Norfolk Christian Schools: Summer 2025 Week 5

Week 5 of Summer Missions is a wrap! Last week we had missionaries join us from Norfolk Christian Schools. Middle school students from Norfolk Christian served their local community in Chesapeake and Norfolk, sharing the joy of the Lord through service. 

Last week the student missionaries served in a variety of capacities. Some of the missionaries visited PB Young Elementary in Norfolk. We have been partnering alongside this school for many years, helping to prepare for the new school year and serving the staff year-round. The missionaries were able to help clean the classrooms, put together some desks, and minister to staff members. Other missionaries went to Buffalo Family and Friends and helped clean the food pantry. They also assisted with reorganizing the food storage. 

The last service project was to support Redeemer Church's community garden. Through the Lord's providence, He provided a connection with the individual from Redeemer who runs the community garden. God orchestrated it so that our staff team bumped into her at the grocery store on Sunday before the mission trip began. While talking in the store, our team learned that the community garden team needed help tilling the ground and preparing a new large portion of the garden. The missionaries were able to help with this farming work as well as with watching the kids of the volunteers that run the garden. We are grateful to God for this new partnership in our community. 

For mission trips in Hampton Roads, we have two different afternoon Community Outreach events that we host. Half of the students go into Norfolk and host an afternoon VBS at a community center. The other students go to a park in Chesapeake and have a sports day where they invite people at the park to join them and share the gospel at the end of the event. Last week, the missionaries from Norfolk Christian Academy were able to participate in both of these events. At VBS, the missionaries shared the truth of the Gospel through skits and got to know the local kids through constructing crafts and playing games. At the park, the missionaries stepped out in boldness and invited people they did not know to play Ultimate Frisbee with them and hear the gospel. 

During mission trips, on Friday, the student missionaries relax and have a fun day. Last week the missionaries had a beach day in Virginia Beach. Friends from a local chapter of a ministry, Christian Surfers, joined and helped teach some of the missionaries how to surf. Other missionaries enjoyed swimming and boogie boarding. It was a fun and relaxing time after an intense week of service. 

We are so grateful to have had student missionaries join us from Norfolk Christian Schools. These students pursued God by getting up early to have extra time reading their Bibles before our daily scheduled "Breakfast with God" quiet time. They faithfully committed to praying for each other through their struggles and they served even when they were not asked to. The joy for the Lord was evident in the lives of these students from the way they jumped into serving, to their frequent unscripted worship sessions. We will miss this group of missionaries and are grateful that they chose to spend a week of their summer with us.