7 minute read
GenSend stories
Produced by K. Faith Morgan Wroten
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What would it look like for a generation of collegiate Christians to live their lives on mission? What would happen if this generation leveraged their careers, their majors and the places they live for the sake of the gospel and for the needs of their neighbors?
GenSend helps students find opportunities to serve over a summer in urban cities and rural environments. GenSend connects them to church planters as well as refugees and others in need in the community. Ultimately, it is all about being the hands and feet of Christ and taking the gospel to those who need to hear the good news of a great Savior.
GenSend summer is really about missionary development. We’ve got to get into our heads that everyone who is a follower of Christ is a missionary. It’s a command—not an option. The where, the how—that’s a specific calling. The command to be one is not an option. So, what better time to develop those life-on-mission skills than in a summer of your college? And where better to do that than an area with a strategic need for the gospel?” – Steve Turner, senior director of Next Gen Mobilization at NAMB
We can’t teach what GenSend does. We can say, ‘Live on mission,’ but GenSend teaches it through experience. GenSenders come back, and they’re more mature. They understand their faith. They understand the mission. They understand church planting and how to contextualize. They understand how to point out idols in a city. It just is an amazing thing. I will always champion GenSend.” – Billy Judge, college pastor
There’s no job that would have taught me the things that I learned during GenSend—how to live out my faith after college, the everyday struggles that people (especially church planters) have in the city. GenSend has changed the trajectory of my life. It has changed the trajectory of how I’ll one day raise my kids. It has even changed the trajectory of what I’m looking for in a spouse. It has changed my understanding of the importance of living your life on mission.” – Bri M.
GenSend challenged me, and it showed me how simple—not easy, but simple—it is to live missionally and how to be the church in regular, everyday life. GenSend sent me back to the University of South Carolina and ignited me to realize my mission field is where my feet are. It’s where my bed is. It’s where my house is. I need to be missional in those places. And so just through prayer, I think the things that I learned in GenSend are what moved me to realize if I want to reach people, I have to live among them, I have to love them, and I have to be one of them.” – Iman B.
My first Sunday at Clarkston, I remember the sermon was all about, “God with us,” and everybody went around the room and said, “God with us” in their home language. It was just so beautiful to hear God is with us no matter our skin color, no matter what language we speak, no matter our background, no matter what we’ve been through. God is here with us. He unites us, and the gospel unites us all. GenSend also showed me that ministry is not always just going to a place and doing a VBS for a week and then coming home. Ministry is missional living, and we’re all called to that. Yes, Clarkston is a place where you live missionally, but we can say that about any place. Ministry is where our feet are.” – Emma C.
We have been loved by Christ. Therefore, we are seeking to love our neighbor. And loving our neighbor, yes, that means meeting their physical needs. But more than that, we’re there to meet their spiritual needs. We’re there to get to know the people, to grieve with them, to laugh with them, to talk with them and to love them in whatever ways that looks like. And so that’s just my prayer for those that do GenSend in Puerto Rico—for those that even think about Puerto Rico. I pray they think about the people who are there, consider all that they’ve been through, all that they will continue to go through after we leave and to love them.” – Derek R.
Our generation has the opportunity to be equipped and made into disciples like never before. In the end, it is all about being the hands and feet of Christ and taking the gospel to those who need to hear the good news of a great Savior.” – Trevor F.
The gospel is being proclaimed in Puerto Rico, and we get to play a small part in it. God is so cool.” – Meredith L.
GenSend is the second-best decision I have ever made, the first being when I gave my life to Christ. What I have learned on this trip is what Christian hospitality looks like, what it means to put my worth in Christ rather than people, that when you pray for God to break you, it will happen and a ton more! I have a reestablished fire for sharing the gospel with people, but I have learned more about how to genuinely build relationships with people and show them love! I have learned that living on mission is so simple and can be done anywhere.” – Bradley D.
The Lord worked in so many ways this summer, and I was blessed to be a small part of it. I was challenged. I was taught. I was pushed. And I was so loved. Puerto Rico will forever have a small piece of my heart.” – Sarah S.
I can honestly say that GenSend in New Orleans this summer was one of the best experiences in my life. I’ve grown closer to God and done a lot of self-evaluation. I experienced strong Christian community and witnessed how God is doing great things in New Orleans. These past six weeks have helped shape my future.” – Jon S.
What a wild ride. GenSend helped me become a better leader, learn to ask for help and see that God is glorified in my weaknesses! I got to participate in an amazing community of believers who were all focused on furthering the kingdom of God and lifting each other up!” – Dillon H.
GenSend Pittsburgh was absolutely incredible. I watched and experienced the true body of Christ at work in the church, in the Send Relief center and on every street in the city. What an honor to do ministry with men and women who just truly love Jesus and people!” – Katie H.
This summer has opened my eyes to meeting people where they are. Christians are supposed to lead the way in love. As a Christian, I am called to be gracious and love all. This summer has not only challenged me in many ways, it has strengthened me to trust the Holy Spirit and lean on God. What I’ve learned this summer in New York will last a lifetime. Love God. Love people.” – Allie M.
I asked a few of my friends what was the most surprising thing that they learned while they were here in New York on mission. Each one gave a different answer. Isn’t it funny and cool how God can put people in the exact same situation and teach all of them a different lesson? Each of those lessons teach of God’s glory.” – Hannah L.
This isn’t a team; it’s a family.” – Anna P.
We are excited to announce that Bryant Wright, who in December retired as longtime senior pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia, and is founder of Right from the Heart Ministries, will serve as president of Send Relief.
Bryant has consistently demonstrated a heart for the lost and led his church to be among the top missions-giving and missionary-sending churches in the SBC, and he’ll bring that same passion to global compassion ministry.
