Southern Soul Food

by Daniel Bond

I was leading a group of 30 high school students and sponsors on our first spring break mission trip to South Carolina. This year was different. Over the years, our church has taken countless trips across the border to lead crusades, VBS programs, outdoor showings of the Jesus Film in Spanish and take in our fair share of fresh tacos. But my students needed something different.

Our youth ministry is comprised mostly of middle-class white kids. The majority of our senior high students have never been on a mission trip or even worshiped outside the walls of our church. They have an extremely limited and narrow perspective on life, culture and their own theology. And unfortunately, for most of them, this ignorance produces arrogance. Perhaps solely by fallen human nature or from other influences, this idea that we do everything the best, especially church, has become embedded in our thinking as we sit in our comfortable southern-style, Bible-belt pews.

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