Two hundred thirty-two Go Now student missionaries commissioned for summer missions

DALLAS—Go Now Missions student missionaries and their families gathered together on Sunday, May 19, at Dallas Baptist University for the Go Now Missions Commissioning Service. This service provided families and friends an opportunity to pray and worship alongside the student missionaries before they embark on the summer missions experiences.

This summer, 232 students will serve in various locations locally, nationally and internationally in order to live and to share Christ and show love with those they encounter. Trips range from working with indigenous people groups along the Amazon River in Brazil to leading sports camps in Long Island, New York.

Celebrating the weekend’s theme “That They May Know Him,” Go Now’s Sending Team members read John 17:3 in five different languages.

Eric Bean, chair of the Go Now Missions Sending Team and BSM director at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, continued the ceremony by encouraging the student missionaries and family members to be faithful to the call God placed on each of their lives.

“God is a sending God,” Bean said. “Sending is intrinsic to His character. It is something He is passionate about.”

He continued, “So when we participate in God’s sending, whether we are going as students, or we are sending as parents, BSM directors and Sunday School teachers, we are participating in the very thing that is a part of God’s character. When we participate in that, we enter into a deeper relationship with Him.”

During the service, Mark and Debbie Boucher also shared experiences as parents sending their children to serve through Go Now Missions. All four of the Boucher’s children served through Go Now Missions, and two sons currently serve on the mission field in Canada and the Middle East, where they now receive Go Now student missionaries.

Mark encouraged parents to pray for their children and prepare their hearts for when they return home. “Be ready to listen to the things your children have to say,” he said. “They will have incredible stories. They will be changed people.”

The ceremony included a time of prayer, as families and friends were invited to come and surround the students and pray for their mission work.

Closing the service, Mark Jones, director of Texas Baptists Collegiate Ministry, reminded students, “What you all are doing has great Kingdom external purpose.”

Go Now Missions mobilizes Texas university students to share the love of Christ around the world. The ministry began in 1946 and more than 9,000 students have been sent to serve partner mission organizations on short and long-term trips. This year, 430 Go Now Missionaries will serve through Christmas, Summer Break, Impact, Special Impact, Spring Semester, Fall Semester, Campus Missionary opportunities. For more information about Go Now Missions, visit http://gonowmissions.com.