I believe God has done some incredible things through this ministry in the past year. On 100% Night, we had a celebration. It was a way to honor the teens for their accomplishments and put it all into perspective. We are here to shine a light in a dark world. We are here to love and serve our Lord and Savior in every way we can. One of the ways we celebrated was by shooting a music video. You can watch it right here:

Here is a pic of the awesome cake Amy made for the party:

52n52 was a challenge made to the teens at Jefferson Avenue Church of Christ following GO! Camp 2011 at Freed Hardeman. It was our goal to complete 52 projects in 52 weeks to count down to GO! Camp 2012. This blog showcases every project the teens completed. We hope it will serve as inspiration to other groups who want to challenge their young people to glorify God through service.

— Matt Suggs

Our final project for 52n52 was a project we did with the Community Action Team at Jefferson. On 100% Night (our summer kick off event where our goal is every teen and every parent), we handed out 1000 Thank You Cards. These cards were signed by the teens and parents in attendance and distributed to all teachers and administrators in the Putnam County School System. It was a great way to close out the 52n52 project because everyone got to participate. It was also a great way to showcase all the great things that God has done through our ministry in the past year to the over 180 in attendance for 100% Night at J.A.

God blessed us with a great opportunity! I had intended to plan a grand finale project for 52n52 (the project will still happen…it will just be number 53 of 52!). On the first Wednesday of May, we had the hottest day of the year in Cookeville, so the youth ministry decided to use it as an opportunity. We loaded up the church vans with coolers of bottled water and drove around Cookeville meeting people and giving them cold water. It was a fun project and a great way for us to reach out to our community. Matthew 10:42 says “if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” 

Last year, we had our first Senior Luncheon at J.A. This year, we made sure to do it again! We invited the Young At Heart Ministry (our senior Christians at Jefferson) to come out on a Saturday for a lunch served by the teens. David Fox, Gaylon Presley, and Jerry White did a fantastic job cooking the meal, the teens served the drinks and the meal to our guests, then we played a game together. This year, we surveyed 100 members at Jefferson to play the Family Feud. It’s not often that the ages groups at Jefferson come together…that’s what makes this day so special. We look forward to serving them again soon!

The youth group loaded up and headed to Nashville Shores on a COLD Saturday to Walk for Water. We walked 4 miles to help educate and motivate people to help bring clean water to the world. We worked with Gaylon Presley and Francis Bumbalough, a great mission-minded couple here at Jefferson, to enjoy this day. Gaylon and Francis raised over $3,000 dollars to go toward this great ministry. It was a pleasure (even though it was so cold!) to meet a great group of Christians who had a heart for people all over the world. Walk for Water is a ministry of Healing Hands International.

The Dodson Branch Community (which is very close to us in Cookeville) was hit with terrible tornado damage in March of this year. The youth ministry decided to go and help out with relief work. We took a Saturday, drove into Dodson Branch, and helped clean up yards in the community. One of the men we helped was emotional. He said “If it weren’t for the church in this community, none of this cleanup would have happened”. That comment…that’s what makes 52n52 worth it. To shine Christ’s light in the world around us is what we have hoped to accomplish. I’m thankful that God was glorified in a simple cleanup effort.