Down a dusty dirt road atop Lookout Mountain, 180 students from 25 different states recently gathered to prepare for a summer of missions as part of Nehemiah Teams and Project 52 (P52).
The week of early summer orientation was not new. Nehemiah Teams have been training in North Alabama since 2010. What was new was the location. For the first time training was held at the organization’s facility in Mentone instead of a local church.
Work not finished
There’s still work to be done but Nehemiah Teams founder Jess Jennings is excited students actively obeying the Great Commission now have a permanent home base in Alabama from which to prepare.
“We realize the task of obeying the Great Commission is not finished,” Jennings said. “Whether students stay in the United States or go abroad they have a part to play and one of our goals is to help them view life missionally.”
The students who attended training this year represent 65 colleges and universities and five high schools, Jennings said. The students will work alongside representatives from the International Mission Board (IMB) internationally through Nehemiah Teams and alongside representatives of the North American Mission Board (NAMB) through P52.
Representatives of those organizations make their specific requests known throughout the year and students join teams to fill those needs.
Nehemiah Teams training is the first step. Orientation week includes worship, Bible study, evangelism training, team-building and preparation for safe travel. Kassie, whose team will serve in Southeast Asia, said the security training was an eye-opening experience. Her teammate Sondra said learning about cultural dos and don’ts in the country where she will serve was interesting and helpful.
Another team member, Kaley, said worship and Bible study had been her favorite parts of training.
“We are growing in our relationship to God, knowing the primary goal is the gospel,” she said. “Our team leaders are making sure we’re firmly grounded before we go into these spiritually dark places.”
Students are now in the field, and over the course of approximately 52 days (based on Nehemiah’s 52-day project to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem), students will assist with short-term projects among refugees, immigrants and unreached peoples.
Jennings and his wife, Wendy, long-term cross-cultural workers with the IMB in Southeast Asia, have brought students alongside them for years. They believe students can help open doors among the unreached. Nehemiah Teams are a starting point to help students see their lives through a missional lens.
“Each of us has a missions calling or a missions obligation,” Jennings said. “We want students to understand the Great Commission is for each of us. We encourage each of them to seek the Lord for the sake of the nations.”
And he wants Alabama Baptists to see how Nehemiah Teams can help mobilize students in their churches for Great Commission work.
“We want churches to know we can partner with them,” Jennings said. “Most of our students come through Baptist Campus Ministries, but we would love to make direct connections with local churches and Baptist associations.”
Encourage students to go
One way churches and associations can do that is to encourage students to fill requests for teams. Churches or associations who have existing partnerships with Baptist representatives in the field and are preparing to send students to serve can utilize Nehemiah Teams training for their groups too, Jennings said.
“We want to lead students from 25 states well,” Jennings said. “But we also want Alabama Baptists and Alabama Baptist students to know they don’t have to go far to get trained and go serve.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — Some names have been changed for security reasons.
For more information on Nehemiah Teams and P52 visit nehemiahteams.com and goproject52.com.
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