Go Beyond

If there is one thing I want for every kid at Kingsland to know, it’s this: You don’t have to wait until you are a grown up to help make the world a better place.

Every year, we challenge the kids who attend our Vacation Bible School to help change the world for kids in need around the world. Over the years our kids have invested their VBS offering to help kids in Mongolia, India, Nicaragua, Eritrea, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This year, we are challenging the 1900-plus kids in attendance at this week’s Vacation Bible School to help change the world for children in Honduras. More specifically, we are excited to help Miskito children who live in the Miskito Coast.

The Miskito Coast, or La Mosquitia, is an inhospitable swath of rainforest that spans the coasts of Nicaragua and Honduras. There are no roads in and out, which means that you can only get there by small plane or by boat.

Interestingly, the Miskito people refer to the Miskito Coast as The Land of the Forgotten People — and rightly, so. The Miskito are neglected and marginalized and don’t have the kinds of opportunities that are available in other parts of Honduras. They do indeed feel forgotten.

We are excited to come alongside Alex and Laura Waits of Reach Out Honduras, our new friends and ministry partners who have started a school for the children of the Miskito Indians. Their school is named Instituto Vida Abundante or Abundant Life Institute. They currently have a little more than 300 Miskito kids enrolled in the school.

Our goal is to raise the funds to add one more classroom to the Waits’ school in Puerto Lempira. To help our kids understand what life is like for the Miskito kids, we have made The Miskito Coast the special focus of this year’s Go Beyond Kids Explorers Club packet.

Every kid who attends our VBS will receive a Go Beyond Kids Explorers Club case packed with all kinds of fun stuff that will help them learn about Alex and Laura and the good work that they are doing in the Miskito Coast. This is a cool way for our kids to learn about the nations and how they can make a difference.

Our goal this year is to raise enough funds to add a new classroom — completely stocked with desks and supplies — to the campus of Instituto Vida Abundante. This additional classroom will allow Alex and Laura to invite even more Miskito students to attend school.

By teaching our kids about the nations we hope to raise a generation that will continue to take the good news of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. In a world where many kids are raised to hate and to do violence to those whose world view is different from their own, we want to raise a generation that will live out the teachings of Christ, love and serve their fellow human beings, and bring glory to God.