What I mean by, "Deeper Commitment"
Over the past many months, I have thought and prayed a lot about weather or not I should run for SMU President. I had a handful of ideas for ways that SMU could improve, but nothing that would justify running for President. I decided that if the Lord didn't give me a vision for where He wanted SMU to go next year, that I would not run. I thought if there was no vision, then my reason for running would be about my own ambition and not about serving the Lord and Biola.
Since then, however, the Lord has put it on my heart that SMU is not just an organization through which students can serve, but it is a service in itself to Biola. SMU's mission statement is To motivate and mobilize students to align their lives toward the completion of the Great Commission.
I looked at this, and then I looked at the things that SMU currently does to fulfill its mission statement. To motivate students, we have Missions Conference (MC). This past week, we were told by President Barry Correy that, "For Biola, the question of involvement in missions is not if, but it is how". I know that many people were motivated by MC to align their lives towards completing the Great Commission. To mobilize students, we have short-term mission (STM) trips that we send out over Interterm and Summer. In fact, by the end of this summer, SMU will have sent 14 different trips to minister in 15 different countries this year. Through the combined impact of these trips, hundreds come to Christ and the life change that happens in the students that we send is too deep to mention in a passing statement.
As I thought about these ministries, and the massive impact that they have, I asked of the Lord and those around me, "What is missing?". The resounding answer was this:
Both of our main ministries are Short Term.
What I mean is this. We send out month-long trips and plan a 3-day missions conference, but we don't have the structure to follow-up with students who are impacted by the trips or Missions Conference. The students come off of their spiritual highs and settle back into campus life, never being offered the opportunity to be mentored, counseled, prayed-with, or to give back and motivate and mobilize their fellow students. Students come off of these experiences often knowing that God has a call on their lives, but without missions-minded community, the call gets blurrier instead of clearer.
So, what does "Deeper Commitment" mean? It means that as SMU President I will adopt deeper commitment to following up with students impacted by their missions trips and by Mission Conference. To do this I want to:
Since then, however, the Lord has put it on my heart that SMU is not just an organization through which students can serve, but it is a service in itself to Biola. SMU's mission statement is To motivate and mobilize students to align their lives toward the completion of the Great Commission.
I looked at this, and then I looked at the things that SMU currently does to fulfill its mission statement. To motivate students, we have Missions Conference (MC). This past week, we were told by President Barry Correy that, "For Biola, the question of involvement in missions is not if, but it is how". I know that many people were motivated by MC to align their lives towards completing the Great Commission. To mobilize students, we have short-term mission (STM) trips that we send out over Interterm and Summer. In fact, by the end of this summer, SMU will have sent 14 different trips to minister in 15 different countries this year. Through the combined impact of these trips, hundreds come to Christ and the life change that happens in the students that we send is too deep to mention in a passing statement.
As I thought about these ministries, and the massive impact that they have, I asked of the Lord and those around me, "What is missing?". The resounding answer was this:
Both of our main ministries are Short Term.
What I mean is this. We send out month-long trips and plan a 3-day missions conference, but we don't have the structure to follow-up with students who are impacted by the trips or Missions Conference. The students come off of their spiritual highs and settle back into campus life, never being offered the opportunity to be mentored, counseled, prayed-with, or to give back and motivate and mobilize their fellow students. Students come off of these experiences often knowing that God has a call on their lives, but without missions-minded community, the call gets blurrier instead of clearer.
So, what does "Deeper Commitment" mean? It means that as SMU President I will adopt deeper commitment to following up with students impacted by their missions trips and by Mission Conference. To do this I want to:
- Add a weekly SMU chapel on Tuesday nights that will be directed at topics in missions.
- Add two new staff positions in SMU whose job it will be to facilitate mentorship and community to help students find their place in the Great Commission.
- Coordinate follow-up events for Missions Conference.
- Put on a reatreat each semester for all the SMU volunteers to facilitate fellowship and unify under the mission of SMU, to impact our campus so that students can impact the world for the Lord Jesus Christ.
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