“He’s not just a South Carolina God or just a USA God – he’s a whole-world God, and I saw that this summer in a powerful way.” So says Elizabeth Pruett, a student at Greenville Technical College and a South Carolina Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) summer missionary.
Anderson University student Jessica LaFaille shared Christ’s love with orphans in the Philippines over the summer.This life-changing spiritual lesson was just one of many learned this summer by young men and women from 15 South Carolina colleges and universities as they spread out around the globe in an effort to impact the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“We were the first links in a long, long chain, and hopefully others will come along later and build on what God accomplished through us this summer,” said Francis Marion University student Courtney Huggins, who spent her summer ministering among an unreached people group in South Asia. “It’s awesome to know that one day we will be sitting around the throne of God along with believers from this people group, and it’s a privilege to have had a small part in introducing them to the gospel,” she said.
In all, 48 students were commissioned this year as South Carolina BCM summer missionaries. Some of the students stayed close to home, working on projects at Connie Maxwell Children’s Home in Greenwood and as part of the Kids’ Connexion project in Beaufort. Others traveled a bit farther, carrying out tasks in New Orleans, in Baltimore, and in parts of Canada, while still others took the message of the gospel to cities, towns, and villages in locations such as Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom, West Africa and South Asia.
No matter where these various missions were performed, however, they all shared one common result: changed lives, both for the BCM summer missionaries and the people they impacted for Christ.
Heather Isbell, a Charleston Southern student, makes a friend in West Africa.“It’s awesome to see the look on the kids’ faces when you tell them that Jesus loves them; and then you realize they’ve never heard it before – and that’s in the South, the deep South,” said Florence-Darlington Tech student Zack Jordan, who worked with Kids Connexion in the Beaufort area.
Work among the children also touched the heart of Citadel student Patrick Kelly. “We saw these kids being ‘small Jesuses’ to each other, taking care of each other because their parents often were not around for a couple of days at a time,” he said. “I saw kids unselfishly sharing toys with each other, and carefully wrapping up half a hamburger to take home to a brother or sister who hadn’t eaten all day. They were being like Jesus to each other because there was nobody else to do it,” Kelly said.
According to University of South Carolina student Anne Crane, sometimes it’s the little things that make the most profound impact. “We operated sports camps in low-income apartment complexes and boys’ and girls’ clubs in the Beaufort area, and we found that just being willing to play with the kids and take a few hours to sit and talk with them made the biggest impact,” she said.
Morgan Hale, a student at the University of South Carolina, worked on a medical team in Peru this summer.Frances Marion University student Monet Heyward, whose mission field was New Orleans, found that something as small as just a simple hug can impact a life. “We had an opportunity to minister to a homeless man who we met in a park and invited back to the center,” Heyward said. “When it came time for him to leave, all the kids just gathered around him and gave him a big hug. We were surprised at how deeply he was touched by that. He said no one ever gave him a hug, because no one wants to hug a homeless man who lives on the street,” Heyward said.
This year’s crop of summer missionaries provided much needed manpower for an incredible number of projects ranging from researching new villages in the Amazon Basin to working with International World Changers, to teaching English as a second language. Students also helped with efforts aimed at disciple making, establishing home Bible studies, personal evangelism, health evangelism, encouraging missionaries on the field, youth conferences, videography, and HIV-testing programs.
The teams included students from Francis Marion University, Clemson University, Greenville Tech, the College of Charleston, Charleston Southern University, North Greenville University, Columbia College, Florence-Darlington Tech, The Citadel, Lander University, the University of South Carolina, Spartanburg Community College, Erskine College, Anderson University and Winthrop University.
While the work was exciting and often life-impacting, the students also found that being a summer missionary wasn’t always easy. Some said they struggled with loneliness, but found that loneliness served to make them desire a closer relationship with God. Others wrestled with the problems of ministering in cultures where the gospel isn’t readily accepted. Anderson University student Christina Houck, who served as a videographer in Wales, found the United Kingdom to be a particularly challenging place to share Christ. “The people there are friendly, but in a different way. For the most part, they are very closed-minded about Jesus,” she said. “They have a lot of hundred-year-old churches there that are completely empty and being sold for houses. There is very little harvest going on. It’s like the soil is toxic and we have to heal the land first so the seed can be replanted,” Houck said.
Caroline Smith, a student at North Greenville University, plays with a child while on mission in Peru.Still others found that the most difficult time of the whole summer began when they returned home. “It’s tough when you realize that many people here really don’t understand,” said Francis Marion student Mindy Parsons, who served in Peru. “When you get back home and show your pictures, it’s like some of them are saying, ‘Okay, that’s a good picture – now move on,’ ” she said. “That’s kind of frustrating, but you have to remember they weren’t there; they didn’t see it and experience it like you did,” Parsons said.
Despite the difficulties, Parsons said there is still much she learned this summer that can be applied right here at home. “It starts with the people I see every day,” she said. “I can go around the world, and that’s great, but I also need to go to my own family and friends and tell them about Christ.
“At the beginning of the summer in Peru, I was the visitor, the ‘gringo,’ ” Parsons said. “By the end of the trip, I didn’t want to be the ‘gringo,’ I wanted to be the Christian. I wanted to be associated with Christ. I definitely brought that desire home with me. When people look at me here at home, I don’t want them to see me, I want them to see Christ.” – SCBC