Churches located near college campuses often become a church home away from home for young Christians on their own for the first time. First Baptist Church, Weaver, ministers to students at nearby Jacksonville State University, but church members have increased their emphasis on missions as a result of their work with these students.
Many college students call First, Weaver, home during the school year, including several international students. Several of these students have come from the Ukraine, a former republic of the Soviet Union located north of the Black Sea in Eastern Europe.
According to pastor Roger Willmore, First, Weaver, has developed an interest in Ukrainian missions because of these students. As a result, the church has sent four missions teams to the Ukraine in the last four years and even has a career missionary couple, Bryan and Risa Hensley, who are currently finishing language school in the Ukraine.
The church’s most recent missions trip occurred in May when Willmore and a team of four volunteers — Jack Chapman, Lamar Campbell, Don Henderson and Bill Wade — went to Kiev, Ukraine, to do construction and ministry activities through Kiev Christian University.
Missions focus
Willmore described the university as a school “specifically for training young men and women to serve as church leaders, Bible teachers, evangelists, children’s ministers, preachers and pastors.
“All of the students have their eyes fixed on ministry and preparation for ministry,” Willmore said. “Since we can’t bring them all here, we want to train these future leaders in the context of their own culture and equip them to minister to their own people.”
The Weaver volunteers responded to a need outlined by PROmissions, an official International (IMB) ministry based in Memphis that has financially supported Kiev Christian University. PROmissions has worked to secure property for the campus and restore old buildings to serve as classrooms, dorm space and libraries.
On this trip, Willmore was a guest lecturer, and the volunteer team installed cabinets and plumbing and completed other finishing work in some of the campus buildings. According to the volunteers, however, the construction work was only a small part of their trip.
“I wanted to do something for the Lord, and I knew I would get a blessing for that, but I didn’t expect to get such a blessing from the students,” said Lamar Campbell, a deacon at First, Weaver, and a member of the volunteer team.
Each day, the volunteers shared breakfast, lunch and dinner with the 47 students at the university so the students could practice their English. After talking with the students about their families and backgrounds, Campbell said he realized how much American Christians take for granted.
“When I got back, I had to take a reality check of my life because those students have such a strong witness for God. Like Paul, they’re fighting the good fight and keeping the faith. My witness is not that strong, but it needs to be,” Campbell said.
Personal contact
Don Henderson, also a deacon and team member, agreed the interaction with the students was the highlight of the trip.
“The thing about the students that really blessed me and us as a group was that their love for the Lord was so genuine,” Henderson said. “It was like nothing I’ve ever seen here at home. Those students truly walk the walk.”
The volunteers were so touched by the students’ strong faith and witness that they wanted to do something to help them in their work. Each Saturday, the students go out in teams to do street missions in Kiev and home-based ministry in the outlying areas near the city. When the Weaver volunteers joined the student teams for their weekly trips, they noticed the students had to share two guitars. So the volunteers bought three new guitars and cases and presented them to the students on their last day in Kiev.
“We have so many material things in this country,” Henderson said. “They have so little and appreciate it so much. That’s the lesson they taught us. We went to help them and they helped us.”
Willmore said such lessons have helped First, Weaver, become more of a kingdom-minded church.
“Rather than thinking about our own church and our own needs, our people are beginning to see ministry as a way to build the kingdom of God,” Willmore said. “We have learned that we can touch the world with the gospel from this church and this community.”
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