It's labor with a purpose

Young missionaries come to town to help and to spread their message.

By SHERRI DAY
Published June 29, 2007

TAMPA - Grace Wilke slipped on work gloves early Thursday and grabbed the wand of a heavy-duty pressure-washing machine.

The day's task? To clean the exterior of a senior citizen's 1, 700 square-foot house, spruce up the landscaping and swath the building in a new coat of light green paint.

Wilke, 16, paid nearly $300 for the privilege of such wearisome work. Back home in Jacksonville, her friends question why she spent her earnings from baby sitting and doing odd jobs to help someone else.

"I told them I am going to change the world, " Wilke said smiling.

Wilke is one of 144 teenagers in Tampa this week for an eight-day missions trip. The young workers hail from Georgia, Texas, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina and Florida and call themselves World Changers. They aim to assist the elderly, people with low incomes and churches with construction projects, light maintenance and yard work.

For 10 years, the Tampa Bay Baptist Association has helped bring the youth missionaries to Tampa.

The World Changers program, sponsored by the Southern Baptist Convention's mission board, has more than 24, 000 participants at 92 sites around the country in states from Alaska to Alabama. The group also has volunteers in Canada, Puerto Rico and 20 other international locations, organizers said.

In Hillsborough County, volunteers are at 15 sites, each chosen by the local baptist association and nonprofits. This week, they are putting new roofs on churches, painting houses and teaching vacation Bible school. Most staffed outdoor construction projects at private residences.

At Robert Ramp's home in eastern Hillsborough County, the volunteers spent three days painting, doing yard work and completely renovating his bathroom.

"You couldn't ask for any better service, " said Ramp, an 83-year-old World War II veteran, bragging on his new tile work and walk-in shower. "They did everything you could think of."

The teens labor with a purpose.

"For us, it's not just community service, " said Amy Houseworth, 31, the group's project coordinator from Atlanta. "We're doing this to share Jesus Christ with these people. That is the main message we want kids to get across. It's showing God's love through acts of service."

Brittney Ruiz, a 14-year-old from McDonough, Ga., said seeing smiles on the faces of people she's helped is her reward.

"It makes you get close to God, " Ruiz said. "It makes us realize that we take a lot for granted and how fortunate we are."

Sherri Day can be reached at 813-226-3405 or sday@sptimes.com.

[Last modified June 28, 2007, 23:43:50]