Missions director Eddie Pate speaks at Monday convocation

The mission field isn’t always where you expect it.

In 2004, Eddie Pate came to Lynchburg, Va., to serve as associate professor of missions at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary — and he planned on staying for the rest of his life.

Instead, a year later, he was on the road to the West Coast.

For Pate, who served in the mission fields of the Middle East and Northern Africa for more than a decade before coming here, the calling was clear. A California native, he felt he could best reach folks on the West Coast using his natural ties to the Golden State.

Now he’s serving as director of the Kim School of Global Missions at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in California — but he hasn’t forgotten Liberty University.

On Monday, Pate came back to LU to speak at a convocation service about going beyond personal and geographic boundaries to reach the lost. For some, pushing the boundaries might mean riding a camel for weeks into a remote area to teach those who have never heard about Christ, while others might need to venture a few blocks into a U.S. city.

“In some ways we have made missions an event and not a life,” he said, explaining that there is a need for people who want to dedicate their lives to the task.

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Liberty University consistently puts its students on the front lines of the Great Commission. This year 14 short-term mission trips abroad are available over the Christmas, spring and summer breaks. If you’re interested in going on one of those trips or want to learn more, come to a meeting tonight (Aug. 25) at 7 p.m. at the Towns Lecture Hall in the School of Religion. Information is also available at Light Ministries’ website.