Youth Missions
Contact: Brooks Godfrey, Minister with Youth
919.828.0897, x217
bgodfrey@pullen.org
In Our Own Backyard
In Our Own Back Yard (IOOBY) gives younger youth an opportunity to explore local ministry needs in the greater Raleigh area. This event is exclusively for youth who have just completed the sixth or seventh grade. We visit local service organizations, learn about what they do, and do some of what they do. This adventure helps youth understand the needs that exist around them. It also introduces them to volunteer opportunities that exist for youth and adults.
IOOBY is four days and three nights of activity, service, learning, and reflection. We spend Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights at the church. Learning opportunities begin Sunday evening with opportunities for participants to get to know one another and to get an overview of the topic we will be exploring in the days ahead. Each morning, participants have breakfast and make their own brown-bag lunch. We travel to a local service agency and volunteer several hours of our time for hands-on experience. After lunch, we have some free time to work on our own projects before walking to Pullen Aquatic Center to swim and shower. A hearty dinner at the church fuels us for some play time, learning time, and time for reflection; followed, finally, by a late night game or movie before lights out.
Summer Mission Trip
The Housing Development Alliance (HDA) in the Perry County / Hazard, KY area is working hard to improve the housing conditions of residents in and around the area it serves. They offer organizations the opportunity to join with them in this effort. Pullen returned to Hazard, KY in 2008 after a ten-year absence and found plenty of work still to be done. This trip is an annual intergenerational mission experience for the Pullen congregation.
The Summer Mission Trip is a unique opportunity to work with other Pullenites in challenging and rewarding ways. Come and join us next year as we help the HDA improve the housing conditions of their neighbors. Be warned though! You will come back a changed person!
Cuba
Older Pullen youth have traveled on a pilgrimage to Matanzas, Cuba, since 2000, and the results have included some amazing things! Some youth have changed their college plans as a result of their trip. Others have used their trip to help them realize their college plans. What we can be certain of is that a trip to Cuba will create memories you will remember for years, perhaps decades, to come!
The trip takes many months of preparation. The team, once identified, embarks of fundraising projects including yard sales, yard work, and auctions, to name just a few. The team also embarks on group development activities including lock-ins and a weekend retreat. The pilgrimage is one with numerous facets. Youth and adults work closely together since every team member is an important part of the experience.
Youth travel to Cuba every other year. During their trip, they meet young people (teenagers and young adults) from our partner church. We spend time getting to know one another. We do daily devotions together. They show us the mission work in which they are involved at the church, in the neighborhood, and in small communities miles away. The experience helps American youth recognize how much more they have than they need or it helps them appreciate what they have that they may have been taking for granted.
This is a challenging trip. The months of preparation, the cost, the exhausting day-long travel, and the intensely different culture, requires serious consideration before making a commitment to the trip. For those who do, and invest themselves in it, a truly rewarding and potentially life-changing experience awaits!