"Growing Godly Kids", is inspired by the beauty of Spring and its application to our work. While much of the leadership and staff at Open Door possess an avid love of gardening, our faith and love for growing things also extends to planting the love of Jesus Christ in the hearts of our kids!

Plans are in the works to kick off the spring season with Open Door's annual Seeds For Kids. No planting day date will be set this year. If interested in helping with this project, please contact housemom or housedad to find out more information about this years garden plans. 

Gardening probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you think about volunteering for a youth-centered organization. However, in many ways we, the leadership and staff here at Open Door, see ourselves as spiritual gardeners. Consider the words of Christ in Mark 4:30-32 "Again he said, 'What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade." Our primary responsibility is to plant the seeds of Christ's love in the hearts of our kids. We then nuture that seed through daily time in God's Word, prayer, and Godly teaching. It's our hope that our "gardening" will help our kids to bear all of the fruits of the Spirit when the harvest time comes.

Much like the types of soil Christ describes in the parable of the sower found in Mark chapter 4, The children we care for come from a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and struggles. It is our job to help the kids cultivate their hearts, creating "good soil" for God's Word to take root just as Christ describes in Mark 4:20 "Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the Word, accept it, and produce a crop - some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown."

Planting a garden teaches lots of important lessons like the value of hard work and an appreciation for God's creation, but it also creates a beautiful metaphor for our relationship with Christ. We like to think that while working side-by-side with the kids in the Open Door garden we're not just planting tomato seeds or cucumber seeds, but also the seeds of God's love.