We are All Changed through Missions

     I served as the pastor of Hinsdale UMC, in Hinsdale, IL,  from 2013-2019.   During my tenure, we developed and re-initiated several ministries to encourage youth and their parents to become more engaged in the church. One of the ministries that previously been an annual event at the church was the summer mission trip.  Because we assumed that it would be much easier to partner with another congregation that had already developed a summer mission trip, we reached out to Rev. Dr. RicH Darr the pastor of Geneva UMC.  Keith Worthington, a longtime member of Geneva UMC, had led the summer mission trip over 20 years.  The trips had become so popular that youth and adults from in and around Geneva, and those from churches of various denominations regularly participated.  Each year, over 100 youth and adults travelled to Appalachia to learn, to serve, to grow and to be transformed.  

In our first year of partnering with Geneva UMC, over 20 youth and adults participated in the ASP summer mission trip.  Some of the adults who traveled with us had participated in ASP as youth. In each subsequent year, the number of participants continued to increase.   Our youngest son, Rollins, participated in the first mission trip.   Our daughter, joycelynn, brought a friend when she participated in the second summer mission trip.  The next year, Joycelynn’s friend returned and invited another friend.  Our oldest son, James, was planning to participate in 2020, but Covid eliminated any possibility of anyone participating in the mission trip.

The legacy and history of the Appalachian mission trip trace their roots to a visionary Methodist pastor.  The ASP website notes that In 1969, Rev. Glenn “Tex” Evans  became one of the first people to connect the energy of youth with the deep needs of the poor.  During his 13 years as director at Henderson Settlement in Frakes, Kentucky, Tex witnessed the great need for home repair assistance. So as part of his already-thriving outreach to the people of Appalachia, he recruited 50 teens and adult volunteers to repair homes in Barbourville, Kentucky. They worked on-site during the day and worshiped in the evenings. By summer’s end, four families had safe, warm homes for the winter, fifty young lives had been changed forever — and a longstanding legacy was born.

We are excited about the local missions opportunities that have been offered to our youth through the Quad cities United Methodist Pastors’ group.  Last year, we gathered at Riverside UMC to partner with the Mid-West Distribution Center to pack boxes of meals to send to victims of recent natural disasters.  Later this year, the confirmation class and other youth of the church will participate in other mission activities.  

Dan Ugaste was one of the chaperones for the first ASP mission trip in which we partnered with Geneva.  Dan and I were paired to drive one of the vans, as well as lead one of the teams of youth.  Although we were complete strangers when the mission week began, we were able to develop a lasting friendship that we maintained even after returning from Appalachia.  The youth participants also developed lasting relationships with other youth volunteers and the teenaged children of the families that we served.  

We are looking forward to sharing more information and exploring partnerships with additional United Methodist churches to offer our youth the opportunity to participate in ASP.

In Christ,

Jon McCoy