Rome family among those in International World Changers Family Project

Kristen Nicole Sayres/IMB

Family help • Leslie Jackson and her daughter, Kelsey, read to Quichua schoolchildren in the mountain village of Chibuleo, Ecuador. The Jacksons, members of Fellowship Baptist Church in Rome, helped in Bible clubs, children and youth ministry, school programs and servant evangelism while in Ecuador on the first International World Changers Family Project.

AMBATO, Ecuador (BP) — At the beginning of the week, 12-year-old Kelsey Jackson was shy, staying close behind her mom, Leslie, as they visited schools and handed out tracts in the busy Ambato, Ecuador, market.

Just six days later, Kelsey was going around asking for more tracts to give to people.

“I was able to watch my previously fearful daughter become a tract-handing-out machine,” Leslie Jackson said.

In July, the Jacksons, members of Fellowship Baptist Church in Rome, participated in the first International World Changers (IWC) Family Project.

Leslie enjoyed watching the transition in Kelsey during the week and noticed how others from the group were reacting to the change in Kelsey.

“[Kelsey’s] decision to hand a police officer a tract as a matter of course – later finding out that people were amazed by it and that the policeman read the entire thing – was priceless,” Leslie said. “She was also able to develop and show leadership skills that were previously untapped as she led children in English lessons and became their new friend.”

Kristen Nicole Sayres/IMB

A parent's prayer • In Ambato, Ecuador, Leslie Jackson had the opportunity to pray over her daughter, Kelsey, 12, from Fellowship Baptist Church in Rome, during evening worship while they participated in the first International World Changers Family Project, July 2-9.

Sharing as a family

While Kelsey wanted to stay close to her mom, Tommy Hutchison says he goes on mission trips to get away from his family.

The 17-year-old from Dayton, Ohio, admits he didn’t think he would ever go on an international mission trip with his family – but that’s exactly what happened recently, thanks to IWC.

Hutchison and his family – mom, Amy, and dad, Thomas “Hutch,” and two younger siblings, Joel and Danielle – were one of 12 families from five states participating in the project.

These families found out about the trip through the IWC Web site, thetask.org, and through their church leaders.

During their trip the families were able to share the gospel 8,280 times, resulting in 284 people praying to accept Christ as their savior.

For the past 10 years, IWC has offered student mission trips for youth and youth groups around the globe. After years of requests for family-oriented mission trips, the group worked with Southern Baptist missionaries to develop a trip especially for families.

Kelly Davis, director of International World Changers, said Ecuador is a good place for families to minister by showing an example of how evangelical Christians should treat their family members.

Side by side

Families spent their days visiting schools, food markets, community centers and city plazas. They taught English, distributed tracts, made salvation bracelets and prayed with the indigenous Quichua people of Ecuador.

Kristen Nicole Sayres/IMB

Teaching together • Leslie Jackson and her daughter, Kelsey, teach English to schoolchildren in the mountain village of Chibuleo, Ecuador. Leslie says that during the stay in Ecuador her daughter transformed from a shy 12-year-old to one showing leadership skills in ministry.

Ministry projects help bring families closer together, said Richard Ross, professor of youth ministry at Southwestern Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas. Ross, better known as co-founder of the True Love Waits campaign, was the worship speaker for the week in Ecuador.

“Growing research would indicate that among the most powerful experiences a teenager can have is doing ministry side-by-side with his or her parent,” Ross said. “In my own experience across three decades of youth ministry, I would say a mission trip experience shared by parent and teenager might lead to more spiritual growth than months or even years of church programs.”

Since the families returned home, Bible studies among the Quichua have already started to grow, said missionary Ruby Dickerson. She and her husband, Fletcher, have been working among the Quichua for the past four years.

“It’s such a blessing to have people coming in to see lives change, that it’s worth the work that we do,” Dickerson said.

Next year, International World Changer’s Family Project will return to Ambato, Ecuador, June 17-24. For information go to http://thetask.org.