Paula Boone is a tractor-operating, truck-driving, garden-growing grandmother. She helps her husband, Dwight, plant and harvest corn and soybeans on their 1,300-acre Indiana farm, and she can even drive their Mack truck, a diesel that hauls crops to the grain elevator. Farm life suits her well. There is always work to be done, and 54-year-old Paula is a woman of action.

"She sees something that needs to be done and just does it," says a friend from church. "You don't have to ask her." One example involves the visitors at Paula's church. As the pastor looked at ways to invite visitors to return, he discovered that Paula was already mailing welcome notes to them. "And if she knows where they live," adds Paula's oldest daughter, Sarah, "she delivers cookies to them, or whatever she's baking that week."

Along with serving at her church, Paula also serves on several local committees in Sheridan, a small town just north of Indianapolis. But though community service was fulfilling, it wasn't enough for this tall, trim woman. When the youngest of her four children left home a few years ago, Paula faced a dilemma. "What am I going to do with my life?" she asked Sarah. "I'd like to do something besides quilting."

"Mom, don't worry," Sarah replied. "God will show you what He wants you to do."

Sure enough, He did. "God simply gave me this vision," Paula explains, "that Sheridan Middle School kids would have their own youth group, and it would cross all denominational lines." That vision was all Paula needed. For the past two years, she has been putting the vision into action, developing Middle School Venture, a ministry that reaches Sheridan's 250-plus middle-school students with God's love and forgiveness. But helping the seed of God's idea blossom into a full-fledged ministry has taken more time and effort than she expected.

The problem wasn't with this age group; Paula had taught middle-school kids in California and Alaska, and then in Indiana before she and Dwight began farming. The problem was, Paula didn't know how to start a ministry. She had no training and didn't know where to get any. She asked God to show her what to do. Then one day in the spring of 1996, as she read through the mail, Paula noticed something interesting printed on a financial-contribution receipt from Campus Crusade for Christ.

"There was a sort of advertisement," Paula relates, "saying that if you'd like to be involved with high-school ministry in your area but don't know what to do, call this number. So I called."

That number was for Student Venture, Campus Crusade's outreach to high-school students. Paula learned that Student Venture offered a service called VITAL LINC, where experienced staff members coach volunteers in how to get a ministry up and going. She signed on eagerly.

"The advantage of [volunteers] is that they already know people in the community, and they have trust," explains Mark Sanders, VITAL LINC director. "A new staff member would have to build that trust before they could work effectively."

Paula and her VITAL LINC coach, Laura Dickerson, talked on the phone once a week at first, discussing ideas and praying together. After their time together, Paula shifted into gear. Her first step took her to the superintendent's office. "He was so enthused, he said, 'If only one youngster comes to the Lord, the whole program is worth it,'" recalls Paula. She then met with the principal, who was just as excited.

"A lot of people think the public school is closed to them," Paula says, "that you can't do anything concerning religion. All we're doing is making this program available; the kids come of their own free will. By law the school has to make a room available for us to meet in."

Next, Paula went before the local ministerial association. "I told them what had transpired so far," she says, "and I promised never to have any function on a Sunday. I explained that I was not to take the place of the church, but that I was there to encourage them and to bring youngsters to them. They were enthusiastic."

As Paula laid out the groundwork, she discovered someone else reaching out to Sheridan's youth. Shawn Feeney, a staff member with Campus Crusade's music ministry, located nearby, had recently moved to Sheridan with his family and had arranged for one of the ministry's bands to perform an evangelistic concert there in December 1996. About 40 middle schoolers embraced Christ as their Savior at that concert. Shawn was excited, but he knew that with his young family and full-time ministry, he didn't have much time to help these kids grow in their faith. Then along came Paula.

"She has such a heart for these kids," Shawn says. "And they need Christ. Here in the Midwest, it's supposed to be Mom, apple pie and Chevrolet, but it's not. Kids here struggle with the same stuff other kids do, like drinking and drugs."

To teach these students about the Christian life, Paula and Shawn started some Bible studies, but they've had a hard time keeping them going. Many of the kids are involved in sports, and that limits their time. "The biggest struggle with junior-high kids is transportation," Shawn says. "They can't get themselves anywhere, so I'm doing Bible study and then driving 50 miles to take them all home, because they live out in the country."

Fear is another hindrance. "Middle-school kids are nervous to step out on their own," explains Paula, "but they'll go out in a group."

Since youngsters this age find strength in numbers, Paula started hosting once-a-month "Fun Nights," hoping to acquaint students with the ministry and encourage them to sign up for Bible studies. This approach seems to be working. One student, suspended last semester for accepting drugs from another student, has become a Fun Night regular and has also started attending a Bible study. At a Fun Night in January, two seventh-grade girls also signed up for a Bible study.

For help with leading games and supervising the kids, Paula turned to the local churches. "I have contacts in nearly every church," she says. "It's good at building unity."

Paula has held Fun Nights in the school gym, a community hall, even in one of the buildings on their farm. Last fall, her husband, Dwight, took the students on a hay ride, then built a bonfire for them. "This is great!" exclaimed one of the middle schoolers. "When are we going to do this again?"

Attendance at these events ranges from 10 students to 30. These nights are fun, but they are also God-centered. There is always a gospel presentation at the end. Sometimes Paula asks students who are more mature in their faith to help her present The Four Spiritual Laws, an evangelistic booklet.

Some parents allow their children to attend Fun Night even though they don't let them go to church. "You are able to bring in youngsters that we haven't been able to reach," a pastor told her recently.

Along with the rewards of this ministry have come challenges. Paula doesn't focus on them much, but she does reveal one struggle that surprised her: spiritual battle. "The enemy is always telling me, 'You won't be good at this or that aspect of the venture,'" she discloses. To fend off these attacks and remain faithful to God's call, Paula claims verses from God's Word, like 1 Thessalonians 5:24, "The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it" (New International Version).

Paula knows the power the Bible contains, and she incorporates Scripture into all of her Middle School Venture activities. "Of all the things that kids are going to read in school, the Holy Bible is the only thing that's not going to change."

Launching a ministry is not easy. Paula admits, "I probably would've given up by now," if she hadn't gotten help from VITAL LINC. She has also learned that when God calls someone to a task, He will provide everything they need to accomplish it. He just needs people who will put their faith--and His plans--into action.

For more information about VITAL LINC, visit their Web site at www.svlinc.com or call 1-800-789-5462.