My name is Dana Sellers, and I’m a sophomore at Baylor University. I came to Woodway as a freshman. However, I’m not writing to talk about me; just the amazing ministry that God has put on my heart named HomeBound.
HomeBound is a ministry that has it humble roots in the winter 2009 get-together between the older women of the church and the college girls. At that fellowship, cookies were bagged and taken to the shut-ins of our church. From that one visit, God placed a desire, to make a ministry specific for these people, into the heart of three girls, Marne Matysek, Ashley Anderson, and Cassie Cork. The following spring, HomeBound was started. I had the honor of being co-leaders with Marne Matysek this past Fall, and I am now the leader, as she is on an internship. I am so excited for what God has planned for HomeBound!
Let me tell you what HomeBound is. HomeBound is a ministry where we connect college students to shut-ins from our church, with the hope of creating lasting relationships. One of our most important principles is that we want the students involved to take ownership of the ministry and run with it. Therefore, we don’t have an official meeting day and time. However, we do have some specifics that we ask from those involved. In groups of 2 or 3, we ask students to visit their assigned house every other week. We ask groups to visit for at least 30 minutes and just share their lives. That’s it! And yet, from seemingly so little, so much comes. Usually, it is the old people (as we affectionately refer to them) who talk the most and who share their life stories as well as the wisdom gained on the way. They share practical and philosophical advice, even to the simplistic “Never stop smiling.” They often give lessons on spirituality and theology. We often go into ministries like this thinking we are going to bless them, when in fact, they are the ones who pour into our lives.
Stories, you ask? Oh, I’ve got stories. Stories that one woman told us about living in Germany with her family and disliking the maids because they stole and taught her children to speak German. Stories about one 93 year-old-man who tells us to “not get any ideas” when we help him change the sheets on the guest bed for his visiting daughter. Stories from a man who was stationed at Pearl Harbor after the attack to help with clean-up and the making of missiles for planes, who lost a leg not in war but in a car accident here in Waco. Stories from a woman who is so proud of her grandchildren that when students visit her, she keeps them for an hour and a half just showing them all the pictures she’s put into albums. Oh! How I’ve got stories.
So, if after all this you are interested in joining, let me warn you first. Be aware that you will never look at your life the same way again. You will never again look at history and think that it was so much simpler back then. You may find that you ignore homework in order to spend an hour with some old folks instead of your intended 30 minutes. You may get disgusted with the current generation and wish we would have more respect for people older than us. Considering all this, if you still want to join, then please e-mail me at Dana_Sellers@baylor.edu. Please, don’t hesitate to join at any point. It’s not “too late” in the semester. Not for old people.
Before I go, I just want to share a vision with you. We desire that every shut-in associated with our church connect to a group of students. We want to shine the light of Christ and bring the joy of the gospel to those who no longer get to experience the great fellowship that is found in the church. Even if you cannot commit to this ministry, we ask for your prayers. Prayers that beg God to allow us to glorify Him by visiting these people. James 1:27a “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble…”