Ben Edfeldt said there’s something powerful about being in the room with a group of students “who have committed part or all of their summer to take the gospel to the nations.”
Starting in late May, about 90 college students are headed to 10 states and 17 countries as part of One Mission Students, Alabama Baptists’ collegiate summer missions program.
And back in April, Edfeldt was there when they commissioned that massive group during OMS Weekend.
“It’s a really powerful weekend that is reflective of six months of prayer, preparation and affirmation from friends, staff and parents,” said Edfeldt, director of the office of collegiate and student ministries for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
During the weekend, students learn about culture, how to travel wisely and how to share the gospel in different contexts. The weekend ends with a commissioning service that is “a beautiful picture of Alabama Baptists coming together to send as many students as they can into the world,” Edfeldt said.
In the months prior to that, SBOM and Baptist Campus Ministries staff were helping them pray and prepare to go.
“We want them to weigh and consider the cost of going,” Edfeldt said.
Chris Mills, SBOM student missions mobilizer, noted that was especially important this summer as two-thirds of the students will be serving internationally and a “significant number” of those are going to countries that are difficult to reach with the gospel.
“That’s one of the most exciting things for me this year,” he said. “We have a great class of student headed out, and I’m excited to see how the Lord will use them and how their lives will be impacted.”
Relationships
Some students serving this year are wrestling with whether God might be calling them to do missions long term, Mills said.
Some of them are also serving this summer alongside former OMS students who are now living on the missions field doing some type of long-term work.
“It’s special for a student to see a recent graduate serving — that allows those students to really wrestle with, ‘OK, I could do this,’” Mills said. “These kinds of relationships often also morph into partnerships down the road.”
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This article was originally published at TheAlabamaBaptist.org.
