Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Next Steps at Liberty University

A few weeks ago, Whitney and I had the opportunity to participate in a Next Steps Weekend at Liberty University. Next Steps is a missions discipleship weekend where students interested in going into career missions are paired up one-on-one with a representative from a missions agency for mentorship. The weekend evaluates several different key areas important to consider when thinking about career missions and helps the students become intentional about making progress towards that goal. Spiritual Life, Local Church, Equipping, Getting There, and Mobilization are large group sessions that shed new light on areas of a college student's weekly routine. After the sessions, students break out with their mentor for some honest, straightforward Q&A...&A. Questions are asked. Answers are given. And an opportunity for APPLICATION is provided. Next Steps is one of the most intentional forward-thinking missions activities that I've been able to be a part of and its been exciting to it actually make a difference in student's lives as they prepare and make steps towards overseas service.

Missions, like many things or careers, can seem like this overwhelming thing. Where do I go, how do I get started, what should I study, what does all this mean?...are all normal questions that I get on college campuses each week. And while alone, these seem like huge questions. But with the help of someone that has a bit (or alot) of experience, answers to these questions quickly come making involvement in missions a lot less daunting. It's just another example of how incredible things take place in the presence of community. And community definitely takes place at Next Steps.

Thanks to all the people at CrossWorld who have been intentional in making disciples...and special thanks to Tom Nylander and John Puig from Light Ministries at Liberty University who allow us to be a part in what God is doing.