Amazing Americans

I should be writing a discussion post for my teaching social studies methods class, or writing a 10-page paper on the IDEA law, or doing write ups on the data recordings I have been taking the past couple weeks, or putting together a content report on a lesson I'm teaching on amazing Americans . . . but instead I'm reading about a group of amazing Americans that go to my church back home.

The event: Ghana Rock. A concert to raise money to rescue 18 child slaves and safely house them.
The girl in charge of it all: Madi Vincent. A senior in high school this year who will be attending Liberty University in the fall.

I met Madi my senior year of high school when she had just begun her freshman year.  We were both helping out with the first graders at a sort of Christian version of the girl scouts at our church, called G.E.M.S. (Girls Everywhere Meeting the Savior). I was in GEMS all the way through elementary school at that church and knew God was calling me to pass my love for him onto these teeny tinys.  I didn't know exactly what it was about her . . . but there was something very special about little Madi Kay Vincent.

Nevertheless, over the course of that year Madi and I developed a friendship and I was sad to leave her behind once I came to college.  We still see each other briefly when I go to church when I visit home, but I mostly keep up on her comings and goings through Facebook and Twitter.

Last year I started seeing her talk about this fundraiser her and a few other students her age were putting on to raise money to rescue children in Ghana from slavery after Madi and a few others had visited there some time before.  Eventually I began to realize this was not some small fundraiser that was being thrown together . . . it was a huge deal.  There was a huge concert, merchandise, and more glory for God than I have ever experienced.  After all was said and done on the day last May, the group of high school students raised more money than they could have ever fathomed to benefit slave children in Ghana to be taken into a safe house.

Now, they are doing it again.

I urge you to visit their website: Ghana Rock

And also read their blog: http://www.ghanarock.blogspot.com/

It is completely and utterly inspiring to see a group of young people with so much ambition . . . but most importantly: love and faith in the Lord. These teenagers are well beyond their years and the world is a better place because of each and every one of them.  So often we see these horrors on commercials on the television and we just turn the channel, thinking to ourselves, "What can one person do? How is me donating 30 cents a day going to change anything?" Those 30 cents a day is changing something for one child . . . and that one child's life is better . . . and that is all that matters to that one child.

I am not posting this so that I can promote them and get them more money . . . I am posting this because I felt the Lord put it on my heart to share this cause with others who might not know about it otherwise.

So what can you do to make a difference for that one child?

I am posting this blog.

You could repost it.

You could write your own.

You could donate to Ghana Rock.

You could start your own fundraiser.

Or . . . You could just say a prayer. A few words is all it takes.  The Lord hears every word and he sees what is on your heart.  Say a prayer for these 9 teenagers not only that the Lord will guide them, but also praise and rejoice in the Lord that they have listened to what He has called them to do.

Goodnight, everyone.