By Dan Brown
Executive director of LIFT Student Ministries
Following seven weeks of youth camp in early summer on various Christian college campuses stateside, LIFT Student Ministries (LSM) “crossed the pond” to minister to 230-plus students in Great Britain, and then later in Botswana, Africa.
August 6, 2010, 31 Americans from varying backgrounds and states loaded a flight bound for Manchester, England, at the invitation of BBFI missionary Tom Gritts. The excitement on the plane was as infectious as our team was diverse. Our ministry team consisted of both high school and college students and businessmen and women whose purpose was clear: to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with students in the United Kingdom.
Once the team landed in Manchester, England, we divided our group into two ministry teams. Team A spent the weekend prior to camp with Missionaries Greg and Collene Kent, Libanus Baptist Church, Llanfairfechan, Wales, while Team B headed to Cannock Chase, England, spending time with Pastor Ian and Marie Hutchings, Hope Baptist Church. Both teams ministered in Sunday worship services at their respective locations.
Upon our arrival to Cefn Lea in Wales, we were greeted by Kurt and Melinda Brown, missionaries to Graz, Austria. They had flown in with four students out of their ministry to be a part of LIFT-UK. In addition to the Austrian students, we were blessed to meet, greet, and minister to students from England, Wales, Scotland, and Norway. By the end of our first day, we welcomed 230 students in all, as well as pastors, missionaries, and counselors.
We had a full praise band for the entire week led by Colby Taylor, Creative Arts Pastor, LIFE Church of Delaware County, Aston, Pennsylvania. The band had both American and British members who quickly gelled, both musically and in spirit. How God used them in the leading of praise and worship certainly set the perfect stage for the Word of God to be shared.
Ed Trinkle, Lead Pastor of LIFE Church of Delaware County in Aston, was our guest speaker. Ed, along with his wife, Kim, and their four daughters joined us in the UK. He was most certainly God’s man for the week. To God’s glory, 42 students came to know Christ and 40 surrendered their lives to Him.
Following the completion of LIFT-UK, we left to meet another ministry team in Botswana, Africa, for a second AirLIFT ministry event. As with our UK camping experience, our Botswana team consisted of both high school and college-aged students as well as businessmen and women from the states. We joined with and worked alongside missionaries Steven and Pam Workman. The uniqueness of the team made for an amazing experience.
Since nearly 85 percent of the students in Botswana are either infected with the HIV virus or have AIDS, there is an urgency to share the gospel. Another way we were able to minister was to provide watches for every student in attendance, because taking their medicines on time is of the utmost importance.
Our speaker in Botswana was Todd Spain, Lead Pastor of Bible Baptist Church in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Both he and his wife, Joann, joined the team in Africa. Colby Taylor led our worship as he did in Wales. We were blessed to minister to 200 students per day with 55 coming to know Christ as their personal Savior and 17 surrendering their lives to His will.
LIFT also had two firsts this summer. We sent Caleb Moore of Detroit, Michigan, to Hope Baptist Church, Cannock Chase, England, as a summer intern. Caleb has responded to God’s call on his life to return to England to minister upon graduation in 2011. We also welcomed James Vinney, a young man from Wales, who traveled to the States to be a part of our LIFT Summer Support Staff.
Upcoming trips include a survey trip to Perth, Australia, in January 2011, looking to take LIFT “Down Under.” We are also planning an UpLIFT event for 2011 where our LIFT team will minister to youth pastors and their wives. For more information about these upcoming events or LIFT 2011, please check out our new website, lift4life.com.
All in all, we are amazed at what God allowed us to experience this summer. We ministered to more than 4,000 students resulting in more than 500 coming to know Christ and seeing nearly 750 surrendering their lives to Him. Over 800 students have expressed interest and asked for information about either traveling stateside as 2011 LIFT Summer Support Staff or being a part of AirLIFT.