ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)–Senior leaders and dozens of staff members circled the flagpole in front of the North American Mission Board June 2 to carry on the summer tradition of giving 80-90 college and seminary students the “Great Sendoff.”
The students then headed out to destinations across North America to play key roles in managing the 25,000 volunteers who will be sharing Christ and serving others through World Changers, PowerPlant and Families on Mission projects.
“World Changers, PowerPlant and Families on Mission … it’s good to have you here at the board today,” NAMB President Geoff Hammond told the students. “You are surrounded by a wonderful staff that will be praying for you, thinking about you and asking God’s blessings on you.”
Under the World Changers summer staff’s coordination, some 23,000 students will travel to 80 different cities to participate in 96 projects involving roof installation, drywall repair, painting and landscaping.
Other summer staffers will direct another 2,200 students participating in PowerPlant projects in 20 American cities between June 7 and Aug. 1. PowerPlant projects are designed to teach the students about local church planting efforts.
Families on Mission, the third ministry given the “Great Sendoff,” will involve more than 660 family members who, as families, undertake missions projects in six cities throughout the nation.
Allison McMickell, a senior at the University of South Carolina in Sumter, S.C., will serve as office manager for five different World Changers projects – two in Chattanooga, Tenn., and one each in Knoxville and Lenoir City, Tenn., and Huntsville, Ala.
“My job will be to handle the paperwork for the projects,” McMickell said. She will be supported by three other members of her Tennessee project team: Matthew Burkett from Lubbock, Texas, AV technician; Megan Russell from Russellville, Mo., program specialist; and Daphne Davies, the team’s mission communications specialist, charged with handling the news media and communications.
“Guys and girls, you have been fantastic for the last nine days,” Bryant Laird, NAMB student volunteer mobilization consultant, said of their just-concluded training sessions. “There’s no reason why you should be nervous or afraid. You guys are ready. God has gifted and prepared you.”
Laird quoted 2 Timothy 1:7: “God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and of a sound mind.”
“God has given you everything you need to glorify Him this entire summer,” Laird said. “You guys are ready to be encouraged and to know that God is going to use you in a powerful way.”
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Mickey Noah is a staff writer for the North American Mission Board.
