Erskine students gain summer mission experience
The Student Christian Association led students in an evening of worship and prayer at the Ellenburg Pavilion Oct. 21 to celebrate “A Night for the Nations,” reflecting on summer mission trips. Students shared testimonies from their summer travels.
Sophomores Ashley Mull and Raygon Hendrix used the skills and passion they have developed as basketball players to participate in a sports ministry in Guatemala.
Mull and Hendrix spent 12 days traveling the country with Athletes in Action and speaking to audiences during halftime as well as to local basketball teams. Hendrix told the team in the town of Salama, “I had always played for myself rather than playing for Jesus. He gave me a talent and I used it for my own benefit instead of His.”
Hendrix also spoke about a woman battling severe depression who made a decision to come to Christ during one of the halftime programs. While Hendrix does not enjoy public speaking, she said God equipped her for sharing her testimony with others throughout the summer. “Jesus used me and I used basketball to spread the gospel and I’ll never be able to replace that feeling,” Hendrix said.
Seniors Chelsea Ball, Gabe Clinton, Matthew Going, Elinor Griffin and Haleigh Spaulding also spoke about their travels.
Ball worked with the International Mission Board in South Asia for ten weeks, discipling young believers and teaching English classes.
Clinton farmed and discipled men in a village in sub-Saharan Africa for two months through a partnership with North Side Baptist Church in Greenwood. He describes his trip as “the hardest thing I’ve ever done and the best thing I’ve ever been a part of.”
Going traveled to Ireland for a month with the International Mission Board. After five days of orientation in Wales, he and seven others traveled the Irish countryside building friendships and sharing their testimonies in hostels, pubs, parks, and local homes.
Griffin traveled to Mojo, Ethiopia, with the Rafiki Foundation, serving orphanages that provide schooling and a Christian home to local children.
Spaulding spent two weeks in Germany and week in France with News Release Basketball, whose mission is to present the gospel and develop disciples “by building Christ-centered relationships using the sport of basketball.”
Each of these Erskine students shared the life-transforming love of Christ with people from around the world, returning from their journeys with a deeper understanding of their own faith. Thanks in part to their engagement in short-term missions—working to make disciples of all nations for the glory of God—some are now considering careers in ministry or missions.
