A couple hundred young people from across the state will descend on Suffolk in two weeks to tackle a variety of community service projects.

They will be arriving Friday night and doing missions projects all day Saturday, said Bethlehem Christian Church Pastor Matt Winters, whose church is hosting the students for meals and Sunday morning worship.

The students come from all over the state, including one church in North Carolina — about 15 to 20 churches in total.

Most from outside the area are Baptist churches. But local churches of several different denominations have gotten involved — Hillcrest Baptist Church, Holy Neck Christian Church, Holland Baptist Church, Westminster Reformed Presbyterian Church and Carrsville’s Mt. Carmel Christian Church.

“This is a good way to cross denominations, because some denominations like to stick together,” Winters said. “It’s a really exciting thing just to get the churches working together, because sometimes we don’t do as much of that as we should.”

The students have paid their own costs for the trip, including the hotel stay and supplies for the jobs they’ll be doing.

“The fact that they’re paying their own way to come and going out and doing the labor too is a double blessing,” Winters said. “It’s a great way to put into action what we teach.”

The young people will tackle 17 major projects, everything from helping out with the American Diabetes Association’s Tour de Cure fundraiser — which happens the same day — to painting a house for a woman on a limited income.

“The families that we’re helping are limited as far as resources go,” Winters said.

Other projects including building wheelchair ramps, building a deck, cleaning up a yard, cooking Saturday lunch at the Salvation Army, helping the Nansemond River Preservation Alliance with a clean-up effort and working in the Suffolk Partnership for a Healthy Community’s community gardens.

Winters said he has five smaller projects in reserve if one of the others finished up early.

He’s not looking for more projects, but local churches are still welcome to send students to participate. They can call Winters at 593-4274 for more information.

Winters said he sees the importance of ministry in one’s community as paramount, and sometimes harder to do than the international missions projects favored by some.

“It’s easy to get galvanized to go on a trip, but sometimes it’s harder to find the time and commitment to do something next door,” he said.