As I serve Alabama Baptists in the area of collegiate student mobilization, I am privileged to work with students across the state as they discern God’s call of obedience on their lives. These students take steps of faith to participate in missions endeavors across the globe.
Each year hundreds of students involved in Baptist Campus Ministries serve during the Christmas holidays, spring break and throughout summer. I love hearing their reports when they return. I also love getting to see how God uses that missions experience to shape the next steps of their journey.
Recently I was able to witness that in an extraordinary way while serving with a team of students in New York City. We partnered with Jackson Heights Community Church for their Back to School Bash. This was a time to bless the South Asian community of Jackson Heights through games, backpack distribution and fun.
At one point during a break in the game we were hosting, I looked around to see numerous college students who I knew were connected to Alabama Baptist churches and five former student missionaries from Alabama that have now planted their lives in New York City. Some of those students served in NYC as student missionaries. Some served in South Asian contexts abroad or on their campus. I began to reflect on the fact that their missions experience as a college student had radically transformed their lives.
CareerPlant is an emphasis focused on challenging students to see the opportunities that exist to plant their career in a city or area of need. It’s designed to challenge students to see that God has given them a skillset and passion that He wants to use – and the opportunities for use are endless!
For returning student missionaries, CareerPlant is a challenge to let a missions experience change them. Perhaps God is calling them to plant a church or be a businessperson on mission. Whatever the call is, obedience is the answer – just like with these five in New York City. Obedience is their calling. They are seeking to remain faithful to it. And that was both an encouragement and a challenge to me.
The 2020 summer missions application season is here. Would you pray for students as they consider summer missions service? Would you pray for those considering CareerPlant or other opportunities? To learn more about student missions opportunities or CareerPlant, visit onemissionstudents.org/go.
