Breakaway volunteers are saying “shalom” to their annual project focused on sharing the word of God.
Every year, Breakaway Ministries puts on the Shalom Project, based on the Hebrew word for peace and dedicated to positively impacting others. This year, Breakaway is partnering with three organizations with the specific goal of spreading the word of God to people across the world: Elam, Seed Company and the Deaf Bible Society.
All of the organizations Breakaway is working with this year focus on getting different versions of the Bible to those who may not have easy or immediate access. Associate director of Strategic Partnerships Rachel Thweatt, Class of 2015, is the leader of the Shalom Project.
“In answering ‘what is the Shalom Project,’ it’s important to first think about how to define Shalom,” Thweatt said. “One of our favorite definitions of Shalom is Shalom is not just the absence of conflict, but the presence of flourishing.”
When she was a student at Texas A&M, Thweatt was a participant in the Shalom Project as a Breakaway volunteer. She said she has seen the impacts of the project throughout the years.
“People who are hurting or in desperate need of relief can have their lives changed because Aggies and students tracking with us around the world decided that it wasn’t okay to leave people in that state,” Thweatt said.
The theme and organizations Breakaway works with change every year, but the heart of the project is wanting people around the world to know the love of Jesus, Thweatt said.
“In the past, Breakaway has partnered with several organizations to impact persecuted Christians, families wanting to adopt and human trafficking, just to name a few,” Thweatt said.
JD Rodgers, associate director of creative strategy at Breakaway, is involved with Tuesday night programing for the Shalom Project.
“To me, Shalom is us recognizing and prayerfully lending our voice to a deep need in our world,” Rodgers said. “We hope that the people that we help through each year’s project see that they are not alone and God is with them.”
Rodgers said the first Shalom Project over 10 years ago was aimed at getting supplies to hurricane victims. Over the years, the project has continued to grow.
“Every year, the details of the project change, but the heartbeat of Shalom stays the same,” Rodgers said. “The first project to raise over $100,000 was in 2011.”
Breakaway volunteer and biology sophomore Rebekah Ruiz serves as a resource team money counter for the Shalom project.
“This year’s Shalom Project is all about spreading the gospel to unreached groups,” Ruiz said. “This project has shown me that I can’t take for granted having access to the Word of God whenever I want.”
Thweatt said students can donate to the Shalom project in person at Breakaway on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. with any form of payment or online at breakawayministries.org/shalom.