Harold Booze reaches across generations through missions

(Editor’s note: Judson University, a school with historic Baptist roots, has enjoyed good relationships with a variety of Illinois Baptists, including many of our own IBSA churches and members. Judson provided this article about one of them, whose mission work extends far and wide.)

Harold Booze is no stranger to mission work. After a successful career in human resources at a major manufacturer, he and his wife, Judy, prayed to retire early so that they could serve the Lord full-time. In 1999, their prayers were answered. He began volunteering with the Illinois Baptist State Association at various levels. He was part of strengthening churches in Bulgaria, working with Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief, serving as the assistant state director for the Northern State Region. He works on construction projects and shares the gospel as part of Campers On Mission—all in addition to their active membership at Woodland Baptist Church in Peoria.

At the same time, the Boozes approached Judson University to establish an endowment to assist college students in doing mission trips. As a Baptist school, Judson welcomed their participation in the global outreach trips already established at the university that send students and advisors to weeklong service projects in the United States and internationally.

In March, Harold again joined the Judson Global Outreach to Belize. During the trip held over Judson’s spring break, he helped install a new tin roof and painted the outside of a church building in the Central American nation. This was his second year joining Judson’s team. That first year Harold saw that the church needed to replace the roof but didn’t have the resources. When he returned, Harold invited his Peoria congregation to help the church, so Woodland Baptist raised funds to replace the roof this year during his trip.

“I’ve served as a Judson University Trustee for 10 years and focused on the Academic Life Committee. I love young people, being around them and with them,” he said. “They took me in without question and we had a lot of fun together. We talked about their generation and my generation.”

Judson has had a special relationship serving Templo Evangelico el Buen Pastor in Belize and has taken many students and alumni each spring to work alongside church members. Each year volunteers break into teams to provide Vacation Bible School and sports camps, and to work on projects that have included installing bathrooms, building roofs and floors, and constructing an outdoor patio.

Harold participated in visits to leaders within the Belize community and was touched by one home visit with an elderly woman known as a lady of prayer. “Spending an hour in the home with her, you felt like you’ve known them your whole life. You felt God in that experience,” he said.

During the week, the work mission team worshipped with the church community in multiple languages. “You see God at work in bringing all that together, in it being such a joyous time,” he said.

“One of the ways I saw God is the love toward each other. It permeates among the students themselves. There wasn’t one centile of discontent,” Harold noted. “The bounce as each one interacts with the kids and adults; the love of the people there; the ladies that cook for us and treat us like royalty. It’s the love that you feel and the genuineness of it.”

“We hear in our [Judson] board meetings about the campus atmosphere and the spiritual life of our students, but on a trip like that, you see it first-hand—you see it in action,” Harold said. “You know it is being fed into them, in part through the campus life and their studies. It is that spiritual wrap that is around everything that goes on at Judson.

“Judson’s a big family.”