Kingdom Port

By Tyler Penn

The Port of Shanghai is the world’s largest port. It handled over 32 million TEU’s (20-foot storage containers) last year alone. It is amazing to think of all the valuables that come through that one place in the course of one year.

The beginning of 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels.” Christians, as earthen vessels, contain a great treasure within, the gospel of Jesus Christ. What if there was a place like Port of Shanghai for the kingdom of God? A place not where earthly treasures are shipped to the ends of the earth, but a place where the gospel of Jesus Christ is placed into people and sent to the ends of the earth. I believe I minister in such a place as this. It is not one of the centers of the shipping world, or one of the great cities of our planet, but a university town in the Central Illinois cornfields. Our Kingdom Port is Champaign-Urbana.

The University of Illinois is one of the leading universities in the United States for international student enrollment. In 2011, my family and I moved to Champaign to begin our ministry among international students. At that time there were 6,400 international students enrolled at the University of Illinois. Now, only a few years later, that number has ballooned to nearly 11,000 students from 100 nations. Our vision is to plant a Free Will Baptist church in this community to ship the greatest treasure in the world—the gospel of Jesus Christ—to the ends of the earth.

My family and I (pictured below) serve international students in a missionary capacity. Three years ago, we began a church plant, the first step in a two-part vision of establishing a church and starting a cross-cultural student ministry. The goal is to reach a community, to reach a student, to reach the world.

We quickly realized the students had our hearts and drove our passion, and we now focus completely on them. We have been amazed by the gospel encounters we have experienced with people from all over the world. From a visiting scholar from Turkey or a Ph.D. student from Iran, we have been able to share the good news of Jesus with people who might never hear otherwise.

We never get enough of taking students to church for their first time, or having them celebrate holidays like Thanksgiving and Easter with our family, or conversing with them about the amazing grace of God found in Jesus Christ.

We see the potential of having more than one family working in this context, an entire church family. We desire to see people have the same vision we do and come to be a part of this ministry. We would love to partner with a minister who has a heart for planting and leading a church, and establish a Free Will Baptist church among the people who live, work, and raise their families in this community.

It is our vision to build a true Kingdom Port for the glory of God. Please help us pray that the right church planter, with the right skill set needed to reach a university city, will answer the call to plant a church in Champaign-Urbana to reach a community, to reach a student, to reach the world.

I once imagined a student on an airplane coming to the States, tingling with excitement about all he would see and experience at school. I then imagined that same student, years later on a similar plane, returning to his home country. He is completely different than the one who came, not because of the degree he earned, but his faith in Jesus Christ. Once again, he is nervous and excited as he returns to his homeland with a treasure for his people—the gospel. I used to imagine it. Now, I am experiencing it.

If you would like more information regarding the Penn’s international student ministry
in Champaign, Illinois, contact Tyler Penn at tylerpenn@comast.net.