Luke Schonauer has a heart for missions. He had the opportunity to put that passion into action this summer through serving at First Baptist Church in Monticello.
Serving as a youth and worship intern at the church, Schonauer volunteered as a staffer at Super Summer and went on a mission trip to Forrest City where they hosted a free, three-day sports camp. He also had the opportunity to visit with young adults heading to college, pray for them, and help them prepare to go out and, hopefully, “be lights on their campus.”
“My campus minister likes to say that the best time for missions is when you are in college and you have that free time during the summer. Once you get out and you are pursuing your career, a lot of times we are going to choose that over what the Lord wants us to do,” Schonauer, who attends the University of Arkansas at Monticello (UAM), said. “If the Lord is calling us to go and share and go and love, then a great time to do it is during the summer or during a break and to go with a lot of people who have similar common interests.”
Schonauer was one of 233 Arkansas Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) students to serve this summer. He was one of 147 to serve within the state. Forty-eight served nationally and 38 served internationally.
Natalie Steinmetz of Conway BCM served with GenSend Summer in Boston, Massachusetts. According to the GenSend website, GenSend Summer offers “students an opportunity to join God’s great story in some of North America’s greatest cities.” It an immersive exploration of what it means to live intentionally in community while sharing the Gospel in a new city, the website said.
GenSend students spend eight or six weeks learning mission principles while living them out in the context of the city.
“GenSend is not just mission trip, it’s also a missionary development experience. They just really poured into us while we were there,” Steinmetz said. “Throughout the whole summer we really learned a lot and it was just a really amazing experience for all of us.”
Steinmetz said the summer missions experience showed her “how at work God is in the day-to-day things and the opportunities that He brings around for you to share the Gospel.”
Addy Ellenburg served with GenSend in Washington D.C. She has been involved with the Arkansas State University BCM since August 2022. She said it was interesting to see God use “interactions and random conversations that led to a lot more.”
“I think, for me, it definitely taught me a lot about how to think ministry-wise. I never had to really think about where to go find people, how to create an event that will actually attract people, how do I schedule meetings with people and all these things,” Ellenburg said.
“For people who are trying to go into ministry, this would be such a good opportunity because it really shows you the in-depth side of ministry of what it really looks like on a day to day, trying to find people to talk to Jesus about and what that even looks like in a big city.”
Staying local, Wesley Booker interned at Indian Springs Baptist Church in Bryant. As a Next Gen intern, he had the opportunity to help at Super Summer and go on a mission trip with the youth to a partner church in Columbus, Ohio.
Booker graduated from UAM in the spring and is continuing his education at Harding University. After interning the past two summers at church, he said ministry is something he may want to pursue.
To learn more about BCMs in Arkansas, click here.