Missions both abroad and at home are a big part of the Christian faith. Faulkner University’s students, faculty, staff and V.P. Black College of Biblical Studies are doing their part to spread the good news of the Gospel to all the nations.
From a small fishing town in south Alabama to Mexico and Jamaica, to the plains of Tanzania, Faulkner students became the hands and feet of Jesus all over the world this summer.
Earlier this year, the V.P. Black College of Biblical Studies’ Zorn scholars faithfully helped a small church in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. The congregation lost their minister so Faulkner Bible majors drove 2-3 hours to the financially stressed community to take care of their spiritual needs, provide preaching and communion and praying and singing.
Additionally, several Faulkner faculty, staff, alumni and current students partnered with Growing Faithful Children in June to share God’s love with children in Jamaica. They held over 15 Vacation Bible Schools, reaching over 4,000 children. Three playgrounds were built at schools in Santa Cruz. Saints from the Santa Cruz church were encouraged through nightly activities. This life changing experience was a first for many Faulkner attendees.
A separate group of members from the Vaughn Park Church of Christ congregation, including Faulkner University employees and alumni, flew to Mexico June 10-16, 2023 to assist in Baja Missions in and around LaMision. Included in the group were Dr. Terry Brown, Loye Moorer, and Eliza Rillion; alumni Ben Brown and David Brown; and others. The group built an addition to the church building, repaired and painted a widow’s home, and prepared food for elementary school children, police officers, firefighters and workers in the fields.
Faulkner’s Bible professor Dr. Rick Trull and his wife Marinda helped organize the May mission trip to Tanzania. They left May 26 and spent two weeks there working with the Tanzanian Christians in an outreach to the communities around the churches in Arusha, Tanzania.
While there, they stayed in the dorms at the Andrew Connelly School of Preaching while the preaching school students were on summer break. The Faulkner students conducted multiple Bible studies five days a week with young people in their homes. The two weeks outreach saw many studies done with a lot of people resulting in eight baptisms. “Our students held Bible studies with four of those who were baptized,” Trull said. “It’s not very often we get to see the direct results of our mission work while we’re there so it was special for our students to be a part of these eternal decisions.”
Besides the outreach, Faulkner’s group visited more than 60 children in schools and orphanages. They also spend time visiting Tanzanian Christians in their homes and attending two churches.
A typical day for the group included partnering with a translator and driving out to the villages surrounding Arusha to teach Bible studies in the people’s homes. They would do that all morning and come back to the Connelly School for lunch. They would go out again after lunch to do the same. Fridays included a free day and church was held on Sundays at two different churches. They would end the days by visiting Tanzania Christians in their homes for dinner. They continue to stay in touch with the interpreters they grew to know there. By encouraging the church and people there with the Gospel, they too encouraged themselves.
Trull said, “Over the years, my wife Marinda and I have been taking groups of students to Kenya and now Tanzania to work with mission efforts. What we have noticed is that these trips give students experiences about how Christians in other parts of the world live. They see those who have next to nothing still have a joy and a hope that only comes through Christ. When our students return to the states, they have a greater appreciation for the little things.”
Trull and his wife have been taking trips to Kenya and now Tanzania since 1998 and previously lived in Kenya for ten years and Uganda for four years preaching and teaching the Gospel message. He started working at Faulkner in 1995 and has encouraged students to pursue missionary work. Students who have joined them on their trips over the years have made missions part of their vocation, whether they have decided to pursue ministry, missions or nonprofit work as a vocation or to pursue doing business or providing healthcare.
“It becomes a part of them no matter where they are led. These trips make a lasting impact on their lives,” Trull said.