By Thomas Sellers Jr.
For a few hours last week about 500 teenagers put down their cell phones to actually socialize without social media.
The 2019 Merge Mission Camp held at the Millington First Baptist Church was held June 24-28 with about 200 volunteers chaperoning the children.
“The best thing is we get to see 19 different groups from five different states,” FBC Minister Andrew MacDonald said. “We get the chance to host them in our community. We’re at 26 different missions sites all the way into Memphis to Tipton County.
“We’re working with the city of Atoka, Munford, city of Millington and several different other schools,” he continued. “It’s just a unique opportunity for us to reach a lot of people, hang out, have some fun, talk about the Lord Jesus. We can build love in community in the process.”
A part of the spiritual building was group exercises, games, sports, missions, church worship, fellowship meals and prayer time. The Merge has been taking place at First Baptist for more than a decade. MacDonald was participating in his fourth.
He said the main purpose of the Merge was living up to its name on behalf of the teens.
“Unity, I think in the culture today with social media a lot of things are me-centric mindset,” he said. “We go in groups. Everything we do is in a group. Our games evolve around groups. At our mission sites, things revolve teams. It’s just that mindset of together we can accomplish more for the Lord. As opposed to doing it alone, I don’t think anybody on this effort was meant to go at it alone.
“We want to introduce them to Jesus if they know him and for them to recognize he came to this world and died on the cross for them,” MacDonald added. “They don’t have to go at this alone. Even as a believer we’re not meant to go through this by ourselves.”
From wake-up calls to lights out, the children enjoyed the bonding experience. They didn’t need Snapchat streaks, Instagram filters, posts on Facebook or Youtube clips to stay informed. The children learned about each other while having fun.
“I think specifically in our culture today it’s like a movie clip culture,” MacDonald said. “If you poll students, it’s like 65 percent of them think they will be famous before 30. Some might be, but it’s just a different thought process.
“With social media a lot of the time what you see is the highlights,” he concluded. “And a lot of the time, they think ‘Oh, that’s how my life needs to be.’ And the reality is their lives are not like that a lot of the time. They’re trying to portray something they’re not.”
