By Rabyn Ratliff
VALDOSTA — Members of CrossPointe Church are gearing up for a unique mission this week,as they invite the community to join them for the Compassion Experience.
Designed to bring focus and response to the global poverty epidemic, The Compassion Experience offers an interactive tour of the days and life of children and families living in third world countries. As part of a national tour, presented by Compassion International, a leading authority on child sponsorship, the event will make a fourday stop in Valdosta.
“We built ‘The Compassion Experience’ in order to really bring the developing world to America,” said Mark Hanlon, Compassion International’s senior vice president of global marketing and engagement.”
The fourday event, set up over a broad exhibit space in front of the church, will feature actual replicas from homes in Uganda and Bolivia. While on the tour, visitors will take a journey through the lives of two children, using iPods and headsets to bring the experience to life.
David Rogers, Lead Pastor of CrossPointe Church has hopes that the event will not only bring awareness to the needs of families abroad, but also inspire action from the local community.
“I first heard of Compassion International and its ministry back in 1999 while I was at a Youth Ministry Conference. I was so impressed with their ministry that I sponsored my first child,” Rogers said. “Sponsoring a child with Compassion International is an easy and intentional way that an individual can have a direct impact on releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name.”
Rogers says that while he and members of his church do not assume the city will take part in the the mission of child sponsorship, “we do want to make this opportunity available to any who want to partner with Compassion (International): a great resource for us to individually reach ‘the ends of the earth.'”
The Compassion Experience is free to the public and will take place Friday, Jan. 22 through Monday, Jan. 26, 11 a.m — 7 p.m. daily. Registration can be done online in order to attend at a scheduled time, but is not required, as walkins are welcome.
Please visit www.crosspointechurch.cc, for more information, or Compassion International’s Sponsor a Child page, here.
