The village of Perth-Andover and surrounding communities took notice when a flood of teens in burgundy tshirts started showing up all over the place doing good deeds the week of July 16-22. Youth Groups from Baptist Churches in Sackville NB, Sussex NB, and PEI partnered with youth and adult volunteers from our Church and spent a week serving our community. We spent our mornings doing a kid’s Bible camp at the Tobique First Nation youth centre; on Monday we assembled and delivered over 115 cold plates to seniors and shut-ins. Tuesday we scoured the village for garbage, filling the back of a pick-up truck. Thursday we conducted a food drive for our Good Samaritan Food Bank, collecting enough food to keep the Food Bank going strong until it’s annual food drive in October. Friday afternoon some teens went to the food bank to sort food, while others went to visit residents at the Manor. Others scattered around town handing out flowers and bags of candy with an attached note letting the recipients know that “Jesus loves you”. Over the course of the week, not only was Perth-Andover impacted, so were the youth who participated, and our entire Church.
Below is a report taken from the Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches’ website:
he impact of 1000 youth serving for a week in a community is something that cannot be measured! Last week Tidal Impact swept across western New Brunswick from Jemseg to Perth Andover, and it left behind transformed lives and deeply impacted communities! Shelby Mercer, a volunteer leader from Geary said after the Wednesday night rally “It’s a first time for us taking part and we will never miss another Tidal Impact! The rally last night was unbelievable. The chorus of voices giving their lives to the Lord is something I will never forget. God is good!!”
During the week youth were involved in morning ministries to Children and Seniors, community projects and First Nations ministry. Youth participated in two large-scale organized community events. On Tuesday afternoon they hit the streets doing a colossal garbage cleanup, and then on Thursday evening they participated in a huge food drive that collected 35000 pounds of food for local food banks! For a break, all the youth took part in an afternoon of fun at either Green Hill Lake Camp or Camp Shiktehawk. Tidal Impact didn’t go unnoticed as there was press coverage by four radio staions and two local papers.
Youth took part in five worship rallies. A kick off rally featured dynamic guest speaker Lennett Anderson, and at the evening rallies the youth were challenged by the powerful speaking of Duffy Robbins and Dave Currie, and led in worship by the Mike Janzen Band and Life Support.
Tidal Impact is coordinated through the Youth and Family Department of our Convention, and is made possible by the hard work of a large team of volunteers.