Right before summer last year, an eighth grade girl showed up at a Blue Ridge event. Her mom admitted she tricked her daughter into coming.

But the girl kept showing up. Eventually, she started attending a life group for middle school girls. Each time she would come, she would be cold and distant at first, but eventually warmed up and started asking huge questions about God’s love for her.

Her mom signed her up for camp, so she could start to connect with high school leaders as she transitioned into ninth grade.

Many leaders started praying for this girl on a daily basis as she engaged in small groups and in one-on-one conversations with adults who loved her well.

Through prayer, conversation and continual love this young girl gave her life to Christ.

Since then she is a different person. Where she once was cold and distant, hiding her face from the world, she now is warm, loving and full of smiles and laughter.

This story is a byproduct of the relationships that our Student Ministries look to develop through trips we take each year. We want to invite you to be a part of more stories like this.

These student trips are made possible by generous donations to sponsorships. This weekend, we will have a table in the Atrium where you can give directly to help students engage in all of our trips, including middle school summer camp, the high school New York trip and various missions trips. Please help us offset the costs so more students can participate!

You can donate online (please include "5608- Summer Trip Scholarship" in the description). Please note: This is a general scholarship fund; the money cannot be donated to a specific individual.