International Service Projects at California Baptist University have changed since the mobilization sector of the Office of Spiritual Life added new opportunities for students and updated the training process. With four different opportunities for Lancers, ISP is a growing ministry.
The four types of ISP trips include Encounter, Engagement, Immersion, and the newest addition, Launch.
Launch is an opportunity for CBU seniors interested in serving long-term, students who feel called to the mission field for longer periods of time, or for permanent placement after graduation.
During Launch training, students will join a cohort that will help them begin the process to serve overseas long-term.
The Mobilization O ce has partnered with GoCorps, an organization that helps fund students to send them overseas, and Traveling Teams, an organization dedicated to stirring the hearts of college students for mission work.
In addition to the beginning of the Launch program, the mobilization program implemented changes to the ISP training curriculum.
Daisy Erber, sophomore history major and mobilization intern, said there are new training modules for students who have completed an ISP and are looking to return based o what they have already learned.
“There are new trips mobilization has put together, different countries to explore and tasks to take up,” Erber said. “Students will learn more and go deeper into what it means to share the gospel and disciple others.”
ISP training time will also be cut down this year. In the spring, teams will train once every other week as opposed to once a week.
Kris Smith, assistant direc- tor of Mobilization, said students have more freedom to get involved on campus while still being able to serve on ISP due to less training.
Smith said training for these projects will not be classroom–style but more of an engaging process.
“We are going to try to train to an iGeneration (Generation Z) mindset; it’s much more interactive than ever before,” Smith said.
Erber said students should apply for ISP because God wants people to share his love wherever they are.
“My trip to Southeast Asia was incredible and I want oth- ers to experience Christ in this way as well as be able to communicate the gospel in any place they find themselves,” Erber said.
Also new this year, Encounter teams will only consist of first-time participants. They will be divided into two catego- ries, faith-based and non-faith- based, and will consist of 10–to 14-day-trips.
Smith said there are plenty of opportunities for faith-based Encounters but non-faith-based trips are intended to educate students.
“Our non-faith-based Encounters are to help students understand what it is like to work among people living in poverty,” Smith said.
Engagement is the next longest trip and consists of a three-week trip for returning ISP participants. There is also an eight-week opportunity for returners called Immersion.
Dominic Nocito, junior entrepreneurship major, served on an ISP team in Southeast Asia last year and said ISP is a good way to learn to serve.
“ISP provides the ability for those wanting to serve Christ in practical and God-ordained ways the ability to (put train- ing into practice),” Nocito said. “It is awesome to see how the gospel and our God is not in the U.S., CBU or Riverside — but, indeed, God is a God of the whole world.”
Students should apply for any of these four trips by Oct. 19.
