Missions Emphasis Week kicks off Sunday

Missions Emphasis Week kicks off this Sunday, Feb. 12, at Liberty University. Held each semester, the week is devoted to global missions, giving students a chance to meet representatives from mission agencies and attend special mission-focused convocations and seminars.

This semester’s Missions Emphasis Week will be one of the largest ever at Liberty. More than 130 representatives from 60 organizations will come from all over the world to network, educate, mentor and recruit students.

A “Parade of Nations” will serve as a special introduction to the week during Monday’s convocation at 10 a.m. in the Vines Center. International students will enter wearing traditional dress and waving their country’s flag.

Marilyn Laszlo is scheduled to speak in Wednesday’s convocation about her experience as a Bible translator in Papua, New Guinea. To wrap up the week, campus pastor Johnnie Moore will speak about his experience with missions at Liberty during Friday’s convocation.

The theme for the week is “[un] REACHED,” with Romans 15:20-21 as the key verse: “and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written, ‘Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.'”

Moore said he believes this Scripture accurately represents this generation’s role in missions.

“We believe that this moment in history is the first time that we can actually foresee the completion of the Great Commission,” Moore said. “It is remarkable that God has made Liberty one of the largest and most influential Christian institutions of all time now. It is a providential and synergetic time and we want to do everything we can for God’s kingdom.”

Missions organizations will set up booths on the first, second and third floors of Arthur S. DeMoss Learning Center. Students are also encouraged to have a meal with the representatives in Reber-Thomas Dining Hall.

In addition to hearing stories from missionaries, there will be a series of events throughout the week to expose students to different cultures and help them get involved with missions work.

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Demoss Hall 3028, a special “Experience Ethnos” series will expose students to the customs of Tibet, Afghanistan and Kenya.

On Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Schilling Center, a concert will feature the Children of World International Children’s Choir with an international coffee and tea tasting. Children of the World is a branch of World Help and features orphaned and disadvantaged children from all over the world who speak and perform songs in English and their native tongue on tours across the United States.

Liberty is also proactively promoting involvement in global missions by launching a fundraiser on Tuesday night during hall meetings for residential students. Students will be asked to donate money to build and fund a school in Rwanda through social media on Liberty’s website and Facebook page. This project was born from a recent mission trip that Liberty students took in November 2011.

Many students who plan to be missionaries say Missions Emphasis Week is when they decided to study missions at Liberty.

“I just want to help complete His mission for the world and for His kingdom,” said an Intercultural Studies graduate (whose name is being withheld for security purposes on the mission field). “You stop looking at your own particular situation and ask, ‘What does God need for His kingdom?’”

The graduate currently works in Liberty’s Center for Global Engagement. He has served on the mission field in India and is planning another trip there.

“If that’s where God needs people, I’m going to go there and get it done,” he said.

Liberty currently has 120 students majoring in Intercultural Studies, with more than 300 students participating in several courses.

In the coming months, the Intercultural Studies degree will shift to a Global Studies program. The new program will allow students to have a wider range of training and education to enable success in their cross-cultural endeavors and will make it easier to have a double major.