On Assignment: Meet High Schooler Callie L.
High school student Callie L. proves that you can do good and make a real difference, no matter what your age and stage in life. By completing a very special assignment, she has impacted other kids around the world and grown in her own spiritual journey.
My name is Callie. I’m 17 and currently a junior at a local Plano high school. I’ve been going to Chase Oaks for about four years now.
My mom and I first started going when I was in 8th grade; we were looking for a new church since our old one was pretty small and didn’t really have a student ministry, which was important for my mom. When we came to Chase Oaks, we found an amazing student ministry that was completely different from what I was used to.
Last year, I went to my first summer camp since the start of COVID-19 at John Brown University, called “The Darkness and the Light.” Despite there not being a lot to do, my friends and I made the most of it, even with our small group.
During worship, the camp had a few people go up front to talk about Compassion International. They had also set up booths on the side of the auditorium so that people could get more information about getting involved. At that point in my life, I felt that I had been blessed with the extra money to be able to sponsor a child through Compassion. Even though other things were happening in my own life, I knew God was calling me to do this. So, I began sponsoring a girl, Daniela, who lives in El Salvador. She’ll be 14 years old this year.
Then, last November, I was at church for weekend service. As part of the service, I was a recipient of $200 for something called the “Kingdom Assignment” (a project in which a few of us were given cash and told to invest the money in a way that would extend Christ’s Kingdom).
For the first two months after receiving the $200, I had no idea how to invest the money. I was clueless about what to do and felt anxious about doing something good and meaningful with the money. At the same time, school was getting busier, I had my job and extracurriculars, and God was at the back of my mind. As stressed as I was about everything going on, I never took my troubles to God. And I began to feel like I wasn’t good enough to have been given the money because I wasn’t praying and I didn’t feel connected to Christ.
Then I went to DNOW, a student conference, in January of this year. The theme at the conference was about being equipped for the church. The speakers talked about the importance of being connected to the Word of Christ, and by the end of the weekend, I had an encounter with a friend as well as conversations with my group that led me to understand what to do with the money.
I knew that last summer, God had led me to the fantastic privilege of sponsoring a child through Compassion. So, through the same organization, I was able to use the Kingdom Assignment money to donate 20 Bibles to children around the world in their own languages.
After donating the money, I also decided to buy my own Bible because I did not grow up involved in church and have never owned one.
Now, after my experiences at DNOW and hearing the importance of connecting to Christ through His Word, I feel surer than ever that God was able to work in me. Not just to make a difference in furthering my relationship with Him, but also working in the lives of the 20 children who received His Word through the Bibles.
Make a difference by joining us for DO GOOD month! Find more info and sign up for a service opportunity here.