. Through partnerships with organizations like HopeTree, churches can meet tangible needs while helping their youth discover the joy and purpose that comes from serving their communities.

I am grateful for the volunteers of Impact Missions who gave their time and energy to HopeTree. Their work helped create more welcoming homes for our youth, but their example left an even greater impression.

I am also grateful for the Baptist General Association of Virginia’s continued commitment to answering scripture’s call to care for those who are vulnerable and on the margins of society.

James 1:27 reminds us, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

May the Lord continue to work through our churches, our families, and our young people as we partner together to serve children and families, strengthen our communities, and bring hope to those who need it most.

Rev. Joel Elmore is Chaplain and Activities Coordinator at HopeTree Family Services, a BGAV ministry partner.

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