Alumni News - Hannibal-LaGrange University
Alumni News - Hannibal-LaGrange University
Alumni News - Hannibal-LaGrange University
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ReflectionFall03.qxd 9/22/2004 4:28 PM Page 12<br />
THE HARVEST IS PLENTIFUL<br />
by Brandy Campbell • Public Relations Staff Writer<br />
The world population is currently more than six<br />
billion. Of those, an estimated 700 million have<br />
heard and believed the gospel. That number pales in<br />
comparison to the estimated three billion who haven't<br />
even heard the Gospel.<br />
College students play a critical part in spreading the<br />
Gospel to those who have not heard it or believed it.<br />
Between 1998 and 2000, students assigned to<br />
International Mission Board (IMB) sponsored projects<br />
multiplied nearly 500 percent. In 2000, more than 3,500<br />
college students served in more than 100 countries.<br />
"There is a hunger and thirst for God's glory to be<br />
revealed among the nations," said Scott Chafee, an IMB<br />
employee who works with the Journeyman program,<br />
which enables students just out of college to go overseas<br />
and serve for a period of two years. "Students have the<br />
opportunity to go overseas on summer experiences and<br />
then return to mobilize others into action," continued<br />
Chafee. "Students are mobile like never before, flexible<br />
in their lifestyles, passionate for a cause, committed to<br />
something that is worth their time and energy."<br />
"Already for 2004 we have positions for 16,000<br />
students that have been requested by our field personnel,"<br />
added Felicity Burrow, also of the IMB. "After all, in<br />
the year 2000, 47.7% of the world population was under<br />
25. Who better to reach the young people of the world<br />
for Christ than young people who follow Him"<br />
<strong>Hannibal</strong>-<strong>LaGrange</strong> College has sought to attract<br />
students who are interested in missions. In 2001 they<br />
began offering a missions minor, and over the years support<br />
for student missions has increased. However, even<br />
before mission programs were the norm, HLG students<br />
were seeking out ways to serve.<br />
BUILDING A FOUNDATION<br />
Kate Vanskike Smith, a 1996 graduate of HLG,<br />
remembers when school-sponsored mission trips didn't<br />
exist. This didn't stop students from taking to heart the<br />
words of Matthew 28:19.<br />
"When I began at HLG in 1991, there were no<br />
college-sponsored mission trips, but there was a handful<br />
of students who decided, independently, to participate in<br />
missions," said Smith. "In 1993, Dr. Martha Bergen took<br />
a small group of Christian Ministry students to a student<br />
missions conference in Urbana…and I am positive that<br />
every single one of us responded to the overwhelming<br />
challenges presented and became active in missions the<br />
following year."<br />
Soon, the college began to take notice of the growing<br />
number of students participating in missions, and<br />
they began coordinating a spring break mission trip and<br />
forming partnerships with other missions organizations.<br />
HLG now sponsors trips over every school break,<br />
and sends out summer missionaries. While the hands-on<br />
experience is essential to understanding the importance<br />
of missions, Smith was quick to add that programs were<br />
not the foundation of the missions movement at HLG.<br />
"I believe it's the faculty members, not the programs<br />
themselves, at HLG that were truly instrumental in<br />
equipping students as missionaries during my time<br />
there," said Smith. "Dr. Bob Bergen fostered my ‘I can<br />
take on the world' attitude, often encouraging me to<br />
take leaps of faith that other people thought were simply<br />
crazy choices! Yes, more than great Bible programs or<br />
fantastic instruction, the people at HLG equipped me for<br />
missions, and for life."<br />
TRAIN UP A CHILD...<br />
As HLG seeks to train students to be missionaries,<br />
they must also educate students on how to be effective<br />
on the field. Lonnie Nelson, a professor at <strong>Hannibal</strong>-<br />
<strong>LaGrange</strong>, has served in the former Soviet Union,<br />
Middle East, and Central Asia. Now, he teaches business<br />
and philosophy classes, in addition to an international<br />
missions class, at HLG.<br />
"College students are definitely valuable to missionaries<br />
on the field," said Nelson. "One of the primary<br />
advantages of these students serving for a few weeks, or<br />
maybe during the summer, is that these students are<br />
more likely to serve as career missionaries," explained<br />
Nelson. "Nothing is more valuable in mission work than<br />
experience. It gives students a passion for missions, and<br />
it helps them to catch a vision."<br />
"I see HLG becoming more mission focused because<br />
of several factors," concluded Nelson. "We have a strong<br />
leadership that is passionate about missions. We offer a<br />
lot of hands-on experience. We have the missions minor,<br />
and we're working on the missions center, which will<br />
help train missionaries. All of these things combine to<br />
develop an ethos, a character, and a reputation as a<br />
school where students can prepare for missions. By the<br />
time they graduate they will have a foundation and the<br />
experiences to help them understand missions."<br />
ANSWERING THE CALL<br />
Current students eagerly take advantage of the missions<br />
opportunities and classes offered at HLG. Jay<br />
Sauser, a senior, is currently serving as the student missions<br />
coordinator. Sauser has been on mission trips to<br />
Switzerland, Italy, and Mexico, and has also been a<br />
member of New Edition, HLG's repertory theatre group.<br />
"We need to take advantage of every opportunity we<br />
have to share Christ," said Sauser. "As a college student,<br />
I don't have to be worried about being tied down to a<br />
family or job. My attention is not divided between a wife<br />
and God...I can be totally focused on Christ. College is a<br />
time when students find their purpose and vision."<br />
"I've learned a lot about myself doing missions, and I<br />
“...the people at HLG equipped<br />
me for missions, and for life.”<br />
--Kate Vanskike Smith ’96<br />
definitely want to continue to have some part in missions<br />
after I graduate," continued Sauser. "I know that<br />
God is totally in charge of that. He has given me a thirst<br />
and a hunger, and I simply want God to use me."<br />
Christy Phillips, a junior business major, is also eager<br />
to serve after college. She hopes to move to Asia and<br />
work among the people in that region.<br />
"I've learned that I need to live each day as if it were<br />
the last day I can tell people about Christ–the message is<br />
that urgent," said Phillips. "Too often I find myself living<br />
like I’m just waiting for the time God calls me overseas.<br />
But God calls us to live in the right now."<br />
"HLG has prepared me for what I feel God is calling<br />
me to do," she continued. "They have offered so many<br />
classes and experiences to help me to understand what I<br />
believe. I want to go to Asia and be a business person<br />
and live as part of a community. If I live a life that<br />
reflects God, it will speak to the people around me. The<br />
passion I see in Christians there inspires me to not be<br />
complacent. I just want to go where I see God working<br />
and join Him there."<br />
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...” -Matthew 28:19<br />
12 H A N N I B A L - L A G R A N G E C O L L E G E<br />
R E F L E C T I O N S 13