Spring Break Finds Hundreds of AG Students in Ministry
Credit: Dan VanVeen, AG News
AG NEWS #1237: March 27, 2006
Dr. Tom Moeller and Jamie Lochner provide care to a patient in Sri Lanka. Lochner is a pre-med student at Evangel. He will graduate in May and has been accepted to attend Saint Louis University School of Medicine beginning in August.
For many, when the words "spring break" and "college" come together, stories on the excesses of beach-bound college students come to mind.
However, for hundreds of students from Evangel University, spring break 2006 meant traveling the world to reach out with the love and compassion of Christ.
According to Evangel Campus Pastor Sid Griffith, 12 percent of the spring semester student body gave their spring break (March 2-12) to meet the needs of the less fortunate.
Nearly 100 students and faculty -- representing Evangel's concert orchestra and four outreach teams -- traveled the United States during the spring break. From California to Connecticut, these groups performed and held outreaches for children in U.S. communities.
In addition, 11 faculty, staff and missionary sponsors led 94 students to serve in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America.
In a number of the outreaches, students' lives were enriched through medical missions, with many experiencing direction or confirmation in their calling.
"I have never been so at peace with anything in my life as I was while ministering [to these people]" said Rachel Su-Ling Eng, a junior at Evangel. "Watching the joy on people's faces when they received new glasses and could see for the first time in their lives . . . . I know I will be doing this kind of ministry for the rest of my life."
"Just seeing the doctors tell each patient how God worked in their life and witnessing how God helped them through the struggles gave me hope to one day witness to others the same way," said Evangel senior Jamie Lochner III. "I would very much like to do another trip like this someday when I am a doctor myself."
Dr. Michael Tenneson, professor of Biology at Evangel, witnessed the students' personal and spiritual growth throughout the missions experience.
"The students spent numerous hours being mentored by some of the finest Christian medical professionals anywhere," Tenneson said. "We got our hands dirty, sweated profusely and felt the fullness of joy in serving hurting people in the name of Jesus Christ."
Rachel Eng examines a Sri Lankan child. She is a junior biology pre-med major from Columbus, Ohio.
According to Tenneson, more than 1,100 people received medical attention during their part of the trip and about a dozen patients chose to accept Christ as their Savior. However, what stood out to Tenneson was the drastic drop in cultural resistance to the gospel in the face of the unconditional love expressed by the teams.
Dr. Grant Jones, professor of Psychology at Evangel, led a team of psychology students into Zambia, Africa.
The team visited the homes of HIV-positive patients, conducting interviews, offering encouragement and prayer, and assessing families' needs; worked with the AG Lazarus Project and provided counseling to children; and spent a "fun day" with 160 orphans at an AG church.
"We helped the children tell their stories, which became therapeutic for them," Jones explained. "For us personally, it validated our trainingS. We combined clinical skills and our faith, doing things with Zambians that non-psychology majors could not do."
"It was a dream come true for me to see how mental health could be exercised in a cross cultural way," said Bethany Graff, who graduated from Evangel in December. "It also opened up a way for me to return to Zambia."
Other countries Evangel students and sponsors traveled to included:
Kenya, Jamaica, Croatia, Malta, the Middle East, Spain and Bolivia.
--AG News