Summer missions: from prayer to preparation
Chris Pepple |
For college students around the country, summer can become a time of juggling extra classes, jobs, family obligations and internships. This summer, many Lipscomb students still found time to make service a priority during part of their break. Over 150 Lipscomb students traveled to ten countries to teach English, lead a VBS, build homes and share their time and faith with others as they build relationships around the world.
Though many hours were spent in the mission field, the number of hours spent in prayer and preparation before the trips cannot be measured. The mission leaders and participants devote countless hours to praying for those they will be serving, praying about the decision to serve and praying for their mission team. Each leader and participant also assists with trip preparations which begin months before the planes depart for the mission field.
Taryn Hill, a Lipscomb junior majoring in family relations with a minor in psychology and education, traveled on her second trip to Brisbane, Australia, for over three weeks this summer. The Lipscomb mission team built relationships with the youth and adults while working with churches and schools in the area. The team also led Camp Orion, a five-day outdoor adventure evangelistic camp designed to build one-on-one relationships between Lipscomb team members and youth attending the camp. Part of Hill’s prayers and preparation involved choosing a trip where she could use her gifts to contribute to the team.
”I chose this trip because it was incredibly relational. It is a given expectation that when you come back home, you are going to keep up with the people you got to know. You don’t just do a job and leave. I meet people where they are and they do the same for me. I am more of a relational person. That’s what I am good at—getting to know people,” said Hill.
Once she signed up for her first Brisbane trip, she learned that mission work means more than showing up on the day of the flight. “Signing up, I didn’t know what all was involved. I had never been on a month-long trip. The teams formed in October. That’s when we had monthly meetings that lasted about three hours. Each meeting had a different topic. We had a lot of preparation that had to be done before the trip, especially getting the VBS materials ready for the younger groups we would be working with.”
Her team divided up the responsibilities according to the age groups they would be working with in Australia. Each group had a leader to guarantee that the team would be ready for the three-day VBS-style program. Crafts and lesson materials needed to be completed and organized in small packets that could be transported easily.
“The adventure camp that we held also took a lot of preparation, especially preparation of the heart. God does a lot of work before the trip getting our hearts ready. You have to be mindful of the people you are going to minister to. We also prepare for how our team members will work together. When we got over there, we had an overnight team retreat. That was in preparation for us working with these people we are getting to know on our team. We spend about a day and a half getting to know each other—it has a lot of spiritual emphasis during this time. No matter how many team meetings you have, you don’t truly get to know each other until you are serving together and spending your days together. It’s awesome to see how God works through those relationships on our team and with the people we minister to,” said Hill.
This was the 10th anniversary of Lipscomb's first trip to Brisbane, which was led by Earl Lavender in 1999. The team members live with their host family for their month-long stay in Brisbane. Hill stayed with the same host family for both trips, strengthening her ties to the people in the area.
During the summer Lipscomb students traveled to Australia, Ghana, Great Britain, Greece, Haiti, Honduras, Northern Ireland and Peru. Two new trips sent students to Rwanda and Argentina through Let’s Start Talking, helping people practice their conversational English and forming real relationships. In 2009, 570 participants have traveled on 36 Lipscomb mission trips to 20 countries and five states. The training and groundwork time varied per mission trip, but all groups gave countless hours towards prayer and preparation to ensure the success of each trip.