Anderson Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church

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By Mason W. Canales
Killeen Daily Herald

For missioning Killeen-area teens, the journey across the world to Kenya was more than doing work in the name of God; it was an eye-opening experience about Gods gifts.

Eighteen congregation members from Anderson Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church and Greater Vision Community Church in Killeen traveled to Nakuru, Kenya, for a mission trip from March 12 to March 23.

"This is the third trip to Kenya in this series," said the Rev. William Campbell Jr., Anderson Chapel's pastor. "Every year Great Vision supported the trip we would take, but this year they said 'we would like to go.'"

It wasn't just Greater Vision's first mission trip to Kenya; it was also the first trip for the nine teenagers who went, Campbell said.

"Our young people got an opportunity to have a dialogue with the young people of Kenya," said Greater Vision's pastor, the Rev. David Reynolds.

During the mornings of the mission trip, Campbell and Reynolds would teach a pastor leadership course to the local congregation leaders. Some courses were to African Methodist Episcopal Church leaders, while other courses were to any Christian leaders, Campbell said.

But once the afternoon came, the mission youth would praise dance and Reynolds or Campbell would preach at what the Kenyans called a crusade.

At the first dance, all of the mission youth gathered and looked out into the crowd at the crusade, Greater Vision member Chelsea Hodges, 16, said. It was so touching everyone started to crying.

They cried because the youth were amazed by how many people showed up, and how many people were there to praise God, Hodges said.

Hundreds of people would come to the crusades and hundreds of children, Campbell said.

"They are a little less fortunate than us, but they are more enthusiastic about everything," Anderson Chapel member Jai Reese, 18, said. "They praise God for everything ... even if they don't have anything, they still give him all the praise."

Many people there are struggling to have the common comforts we as United State citizens have, Hodges said.

"It is kids 3 or 4 years old and they are praising the Lord and they don't having anything," Hodges said. "They don't have water or food, but they are still praising the Lord."

Because of the trip, Hodges and Reese both received the message that the small things are worth thanking God for, they said.

"I realized over here in the states, there is always going to issues we face," Reese said. "It just helps me know that the little things matter and the big things, too, but we need to be happy for the little things."

After the first crusade, Campbell knew his mission for the youth had been accomplished.

"All them were just weeping," Campbell said. "We can go home now, because our mission was accomplished, because we affected our youth's lives. It put life into perspective for them as I knew it would."

The youth also traveled to two Kenyan schools.

There they received a new vision of education, Reynolds said.

The children in Kenya all want to be in school, they want to be learning to become someone to help their country, and our youth saw that, Reynolds said.

"Here we have such a great opportunity, we need to take advantage of them," Hodges said. "If they had that same opportunities, they would probably be doctors and lawyers."

The praise dances the youth performed not only showed the youths' bond to God to the Kenyans, but also bonded the two youth groups together, Reese said.

"Dancing helped so much. Whenever we communicated through dance, we grew so close together," Reese said. "It created a bond. It was through dance that had brought all that out."

The Kenyans love to dance, but the missioning youth dancing was different, Reese said. "The Kenyan people dance from the hips, and we are so fluid with lots of our movements," she added.

The missioning youth taught some Kenya children praise dancing during the week and they all preformed it together at the youth's final crusade, Campbell said.

The mission group also traveled on a safari, and toured some of the cities in Kenya, Campbell said. The moments among the animals were precious, and even that taught the mission children something.

"I think we learned more from the people in the Nakuru then we gave," Reynolds said. "I think it was a success because we all learned something. Religiously, we learned how one could hold on to our faith with out a whole lot."

Contact Mason W. Canales at mcanales@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7554. Follow him on Twitter at KDHheights.

Other information

Anderson Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church and Greater Vision Community Church will host a City Wide Mission Night 6 p.m. April 25 at Greater Vision Community Church, 2000 East Stan Schlueter Loop.

The mission night will include a big DVD presentation of the trip, testimony from the trip, authentic African dishes, and will discuss future plans.

Killeen Daily Herald Article