In one week a small group of Alabama Baptists took great strides in fulfilling the Great Commission. They built a church from the ground up and saw more than 150 decisions made for Christ.
Fulfilling the commission was their chief goal, according to Jay Robertson, professor of religion at the University of Mobile (UM).
Robertson traveled to Brazil as a participant in a university missions trip. While in Brazil, his team of 33 built a chapel, sang in schools and churches, participated in door-to-door evangelism, and sponsored Vacation Bible School (VBS) for 200-plus children. During its time in Brazil, the team shared the gospel more than 200 times and saw 142 decisions made for Christ.
After the chapel was constructed, David Atchison, pastor of Lafitte Baptist Church in Saraland, preached the dedication message. Some 150 people congregated inside the newly constructed chapel, and more than 250 gathered in the churchyard and down the block to listen to his message. In the church’s first weekend, 17 public decisions were made for Christ.
“I’ve been in the ministry for 24 years. I’ve preached to large and small congregations, but the greatest thrill I’ve ever had was preaching that dedication message, knowing that in years to come so many lives will be changed as people come to know Christ in this chapel we constructed,” Anderson said.
This trip marked Atchison’s second trip to Brazil with UM and his wife Angela’s third trip.
UM on the front lines
Cecil Taylor, dean of UM’s school of religion and founder of the university missions program, said the fields are ripe for harvest in Brazil.
“There are hard spots and hot spots across the world. Brazil is one of the hot spots. Southern Baptists began to send missionaries in there about 150 years ago. The seed has been planted, and we’re reaping the harvest by standing on the shoulders of the ones who have gone before us,” Taylor said.
“I just came back from Siberia,” he continued. “In the village where we were there were children and young people who had never heard the gospel story. People in these cultures are not as receptive to the gospel message as those who’ve heard it for years like in Brazil. Brazil is a hot spot, so we ought to go reap the harvest,” he said.
Robertson said missions trips help Christians realize they can share their faith.
“While we were on the trip one of the team members said, ‘I’ve never witnessed before or shared the gospel outside of church.’ But she did, and she was able to pray with three individuals to receive Christ. These trips teach us that God is faithful as we are carrying out the Great Commission. He will give us the words to say as we share the gospel,” Robertson said.
Since its inception in 1992, the university missions program has provided nearly 600 college students and church members the opportunity to minister in other countries. Taylor said some 10 percent of those participants have returned on short-term or career missions, realizing the need to spread the gospel.
Robertson, who has been with UM since January, said UM’s focus on missions is impressive to him.
“The University of Mobile is in the front lines of changing lives to change the world. The world is changed one life at a time. It is so exciting and thrilling to be a part of a university that helps students go out in the world and share the gospel. The same gospel we share in Brazil is the same that we share in places like Memphis on our 48-hour inner-city urban plunge trips,” Robertson said.
“UM students have so many opportunities to share the gospel, to engage in missions and evangelism. One of our goals is for our students to have a deep burden for the lost and for them to realize that whether they serve as a full-time missionary or whether they are teaching in a classroom or helping a patient in a hospital room, everyone has a platform to share the gospel,” Robertson said.
This school year more than 75 students and members of churches in areas where the university’s
student population comes from, traveled to Japan, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Russia, Wales and Norway on missions trips. (UM)
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