For college students across Alabama, Spring Break 2015 is over. This year, I seemed to hear more negative about spring break than I have in recent years – from the horrific shooting in Panama City to a report that seemed to go viral (at least in my Facebook news feed!) from Fox News about the horrible things that take place on spring break excursions.
While I don’t want to downplay those things, I want to share some good that happened during spring break. Hundreds of students connected with Baptist Campus Ministries and church collegiate ministries across Alabama used Spring Break to serve in missions endeavors across the U.S.
I’ve received numerous reports of how God used spring break missions in the lives of students:
- Many students sensed a calling/desire to serve God in longer-term missions experiences and have applied to serve this summer.
- Many students were challenged to share their faith in ways they never had before – or possibly shared their faith for the first time!
- Many students are seeking to take the tools they learned in various missions efforts and bring them back to their campus to make an impact in their “Jerusalem.”
Many students (as with many of us) will never know the impact they made in the communities they served. I want to leave you with two stories about impact that was made through the efforts of these students.
Below is an email from a lady who encountered students who served in Gulf Shores over the break:
My daughter and I were lucky enough to encounter your ministry today on the beach at Gulf Shores.
Ironically we moved to that portion of the beach because the part of the beach we are staying on is dominated by frat parties, loud music and general debauchery. To have someone paint my daughters face, wrap her hair and speak to her about Jesus was so refreshing and unexpected – not to mention the polar opposite of what we had just experienced!
Also, during the entire duration (almost four hours) of our visit today, a group of your students were patiently witnessing to man next to me.
My experience today restored my hope for our youth and during a time I was so disheartened from what I had just witnessed. THANK YOU!
And, for nearly a 100 students who served in Miami with Christ Centered Church, they can know that God used their efforts to see the largest gathering ever on Easter Sunday. Jason Hill, with Christ Centered Church, sent me an email that said,
Derek (lead church planter) and I were just discussing how strategically effective it was to have the teams here just before Easter. Btw…We had our largest attendance ever: 329 with 9 salvations.
I rejoice in these reports and God’s work in and through students. While there certainly are stories of the negative impact of spring break, I hope you can agree with me in there is certainly some good news to share about Spring Break 2015!
