In Luke 10:29, Jesus is challenged by a man who, having demonstrated he knows the law which says to love his neighbor as himself, asks pointedly, “And who is my neighbor?”

Like many organizations, Ozark Mission Project regards anyone and everyone as a neighbor, but the call they hear most clearly comes from right outside their back door.

“We want our kids to understand there’s so much need right here in the state of Arkansas,” says Bailey Faulkner, OMP executive director. “With us being one of the poorest states in the country, we have people living under the poverty level that are hungry, that literally can’t get out of their home without us going and helping them. We want to open their eyes to what’s going on right here.”

“It’s so easy for kids to be blinded by life in general. Most of the kids who come to us are middle class children and we want them to understand there’s need in their neighborhood. It might be that someone is lonely or their own parents might need them to do more at home.”

College students help clean up the aftermath of a tornado in Mississippi.

To demonstrate this philosophy, Ozark Mission Project hosts 12 service camps every summer, each attracting a maximum of 60 middle and high school-aged young people. From a centralized location, usually a sponsoring church, the youngsters and their adult leaders are dispatched into neighboring areas to complete service projects, form relationships and live their faith through action.

“They could be building a wheelchair ramp and that’s their only project for the week or they could build a wheelchair ramp and paint the house. We work with individual families because what we really want them to do is build that one-on-one relationship.”

Last summer was the biggest in the organization’s 30-year history. In just one week, campers completed 500 projects in 24 Arkansas counties, representing more than 22,350 hours of volunteer work. Applications for participation, which flood in from all parts of the country and represent diverse religious affiliations, far exceed available spots. “While we’re an affiliate of the Methodist Church, anyone who has a desire to serve, we welcome them,” Faulkner says.

A weekly devotional booklet and several discussions daily help youngsters connect the dots between Christ’s charge to serve others and the projects they do during the week. Putting the day’s devotional lesson to work, literally, is one of the primary accelerators to Ozark Mission Project’s growth.

The success of the summer camps has inspired the creation of a similar OMP group for college students through United Methodist Wesley Foundation chapters on college campuses throughout Arkansas. Both programs have demonstrated the capacity to make a profound impact in the lives of participants.

“I can name five [former campers] off the top of my head who have realized their spiritual call to go into full-time ministry and they credit it to their first mission experience at OMP,” Faulkner says. “They’re now Methodist pastors across our state. Others have been missionaries to China; there are kids who decided to go into the military, the Peace Corps or Clinton School of Public Service. All because of the need that they first saw and that passion for service.”

“The youth that participate in our program have a love and passion for serving others. They get joy out of actually seeing firsthand what they did and the difference it made. They don’t want to just talk about it, they want to do something and they want to make an impact—and that’s what OMP does.” — Bailey Faulkner, Ozark Mission Project executive director

For more information or to get involved, visit OzarkMissionProject.org.

Return to Family Faith Builders: 4 Uplifting Groups Inspiring Central Arkansas.