7 July 2015 | San Antonio, Texas, USA [Katie Allen, tedNEWS] Impact San Antonio, run by the Young Adult ministries in the North American Division (NAD) and General Conference (GC), has inspired the Church’s young people to get active in their communities. It provides opportunities to volunteer at a variety of projects in the city of San Antonio, throughout General Conference Session.
On Tuesday, 7 July, the Sabbath Sofa initiative was added to the list of possible projects to get involved with and was coupled with a similar activity titled, ‘A $ For Your Story’. The two projects focus on asking members of the public to share their stories, but with different incentives and different purposes.
The Sabbath Sofa originated in the UK, created by pastors Vili Costescu, Sam Neves and Sam Gungaloo, who is also a co-presenter. With a comfortable sofa placed in a busy metropolitan area, the aim is to ask passers-by if they are tired and need a rest. A presenter or volunteer then encourages them to sit down and relax, while sharing the importance of having a day of rest each week. This opens up discussion about the Sabbath day and individuals are challenged to try a day of rest for themselves.
“We try to keep it casual because we want them to be able to trust us and see us as friends, otherwise they won’t be receptive to what we want to say”, said Ana Costescu, co-presenter of the Sabbath Sofa. “The key thing we say to every single person is to imagine your ideal day off, twenty-four hours where you put aside all your stresses and you just focus on spending time with your family, friends and God and helping out in the community.”
One of the most moving Sabbath Sofa visitors of the day was a young man named Josh, who is homeless. He told his story of how he has been homeless for five years and had a heavy drug addiction, which he had overcome just six months before.
“I am currently homeless, but recently I have developed a close relationship with God”, shared Josh. “He has opened up my eyes to see that the world is coming to an end soon. I was on drugs really bad for years, but asked God to help me and now I’ve been six months sober. I think getting to know people, like what you’re doing, is such a big part of being a Christian and I’m real happy God brought me to you today.”
There is such a variety of other projects to participate in each afternoon, that every volunteer is more than appreciated. Projects include, helping at a homeless shelter, assisting with the clean-up and beautification of low income neighbourhoods and participating in a kid’s health expo.
The young people who have registered with Impact San Antonio meet in the mornings at the Marriott River Centre for devotion, inspirational messages and to get to know one another. School buses take them to lunch, at the Second Baptist Church in downtown, then to the locations of the projects dotted about the city.
“I’m here as part of the one-year mission team and we’re currently conducting some training”, said Josh Wood, with the Impact organisers team. “45 minutes of practical teaching on how to implement mission work in your community…there’s a whole heap of community needs here in San Antonio. We’re not creating new projects, we’re just linking with services that are already there and helping them do the work that they’ve been doing for years and encourage them in what they’ve done.” [tedNEWS]
tedNEWS Staff: Miroslav Pujic, director; Deana Stojkovic, editor
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