Music, Missions and Me

I remember the first time I walked into Sonshine Music Festival. I was 15 and a buddy from camp had invited me to join him. Miraculously, we weaved our way directly through thousands of tents to happen upon our fellow counselors from Bible camp. Crazy concerts, meaningful worship, late-night conversations, celebrity encounters, campsite meals and swims in the nearby lake ensued. And not just that summer, but for years after!

 

 

Each summer into college, I would make big plans with friends to build the best campsite at Sonshine. I would spend the months before acquiring couches, tents, coolers, a small makeshift stage, a soft-sided pool, a foosball table, and a truck and trailer to fit everything in. We prided ourselves setting up our own living room at “Campsite Infinity” and, for years, hosting a makeshift music competition irreverently called “Sonshine Idol.”

 

I loved the hands-in-the-air concerts, the random reunions with friends, the waves of worship that rippled through crowds of thousands, and the community of campsite conversations that Sonshine made possible for my friend and me.

 

When I think “summer” I still think Sonshine, but there’s something else that comes to mind: “service.” A few years into college, I began working for YouthWorks, helping lead mission trips for teenagers. That first summer on the Eastern Shore of Virginia I got to guide teenagers into service with children who needed love, widows who needed home repair, the elderly who needed friendship and a community who embraced us back. Alongside teenagers, I found meaningful ways to serve others and, moreover, I learned and grew and found a path forward because of the incredible people I met along the way.

 

 

For four years, I got to experience incredible service in places like small-town Pennsylvania, Niagara Falls-New York and on the sweeping plains of South Dakota. I hope everybody gets to go to unique places to meet amazing people and learn more about what service means. But I also know that there are tons of teenagers who get pretty pumped at the idea of joining friends in an incredible concert experience.

 

 

For me, there were summers I chose music and summers I chose mission trips, but it typically wasn’t easy to combine the two into the same summer, let alone the same week. But being able to do both? That would be pretty amazing! I imagine that there are plenty of passionate people out there who would rather not have to choose between singing incredible songs and serving incredible people. And this summer, they don’t have to!

 

That’s because this summer YouthWorks and Sonshine Festivals are teaming up to invite teenagers into an incredible week of both music and missions. That’s an invitation to a pretty incredible week of filling your hands with service and your heart with worship – and the best part is that it’s all alongside great friends.

 

 

It’s worth checking out! To learn more about “Music & Missions” from YouthWorks and Sonshine, head over to www.youthworks.com/sonshine

 

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Sam Townsend helps write training, programming and marketing materials for YouthWorks mission trips. When he isn’t hanging around teenagers at church or digging into seminary homework, he is generally looking for a good conversation and a hole-in-the-wall restaurant to have it in. Sam still considers his first couple summers working for YouthWorks in Virginia and Pennsylvania communities some of the most transformative times of his life.