They are the first group to make that commitment in the new Adopt-A-People program of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), according to CBF missionaries Philip and Shantel Vestal of Charlotte.

"You're about to step out into a greater adventure than you can ever imagine," Philip Vestal told the church's youth at an Oct. 15 service before they signed an Adopt-A-People covenant promising to become global partners with other individuals, groups and churches in adopting an unreached people group.

The adoption has captured the imagination of other Ridge Road Church members and has drawn offers of help from adults and other youths, said Tom Allen, the church's minister of education.

The Pattani Malay are an often-neglected and forgotten racial and religious minority in Southern Thailand, comprising about three-million people who are predominantly Muslim in this mainly Buddhist nation. The youth's first step in their new ministry was taking an offering to buy shoes to keep barefoot Pattani Malay children from getting worms, a serious problem there.

"Shoes for children," Allen said, "is just one of many ways to help build a bridge for God's love."

The Adopt-A-People approach originated among other Great Commission Christians and transcends denominations, said Vestal, a former youth evangelist and son of Daniel Vestal, CBF's national coordinator.

Philip Vestal and his wife were appointed last June to develop the ministry for CBF. They hope to establish a nationwide network of Adopt-A-People coordinators, unreached people group coordinators, and teams to focus prayer, volunteers and resources on World A, that portion of the globe where 1.3 billion people have had little or no exposure to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Many of these people are among the poorest of the poor and live on less than $1.40 a day. CBF currently works with the Pattani Malay and 17 other such groups among 2,000 unreached people groups throughout World A.

The Ridge Road Church middle schoolers will join one of many "adoption teams" the Vestals hope to launch in churches or groups within churches. The teams will educate, equip and encourage others about their adopted people in cooperation with the Adopt-A-People and unreached people group coordinators, CBF missionaries working among the people groups, and a worldwide network of organizations and churches that are focusing on unreached peoples.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: O'Brien is a global missions correspondent for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.)