Cereal, twinkly lights and high spirits filled the night of the first Center for Student (CSA) 2016 Action Team event in Seven Palms Ampitheater on Wednesday, Oct. 29.
Action Teams are short-term mission groups sent across the globe through CSA. There are a wide variety of programs available to students, such as trips with emphases on educational development, prayer ministry, mobile medical care clinics and anti-human and sex trafficking.
CSA has made several changes to the Action Team program this year.
To launch the new year Pastor Woody Morwood prayed over the team leaders at the end of Kaleo chapel. Afterward, students were encouraged to visit Seven Palms for free cereal, a chance to meet the leaders and spark conversation about the nations they will be serving.
This year, team leaders were chosen and announced earlier than previous years. This will give students interested in participating in an Action Team an opportunity to talk with the leaders of specific trips.
The variety and diversity of teams available is just one example of how much the APU community desires to know the world around it. Last year, 21 teams were sent out, with a total of 125 participants. This year, CSA is offering 28 Action Teams, each led by APU students, 7more than last year.
Over the summer, CSA Action Team Coordinator Laurelyn Shaw sat down with students who came back from their 2015 mission trips.
“The thing that sticks out to me the most is what people say that changed them,” Shaw said. “Most people say it was when they were with the people around them or an encounter they had with God. That’s what changes us the most. And the thing that is most consistent is the word ‘with.’ We’re gonna focus on that a lot this year.”
Senior youth ministry major Mikey Gutierrez is leading a team to the Republic of Georgia.
“I went on a mission trip to South Africa two years ago, and it had a profound effect on me,” Gutierrez said. “I want to help others find their calling.”
Another thing that CSA has introduced this year is Action Teams that are specific to a student’s major.
Namibia’s team, for example, is a computer science-centered mission led by engineering and computer science professor Dan Grissom, accompanied by student leader and junior computer science major Sarah Marley. Participating APU students will partner with Namibian computer science students to complete a socially minded programming project.
“I feel as if this is the next step that God is calling me to,” Marley said. “I’m learning how to put myself out there more and more.”
Medical mission teams are also heading to Kolktata, India and Ecuador.
“I want to go somewhere with a medical focus,” said sophomore biology major Tito Escalante, who will travel to Ecuador. “I want to be an ER physician, and missions are on my heart. It’s the perfect combination.”
CSA is also sending a disaster-relief Action Team to Japan in the rural northern area of Ishinomaki, to serve people impacted by the 2011 earthquake.
An action team is heading to Moldova is aimed at students with a passion for soccer. Students will be running a youth soccer camp, while also getting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play against the Moldova national soccer team.
Trips this year will include new locations like Guatemala and Costa Rica, to name just a few. Domestic Action Teams will travel to San Francisco and Arizona, as well as Utah during the Mid-semester Break.
“I don’t know what team I want to go on yet, but I’m open,” freshman humanities major Madeline Harlow said. “I love spreading the Gospel. I’d love to do some kind of community service and work with children.”
If junior music major Melanie Tierce could travel anywhere for missions, she would go to Mozambique.
“I have friends there who are full-time missionaries that I would love to work alongside,” Tierce said.
Shaw encouraged students to step out and apply for an Action Team. During the application process, students can choose a particular destination or indicate a willingness to go wherever they are needed. CSA workers then interview the students and determine team placement.
“You might disqualify yourself because you don’t think you have anything to bring,” Shaw said, “but maybe there’s something the Lord has for you to learn, or there’s something He wants to bless you with.
“Let’s be adventurously expectant,” added Shaw. “Our faith is an adventure. We serve a God of adventure.”
For more information about specific Action Teams and how to apply, visit www.centerforstudentaction.org/what-we-do/action-teams/.