Rick Hove,
Director Faculty Commons
[Dec. 3, 2013]~~
For the past 5 years, Faculty Commons has made a concerted effort to encourage professors and students to minister together on campus. We are taking this approach further by encouraging professors to join students on our international mission trips.
The enhanced impact of faculty and students ministering together overseas is remarkable. God uses professors’ credentials to open doors at international universities to lecture in their discipline. In addition, a faculty presence on a project significantly encourages and emboldens students. Moreover, the indigenous Christian leaders express deep gratitude for professors’ willingness to come. They continue to report that God used visiting professors to open doors at their universities.
Convinced that faculty and students ministering together advances the work of the kingdom in such important ways, we offer to help defray the cost through scholarships to faculty who join students from their campus for an international trip.
Consider joining one of Cru’s international projects.
It just could turn out to be one of the most significant weeks of your life!
Suggested steps to take as you consider this invitation:
- Pray that the Lord gives you a desire to go on an international mission trip.
- Explore the strategic nature of God’s heart for the world.
- Talk to a Cru staff person or involved student leader about the current Cru partnerships and projects at your campus.
- Begin to minister in some ways that will help you both discern and prepare for a trip. For example, look for an opportunity to share your journey of faith at a Cru meeting or attend a campus prayer meeting with students.
- As you continue to talk to your Cru staff person or involved student leader, explore the specific mission opportunities in more detail.
Questions you may want to ask:
— Where are you going and to do what?
— In what ways could I, as a faculty member, contribute to the mission?
— When are you going?
— How much will the trip cost?
Going on a trip takes advance planning. In most cases you will need to decide several months in advance. If you have a Christian colleague, challenge him or her to join you.
Benefits of International Trips
Several professors have found that international mission trips have contributed not only to their walk with Christ but to their work on campus. Here is an example of this result:
In 2010, Marc Compere, robotics professor at Embry-Riddle University in Florida, joined a Cru project to Haiti. Over the course of three weeks in Haiti, Marc and the team of students (including some of his engineering students at Embry-Riddle) shared their faith with Haitians while installing several solar-driven water- purification systems for Haitian communities and orphanages following the earthquake. Since then Marc’s effort to live out his faith practically in Haiti won recognition by his university. Embry-Riddle now sends Marc and a student team to Haiti at least once a year where they follow up on their water systems. Through the experience of that first trip, Marc found a significant way to live out his calling as a professor and as a Christ-follower.
Last year, 17 professors went on these mission trips with students to countries around the world. This 3 minute video illustrates how God used the professors to advance the Gospel and provides a glimpse into the personal transformation they experienced as a result.
Feel free to ask me questions by email at missions@facultycommons.org .
(c) 2013 Faculty Commons