Serving Together, Growing Together: Reflections from Enlightium’s Mission Trip to West Virginia

I recently had the privilege of leading Enlightium’s first mission trip alongside Enlightium Bible Teacher Mr. Reiss, and it was an experience we will never forget! To be honest, I was a bit nervous about the trip. We brought together a group of 19 people who had never met each other before and expected them to live and work together for several days. The outcome was better than I could have ever hoped for! Christians are a family, so it should not have been a surprise that the goodbyes were much harder than the hellos. 

Our trip took us to Bluefield, a town in southern West Virginia. This town is actually home for me, but we had students travel from far and wide to serve. North Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, Ohio, New York, California, and Canada were all represented in our group of 19! This area is burdened by high poverty and drug abuse rates. It is also in the middle of the “Bible Belt,” which is both a blessing and a curse. There is a church on every corner, sometimes two! While there are many faithful churches in the area, there is also a strong cultural Christianity that can emphasize tradition without a clear understanding of the Gospel. People go to church because their parents and grandparents do, and when asked if they will go to heaven, the answer is often “Well, I try to do more good than bad, so I figure so. God loves us, right?” For those who reject God, the number one reason I have seen is hypocrisy from people they know in the church. 

With this in mind, we focused on two things: 1) sharing the true Gospel and 2) working selflessly to help others not only share God’s love but also give a better view of Biblical Christianity. Our days were split three ways: in the morning, we served in the local community, in the afternoon, we worked with local kids at the Wade Center, and in the evenings, we trained. Our local service included food and clothing drives at various locations, where we prepared and served meals, sorted donations for those in need, and assembled between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds of food into boxes for families. The students worked hard without complaint and jumped into action any time help was requested! 

The Wade Center is where we stayed each night, and where we ministered to local kids ages 6-12 in an after-school program. Our Enlightium students got the opportunity to teach them lessons each day. Our lessons covered the evidence for the existence of a Creator God, established the Bible as His primary means of communication to us (and why), and finally, a Gospel presentation. These kids often come from high-risk environments and have a variety of exposure to Biblical truth, but this week they got to hear the Gospel in its entirety. As a direct result of this Gospel presentation, an 8-year-old boy named Tristin chose to stay behind while others went to the playground because he wanted to talk more about Jesus. Tristin clearly understood the sacrifice Jesus made for him and chose to turn away from his sin and follow God instead. Tristin prayed for forgiveness and accepted Jesus as his Savior on our final day there. Praise God! It is clear that God had already been drawing Tristin through the Wade Center’s teachings, and we were there simply to reap the harvest of the seeds they planted. 

In the evenings, we had lessons prepared for our own students. I covered apologetics, while Mr. Reiss taught practical evangelism and concluded our training by emphasizing why everything we believe and practice must be grounded in the authority of Scripture. The students soaked it up and were fully engaged, even though they were tired, and the lessons were heavy. It brought tears to my eyes (multiple times) to see teenagers so engaged and have such a heart to serve God. These kids could be doing anything else in the world, but they were here, learning and serving with glad hearts and making friends with like-minded Christians. 

Mr. Reiss and I were truly blessed to be able to work with these students and invest in their lives. It is our sincere hope that these students will take this experience home and duplicate it in their own communities. Enlightium will be offering more trips each year, but the goal is to instill a lifelong passion for service in these students that will trigger them to get involved in their own local communities. As Enlightium organizes more opportunities in the future, please pray for wisdom in our decisions, pray for clarity on whether you should join us, and pray for God to use those who can come to be molded into effective tools for our Savior’s use! 

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Since 2003, Enlightium faculty and staff have served partner schools, online, and homeschool K-12 students. With parental support, excellent instruction, and a personalized approach to learning, Enlightium equips students with the academic, spiritual, physical, social, and emotional skills they need to succeed in life. For any other questions about Enlightium, please call (509) 319-2288 or visit EnlightiumAcademy.com.