175 Go Now student missionaries discern God’s call, appointed for missions at Discovery Weekend

Last month, Texas Baptists Go Now Missions appointed 175 students to serve as Summer, Impact and Fall Semester missionaries. These students come from 41 campuses across Texas and will serve alongside ministries in the state, as well as around the U.S. and globe. 

Before receiving their appointments, students gathered February 20–22 at FBC Midlothian for Discovery Weekend — a time to worship and fellowship while exploring God’s call for them. 

“The weekend is about discovering God’s next step for them in missions,” said Brenda Sanders, Go Now Missions consultant with the Center for Collegiate Ministry. “Everything we do is to help students discover where God is leading them. We also see it as a discipleship weekend … It’s bigger than just ‘where am I going to go?’”

Students spent the weekend with their small group in a host home, similar to a Disciple Now weekend. They participated in a variety of exercises — from prayer stations, spiritual gifts and personality tests, Bible study, interviews and team-building exercises — all geared toward helping them discern where God is calling them.

Students also participated in a Missions Fair at the host church. 

“There were representatives from most of the places we send students,” said Sanders. “They got to talk to them at the fair and find out more about their ministry. We encourage students to … explore and learn about what God is doing around the state and world. It’s a good way to make a personal connection with someone they might serve with, and a way to enlarge their hearts for the world.”

Students attended two worship sessions. Charlie Ramsey, former BSM director at Baylor, now chaplain & dean of Spiritual Life at Baylor, spoke Friday night. 

Saturday night, the students heard from a panel, including Julie Peterson from IMB; Warren Davies, NCM director at the University of Oregon and a graduate of TAMU; John Robinson, missionary from Wales and director of Liguae Christi; and Sophia Perez, assistant chaplain for Christian Outreach at Syracuse University and a UTRGV graduate.

Worship was led by David and Miranda Wall, both former Go Now Missionaries. David is now a worship pastor at Woodlawn Baptist Church in Austin, and Miranda works at the Longhorn BSM.

A “Give Before You Go” offering was taken at Saturday night worship for Northwest Collegiate Ministry (NCM) in Seattle. 

“Students were challenged to donate to another ministry before starting their own fundraising,” said Sanders. “This year the offering went to NCM … This is one of our ‘Reach the Campus Reach the World’ locations. We set a goal of $3,000, and participants gave $5,658.76!”

On Sunday morning, students and volunteers worshipped with the congregation at FBC Midlothian. Go Now Missions is thankful for this church, which has faithfully hosted Discovery Weekend for over a decade, providing host homes, meals and their facilities to make the weekend possible. 

At the end of the weekend, students receive their appointments and prayerfully consider accepting. 

“We really impress on students that ‘God calls to you to people, not places,’” said Sanders. “We’ve seen it happen so many times — students come into Discovery Weekend with one thing in mind, and God works on them. They discover an opportunity that they didn’t even realize existed … their hearts and minds for missions grow.”

To learn more about Texas Baptists Go Now Missions, visit gonowmissions.org