ON CAMPUS AT VANGUARD UNIVERSITY:Vanguard students making a difference

Vanguard University students are embarking on several volunteer trips during December to serve others in local, national and international areas.

Since Thanksgiving, Vanguard students have been involved in a variety of outreach opportunities. Service activities have included hosting a Christmas party for Costa Mesa children and a day of serving the indigent on Skid Row in Los Angeles, as well as planning missions to Seattle, New Orleans and India.

Students had an opportunity to reach out to those in need while sticking close to home by participating in the annual Children’s Christmas Party, which took place on Saturday, Dec. 9, at The Crossing Church. Close to 400 children from the Westside Learning Centers in Costa Mesa and nearby cities were invited to celebrate Christmas with crafts, games, the telling of the Christmas story and even a special visit from Santa Claus.

The Christmas party was successful because of the students’ contributions, according to Vanguard’s coordinator of local outreach, Jennie Bryant.

“Students are what made this event happen. They ran the event by volunteering in various ways — collecting toys for Santa to distribute, hosting craft tables and game booths, serving food, and sharing their time and love with our community’s kids,” Bryant said.

Another local opportunity that students have been involved in is the Skid Row ministry. The most recent of these events was on Saturday, Dec. 2, when students served a meal and handed out hygiene packets to those living in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles.

“The purpose was really just to get people who live in Southern California aware of what is happening so close to them and hopefully motivate them to want to do something about it. Many Orange County residents have no idea that there is so much poverty in the U.S., and especially only an hour away,” said Eric Wilson, a Vanguard student and the university’s coordinator of inner-city outreach.

This purpose has been accomplished through the one-on-one times spent with those at Skid Row; and although the effects of this particular ministry might not be obvious, Wilson believes that the group’s goals were accomplished.

“The impact that we’ve made hasn’t been a large one by the world’s standards … but we have made impacts on individual lives, and that’s more important to us,” Wilson said.

Seven Vanguard students, including Wilson, will travel even farther over the university’s Christmas break to work with the homeless in the inner city of Seattle, from Dec. 15 through Dec. 22.

The students will do street ministry with Youth With a Mission, helping at men’s shelters, working with the Boys & Girls’ Clubs in the area, and serving food at “The Wall” — an area in the city where people cook and serve food to the homeless.

“Our purpose for going to Seattle is really just to spread the love of Jesus, not through preaching or teaching, but through building relationships,” Wilson said.

There will also be a group of 10 Vanguard students heading for New Orleans from Dec. 14 - 21. Along with gutting houses, they will also work to revive the School for Urban Missions, a school whose campus was converted into a home base for missions teams coming into New Orleans to help rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. School for Urban Missions classes are set to resume in January, and the Vanguard team will help prepare for its reopening.

The students will also put together a documentary of the situation in New Orleans. The goal of this venture is to show that the city is still in great need of help.

“People think that it [New Orleans] is rebuilt, but the situation is still serious,” Cooper said.

While some Vanguard students will serve the homeless in Seattle or contribute to rebuilding in New Orleans, another group will backpack through remote jungles and villages of India, stopping along the way to meet and help whomever they might encounter.

“Our goal is to contact the unreached tribal centers of southeast India and share God’s word with the people who live there,” said Andrew Richey, Vanguard’s coordinator of global outreach, as well as the leader for the India team. This will remain the primary goal throughout the trip.

“We hope to get as many opportunities to share the gospel as possible,” Ameryn McKinley, the student leader for the trip, said.

Perhaps Richey articulated it best when he said, “We’re going over that mountain and through that jungle, and we’re going to tell the people that we meet about Jesus.”

In the end, regardless of where these different outreach opportunities have taken or will continue to take the Vanguard students, the goal of service remains constant. In the process of accomplishing this goal, the students gain valuable life lessons and establish relationships that affect both the lives of the students and those served.

“Not only are you a blessing to other people, but those people become a blessing to you,” said McKinley, showing that in the case of these students, giving really is better than receiving.