Alabama appoints 89 to serve as collegiate summer missionaries

The Baptist Campus Ministries of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM) has appointed 89 collegiate summer missionaries to serve across the nation and around the world.

Among the international destinations are Australia, Peru and Greece.

In all, this year’s summer missionaries will be in 14 countries and 17 states, said Scotty Goldman, the SBOM coordinator of collegiate summer missions. These students continue a 57-year tradition of Baptist youth furthering the work of God’s kingdom through summer missions.

 “God uses ordinary people; be who you are and allow God to use you,” said Bob Williamson, missionary to South Africa, as he addressed summer missions appoin­tees and their parents during an orientation and commissioning service. The service at Westwood Baptist Church, Alabaster, included testimonies from summer missionaries.

“There were times when I faced stressful and difficult circumstances, but through all of these, God helped me to grow,” said Amy Holaway, a summer missionary for her third summer. She is a student at the University of North Alabama and a member of Calvary Baptist Church, Tus­cumbia.

Joe Swagart, a student at the University of South Alabama and member of West Mobile Baptist Church, Mobile, said he felt the urgency to return to summer missions a third time because so many people still needed the help the gospel offers.

Since the summer missions program’s inception in 1947, more than 2,000 students have served as summer missionaries, Gold­man said.

The majority of summer missionaries work full time in resort, homeless or camp ministries or with evangelism projects. Other service areas include working with ministries for the hearing impaired and serving as summer staff at a church.

Five of this year’s group will serve as “innovators” doing for-pay jobs such as serving as guides or housekeepers for the U.S. National Park Service.

During their time off the innovators will minister to fellow employees, some of whom are also students.

Differences summer missionaries make often come from relationships rather than grand events, said Brian Fulton, a University of Alabama at Birming­ham student who served in West Africa in 2002.

“It was building relationships with the people in Burkina Faso that seemed to make a lot of difference as I lived in the villages with them,” said the Church at Shelby Crossings member.