By Vicki Brown
Word&Way Associate Editor
Bolivar – "We're Number 1," Southwest Baptist University students, staff and administrators can now chant – in missions.
The North American Mission Board honored SBU May 10 for the institution's commitment to missions.
NAMB representative Donald King presented a plaque to the school at chapel service. The national agency honored SBU as first among 119 colleges and universities in the number of students who participated in some form of mission endeavor last year.
The agency recognized the top 12 institutions, and recently honored Hannibal-LaGrange Col–lege for third place.
At the May 10 service, students prayed for each other as SBU missions director Kurt Caudy called out the places where teams will serve this summer.
SBU students will minister at a Muslim festival in Detroit, among Native Americans in Alaska, with university students in Thailand, among the Kurdish people in Turkey, to nomads in Central Asia and among the people of India.
Jack and Edythe Fellows presented a student and a staff Global Ambassador Award to student Landee Nevills and to Caudy. The Fellows, who have participated in mission endeavors for 23 years, sponsor the recognitions.
King challenged chapel service attendees to consider God's call to missions.
When viewed through a political lens, America appears strong, he said. But viewed through a spiritual lens, this country is "facing a judgment day."
Citing Isaiah 6, King said, "time is running out and with it our opportunity to be God's ambassador…. Who's going to tell them?… Are you the one?"
King reminded listeners that three obstacles sometimes stand in the way of reaching those who do not know Christ as Savior.
First, Christians in general are not evangelizing. King asked students to recall the last time they intentionally witnessed to someone. Do they even know a lost person?
Second, unbelievers often view Christians as old-fashioned, hypocritical and pious.
And third, the Christian lifestyle is seen as irrelevant and unnecessary. The lost do not feel the need for spiritual support, he said.
