For students of Samford University in Birmingham, the call is clear.
Go global.
And during a two-day event at the school Oct. 6–7, students were given the resources and a challenge to do just that.
The Go Global Mission Fair featured workshops and exhibits staffed by representatives of 20 international missions-related agencies, including the International Mission Board and North American Mission Board. It was designed to help Samford students know how to go, learn and serve the God of the nations.
David Platt, senior pastor of The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, challenged students at two packed chapel services to put aside pride, and with the gospel in their hearts, live with “radical abandonment” to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.
“Whatever your skills and passion, consider how best you can use them to take the gospel to the world,” Platt said during a convocation in Reid Chapel that was the opening session of the Go Global Mission Fair.
Platt told students of a long-ago encounter with a pastor and deacon who candidly shared that they had rather write a check to support foreign missionaries than to go themselves.
At first angry and confused at the men’s reaction, Platt said he soon realized that they likely expressed what many Christians feel but will not say.
“How many of us are running with a passion to those who are hostile to the gospel? How many of us would as soon give money to send others?” he asked.
Platt said that a billion and a half people, including 3,000 people groups, are unreached by the gospel.
“They are born, they live and die without ever hearing the gospel. What happens to them when they die?” he asked.
The answer to the question determines how we live our lives, he said, noting that seven truths in the book of Romans give understanding to the implication of the question.
Those truths are, he said: all people have knowledge of God, all people reject true knowledge of God, all people are guilty for God, all people stand condemned for rejecting God, God has made the way of salvation for the lost in Christ, people cannot come to God apart from faith in Christ and Christ commands the Church to take the gospel to all nations.
The latter, he said, starts with Christ sending the servant to preach. Then, the people will hear, and when they hear, some will believe. The book of Revelation, he noted, assures that in the end, every nation, tribe and people will be around the throne of God.
“The only breakdown is when those who are called fail to share,” Platt said.
Whittney Faucett, a first-year student at Samford’s Beeson Divinity School, attended the exhibit to learn about varied missions programs.
“At Beeson, we learn that we are to go out and make disciples. Learning about these different opportunities puts it in the real world, and shows how you can apply yourself,” said Faucett, who has served in local missions and was active in Campus Crusade for Christ. “I want to know more.” (SU, TAB)
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