How Missions Has Changed My Life By: Johnnie Mack Stephens

My name is Johnnie Mack Stephens, and I am a student at the University of Tennessee at Martin. God has done amazing things in my life through missions. He has pushed me beyond my comfort zone and allowed me to be involved in his work even when I am so undeserving of it. He has opened so many doors of opportunity for me. God has shaped me into a follower, a leader, and a missionary. Missions has been an experience that God has positioned into my heart and into my lifestyle as a way of service. I have been blessed with the chance to be a part of summer missions for the past two summers and am looking forward to the next.

Summer missions has really impacted my view of God’s divine work and his perfect direction for all of his children. I look at how I was as an individual before doing summer missions: nervous, timid, and choosing to do missions because that seemed as the best possible solution of spending my summer. Then I look at myself now, as a growing witness, striving and hungering for more of his work in and around my life. God has given me an amazing passion to be sent out as a light in this dark world. I think that was and is my true desire going into summer missions.

My first summer I served through the Tennessee BCM Missions program also known as Light Messengers with the Dyer Baptist Association for ten weeks participating in VBS. It was a hard decision rather to serve or not. This was the summer before I started college, and I was scared to jump into missions and then shortly after begin college as a freshman. God did not have any doubts though. He knew his plans for my summer and where he wanted me to grow and experience, and in the process he gave me a love for being submerged in his work.

Last summer I served as an Innovator missionary in Orlando, FL. I worked a job and through my job witnessed to my co-workers and other employees, showing Christ’s love to them in a practical genuine way. It was a long summer but at the same time, a learning experience greater than the last. He showed me the importance of encouragement by other believers, by your families and friends as well as taught me perseverance and endurance through trials. Overall God has shown me the significance in taking in his word, and not just reading it as any other book but studying it, allowing it to become part of my lifestyle and an act of worship to him. Feeding off his word is what gives us strength, motivation, and a drive for his love. What God has shown me, prepares me and excites me for my next endeavor on the mission field. I am looking out to this world knowing and understanding that God uses him working in me to salt the earth. Even now he is breaking my heart for the lost and arranging my desires to get me ready for this upcoming summer.

I have no idea what God’s will is for my future plans after college, but I know he has already given me a desire wherever he leads. My true passion is to be faithful in obedience to his calling. He has given me a sparked interest in serving as a Journeyman after college. All I can do now is pray, wait, and search for the initiative that matches his direction.

Johnnie Mack is a junior at the University of Tennessee at Martin. Currently he serves as a Baptist Collegiate Network student missions mobilizer and will be serving on a team in Las Vegas, NV this summer as a summer missionary through the North American Mission Board. For the upcoming 2010-2011 academic year he will be serving as the UT Martin BCM President.

How Missions Has Changed My Life

My name is Erin Winkles, and I am thankful for the opportunity to serve with the Tennessee BCM Missions program also known as Light Messengers. I have had the opportunity to serve for two summers in the great state of Maine. My first summer of missions I served on the New England Travel Teams and the second time I served in Scarborough, Maine with SouthCoast Community Church. This summer I have the opportunity to serve in South Korea.

The word change means to make the form, nature, future content, etc. of something different from what it is or what it would be if left alone. This is exactly what happened to me when I served through Light Messengers. Christ never left me alone. I was made different because He stayed by my side the entire journey. My summers have not easy by any means. You have days here and there that make you question why you are serving. Sometimes when you are on the mission field those days are hard. You don’t like the weather or the food. Your teammates annoy you or get on your last nerve sometimes and you long for time alone. You also miss your friends and family at home. On top of all of that you are often surrounded by spiritual darkness. The people you are serving have no clue about Christ and your mission is to declare His love. When I realized that I was not alone, Christ shattered that darkness around me. He reminded me of the purpose of why I was there which was to completely serve Him.

How do you know if you are really changed? You know you are changed when you bring your mission home with you. When I came home I had some struggles to face, but had I not obeyed God and served in summer missions, I would not have learned to lean on Him. I knew I was changed because I trusted Christ with my situations even when I came home. Life gets busy, and I knew that if I learned to lean on Christ during two of the hardest summers of my life then I could surely trust Him when my life got hectic at home.

Missions gave me the opportunity not only to go and share the Best News but it also allowed me to strengthen my relationship with my King. I learned to be open, flexible, and bold in my faith. I learned compassion and how to love with Christ’s love. I learned about communication and team building. However, I could not have learned any of those things had I not first leaned on Christ and realized that He never left me to do it on my own. I love that I can truly say that missions changed me because Christ was by my side every time I served Him on the mission field. No matter where Christ leads me to serve Him next, He will be right there with me the whole way as I go serve, come home, and be changed!

Erin Winkles is a senior at East Tennessee State University. Currently she serves as a Baptist Collegiate Network student missions mobilizer and will be serving in South Korea as a TN BCM summer missionary. For the upcoming 2010-2011 academic year she will be serving as the ETSU BCM President and BCM State Co-President.