Students explore world of opportunities during Mary Hardin-Baylor missions week

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Posted: 10/26/07

Students explore world of opportunities
during Mary Hardin-Baylor missions week

By Carol Woodward

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

BELTON—Students who wanted to know how God could use an accountant or an athlete on the mission field found answers to their questions during Mission Emphasis Week at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Oct. 22-26.

Lori Brown, who serves with Sports Plus in Kenya, told students she asked the same questions when she was in college. She wanted to be involved in missions, but she wondered how or where God could use her.

UMHB student Amanda Foss listens as Twyla Bell describes how children in Tanzania make their own soccer balls out of pieces of material and twine. (Photo/Carol Woodward/UMHB)

“Then I heard about sports in missions, and I was all over that,” she said.

Tom Pate, a junior accounting major from Brenham, said visiting with missionaries on campus helped him see their commitment and how they were using their talents for God.

“Instead of thinking of missions as this giant thing that is beyond what I can do, this is giving me an understanding that God wants to use my gifts,” he said.

Missionaries advised students to use Internet search engines to explore the possibilities of where God may be calling them into service.

“The Internet is a great resource to combine the gifts you have, that soft spot in your heart and needs on the mission field,” Brown said.

She suggested students type in the word “missions” in combination with a word describing their interests—anything from “business missions” or “sports missions” to “juggling missions.”

“Juggling is great for missions because a juggler can draw a crowd in and tell a story at the same time,” she said.

Khang Duong, a marketing major from Houston, started the week unclear where or how he could serve in missions. But hearing missionaries speak during roundtable discussions gave him new hope, he said.

“I’m very interested in sports, and this got my attention,” he said. “I didn’t know there were sports in missions, but it makes sense, because through sporting events, kids come to you. You don’t have to go looking for them.”

John Robinson of Wales challenged students to think beyond traditional missions models.

“The traditional model of being trained and ordained as a missionary does not work as well as people who come with a passion and who are teachable,” he said, urging student to pray for a God-given missions passion.

“Get a world map, and throw a dart. Anywhere it hits land, there is a mission field,” he said.



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