Halbert Center For Missions and Global Service 2023-24 Year in Review

The summer marks the culmination of the work of the Halbert Center, with students dispersing around the globe to demonstrate Christ’s love for others through service. After months of preparation, prayer, study and fundraising, these brave young adults leave behind their familiar lifestyles to learn about new cultures, peoples and regions. While it is no easy task, their willingness to take on such daunting projects is a testament to their commitment to bring God’s passion for the world into reality.

This year, 138 ACU students and nearly 30 faculty and alumni joined in this undertaking. From Japan to Nicaragua, these individuals served in 20 countries across the world. With majors as diverse as finance to nursing, students were challenged to put their specific knowledge and talents into service for others. Educational, medical, financial and spiritual impacts were made over the course of weeks or months while working side by side with international friends. Not only were our students able to offer their skills for the benefit of others, but they also grew in their faith and maturity through the process.

We invite you to learn more about some of these trips in the next few pages. Of course, we cannot capture the breadth of the impact of every trip in such a limited space, but the following articles provide a glimpse of the work of our students. The theme that emerges from these experiences is how these students pushed themselves out of their comfort zones in order to engage in meaningful service in unfamiliar contexts. Some of these students traveled outside of the U.S. for the first time, diving into cultures and conditions quite different than their own. Others

traveled to new destinations and worked crossculturally amidst unspoken languages to demonstrate Christ’s love. Still others returned to serve at previous locations, continuing to foster meaningful relationships with those we serve. The bravery of these students reminds us all that we are called to live out God’s Kingdom in ever diverse contexts.

Finally, I would like to offer a note on the images used in this report and our other communications. The Halbert Center highly values the dignity and privacy of those we serve. We have taken care to select photos that highlight the important work of our students while also respecting the people they serve – especially children. A few photos have also been altered to either blur or remove children’s faces. This allows us to depict accurately the service of our students while also showing respect for the communities we serve.

Please continue to pray for these students as they return home and reflect on their experiences, as well as for those students who will soon begin planning for new trips in the coming year. To all of you, thank you for your tireless support of ACU students as they serve others. Your support is necessary not only for the work of the Halbert Center for Missions and Global Service, but also for the travel and work of our students.

Gratefully,

Dr. Zane McGee Director, Halbert Center for Missions

Global Service Trips

THE HALBERT CENTER’S GLOBAL Service Trips allow ACU community members to join with long-term Christian development efforts in diverse cultural contexts. These experiences introduce us to some of the myriad ways Jesus’ people are participating in His purposes in our world, and invite us to consider where we might fit in – all while providing support and encouragement for local and cross-cultural Christian non-profit workers and organizations.

This past academic year, 79 ACU students and two dozen faculty, staff and alumni took a horizonexpanding plunge, thank to 10 Global Service Trips. Nursing and pre-health teams supported local and cross-cultural care providers in Guatemala, Peru and downtown Denver, Colorado. A Marriage and Family

Institute team hosted a marriage seminar for low-income couples in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mixed-major teams volunteered with multifaceted Christian development organizations in Nicaragua and Ghana. Lynay students and faculty hosted sports and VBS-style activities for Ukrainian refugee children in Poland.

Each year through Halbert Center programs, more and more ACU community members are stepping out of their comfort zones into God’s wider world. These short-term encounters with long-term Christian partners invite us to live into a beautiful story that’s bigger than ourselves. We’re excited to see how ACU students, faculty, staff and alumni will engage the world in Jesus’ name in 2025 and beyond!

ACU students assist in a Ghanian classroom.

Memphis, Tenn.

Guatemala

Worldwide Witness

WORLDWIDE WITNESS IS THE summer missions internship program at ACU, where students serve in cross-cultural settings for 8-12 weeks during their summer break. Almost 1,200 ACU students have gone through this program in the past 20 years, and this year 28 more stepped out of their comfort zone into the interests of others.

This year we had six interns who were veterans of Halbert Center missions programs, three from last year’s Witness cohort and three from Wildcat Academics on Mission (WAM). In addition, two graduate students joined our training and served abroad. This suggests that the influence of missions is not only deepening but also broadening across the campus! We praise God for these signs of growth and expansion.

Further worthy of note are two students who served with partner organizations in locations where Christianity is not openly embraced. This does not mean our students were in increased danger, only

that their service with established ministries required them to “fly under the radar” and not attract attention to themselves. While they publicly avoided explicitly Christian terms like prayer, church, baptism, Jesus or God, they still found ways to demonstrate Christ’s love to others through their compassion. We are grateful for families who step out with an extra portion of faith in such situations.

The rest of our students worked with long-term partners of the Witness program, the majority of which were in Asia. Small teams served in Cambodia, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Kenya, Canada and two unpublished locations. A larger team of six also worked in Rwanda, including three students who returned a second time. One domestic team worked in an inner city ministry in Michigan. We are proud of each of the 11 teams and grateful to the hosts who walked with them through their learning experiences. It has been a great year for Witness, and we have received rave reviews from their mentors. We give God all the glory for what He has done through these students!

Gene Malarcher presents to Cambodian students.

Laci Bex teaches English in Cambodia.

Andrea Sewell and London Groves participate in a Rwandan aerobics activity. Kate Henderson uses a chalkboard to teach English.

Dr. Shelia Jones and nutrition students prepare locally sourced supplements.

Lacy Dowdy offers personal finance consultations.

Amy Stevens and Naomi Benetiz practice exercises with a child.

Wildcat Academics on Mission

OUR REPEATED MESSAGE TO students is that God does not call everybody to be an international missionary, but he does call every believer to use their talents for God’s mission. The Wildcat Academics on Mission (WAM) program trains students in exactly this – using their academic training to serve around the world in their area of expertise. This year, eight departments across campus partnered with the Halbert Center to push students out of their comfort zone by applying their skills in new and diverse contexts.

their own real-world expenses. According to Zanatta Valentim, the director of SerCris, ACU students helped open the door to these tough and personal conversations while speaking to the spiritual lives of participants.

Debt is a major concern in Brazil with estimates that roughly 80% of Brazilian households carry revolving credit card debt with annual interest rates topping 300%! To help address this, Dukes School of Finance worked with SerCris, a ministry training school, to offer instruction and consultations in personal finance in Campo Grande, Brazil. Students served alongside the SerCris staff to provide 12 lessons on creating and maintaining a household budget. Students then put their financial knowledge to the test by offering free consultations to help members of the community put these skills into practice with

Many departments continued their work with prior host partners, fulfilling our vision of forming longterm relationships with international communities. The departments of Communication Sciences and Disorders along with Kinesiology and Nutrition and the School of Social Work returned to work with Hope Speaks to offer health services at their clinic in Uganda. Students from the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences produced vertical gardens in Nicaragua. In Ghana, pre-law students worked with justice reform, while the Griggs Center for Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy worked with startups in collaboration with Ateiku Christian Ministries. All of these projects were documented by students from the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, who served as embedded reporters for these trips. We look forward to sharing their short documentaries with you in the near future.

ACU students create vertical gardens under the guidance of the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Meet the Staff

Dr. Zane McGee is the director of the Halbert Center. Zane and his family served as church planters in Brazil.

Larry Henderson oversees the Worldwide Witness program, where his extensive missions knowledge and networking skills are invaluable. Larry and his family served as missionaries in Thailand.

Amy Rieder joins the center as our new administrative coordinator. Prior to this role, she was a teacher at Abilene Christian School.

Joel Ruch is assistant director and also coordinates the Wildcat Academics on Mission program. He and his family served in Asia.

Halbert Center for Missions and Global Service

ACU Box 29433

Abilene, Texas 79699-9433

missions@acu.edu

325-674-3711

Savannah Gery coordinates all travel and safety protocols for student travel. She is a recent graduate of ACU’s College of Biblical Studies and a veteran of the Halbert Center’s programs.

Jonathan Stein joins the Center as the coordinator of Global Service Trips. He and his family previously lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and served with Contact Mission Church of Christ.