by Erin Gupton | Oct 27, 2012 | Uncategorized
Lipscomb holds over 40 mission trips all around the world, but there is only one mission trip created just for women. For the past two years, Lipscomb ladies have embarked on a journey into the Republic of Moldova over the summer. Moldova is known for its high population of orphans and its sex trafficking epidemic. “Moldova is a very poor country in between Ukraine and Romania,” said Kelsey Shipman, a senior from Advance, N.C. “It’s a very small country, but despite the broken streets and poverty, it still manages to be beautiful.” Kelli Blackshear, a junior from Jacksonville, Fla. and two-year veteran of the team, said the goal of this mission trip is “to love on girls that don’t receive enough love or respect where they’re from, and who are in danger of being taken advantage of.” Lipscomb students have the opportunity to sign up for the Moldova mission trip when Commitment Week comes around Nov. 5-9. This is the week in which the registration process for mission trips begins. While in Moldova the small team of about 13 women works alongside Justice and Mercy International, an organization that fights sex trafficking and other social injustices throughout the world. JMI noticed the need for a transitional house for 16-year-old girls who have left the orphanages in Moldova and have nowhere to go. To meet that need, JMI founded The Grace House. By taking these girls in until they are 21, TGH saves many of them from being sex trafficked. The Lipscomb team partners with TGH to teach these girls practical tasks that will help them provide for themselves when...
by Erin Gupton | Oct 18, 2012 | News Slider
Dodge ball tournaments and dinners are just two of the ways Lipscomb students have been sharing the love of God on a remote island in the Caribbean. Saba is a 5-square-mile island in the Dutch Caribbean that is home to only 1,600 people—that’s less that the number enrolled as undergraduate students at Lipscomb. Every spring break, Lipscomb sends a mission team to this small island. The team begins mission work after landing in a 15-passenger plane on a 400-yard runway, the shortest commercial strip in the world. “The main goal of this trip is to foster relationships with the people on the island. The culture is not a religious one, so we are there to be living examples of someone with morals and a relationship with God,” said Virginia Burkhart, a junior from Brentwood, Tenn. Though Saba is small, it is safe. Crime is nearly nonexistent—in fact, there are only 12 police officers. “The Saba natives are very hospitable; they smile every time they see you,” said Alex Rector, a senior from Columbia, Tenn. “Plus, they are great cooks!” Lipscomb students have the opportunity to sign up for the Saba mission trip again when Commitment Week comes around Nov. 5-9. This is the week in which the registration process for mission trips begins. While in Saba, the Lipscomb team visits the only school during the day and holds island-wide events each night. These events range from a dodge ball tournament, to a cookout, to an NBA night. “We just want to show them love, and one of the ways we do that is through activities,” said Shelton Brewer, a senior from...
by Leah Raich | May 29, 2012 | News Slider
With final exams now nearly one month in the rearview mirror, Lipscomb students have turned their focus to their next objective – serving Christ across the globe this summer. Over the course of 106 days, from May 4 through Aug. 17, Lipscomb Missions will have 24 teams on the ground in 18 different countries. The timeframe is broad in scope – all summer long – and so are the locations and types of services being offered. From discipline-specific trips in Engineering that will be serving communities in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic to a first year trip to Moldova where a team of graduate psychology students will be providing therapeutic counseling to girls once caught in human trafficking, some students have the opportunity to take what they have learned in the classroom and apply it in a mission field. Students will experience a variety of cultures, from the two trips to Australia (Brisbane and Perth) where students will engage growing churches and encourage youth, to two trips in India where Lipscomb teams will spend five weeks in Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta ministering in a country where Christians are the minority. In each of these missions, students will have the unique chance to literally “go into all the world,” as Jesus directs his followers in Mark 16:15. This year’s 24 summer trips are a record for Lipscomb Missions, up from 20 trips in 2011 and just eight trips three years ago in 2009. There has been a significant shift in the landscape of the Missions Program as the number of trips offered has flipped from being heavily weighted on spring break efforts to the current majority of summer trips leading...
by Leah Raich | Nov 1, 2011 | News Slider
When Katie Davis told Lipscomb students how she went from being a homecoming queen in one of the nation’s most affluent suburbs to becoming a mother to 13 Ugandan orphans, it struck a note. “Katie came to speak in chapel last week, and I was truly inspired for the rest of the day,” said Megan Crawford, a senior elementary education major from Bartlett, Tenn. Four years ago, Davis was homecoming queen at Ravenwood High School in Brentwood. Her life was full of good friends, a loving family and boyfriend, and a cute yellow convertible. She was planning to go to college with her boyfriend in the fall of 2008 and study nursing. But God had other plans. After graduating high school, she went to Uganda for a year to teach kindergarten at a local orphanage. She saw this as a temporary move, but God didn’t. Today, Davis is living in Uganda sharing her home with 13 orphaned or abandoned girls, ages 2 to 15. Davis is the legal guardian or foster mother for all of them and hopes to one day adopt them. “As someone her age who has been to Africa, I could relate to a lot of the poverty and emotions she has experienced while living there,” said Crawford. By law, Davis is too young to adopt in Uganda, said child welfare officer Caroline Bankusha. The rules say an adoptive parent must be at least 25 years old and at least 21 years older than the child being adopted. Davis has also started a nonprofit organization called Amazima Ministries. With support from U.S. donors, Amazima helps 400 children go...
by Kathryn Claire Watts | Oct 10, 2011 | News Slider
The 2011 fall missions fair went off without a hitch last week. Trips around the world were represented in the student center on Tuesday, with many team leaders from each trip there to speak to students. “The missions fair is a very important event for our trip,” said Northern Ireland leader John Williams. “It is a chance for us to talk to nearly 100 students about what we do and why we are so excited about going to Northern Ireland year after year.” The fair also had many new trips added to the selection. Daley Hilburn, event and student work coordinator for the office of admissions, is organizing a trip to her hometown of Patterson, Calif. “The missions fair was a great success,” said Hilburn. “I was a little apprehensive at first as to how my trip would be received as it is a very small, grass-roots type of trip to the middle-of-nowhere, California. But everyone I spoke with really liked the idea. I’m so excited to see what God has planned for this trip!” The next step in the missions process is to attend an interest meeting. The meetings will be held from now until Oct. 30. For this week’s meetings, click on the schedule to the right. The missions department will host a commitment week from Oct. 31 to Nov. 4, when future participants commit to their particular trip. There are tons of trips to choose from, so make sure you take the time to learn about which one is right for you! For more information, visit the mission department...
