The young people from Bethel Assembly of God standing with their barrels with funds raised for BGMC this past Sunday!

Boys and Girls Missions Club (BGMC) is the missions program my church uses to teach the children to love the world – not just our own country – and to do what they can to make a difference in the lives of others.  Funds raised by the kids do what you would expect a missionary organization to do – share Bibles, Christian curriculum and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the communities where the money goes.  But just as Jesus did when He was on earth, the children also help to meet many of the “here and now” physical needs such as providing food, digging wells and providing help to the local church workers.

Buddy Barrel

Buddy Barrel is the mascot for BGMC. Buddy was created in 1949 when the club shipped supplies to missionaries in barrels.  The barrels kept the supplies from getting ruined in route to their destination.  At first small wooden barrels were created for the children to save their coins in.  Today the barrels are now yellow plastic barrels.  Each month the children are encouraged to bring in the money they have saved in their barrels.

But what can little children do to make a difference?  A lot!

The following is just a small list of what the children have done with their fund-raising.

• Sunday school shelters
• Tabernacles
• Generators and solar-powered digital Bibles
• Buildings, equipment and supplies for children’s homes at home and abroad
• Sunday School curricula translation
• Children’s school facilities and resources
• Drug free school assembly kits and outreach materials
• Drug free and HIV AIDS free prevention resources to help children
• After-school programs for needy children
• Shelters for homeless children
• Girls Ministries and Royal Rangers supplies for foreign missionary outreach
• School books and supplies

This program is not just a fundraising program.  Through BGMC the kids learn about the needs of others around the world – teaching them to go beyond the “me-centered” world they experience growing up in the USA.

So far this year the children have raised $273,588.64 for the world!

Little children CAN and DO make a difference.

So – what are you doing to make a difference?