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Identity. Influence. Impact.
The three words at the top of this letter capture the mission of University Ministries at Baylor University. Our hope is to help students begin to realize and develop their identity, recognize who and what influences them and who they influence, and learn how they can make an impact on the world, based on their identity and passions. The discipline-specific missions program at Baylor is innovative in its approach to this mission. It pairs professors with students in their disciplines (i.e. engineering) and projects in developing countries (i.e. creating a power supply) and then sends these teams to the communities to actually put their project in action. This program has led to some amazing experiences. Please check out our website (below) if you are interested in learning more about them.
As you may know by now, I am leading a group of students on a mission trip to Nairobi, Kenya this May. We are partnering with pastors in the city to work within their existing ministries; primarily working with children living in Kibera (Africa’s largest slum). The team I’m leading is a “General Ministry Team.” Most of the students on our team are undecided as to their area of study, and some are undecided as to their faith. The vision for the General Ministry team is to expose our students to the needs of the world and help them see how their God-given passions, gifts and skills, can help meet those needs.
I invite you to share the vision with us; to become a partner in changing the lives of college students and impacting the world. As a leader, I am not responsible for fundraising. My co-leader and I are responsible for training the team spiritually and emotionally, helping them grow in cultural sensitivity, and establishing a strong team unity. In doing this, we need your prayer support. As you can imagine, we need prayer to help us know what to teach and how, prayer that we would each be prepared for what we will encounter, and prayer that the team will be able to fundraise what they need.
Each student has been asked to raise $2,900 to cover the cost of the trip, which is done through a combination of fundraising events done here in Waco, and working with their home communities. To honor their efforts, I’m also sending out informational letters to my community. If you choose to go beyond prayer support and would like to offer financial support to the team, you may do so by mailing any donations to the address below. All monies donated will go into the team fund and will be used to help each student reach their fundraising goal. Please put “Kenya - General Ministries” in the memo line. We also have a trip blog (http://kenyahelpusgo.blogspot.com - link to the right) where we will post a "wish list" of supplies, beginning in April. If you would rather help us by providing needed supplies, that would be neat, too. We will also post fundraising updates, photos of the team and trip reports on that site.
My time here at Baylor has been instructional and blessed. The Lord has given me favor here with students, staff and faculty to begin to impact lives in the ways that I hope to continue doing – meeting with students individually and working with groups of students to help them develop a broader world view, a deeper affection for Christ and to evidence that love of God in how they relate to each other and the world. At the same time I have been learning a ton about higher education and students today, and am constantly encouraged by the passion and drive of these young men and women.
I hope you will consider partnering with me in this endeavor as the Lord leads you. I look forward to hearing from you and to keeping you updated on this project! If you’d like to receive updates as we prepare and after we return, please contact me by email, or writing a comment on this site (include your email address) and I will add you to the list. I will send out periodic specific prayer requests and then an update letter following the trip.
May God’s grace be upon you, may He richly bless you, and may He find your heart open to receive His blessings, that He might be glorified in you.
(here is a picture of me and Marquette, the other co-leader)Love, Tiffani
Donations can be mailed to:
Baylor University - University Ministries, Africa 07
One Bear Place #97013, Waco, TX 76798
For more info: www.baylor.edu/um/missions and http://kenyahelpusgo.blogspot.com
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