About 100 University of Mobile (UMobile) students logged 22,455 hours of volunteering in the Gulf Coast region in just nine months as part of the Christian university’s emphasis on service.
It’s a lesson in practical ministry, where students sign up for ministry teams that send them to volunteer and help individuals and organizations across two counties, including nonprofit agencies, schools, churches, coffee shops, health clinics and more.
Drew Ballesteros, who graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in theology, said the lesson he learned was that “ministry is not a 9-to-5 job, but rather a way of life.”
Joe Savage, executive dean of the School of Christian Ministries, said in the two years the Ministry Team program has been in existence students have racked up more than 35,000 volunteer hours.
Faith in action
“To the best of our knowledge, our Ministry Team program is among the largest volunteer groups in terms of manpower in the state,” Savage said. “It’s an awful lot of volunteering going on, putting faith in action and making a difference.”
During the 2014–2015 school year that ended in May, students served in a variety of ways including teaching English as a Second Language classes, tutoring students, starting a Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter, serving at Disciple Now youth events at churches and flipping hamburgers at a football game.
Service is a theme that threads its way throughout the university, which kicks off each fall semester with Project Serve, a university-wide day of service.
On that day, more than 1,200 students, faculty and staff volunteer at more than 60 locations in Mobile and Baldwin counties.
The idea is to find ways to use their interests, talents and academic majors to serve others as an expression of faith, essentially serving as God’s hands and feet in the community.
The next Project Serve will be held Sept. 25.
(UMobile)
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