Intentional Investment
While it is common these days to talk about investing your money well, it is probably more important to talk about how we invest our time. I love the moment recorded in scripture where Jesus had just finished preaching, and His disciples were surrounding Him in order to keep away those who might infringe on His busy ministry. The disciples thought they were doing their jobs by being good bouncers and protecting Jesus’ time. When Jesus noticed what they were doing, He told them to let them through. “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14 ESV) Jesus said they were not an interruption to His ministry; they were His ministry! I love the truth that all people, even children, are worth investment.
At Hope Church, we love children. We are incredibly grateful for those in our church family who pour into our children. We also have a very special partnership with a national ministry called Kids Hope USA (KHUSA). In this wonderful ministry, we partner with Applewood Elementary School in Brunswick with the goal of helping children know that they matter through intentional relationships with adults (like you). When this happens, they have found it increases the child's sense of belonging, supports academic engagement (even though it is not a tutoring ministry), and strengthens children’s emotional resilience by providing a reliable, caring adult “in their corner.”
The program focuses on a simple, consistent presence through intentional investment. A trained adult volunteer—backed by a prayer partner—spends an hour every week at the school with the same child. During this hour, they might play games, read, do crafts, or simply talk. The results over the past 16 years of our partnership with KHUSA have been amazing. In a recent video that we showed at Hope (you can watch it here), one of our mentors, Valerie Zielinski, summarized something beautiful that can happen when a child is invested in through this ministry.
"And that moment when they look at you, and it starts to click that the reason you're there is only for them, there's something that changes and a connection happens that is very sweet, very meaningful, and, as we've seen, literally life-changing." - Valerie Zielinski
I am grateful for Kids Hope, Janet O’Connor and Katie Kutcel who oversee this ministry, and the amazing group of mentors and prayer partners who faithfully serve children at Applewood School. I invite you to consider joining our mentor or prayer partner team for the next school year. You don't need to have teaching experience to become a mentor. You just need to have one hour a week to spend with one student to show him/her that you care about them and show them they have value. We're especially in need of men to become mentors. Please consider joining this special ministry!
I asked Janet and Katie to share the things they are praying for, and I wanted to share these with you as well:
We are praying that God will provide 7 new mentors this summer. We have historically had more children needing mentors than we have mentors available.
Pray for God to break through in the current mentor/mentee relationships and that He would sovereignly match new mentors with the right mentees.
We celebrate that 5 of our mentees and 1 of their siblings are signed up to attend Hope's Beulah on the Road summer camp. Pray that God will touch each of their hearts as they hear the gospel and that all of our mentees might join us this summer.
We are also looking for more help to plan events, become prayer partners, and help with administrative tasks and volunteer recruiting.
If you are interested in finding out more about Kids Hope USA, please email Janet and Katie, Co-Directors at: kidshope@hopebrunswick.org.
Expectantly,
Shawn
