For years, college students have been using their spring breaks to go on missions with BCMs from across Alabama. From our community colleges and universities, students have been a force around our country and around the world.
Just this month, college students from our state have served in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico; Phoenix, Ariz.; Queens, N.Y.; and Houston, Texas. We have plans for more students to serve by months’ end in New Orleans, Louisiana; Orange, Texas, and Queens.
Some of these sound like vacation spots, but I assure you our students are not on vacation. These students are going to be used to proclaim the name of Christ and to help individuals they come into contact with during their mission trip. The students help church plants, serve the homeless, minister to youth and children, help with disaster relief efforts, help churches serve in their communities and much more.
Instead of going to the beach or spending time with family, these college students go and serve. They do not get recognition or accolades for their efforts.
Instead, they come back to exams, group projects, research papers and the stress of being a college student.
Some of these students will go back on missions to serve over the summer or during one of their semesters of college. Others will feel a calling and decide that missions are what they want to do with their lives. No matter the experience or decisions made, all the students come back changed.
It is a privilege to minister alongside these college students. I am grateful for those willing to give up their time and effort and the lessons learned on these short-term missions teams. Thanks, Alabama Baptists, for making these mission trips possible.
