Finding Our Identity in Christ
by Austin Beachy, Interim SEND House Director
God is faithful. God is good. These are the two promises, prayers, and proven truths that were continually made more and more evident for those of us who were blessed to be a part of City Challenge this summer. City Challenge is a program in which youth groups come to the SEND House in inner-city Columbus, Ohio, and spend five intense days serving others and truly seeking all that the Lord would have for both those being served and the youth themselves. It is incredible how eager the Lord is to act and move when we simply open our eyes and step forward in faith.
This summer we focused on the idea of ‘iDENTITY’ for the groups coming, which proved to be an idea that God would truly use to impact lives. The youth were pushed and stretched to actively live out the love of God together as the body of Christ. As they went out and served the homeless, prayed for strangers, and got real with each other, they were challenged to find the truth of who God says that they are and then to cling to that truth with all they have.
While we were encouraged to continually see personal breakthroughs and relationships restored by the power of God, perhaps the most encouraging thing we saw was what happened after the youth went home from City Challenge. It is easy for them to have a mountaintop experience on a trip like this, only to fall back into the same traps as before just a week later. But truly we have seen lives changed of youth and leaders alike. As one of the leader’s wrote in a letter soon after their group’s time here, “It is like the week was a ‘payday’ for years of steady teaching, discipling, and sometimes mundane youth ministry.” Youth are going home and starting Bible readings in the park, actively going out to meet and feed the homeless in their hometowns, and some are leading their friends to salvation in the Lord. These things are evidence of a God who is alive and waiting to use those who are willing. We hope to see more people come to our new facility next summer to join us in the mighty things God is doing and will do in City Challenge.
