Under God’s light, everybody has a calling in life, and each calling is impactful in its own way, big or small. This is especially prevalent at Olivet Nazarene University, where students of all majors are called to serve under the Lord and spread His Word. Some of these students go on mission trips in order to spread the gospel to areas that may need it. However, these missions trips may not always be documented if it weren’t for the many students among the Communication Department.
What is the mission?
To put it simply, the “mission” for these trips is to spread God’s love throughout the world and to aid people in need through special projects, sermons, and more. Well-respected and popular organization Mission Direct explains that missions trips are traditionally where a person of Christian faith travels to another part of the world to spread faith through good deeds. Common activities involve home building/renovation, school expansion, and clinic construction. Aside from helping others, though, they can also help people personally, such as seeing personal growth, insights on different cultures, challenging yet engaging experiences, and a broadening of perspectives.
One thing to note about these trips are that no two are ever the same. Everybody experiences something different, internally or externally, when going on these trips.
For example, the multimedia students at Olivet have had opportunities to teach kids what they know best: how to make movies. The multimedia missions trips have provided incredible opportunities to document and share the stories of the people they meet, while also giving kids and budding students the chance to tell Bible stories through the modern-day visual medium.
Meet the missionaries
The missions trips that the multimedia students go on have been impactful in so many different ways. Heather McLaughlin, chair of the communication department, spoke on her experiences with the trips and what she’s gained from it.
“Personally, I’ve led three trips in my life, and we’ve also had youth media camps on these trips and taught things like how to make videos during that trip,” says McLaughlin.
“I knew that was a general value, and I approached Dr. Jay at the time with the idea, and he said ‘I love it, run with it, go with it,’ in support of that.”
One of my favorite parts is seeing the students be transformed, learning and applying what they know and stepping out of their comfort zone.
dr. HEather Mclaughlin
The map above shows the locations of the multimedia mission trips taken by the Communication department at ONU.
Of the many experiences that McLaughlin had throughout these trips, one experience that will always stick with her is seeing the media she and others constructed into a story be used in a missions conference for 1,000+ people to see. To her, it’s important to tell the stories of lives that impact you, and allow them to touch other audiences as well. This helps spread the Word in wonderful ways.
Another student who has been on missions trips with the communications department is Abriella Caravette, a graduate assistant for the theatre department at Olivet. Caravette has been on two missions trips with the rest of the department (Armenia and Georgia her sophomore year, Ecuador her junior), and loved every single second being out of the country and meeting new faces and collecting stories.
“Hearing these stories from these people, we don’t realize how good we have it in the United States until we go over there to Armenia and Georgia and hear these stories about refugees coming in from different places and still having such a strong faith. Some of the stories [filmed] we were behind the camera just crying, just to be able to hear the impact Jesus has on a lot of people all over the world,” says Caravette. “I think there’s something special about having a film department go on these trips and capture these stories is really impactful for me. I know for a fact that my life has been changed by going on these trips, so I definitely want to keep going on trips like these in the future.”
When asked about the mini media camps her trips have hosted for kids, Caravette noted that the creativity and drive these kids would have to create some aspect of a movie to get their point across, especially when making a story based on one from the Bible, just blew her mind, as she felt that she was successfully able to entertain and grow these kids to not just make little movies but to also teach them to become important storytellers for Jesus.
Both McLaughlin and Caravette share the same commonality that they have experienced such great things while on these trips. The stories they’ve heard, as well as been able to spread, and the lives that have touched them continue to shape their everyday values, expanding into what they care about and how they can help through their skills and education. Though this is just one example of community within Olivet’s Christian education and expanse, there are many more like it that you can discover, each with its own story to be told.
Olivet’s students are always connecting with community, for instance, you can read about Olivet’s community involvement with Shine.FM.
