CHICAGO — Metropolis, Ill., is a long way from Chicago. It’s 365 miles in distance — from the southern tip of Illinois to the north end, about six hours, not counting pit stops. But it’s also a long way in terms of population and culture — from small town to big city, from middle class midwestern to multiethnic communities at every socioeconomic level.

It’s a long way.

But the youth group from First Baptist Church (FBC) of Metropolis has made the journey many times.

“I take kids to Chicago because I want to spread a passion for Jesus and his mission to the next generation,” said Cliff Easter, First Baptist’s associate pastor for youth and families said. “Jesus told us to ‘Go.’ The church must take His command more seriously.” 

This year 85 students from seven churches traveled to the city for Go Chicago week. They stayed at Ashburn Baptist Church, and they got up every morning and journeyed to the 18 sites helping church planters engage with communities.

“Watching the posture of the next generation toward missions is contagious,” said Kevin Jones, church-planting director for the Illinois Baptist State Association (IBSA). Go Chicago is a joint project with Jones’ church-planting team and Shannon Ford and the IBSA missions team.

For more than a decade, Easter has brought his students from FBC Metropolis. This year they served on the far west side with Pastor Maurice Gaiter and Empowerment Church in his Austin neighborhood.

“The first day we worked with Pastor Maurice, he took us to lunch at his family friend’s restaurant. He has worked there his entire life and loves the place.

“On the way back to where we were staying, we stopped in a park to hand out flyers about the event at the church on Saturday. One of my guys, Carson, and I stopped to talk to a couple of men we passed. They shared with us that they stayed in the park in tents. They asked for food, but we didn’t have any.

“As we walked away, Carson remembered that we had packed our lunches for the day, but because Pastor Maurice had taken us to lunch, we didn’t need them. The sandwiches we had made for 16 people would have gone to waste, but instead, Carson got to take them to these men.

“The thankfulness on these guys’ faces was a real blessing. We shared about Jesus with our new friends and left them food for days,” Easter said. When they rejoined the group that afternoon, “Carson shared the story with everyone else. I don’t think it was an experience he will soon forget.”

Like many who have served on Chicagoland mission trips, Easter can tell stories of painting buildings and cleaning overgrown grounds, surveying neighbors and hosting block parties. One year his group helped a church planter who was just getting started in Dekalb. Another year they assisted Pastor John Yi in his Maywood neighborhood.

“Practically speaking, Chicago is a great place to teach my students,” he said. “Church planters and pastors across the city need all the help they can get. It’s a context that’s completely different from the small town where we live. It opens the eyes of my students to a whole new world out there that Jesus loves and wants to redeem.”

Easter helps train his students and others for a variety of ministries — always with a gospel point. “When we went back to help with a special community event on Saturday, the church was celebrating baptisms. Since there were a number of people being baptized, Pastor Gaiter asked if I would help.

“He even asked me to share on the gospel and the meaning of baptism,” Easter said. “Two of his granddaughters were among those that got baptized that day. It was a highlight of our week to take part for sure.”

Easter has served at FBC Metropolis 23 years and has found that seeing ministry at work in other places ignites students’ passion for lost people in their own town.

“Before we came home, our students began to talk about strategic ways we could take the lessons learned in Chicago and serve in similar ways back home in Metropolis,” he said. “Our church has a back-to-school outreach event every year. Some of our students took flyers and went to neighborhoods in Metropolis to invite people and share with them. They are also praying for and inviting unchurched friends to church and to youth group.

“Putting kids on mission elsewhere helps them get on God’s mission at home.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Eric Reed is editor of IBSA media. This article originally appeared in the Illinois Baptist.)