PLAINVIEW—More than 100 volunteers participated in Wayland Baptist University's Degree of Difference Day—an annual event in which students, faculty, staff and administrators at Wayland Baptist University work on community service projects.
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Thomas Curry works on the underside of the stage being set up at Greg Sherwood Memorial Bulldog Stadium for an evangelistic crusade in Plainview. (PHOTO/Wayland Baptist University)
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This year, 15 teams tackled various projects around Plainview ranging from sweeping the porch at Faith in Sharing House to helping set up the stage for an evangelistic crusade that will be held at Greg Sherwood Memorial Bulldog Stadium.
Groups washed cars for Special Olympics, baked cookies for Meals on Wheels, cleaned the area around the softball fields at the city park and picked up trash at the cemetery. One student even involved his church youth group, helping clean kennels at the Humane Society.
"We needed some projects where we can see that life is more about giving than receiving," said JayR Dunn, a junior religion major from Houston who serves as the youth pastor at First Baptist Church in Hale Center.
"I'm wanting them to see what it is like to put the gospel in action—sacrificial love, giving of their time to help others."
JayR Dunn, a Wayland Baptist University junior religion major from Houston, works with members of his youth group from First Baptist Church in Hale Center to clean kennels at the Humane Society. (PHOTO/Wayland Baptist University)
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Several students were surprised by the impact they made simply by volunteering to clean up a city park. And some students even learned a new skill, such as the workers at the Plainview Church of God who learned how to sew as they made puppets for the church's gospel outreach to children.
"I had never used a sewing machine before, so I was discouraged when my product didn't look awesome," said Alexis Walter, an education major from Albuquerque, N.M.
"But we were reminded that the kids don't care what the puppets look like. They are still going to hear Jesus through them."
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Tricia Garza, the certification officer for the School of Education, summarized the day.
"It's always good to do God's work," she said. "But it's even better when he puts us where he wants us to be."
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