The sounds of African music and the smell of hot dogs on the barbecue swirl in the air at the Joy of Life Church’s yard sale in Puyallup on this sweltering 90-degree Saturday afternoon. Flood Youth Group, open to seventh to 12th graders, is fundraising for a mission trip to Kenya. Youth Pastor North Cady, 23, and his wife Amanda, 21, are spearheading the three-week trip set for June of 2009. About six youth group members will go.
North and Amanda Cady have visited Eldoret, Kenya, and befriended Milton Sarara, a pastor and missionary, and share his passion for evangelizing the world.
Milton is the leader of Agape, a group of pastors and evangelists. They use door-to-door ministry and street crusades to spread their message and will act as a tour guide for the Cady’s mission trip.
Another contact in Kenya, Darby Kruger, helped start Agape International, which provides molds for portable cement water filters, raises money to purchase land for hospitals and provide sustenance for the pastors.
“They go out on the street, set up speakers, play music too loud and blare over the speakers about Jesus Christ. It’s interesting because here the cops get called, but there, it can change people’s lives. There are a lot of religions there: Catholics, Muslims, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witness. They’re trying to open people up to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ,” Cady said.
Cady said if Milton invites you to a crusade and you go along, you’re thinking you’ll hear some African music and then he’ll point to you in the audience and say, here we have our guest speaker for the night. “It’s nerve-wracking for somebody to do something they’ve never done before. I hope that happens to our students. I think it’ll be really good for them, because it was really good for me,” Cady said.
Cady believes you need to leave America to gain a global perspective and is excited for his students to have this cultural experience of such a different way of life in Africa.
“It’s the Christian culture over there. They’re very spirit-led and spend a lot more time in prayer throughout the day and because of that, they’re sensitive to when God may want them to speak out loud. There’s a million ways to speak to God. They take it to another level,” Cady said.
Cady has been on 10 mission trips to Mexico as a student and believes in using resources and education to make a difference.
“We want to be a couple who whatever education we have to get, connects with the resources and passion with the visions of the people in Kenya. Kenya is our first stop. The Philippines and Korea someday too,” Cady said.
The two-day yard sale is one of the youth group’s largest fundraisers for the year. Church members donated items and Dobler Management donated some furniture. Last year’s sale raised $1,600 and $8,000 was raised for the year, mainly from donations.
At one point last year, Cady confided to Milton that they had almost no money raised. Cady said he told him that sometimes God waits until the eleventh hour to provide.
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