Students have the opportunity to choose from 42 teams that will serve in locations around the world through the Office of Mobilization.
God calls us to be His hands and feet—to go into the nations and preach the good news. Some of the many countries on this year’s International Service Project list include Brazil, Finland, Japan, Russia and the Philippines. There are also many locations that the United States (USP) teams will head to, such as Chicago, New York and Alaska.
According to the ISP web page, the teams participate in a variety of ministries that may include music, drama, sports, ethnography, children’s ministry and teaching English.
Lisette Nichols, junior, spoke of her time in Japan during the summer of 2010. After she was informed of her destination, she said her second semester was devoted to training.
Students attend training with their designated team every week for the entire second semester to prepare for the challenges of the trip. “It taught me to understand teamwork,” Nichols said.
Students also prepare financially by writing letters to potential supporters in order to raise money for the total cost of the trip.
According to Courtney Watson, administrative secretary of the MOB, “students can plug in their information into a template the Office of Mobilization will provide.” This tells any supporter the details of the trip and of the students’ financial and spiritual needs.
“All of our teams are lead by CBU staff, faculty, alumni or a person with a special relation to the school,” Watson said. “A lot of the teams have student leaders who are returning ISP or USP participants who are asked to be in a leadership position.”
Anyone considering a leadership position should specify this on their application, then they must be considered and asked by the MOB staff.
While on the trips God uses people’s time spent serving Him to not only show Himself to the unreached, but to the teams as well.
Nichols recalls the most important thing that God taught her was “to be vulnerable, not just to Him, but to others on her team and to those around me.”
If someone is still unsure about what it would mean to be a part of one of these teams, “Come up and talk to somebody in our office,” Watson said.
She explained that students can come to the MOB so they “can dialogue about their hesitations” and get some answers to questions.
All are invited to apply and the four page application is available online at www.calbaptist.edu/goisp/. Applications are due Oct. 10.
