In a year when many religious organizations are canceling international mission trips, approximately 370 Lipscomb University students are moving full speed ahead with their spring break mission and service plans.
Students are involved in university-organized mission and service trips to 13 sites, seven of which are international. Two groups from David Lipscomb High School are involved in domestic mission trips for the first time during spring break as well.
Dr. Earl Lavender, director of missions at Lipscomb, left Friday with a group of students bound for England and Scotland.
"I choose to live in a world where God is in control," Lavender told the Associated Press. "If we stop out of fear, then how are we different from people in the world who don't have hope?"
Students participating in the trip said world conditions make the efforts more important than ever.
"No matter what's going on, people are still needing to be shown Jesus. They need it now more than ever," said Blaire Knighton, Albany, Ga.
Michelle Boyd, Smyrna, Tenn., said if war occurs, "we'll be going to war whether I'm here or there (in Scotland). It'll still take place no matter where we are. God will take care of us."
For more information on the Lipscomb student missions program, visit missions.lipscomb.edu.