StormCo

MISSION STATEMENT
The StormCo mission is to send teams of trained young people to work for, learn from, and encourage individual communities; sharing God's love by building bridges to all peoples through an adventure in service to others.   

FIVE FOUNDATION
No Agenda
No Expectations
No Walls
No Limits
No Fear   

HISTORY


In 1992, a group of senior high school students from Brisbane Adventist College, Brisbane, Australia spoke of 'doing something' with their faith. They didn't have enough money or time to prepare for an overseas mission trip, but they wanted to do something adventurous for God. They were dedicated to serving Jesus and inspired by the Holy Spirit, but when they looked around, they noticed that they were doing nothing practical to express their faith.

Their chaplain felt the same. He called them 'fat Christians'; fed to the point of bursting with Christianity, but not 'doing' anything to make it real. 

So together they came up with a simple concept. To go to a small town somewhere in the outback and see what they could do to help out, physically and spiritually. The pastor in Moree, NSW offered a place to stay over the phone. So they saved up some money, prepared some games, drama and music, loaded up the cars and drove west, calling themselves the 'SWAMP team' (Students with a Mission and a Purpose). The Swamp team spent 10 busy days meeting adults and children, cooking, performing, and helping people in whatever they could find to do. They camped together in a church hall and the group bonded closely. It was an adventure and it was fun.



Lawrens Adair, a veteran 'outback missionary' and president of the Adventist Aviation Association, recognised the spirit of service and adventure in these young people. He convinced them to go to a place where there was no SDA church, where there was to work to do. The town was Charleville, Queensland and this time the team wanted a new name. They liked the image of a storm refreshing the drought stricken outback. So they called themselves 'Storm Company' and thought of an anagram: Service to Others Really Matters. The year was 1993.



Those first trips to Charleville began with community service projects done in cooperation with the city council. The local social services organisation needed help with vacation car, so the team put together a children's program for the mornings. The Salvation Army needed help with Sunday school, so the team was there too. From the local scout group to the nursing home to the prison camp, to the Uniting church, the Storm Co team kept asking what was needed and kept finding things to do.

The community loved Storm Co. The teams went home changed and couldn't wait to go out again.



In the past eight years, many of those early Storm Co team members have moved to other places, and some of the leaders have been transferred to other positions. They took with them the adventure concept and the name; and Storm Co teams started work all over Australia.

 In 1999, the South Pacific Division responded to the grass roots growth of Storm Company.

The adventure continues at Brisbane Adventist College each year with a Storm Co team from Year 10 visiting an outback community and for Year 12 students during schoolies week .