Lipscomb Missions has introduced new mission trip opportunities including trips to Haiti, Honduras, Charlotte, North Carolina and Nicaragua.
“This year, we’re going to offer some brand new trips with brand new host partners,” said Mark Jent, Director of Missions Outreach for Lipscomb University. “Then, we’re also going to have some trips that now have new host partners or new focuses, as well as opportunities to send a second team or third team per year to existing efforts.”
Jent said Lipscomb Missions is relaunching two trips. In these cases, former mission efforts that have not been conducted for a year or more for various reasons are being reorganized and reincorporated into the missions program for the 2016 calendar year.
These re-launched trips include the all-male spring break trip to Panama City Beach and the summertime trip to Perth, Australia.
One of the existing trips that is now offered more than once per year is the Greek life mission trip to Baja, Mexico, which is now offered during winter break as well as during summer break for any students involved in Greek life.
Another existing trip that is now offered multiple times a year is the trip to Brisbane, Australia, which is now offered during the winter and summer breaks.
Lipscomb Missions is also involved in a yearly effort in the Navajo Nation in Arizona. This year, Lipscomb will send two teams during two different weeks of the summer to this area. One of these teams will be made up of university students and the other team will be made up of academy students.
Aside from these efforts, Lipscomb Missions is introducing three entirely new trips for engineering students, one brand new trip for student athletes and one new general trip that will be open to all students.
Haiti, Nashville and Honduras Engineering Mission Efforts
Lipscomb’s engineering students will embark upon three brand new trips this year: Haiti in the spring, Nashville over the summer and Honduras during the fall.
In Honduras this year, Lipscomb’s engineering students plan to survey a new bridge site for a rural community and explore the feasibility of a micro-hydroelectric project that can provide power and income in order to help sustain numerous schools and hospitals in the area, according to trip leader Caleb Meeks.
In Nashville, Lipscomb’s Department of Engineering will bring a robotics camp to a neighborhood that wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity for such hands-on educational experiences.
In Giotin, Haiti, Lipscomb engineering students will help meet educational, health, economic and spiritual needs this spring.
“They will be surveying for future a bridge project that will provide improved access to an isolated portion of the village, as well as surveying for a potential ecotourism project designed to bring economic opportunities to the impoverished area,” Meeks said. “This is the first of many years we hope to be investing in the lives and relationships we will connect with in Giotin.”
Charlotte, North Carolina Mission Effort for Student Athletes
Student athletes now have the chance to partner with a ministry in Charlotte, North Carolina called Project 658.
“Project 658 is a ministry working with the inner-city refugee community in Charlotte,” said trip leader Chris Klotz. “Together we seek to help build communities of hope through the teachings of Jesus Christ and practical programs designed to support these communities.”
The trip is set to commence this upcoming winter break.
New Mission Trip to Nicaragua
Any students interested in meeting new people and serving others are welcome to join a new summer effort in Nicaragua, according to trip leader Lisa Steele.
“This new trip to León, Chacraseca and Las Mariposas, Nicaragua partners Lipscomb Missions with the Christian Relief Fund,” Steele said. “We will be working with CRF-sponsored preschools at all three locations where we will teach bible lessons, perform skits, teach songs and prepare lunches.”
Steele said team members will meet with local community members in their homes for prayer and to help connect families with local churches.
“When we’re planning new trips, we look for geographic diversity, solid leadership, whether or not they will pass through our risk management channels and a clear vision of purpose,” Jent said.
Mission efforts that still have available openings for the 2015-2016 years include trips to Georgia, the Navajo Nation in Arizona, Ensenada, Mexico, Baja, Ghana, Europe (Great Britain, Greece and Albania), Monterrey, Kenya, Malawi, New York, Moldova, Nicaragua, Saba, Perth, Australia, San Francisco, the Philippines and England.