Seven Georgia Southern students recently returned from a summer mission’s trip to South Africa.
These students went to the Johannesburg and Soweto, South Africa in early June for two weeks as part of GSU’s Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) mission trip.
These seven students, along with the GSU BCM director, Dr. Jerry Johnson, ministered and shared the gospel with the South Africans.
They partnered with International World Changers who organized the trip with several other college ministries from around the country.
“The main purpose of the trip was to spread God’s love and show them what Christ is like,” one of the participants, Morgan Springer a sophomore pre-med major, said. “I was really glad I got to go. I really just felt God wanted me to go on a mission and that it really was just my time to go.”
The trip was open to any active BCM member. However, only seven spots were available, due to cost and other factors. Those chosen found out about the trip through advertising and announcements from BCM. The interested members were chosen through interviews, interests and availability. After selecting the group members, they begun to prepare for the trip. The group had many preparations to make: extensive fund raising, many prayer nights and street evangelism in the local community.
“Different nights we would do training. We would go to Savannah and go up to people and start talking to them about Christ and what it meant to be a Christian,” Ben Phillips, a sophomore at GSU and BCM Council member,one said.
While in South Africa, some of the members would do street evangelism while others would hold a soccer camp for the locals of the area. Several of the volunteers were avid soccer players. Springer, a current GSU soccer player, and the other group members enjoyed the aspect of being able to “use soccer to tell others about Christ” and, as a segue, to talk about their faith. Since they were in South Africa during the World Cup, they were able to attend the Brazil vs. North Korea game.
“It unlike anything I’ve ever experienced,” Josh Salmon said. “The energy and the fans were incredible. The atmosphere of the game—I’ll never forget. It was great!”
However, it wasn’t all fun and games the entire trip. During the street ministry aspect of the trip, the students found it challenging to get people to come to the services.
“The main challenge was being bold about everything. It was hard to just go up to people and just talk about our faith,” Springer said.
They also had to try to explain Christianity to a people who worship their ancestors and Christ.
“Many of the people would tell us they were Christian, but they would also worship their ancestors or other family members,” Phillips said. “We would explain to them that there was only one way through Christ. We would try to clear up their understanding of what they understood Christianity to be.”
Their dedication paid off. They would go up to people and ask them to come to a church service and many said they would.
However, “A local pastor was telling us that most of them will just say yes to be polite but not really show up,” Phillips said. When church time came they had different results and could see the effort paid off. “But this time, the pastor was telling us that this was the biggest crowd they had ever had.”
The trip proved to be very eye-opening for the students. For most, this was their first volunteer trip.
“It was heavy on my heart how prevalent the poverty is. There are well-off communities right next to poverty stricken ones. It really hurt my heart to see the stereotypical Africa and the terrible poverty,” Salmon said.
However, overall the students learned and accomplished their mission to share the gospel. “Every little moment was unforgettable. Everyday seeing how grateful and excited they were that we were there, and experiencing the joy in their life inspired me,” Springer said.
They all returned safely with a greater sense of thankfulness for their American lifestyles, “I feel really spoiled being an American,” Springer said. “I’m much more thankful for my car and house. I don’t overlook those things anymore.”
While most of the volunteers have various career goals other than ministry. None were opposed to returning and doing other volunteer trips. “I would really like to go back,” Salmon said. “If I get the opportunity, I definitely want to go. It was an unforgettable experience.”
Even if they do not get to return to the same place, Philips recognizes that, “We don’t have to go across the world to minister Christ and tell of God’s love. We can go right across the street and do that here at GSU.”