The $20 Challenge

Tim Paneitz, our interim youth pastor, recently coordinated a very special summer activity for both middle and high school students called the $20 Challenge. Students struck out in small groups, each of which invested $20 to bring the love of Jesus to complete strangers. Below are some amazing highlights.

Random acts of kindness. They can bring smiles to a mother’s face, joy to a young child and tears to the eyes of a homeless man.

All of these reactions where shared by our youth during the Summer 50 $20 Challenge. Our youth were split into groups and sent into the community with very simple instructions: “Share God’s love with someone else.” The highlights of the day were amazing.

One group of our youth made their way to Wal-Mart where they blessed people in different ways. From handing out cash to families in line checking out to buying some little toys that they passed out to the children in the store and the parking lot, they made an impact that day. Mothers were thrilled beyond words to receive some cash just as they went to check out.

At the Dollar Store, another group bought soap, toothpaste, sunscreen, snacks, ponchos and a backpack. The money that wasn’t used was put onto a gift card for McDonald’s. On that very hot summer Sunday, they didn’t even mind sweating as they spent a good deal of time looking for the right homeless person to bless with the bag. After some prayer, they found a man walking solo on the side of the road. As he received the bag, the tears started rolling. He shared an amazing story of being kicked out of his house, of years of addiction and of God’s healing power.

For a third group, the dollar menu at McDonald’s was the starting place. Bags of double cheese burgers in tow, they went out into the town to bless anyone they came across. The students brought smiles to the faces of many people.

The creativity and passion the youth had for this project was awe-inspiring.

When we really think about the amount of money we spend on little things throughout our day, why couldn’t we do our own $20 or $5 or $50 challenge every day? Maybe we could do something simple, like pay for the next person in line at Starbucks, or pay the toll for the person behind us on the road.

God has blessed us with it all to begin with, so why not just share it?