BGMC honors youngest BGMC coordinator
Jacob Loughride and his mother Angie with Assistant General
Superintendent Alton Garrison at the national BGMC banquet.
By Mary Boyd
At the national BGMC banquet, held earlier this year, BGMC honored Jacob Loughridge from Adrian, Missouri, for being the youngest BGMC coordinator. Jacob (now 11) was only nine years old when he started the BGMC program at his church two years ago.
Jacob’s parents, Angie and Lance, are the senior pastors of Victory Assembly of God. They had never done BGMC at their church. As Angie explains, “I was too busy with all the other ministries in our church, and our children’s church director, Nova Surgeon was also too busy. We both just felt we didn’t have time to do another ‘program.’”
That all changed in 2006. During that summer, Jacob attended the Southern Missouri District kids’ camp, where he learned about BGMC.
“Jacob came home from camp and asked me why we didn’t do BGMC. I basically told him that we didn’t have anyone to get it started and that I was too busy,” Angie recalls. This challenged Jacob. He went online and learned all about the BGMC program by going to the BGMC Web site. He figured out everything that was needed to get BGMC started. He brought all the information to his mom and asked if he could be the BGMC coordinator since no one else wanted to do it. “I was a little hesitant at first, but I could see his passion. So I said yes, and thus we began BGMC in our church,” Angie shares.
The church ordered BGMC missions curriculum and began teaching the BGMC lessons once a month in kids’ church. Jacob was in charge of helping his mom prepare for the BGMC service by planning for the snacks and games, doing research on the different countries and running the PowerPoint presentation. Each month, Jacob kept doing more and more in the BGMC services. After a few months, Jacob was put in charge of the entire service.
“Instead of Jacob running the PowerPoints for me, I now run the PowerPoints for him,” Angie says.
At the first BGMC service in January 2007, the kids at Victory Assembly made a goal to raise $1,000 for BGMC. Angie says, “I never dreamed that 12 to 17 kids would be able to raise $1,000 for anything, especially something so new as BGMC.”
The children got busy telling everyone in the church about missions. They also did little jobs here and there to raise money. By the end of the year, the kids raised a total of $2,524 for BGMC! In 2008, they set a goal of $3,000, but again surpassed their goal and raised $4,465.18.
Jacob’s parents stated, “We are so proud of Jacob. He just loves being the BGMC coordinator, and he does a great job. His passion for missions is felt by the whole church.”