Students and graduates from the University of Mobile (UM) and members of area churches said they are taking the call to go and tell the good news seriously.
Some 375 people have traveled the world telling others about the gospel since the university’s missions program began in 1992. As a result, God has called many young people into career missions work while on trips to countries such as Brazil, Wales, Scotland, Nicaragua, Israel, Germany and Spain.
Marriane McLain, a member of First Baptist North Mobile, Saraland, first heard of UM’s missions program when Cecil Taylor, dean of UM’s school of religion and founder of the program, spoke to her church about trips to Brazil.
It was on her first missions trip to Brazil in 1997 that God placed a call on McLain’s heart.
Then in 1999, a trip to Brazil is where God “made the call more urgent” and “cemented” the call.
“Personally, it made me refocus on the Lord, and see the importance of outreach,” she said. “The trip really changed my walk with the Lord.”
McLain is now working with the International Mission Board, finalizing plans to go overseas. She has received preliminary approval and will begin studies at New Orleans Seminary. She hopes to begin her missions career in the fall of 2002.
Beyond the campus
While the UM program was initially formed to provide missions opportunities for UM students, individuals from local churches joined the efforts by the third year.
Sandra Hunt of Canaan Baptist Church, Bessemer, first heard about the university’s missions program through her children’s youth minister, a UM graduate.
Hunt, a mother of five, said she felt a call into missions when she was younger and kept the call alive in her heart through the years.
“God opened the doors for me through the University of Mobile, and I was compelled to go,” she said. “Through missions trips to Wales, I became truly aware that we really have one God over the whole world.”
Taylor said the three biggest benefits a person receives from missions is “a tremendous impact on your life, a deeper understanding of missions and a commitment to missions that you would never have otherwise, and helping missionaries firsthand do what they are trying to do.”
Trips this year include: Germany (June 1-13), Brazil (June 16-27) and Wales (July 17-Aug. 1). The Nicaragua trip was March 11-17, and the China trip was May 7-21.
For more information about UM’s missions trips, contact Cecil Taylor at 334-442-2255. (UM)
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