Alabama BCM students share missions experiences

Participation in summer missions not only reaches people for Christ but also transforms the lives of the volunteers in a variety of spiritually beneficial ways. At least that is what many of the 94 Alabama Baptist college students who participated in this year’s effort in 19 states and two foreign countries said.
   
Each summer missionary was chosen in early 2002 from participants in Baptist Campus Ministries organizations at colleges and universities across Alabama. In all, students from 18 campuses took part.
   
Rachel Billingham, a student from the University of North Alabama (UNA) who served in Kansas City, Kan., said she was grateful for the opportunity to share the gospel.
   
“I got to lead my first person to the Lord this summer, and it was an amazing experience,” she said. “God was present in everything we did this summer, and I learned to let Him work through me to accomplish His goals and not mine.”
    
Prior to leaving for her missions assignment in Grand Isle, La., Kara Lanfair, also a UNA student, said, “My two major prayer requests before I left were for God to use me to lead someone to Him and for me to come back changed.
   
“Both of those happened. I was personally able to lead seven children to Him, and God made me more like Him. I saw God totally change lives, and it was awesome.”
   
Jessica Bryant, a student from the University of South Alabama (USA), said she hopes other students will undergo the life-changing experience of summer missions.
   
“I would recommend the program because it is important for us as Christians to spread the name of Jesus,” Bryant stated. “Student missions gives us the opportunity to realize that you don’t have to go to a foreign country to share the gospel.”
  
Another UNA student, Jon Wright, said, “[While] in North Dakota, I was involved in helping teach first and second graders in Vacation Bible School.
   
“At the end of the week, one young boy shared with me that he had accepted Christ. I helped him recite the ABCs — admit, believe, confess — of salvation and prayed with him.”
   
Other students said they experienced transformation in their relationships with God and their practice of spiritual disciplines.
   
Jason Scarborough of UNA, who served in Venezuela, said, “God taught me — and I know I have heard this through many Sunday School lessons — that spending time with Him is more important than all the busy work my life seems caught up with.
   
“The story about Mary and Martha is the message that changed my perspective on my mission this summer. God had me constantly praying and spending time with Him.”
   
A student from the University of Mobile found herself increasingly dependent on God. “I am the type who likes to think I have it all together,” said Theresa Raus, who served in Wales. “This summer I had to learn to be totally reliant on God. I have always been one to say that we are sufficient in Christ. This summer, I truly learned what that means. … It is so sweet to be satisfied in Christ.”
   
Trina Sansom of Auburn University at Montgomery said she likewise felt her relationship with God deepen: “I grew closer to God and found that I was where I needed to be so I didn’t miss the divine appointments He had in store for me.”
   
Josh Brooks, a student from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said he realized “God is a more personal, real God than I had ever imagined. My hunger for His Word increased. I learned to depend on Him more instead of my own thinking.”
   
A student from the University of South Alabama found the summer missions experience has helped her spend more time in both Bible study and witnessing.
   
“I used to struggle to have a 10-minute ‘quiet time’ every day, but now I enjoy getting in the Word,” Amanda Yerbey said. “I’ve also become much more outspoken about my beliefs and convictions.”
   
The impact of summer missions frequently continues beyond the actual missions service.
   
Falyn Vinson of UM, who served in Eros, La., said she is “still learning the lessons God began in me this summer. He has taught me to join Him where He is working and that He has prepared me well in advance for where I am going and what I am to do. How cool is that!”
   
Scotty Goldman, who coordinated the overall effort, said the benefits of summer missions go beyond spiritual transformation and involvement in witnessing.
   
“It gives students an opportunity to serve in a ministry setting and use the gifts and abilities God has given them,” said Goldman who works as an associate in the office of collegiate and student ministries at the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. “Collegiate missions also offers inexpensive, quality assistance to ministries on the missions field — many of which could not go on without summer help.”
   
For more information, contact Goldman at 1-800-264-1225, ext. 387, or e-mail him at sgoldman@alsbom.org.