News at ABWE
Students Trained for IMPACT
A group of fourteen students recently gathered at the
ABWE International Headquarters for IMPACT Training.
A group of fourteen students recently gathered (May 26-28) at the ABWE International Headquarters for IMPACT Training before heading to various mission fields around the world for the summer months.
IMPACT is ABWE's department for college students that provides short-term missions opportunities and guidance counseling for students who have a desire to serve the Lord in cross-cultural ministry. IMPACT missions trips are all about "Focus." College students go on short-term missions trips through IMPACT to focus on God's calling on their lives. They gain further exposure to missions, partner in ministry with missionaries, and investigate future career missions opportunities.
This was the first year that ABWE brought together college students for training before sending them to their countries of service. The students came from various schools: North Carolina State University, The Citadel, Moody Bible Institute, Tennessee Temple University, Baptist Bible College, Faith Baptist Bible College (IA), and Cedarville University.
The training helps prepare them for their trips and challenges their perspective on missions. Its important that students go into their trip culturally prepped with a heightened awareness and proper view of what missions is. Training also provides ABWE with a platform for debreifing and follow up once the students return.
These IMPACT teams are currently being sent to serve in various countries during the months of May through September. The length of the trips ranges from three weeks to three months. One team is going to Nepal to share the gospel with those they meet while backpacking through the Himalaya mountains. A team going to South Africa will help with a Vacation Bible School at a local church, help with AIDS ministry, and generally gain exposure to missions in South Africa. Another team will gain exposure to Cameroon and the many ministry opportunities there -- crisis pregnancy center, schools, and an orphanage. And a team going to the Czech Republic will be helping with English camps, women’s ministry, Bible studies, and other church ministries.
These students are a great encouragement to the missionaries they serve. The ministry of short-term IMPACT trips create new ministry opportunities for the missionaries and open up doors for the furtherance of the gospel. Students often come home with a clearer idea of how God wants to use them to reach the nations and they also return with a greater burden to pray for the peoples of the world. Bethany Caldwell, an IMPACT student in South Africa, says, "I went because I want to learn. Their goal is for us to see all the different mission works they are already doing in this area and to have us get involved." Bethany is praying that God will show her His will for her life through this experience.
This training camp is just a small segement of what mobilization has been doing for several months, working to build relationships with students who desire to serve the Lord. Paul Atkinson, director of ABWE student mobilization said, "I was encouraged to be able to personally interact with the students going out on trips. We are doing more than a program, we are investing in people's lives."
Check out our IMPACT microsite where you can watch and listen to video testimonies of past IMPACT students as they tell of their journey and relate their experience.
877-M-Enlist
mobilization@abwe.org