After driving around with Michael for a few minutes, the guys said they wanted to use their $10 to feed someone. They started a conversation with a man pushing a grocery cart and asked if he was hungry. Not long after, they purchased a meal for him.

Michael said part of his role as pastor of families with students at Westpoint Church in Winter Garden, Fla., involves counteracting the brainwashing his students–most of whom come from “well-to-do” families–receive from their relatives and society. In this instance, one of the teenagers was hesitant to talk with the homeless man.

“He said he was afraid the guy was going to beat us up because he had a bat in his shopping cart,” Michael said.

Before the group parted ways with the man, however, the student’s opinion changed and he felt compelled to offer the homeless individual his hat.

The girls used their money to purchase Valentine’s cards, which they handed out to people who were alone. Michael said they came back telling about a man who they initially were hesitant to approach because of his multiple tattoos and piercings. Yet they were excited about his gratitude upon receiving their card.

“He said it made his day because that’s probably the only Valentine he’d get all day,” Michael said.

Michael wants to teach the younger generation how to reach out to those in need through following the examples of others with their own hands-on experiences. He said “little steps” like the Valentine’s Day challenge “get students to interact on a more face-to-face basis” with the broken, hurting and oppressed. In the process, Michael also is influencing the students’ families and their perceptions of those in need.

Currently Michael and other Westpoint pastors are working toward more involvement with the Maxey Center, a government-run community center in a lower-income, drug-infested area. The church leadership hopes to help develop programs that would allow believers to be a part of the lives of people in the community. Michael said he and his wife are seriously considering moving to the area in order to “do life” with the inhabitants of this neighborhood on a daily basis.

“We’re really praying through what we should do,” Michael said. “I’m drawn to the overlooked and forgotten. It’s who my heart breaks for, and who I think you see Christ in the most.”

Michael said segregation of communities within an area discourages interaction with the oppressed.

“We need to start living more in those communities, or at least spending a lot of time in there, listening to what are (their) needs.”

Another pastor’s wife is hoping to teach Zumba classes at the Maxey Center, while Michael is in the process of setting up a sports program that would enable Westpoint students to serve and minister there.

Michael said it’s crucial for students and adults alike to see the examples of their pastors challenging them to make a difference in the lives of the lost outside of their church walls. He said true leadership at his own church involves more than talking about impacting the lost, but taking action in doing so.

“We need to do it or shut our mouths,” Michael said. “(All pastors) can be great at teaching what we should do, but horrible at living that out. I feel we need to focus on doing more than teaching. The Bible becomes a living, breathing Word, and you can use your own personal life experiences instead of … telling about an example of someone else you read about in a book.

“Believers will do what they see, but it has to start with the pastors,” he said. “(They) are the ones who lead the masses. As they go, so their fellowship goes.”

Michael said acts of kindness to the hurting require selflessness, but don’t have to be magnificent feats involving large clothing drives or complicated programs.

“Let’s get our heads up from our rat race of life and start small by giving a cool drink of water to someone who’s thirsty,” he said. “It’s not hard to get a basketball and interact with students; it’s not hard to get a kid and take him out to get ice cream.

“A kid might need a father figure, not shoes.”

He said these simple acts at first may not seem adequate, but they “might be huge to someone who might not have a hot meal when they go home tonight, or someone who never plays basketball with an older person because he gets beat up by older people all the time.”

Michael knows he cannot stand alone in his work to teach students through experience, and asks for intercession on behalf of these efforts. He also asks for others to be living examples.

“Please pray with us in how we can engage the students more in reaching the hurting, oppressed and broken,” he said. “Let’s live radical and really see what Christ will do if we lay down our lives for others. He said that’s the greatest love we can show others.

“Let’s just do it.”

Written by Natalie Bunch. Natalie is a freelance writer for The Upstream Collective and lives in North Carolina. She served as a missionary writer based out of Prague, Czech Republic, from 2007-2009, and plans to return to full-time international mission work with her husband in a few years.

A Westpoint member sets up microphones in preparation for Sunday morning worship at Whispering Oak Elementary. The church has been meeting in the school since 2005.

The pastors at Westpoint Church in Winter Garden, Fla., are focused largely on “living sent.” They believe this call on each follower of Christ involves impacting those around him/her for the sake of the Gospel while going through daily life. For the congregation as a whole, this translates into meeting in a local school.

During the summer of 2005 Westpoint was outgrowing its current location–a neighborhood community center–as Whispering Oak Elementary was preparing to open its doors. A church member connected with the school’s principal and the two parties worked out an agreement that allows Westpoint to use the academic facilities on a weekly basis.

Co-pastor Jim Collins oversees Westpoint’s worship gatherings, small groups and community service projects, and believes planting in schools is something all churches should look into as a key opportunity to connect with a “ready-made mission field” in the surrounding area.

“A school is part of the heart of a community. There are over 1,100 students who attend (Whispering Oak),” he said. “Our church meeting there gives us a great chance to build lots of relationships with administration, faculty, staff, students and families.”

Jim also pointed out how this location choice comes with financial benefits.

“Meeting in a school can be the most economic way for a church to host a weekly worship gathering,” he said.

Westpoint has no building management or maintenance concerns to eat up time or money. The church gathering is easy to find, since nearly everyone in the community is familiar with the school’s location, and it’s reproducible.

“We are finding that meeting in schools can be one of the most effective ways to establish multiple churches in a community, and one of the fastest,” Jim said.

Whispering Oak transforms from a school to a church setting for Westpoint's weekly worship service.

Westpoint is six months into discussions with another local school regarding planting a church within its walls. The pastoral staff dreams of believers gathering for worship in every school in West Orange County, throughout Orlando, and eventually in all of Florida.

“Being in the school isn’t a stepping stone until we find our own spot,” Jim said. “We see how in many ways this is an opportunity to be involved with a touch-point in our community. This is much bigger than trying to find a space (to meet). It’s, ‘Let’s see how we can engage missionally and transform a community.’”

Jim admitted setting up for worship each week can drain resources. If a teacher needs a room the church typically uses for worship, or if the person who unlocks the school doors arrives late, those with Westpoint quickly have to adjust their plans. However, while these setbacks can be realities, Jim said they are “very minor compared to the payoff for us.”

Jim recommends churches looking to plant in schools allow a large amount of time for the transition to occur, beginning with establishing a positive relationship with the school’s principal months in advance. This may involve presenting a written proposal that includes not only the needs of the church, but also how the body of believers wants to actively be a healthy and positive presence in the educational community. He suggests asking what the school’s needs are, noting they may have many volunteer opportunities. Earning credibility will help make the idea of the church not being there a displeasing one for the school administration.

“Let them know you’re looking to make the school a better place, not just to rent out the spot and have no other interaction with the school,” he said.

But first, Jim said, to pray, asking God to allow a good connection with the school faculty and staff. The relationship with the principal, especially, will largely determine how the church and school get along.

In Westpoint’s case, the Whispering Oaks principal was supportive from the beginning, and Jim said church members make sure to maintain that trust in the way they conduct themselves on school property. If the school leadership is hesitant to consider hosting a weekly gathering, Jim said suggesting a probation period would allow the church to demonstrate how it wants to serve the faculty, staff and families of the school.

During the week Westpoint members host small fellowships called SENT Groups that meet in locations throughout the surrounding community.

Written by Natalie Bunch. Natalie is a freelance writer for The Upstream Collective and lives in North Carolina. She served as a missionary writer based out of Prague, Czech Republic, from 2007-2009, and plans to return to full-time international mission work with her husband in a few years.

A few days ago my fiancé moved from Florida into what will be our first apartment together near Wake Forest, N.C. I’ll join him after our wedding in March.

While I’ve done my share of moving within and without the United States, I wonder what it will be like to relocate from Texas to this East Coast state. I’ve visited Wake Forest only once and found it pleasant, but didn’t get to explore the area much. My fiancé has been there many more times than I, and tells me of the little coffee shop around the corner to which he wants to take me and how wonderful it will be to live in a smaller community.

I’m thrilled, yet still I wonder. What are the people like? Do they hold to the “southern hospitality” way of life or lean more toward the cooler, independent, stereotypical northeastern stance? What English words will they say that will sound funny to me? (I.e. How do they say, “pecan” and “roof?”) What do they consider barbeque and what do they call carbonated cola beverages?

These may not be the most serious of issues to question, but they remind me of Dr. Thom Wolf’s thoughts on cultural contextualization. A few weeks ago we looked at the effects of geography and history on how one might share the Gospel in Prague, Czech Republic. What about a smaller town outside North Carolina’s capital?

I especially am drawn to one of Wolf’s ideas of cultural contextualization as applied to demographics and interpersonal conflicts in an area. Wolf recommends asking a few questions:

Among the people you’re trying to reach (assuming, as a believer, you truly want to live out the call to share the Gospel wherever you are) …

• Who are “Us” and “Them?”

• According to Us, what are we like? What are they like?

• According to Them, what are we and they like?

• Where are Us and Them spatially, spiritually and socially?

While I may not be able to thoroughly answer these questions for myself until actually arriving in Wake Forest, I can use my resources (Internet, my fiancé and friends living in North Carolina) to keep my eyes and ears peeled for answers now.

Wolf says we can pray those in our new environment will accept us as outsiders entering their culture. I’m seeking for my fiancé and I to not only be accepted as outsiders, but then become so much a part of people’s lives that we become insiders who point to Jesus in every aspect of who we are.

Considering Wolf’s suggestions in light of my current situation, I wonder what the “Us” and “Them” concepts look like as applied to my local church and community. According to the students with whom I now work, whom do they see as “Them?” Adults? Another ethnic group at school? Younger siblings? The world?

What is the general view of the adults in our congregation—who is “Us” and “Them” from the church’s perspective? How do we view those outside our body of believers, in other churches and in our realms of work, study and play?

Points to ponder. Join me in wondering, and then prayerfully taking action in understanding our surroundings to best know how to share the Gospel where God has sent us. I can’t wait to get to North Carolina to see what He has in store for my future husband and I, but I know he has great things for me to do here and now.

Written by Natalie Kaspar. Natalie is a freelance writer for The Upstream Collective and lives in Texas. She served as a missionary writer based out of Prague, Czech Republic, from 2007-2009, and plans to return to full-time international mission work in a few years.