FRANKLIN
Working to show that today’s teens are not all selfish and self-absorbed — as some people might believe — youth groups from four area churches came together this past weekend for a one-day mission event called “Impacting Many People Alongside Christ Together (I.M.P.A.C.T.) 7-5-7.”

At least 50 young people came from Franklin Baptist Church, Courtland United Methodist Church, Blackcreek Baptist Church and Holland Baptist Church. They went to clean up four yards in the Edge Hill neighborhood of Franklin by raking, re-mulching and washing windows. The youth also had time to re-mulch at Baker’s Home for Adults in Franklin. In addition, the participants also talked about Jesus Christ to residents in the area they served.

“I just want people in the community to see there are a lot of young people who are on fire about Christ and I want to erase the stereotype of this generation’s youth,” said Cody Billups, the pastoral intern and a youth leader at Franklin Baptist Church.

He also believes the goal was successful.

“Yes, I really think they were able to see that there is still good youth out there,” he said.

The idea for the mission came during the Passport Camps the Franklin Baptist Church’s youth attended this past summer. The young people talked about what they had learned back home.

“We just got fired up about spreading the word about Christ to the community and we came up with this event,” Billups added.

Franklin Baptist Church donated all the funds for the project. Billups, Matthew Johnson and Dawna Walton, the other youth leaders, were in charge.

“It was a really humbling experience to see the kids be excited about work and helping out others. They were looking at it as a fun Saturday,” Billups said.

He also said that by the end of the day many of the teens were already asking when the next mission event like this would be.

“After all of the excitement from the kids, we decided to go ahead and plan another event. The next one will be on Saturday, May 14,” Billups added.

The churches hope that the next mission will be even bigger than this one. They are hoping more youth will participate and that they will have more sites where they can help out.