The Extreme Makeover phenomenon has taken over one church in Lodi, Calif. While youth pastor Darin Schoch traveled last year to attend his brother’s graduation ceremony, the Extreme Makeover Backyard Edition team was hard at work.
As soon as their youth leader was out of town, high school and college students from First Baptist Church of Lodi crept into the dense jungle that was sometimes called Pastor Darin’s yard. It seems that Pastor Darin had been so busy planning the missions trip to an impoverished area in Mexico that he didn’t have time to tend to the yard in his newly purchased home, which was a fixer-upper. Yeah, that was the word all right. Nevertheless, the crew bravely faced the grim task before them: transferring the disaster-of-a-yard into, well, a yard.
Changes Outside and In
Before leaving, Pastor Darin told the group that the upcoming missions trip next month would be called “The Extreme Makeover.” But the changes it was intended to bring about would prove more drastic than a face-lift or a tummy tuck. This makeover was intended for the soul. (Yikes, is that painful?)
Pastor Darin designed cool T-shirts for the group featuring before and after pictures of a guy going through a makeover. Funny thing was, he looked exactly the same on the outside. But arrows pointed out the inward changes.
>His mind had been renewed.
>His eyes were now fixed on God’s plan for his life.
>His hands were palms-up ready to serve.
>His feet were ready to carry the message of the gospel.
>His smile reflected the excitement of living in obedience to Christ.
Once the group got thinking about makeovers, they got inspired to perform one on Pastor Darin’s yard. They knew it needed way more than planting a pansy or two, so the group committed to a three-day, sweat-all-the-way-to-your-ears work party (with pizza, of course).
The finished product was amazing. No weed was left standing, and Pastor Darin was free to plant new grass or shrubs from ground zero. When he arrived home, the pastor was greeted by a new yard and a sign that read “Extreme Makeover: Backyard Version.”
“I was definitely shocked,” Darin says. “I was also extremely happy to think that they would be willing to do that. It was impressive.“
Extreme Makeover: God Version
All that work also got the youth group hyped and ready for their missions trip. Breakaway caught up with the team after they returned from Mexico, and found that they had experienced some internal alterations of their own.
“I’m extremely thankful, and I don’t complain as much [after the trip],” Zak, a high school senior says. “When I arrived in Mexico, I would help out if someone asked first, but by the end of the week I wasn’t waiting for someone to ask me to do something. I wanted to help.”
“To see all that poverty changed me,” recent high school graduate Matt says.
Matt served on a drama team and was especially moved by playing with the impoverished children he encountered in Mexico. Since returning home, Matt has been watching less TV. “I’ve also learned to sit and be quiet and listen to God,” he says.
A high school junior named Crystal says she experienced a complete heart makeover. Only a few months before the missions trip, Crystal had been caught up in a gang culture that included fighting, drugs and depression. Serving others in a different setting provided her a new way to reach up to God
“It brought a dramatic change in my life,” Crystal says. “God changed my heart. I have emotions again. I have love,” Crystal says. “I haven’t felt that for a long time.”
Pastor Darin is even more inspired by the changes he’s seen in his students than the gift of a new yard, though he does appreciate the landscaping clean-up. He continues to challenge his youth group to seek permanent transformation. “I’m hoping that they will become less concerned about their physical appearances and more focused on what the Lord wants to do within their lives,” he says. 
