{COVER SECTION}

Following God’s call to an unlikely place

By Meredith Brunson

M

y fi ngers fumble as I attempt to eat rice with a set of chopsticks. I hear giggles all around me and look up to see my sweet Asian friends watching my clumsy eating strategy. I shrug and try yet again to mimic

their motions as they instruct me on the best way to maneuver the strange wooden sticks.

When God called me to missions as a teenager, I would’ve imagined this scenario taking place in China or Thailand or some other exotic locale. But in America? The possibility never occurred to me.

THE NATIONS AREN’T AS FAR AS WE THINK

Missions has always been a passion of mine. God

26 Summer 2010 • onmission.com

gave me a heart for reaching the nations for Christ at a young age. I traveled to many countries and saw God at work all over the world. When I was in college, God began to show me that reaching the nations didn’t necessarily require getting on an airplane or learning a different language. In fact, all I had to do was look around my college campus to see that God had brought the nations to us. Thousands of international students

come to the United States to study every year. These students are intelligent

and often return home as future leaders. Many have never heard the name of Jesus. When the reality of this sunk in, I knew God was calling me to do something about it. I was involved with international student ministry while I was a student at Campbell Uni- versity in Buies Creek, North Carolina, and saw God Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40