This summer, the Reformed Presbyterian Home (RPH) was a service site for 45 middle-school-aged children participating in a leadership training program. The program was organized by the Pittsburgh Project, a Christian community outreach organization. Students were charged with working collaboratively on tasks as assigned by the service site. Team leaders worked side by side with the students, modeling perseverance, commitment, endurance, and the give-and-take necessary to solve problems when working with others.

The Pittsburgh Project contacted the RP Home in early summer asking if we could host so many children at once—and middle schoolers to boot! The RP Home administrator, Rebecca Brady, graciously accepted the challenge and strategized to form six teams led by RPH staff. For six Wednesdays in June and July, the students swept walks, cleaned stairwells, scrubbed wheelchairs and railings, weeded gardens, stacked brush, and washed windows, just to name a few chores. The building always smelled a little sweeter after the Project team was here.

During their time with us, a common question emerged from each student team: “When do we get to meet the residents?” Thus, after their chores were finished on the final Wednesday, we divided the students into small teams to visit with several residents located at different stations around the building. We previously asked the resident speakers to consider what messages they would like to convey to middle schoolers. The title of the talks was Pearls of Wisdom. Residents shared what they wish they had known when they were the age of the students, and offered advice in managing their present and future lives.

Common themes were heard as the students moved from speaker to speaker: the importance of the church as the foundation for one’s life, honoring one’s parents, studying hard and developing sound financial management skills. Alice Joseph spoke about parents: “God gave you your parents from the beginning. Love them. Obey them. Listen to them. As you get older, converse together. Share. God will bless you and you will grow into the kind of person He wants you to be.”

Jean Hemphill shared, “It is important to impress upon our youth the study habits and work ethic that they are developing now are going to have a major impact on their whole life. Completing a task (small or large) in an orderly and cheerful manner is an important step on the ladder of success. ‘Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed’ (1 Tim. 2:15).”

Some residents spoke about problems they had when they were young and described how their faith and love for the Lord helped them to endure. Shirley McMillan told of separation from her mother at a very young age due to her mother’s illness. Shirley went to live with her grandparents and remembered visiting her mother in the hospital. Though she was not permitted inside, she could look up and wave as her mother looked down from the third-floor window.

Richard Weir remarked that he was glad to have grown up in a Christian home and that he was determined to live a life like Christ as best he could. He also noted that when he was the age of the Project students, he had already crossed the Atlantic Ocean multiple times, which anticipated his later enlistment in the Merchant Marines. He found that work to be challenging and dangerous, but he persevered, earning and saving enough money to attend college and receive his degree.

Jessie Mae McFarland shared stories about her early years on the family farm. She emphasized how important it is to be good stewards of your personal resources, exhorting students to beware the credit card. Charlie Baker and Larry Coon discussed the importance of being a part of a church community. Charlie urged the students to think about how they can serve the Lord. John Mark Scott shared that any time he experienced trouble or needed a hand anywhere he lived, inevitably it was people from church communities that helped him, including in his adventure traveling with his son from Pittsburgh to Gettysburg—on foot!

Orlena Boyle talked about her time as a missionary in China and Japan and the joy of spreading the news about Christ in distant lands. The students were astonished that she had lived overseas for more than 40 years.

What unfolded during that final Wednesday morning could not have been planned. All the choreography was correct: we had maps, and the students moved seamlessly from one resident location to the next; the resident speakers were prepared; and the surprise thank-you cake was ready and waiting. In other words, the logistics worked—but no one could have planned for the depth of the experience that ensued. The children quickly settled in and listened attentively to each speaker. They asked appropriate questions, and most were riveted to their seats. They understood they were in the presence of revered elders and that those elders had important wisdom to share that could enrich their own lives now and in the future.

Without being told, the students understood that “Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life” (Prov. 16:31). They served the residents through chores, listened to the residents with respect, and gained pearls of great price. All this is to the honor of God, who blessed both residents and students more than we could imagine.

—Rebecca King

Rebecca King is director of marketing and public relations at the RP Home.