A fresh look at student missions...

Do the Little Things Well

By Leslie Nichols

In the summer of 1806, five students met in a field, not wanting their fellow classmates to overhear them as they discussed how their lives would look if they “sold out” to the idea of world missions. When a storm quickly approached, the five took shelter under a haystack while the implications of their discussion set in. One of the five, Samuel Mills, spoke up and said, “We can do this if we will.”

A little closer to home, in 1969, the Foreign Missions Board entertained a motion to send out summer missionaries. Students with an overseas calling would have the opportunity to serve while still in college. The following year, six summer missionaries set out to various fields. Fifty-four years later, two still serve with IM.

In 1992, ETEAM provided the same opportunity to high school students. While it’s difficult to paint a perfect picture of how ETEAM has made a profound difference over the past 30 years, we can confidently say it has impacted over 2,000 students.

Fast forward to 2023. This summer, 90 students will serve in ten countries. Our College Missions Program (CMP) and Overseas Apprentices (OA) no longer send a handful of students; 40 students will minister in ten countries in 2023.

Looking Back

We must give credit to those who paved the way. The man known to people around the world as “Uncle Neil” served ETEAM each year since it began in 1992. It’s hard to know on this side of eternity how many lives Neil Gilliland has touched over the years working in various capacities, but to say he will be missed in retirement is an understatement. Neil has an open invitation to continue to be part of ETEAM for however long he chooses.

Hanna Mott served ten years (2012-2022)—the longest-standing ETEAM coordinator in the program’s history. During those ten years, Hanna competently navigated the twists and turns and challenges to take the program to the next level. She truly cared about her ETEAM students.

Looking Forward

One of our board members often quotes an early church father: “Good, better, best. Never let it rest, until your good is better, and your better is best.”

As I transition into my new role as director of mobilization, that quote runs through my head often as I consider my vision. What does it look like for ETEAM and CMP/OA not only to continue but also grow to the next level? How can I build upon the successes of those before me?

My short answer: do the small things well.

In 2021, Barna Research Group surveyed 24,000 teens (ages 13-17) from 26 countries and speaking 13 languages. Based on this research, they named the upcoming generation the Open Generation. Why? This generation is more open to discovering what the world has to offer them than any generation before them—for good or for bad.

No other generation has the information and technological capability these students literally hold in the palms of their hands. They are trailblazers. They aren’t afraid to be told no. They search for hours and hours to find the answer to their “why.” They seek to understand and be understood. They question the validity of ideas and people. They seek people who are real and strive to be real themselves.

This generation will accomplish things previous generations never thought possible. What could happen if, in high school, we helped them fall in love with the Great Commission and truly understand its command?

How would it look if we captured their attention? Helped them understand their gifts and the opportunities available to use those gifts overseas? How would their “Judea” change if their overseas experience came home with them?

I believe it will change the DNA of Free Will Baptists for generations to come if we capture the attention of the Open Generation. How do we do this? Do the little things well.

ETEAM

Lauren Herren began as ETEAM coordinator July 1, 2022, and hit the ground running. During her first four months, Lauren and her husband Cody established an ETEAM purpose statement: to engage students in God’s global church through cross-cultural experiences.

They also crafted an ETEAM mission statement: “to train and equip mission-minded students to build relationships, actively abide in Christ, and make disciples, presently and in the future.”
The Herrens created a vision. By 2025, they intend to “create a cross-cultural, life-changing movement in students who will prayerfully seek out sharing the gospel.”

Lauren also established a tiered system for the ETEAM program:

• First-year students will be placed on teams in and around the U.S.
  

• Second-year students will be placed on teams in South America and Europe.
  

• Third-year students will be placed on teams in Japan and Asia.
  

College Programs

We are focused on keeping ETEAM students involved and aware of opportunities available to them with CMP/OA, no matter where they attend college.

While speaking with students over the past several months, I’ve realized we are in a unique era. Students want to serve overseas during college because they lost the opportunity to do so in high school due to COVID. We will have more extensive training for CMP/OA students in the spring to help prepare them for their summer opportunities.

We want to do the little things well and take care of our people well.

This means we help host missionaries by carefully vetting the students who apply and by sending students who help with their ministries. We will send students who have been trained and trained well. We also will send ETEAM leaders who will encourage missionaries while on the field.

We understand the magnitude of what sending each student and leader means in the big picture of the Great Commission. Our goal is not to make ETEAM/CMP/OA a cool trip but an opportunity for the Lord to open students’ eyes to what is possible through Him.

• What if each ETEAM leader committed to their students for the following year and deepened their relationships beyond ETEAM?
  

• What if we committed to following up with students throughout the year at youth events or on social media?
  

• What if we helped our missionaries understand that when hosting a student or team, they may be hosting their next teammate?
  

I believe these things will happen when we focus on doing the little things well.
To finish the opening story: what started with five students meeting in a field under a haystack ended in one of the biggest student movements in history—the Student Volunteer Movement. Over the next 50 years, 20,000 students were sent overseas for missionary service.

TWENTY THOUSAND STUDENTS!

What would it look like to take the call of the Student Volunteer Movement—the evangelization of the world in this generation—and apply it to the Open Generation?

One of the primary recruiting tools used during the Student Volunteer Movement was sending “soon-to-be” missionaries to college campuses across the nation. These new missionaries didn’t say “pray for me” or “give to me.” They said, “Come with me!”

I say the same thing to you today, come with me. In the words of Connecticut missionary Samuel Mills: “We can do this if we will.”

About the Author: Leslie Nichols joined IM in January 2019. In January 2021, she became College Missions Program (CMP) coordinator and became director of mobilization in January 2023. Learn how you can become involved in student missions: iminc.org/go/student-missions.