High school students from across the state were challenged to be “Jesus with skin on” and saw firsthand what that means at Student Missions Weekend 2017 (SMW).
The goal of SMW is to expose students to missions and ministry through Bible study, worship and participation in local missions projects, said Malory Ford, missions and ministry consultant for students and young women at Alabama Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU), which coordinates SMW. The two-day event is held each January at WorldSong Missions Place in Cook Springs. This year’s SMW was held Jan. 20–21.
Firsthand experience
Throughout the weekend, students heard stories of life on the missions field in places including the Middle East, Africa and Europe. They also saw firsthand what church planters are seeking to do in Alabama.
Sam, a former International Mission Board journeyman missionary to Europe and North Africa whose name has been changed for security reasons, shared his story with the students on Friday night and Saturday morning. He spoke about his own missions calling, daring students to consider their time off from school as an opportunity.
“Spend your summers doing something worthwhile, something that impacts eternity,” he said.
He also acknowledged the difficulties students face in an age where information is constantly available, pointing to 2 Corinthians 4:4 as a warning that Satan will blind unbelievers to the truth of the gospel.
Knowing the truth
“Information comes at us all the time and we don’t always know the source,” he said. “How can we know the truth? Study God’s Word.”
On Saturday students and their leaders served in two missions locations in communities in Birmingham. Groups in Fairfield picked up trash and did yard cleanup. Groups in Hueytown did cleanup projects and went door to door to invite community members to Integrity Baptist Church, a church plant in the area.
Candace McIntosh, executive director of Alabama WMU, said, “My heart just smiled as I drove away from the church on Saturday. Everywhere I looked I saw students being the hands and feet of Jesus to Integrity [Baptist] and the community that surrounded it.”
Integrity Baptist Pastor Morris Johnson explained to the students about the church’s history and God’s provision of a permanent location in Hueytown. The name of the church describes the Christian lifestyle, Johnson said.
“If you walk with integrity, God will make a way,” he told the students. “We ought to live in a way that God can use us anywhere, anytime.”
Hope Stephens, missions and ministry consultant for children at Alabama WMU, and her husband, Michael, told the students how they had come to be involved at Integrity Baptist and in the Fairfield community. Michael Stephens cautioned students that their lives are a witness all the time, one way or another.
“Do what God calls you to do, not what your friends call you to do,” he said. “You never know the path God might take you down.”
Students need reminders that they are not alone in their schools and communities as believers and that they have truth to speak to people, Ford said. Opportunities like SMW provide that encouragement and fellowship with other students who are seeking to live their lives for the Lord.
“The whole point of the weekend is for students to take the missions lifestyle home,” Ford said.
That’s what Sarah, a student from Birmingham, likes most about SMW.
Serving others
“This is my second year and I love meeting new people and having fun but I really like helping and serving others,” she said.
That’s what the weekend is all about, McIntosh said.
“Student Missions Weekend offers the opportunity for students to come away from their everyday life and hear how God is using believers just like them to demonstrate the love of Christ to those who do not know Him. Then they get to go be the Church, serving others and sharing the gospel,” she said. “It’s a heart-changing weekend.”
Share with others: