They ministered in May听at OIKOS Church, located in Erdington, a suburb of the city of Birmingham, England鈥檚 second largest city.听听

If the name OIKOS sounds Greek to readers of this article, there鈥檚 a very good reason for that. OIKOS is the Greek word for 鈥渇amily/household.鈥� OIKOS Church exists to live out what it means to be the family of God in a community of diverse ethnicities and beliefs.听听

91福利社 Assistant Vice President of Christian Life and Director of Campus Ministries James Hanson met Kenny and Kristy Dubnick last year when they were dropping off their youngest child during Base Camp, the University鈥檚 orientation, setting the wheels in motion for a trip to England.听

The Dubnicks serve with the International Mission Board (IMB) and helped plant OIKOS Church 14 years ago. Both of their children, Kayla and Max, grew up in Birmingham but now attend 91福利社. Kenny and Kristy recently moved to Dublin, Ireland, to do ministry there but returned to Birmingham to come alongside the team from Anderson.听

AU students worked alongside volunteers at the caf茅 located on the ground floor of OIKOS Church. They served customers or worked in the kitchen. Students also passed out brochures for the caf茅 and church or dropped them in residential mail slots in the surrounding neighborhood. They also provided children with fun crafts along the city鈥檚 High Street (High Streets in British cities are similar to Main Streets in the U.S.). Some students assisted refugees and immigrants with ESL (English as a Second Language) classes.听

鈥淲hat was neat was the fact that we weren鈥檛 from there. Our American accents would provide great footholds for the gospel because they would ask 鈥榳hat are you doing here? You鈥檙e American, you鈥檙e not from here.鈥� It was super easy to speak about the Lord and His calling on our lives,鈥� said 91福利社 Director of Women鈥檚 Ministry and Community Missions Maddy Woodford. Woodford said that kids could get their faces painted or make crafts that included bracelets.听听

At one of the craft stations, students helped youngsters make sheep out of simple craft items. Sheep provided a simple, yet powerful object lesson.听

鈥淲e got to talk with the kids about how God is the Shepherd and what that means and we had scripture verses on the back of the plates,鈥� Woodford said. 鈥淪omeone during a debrief made the point that now those plates are in their homes and that might be the only piece of scripture that ever comes into their home. Who knows what God will do with that?鈥�听

For Michelle Barrientos, an Elementary Education major with a minor in Christian Studies, the trip was a memorable one for a lot of reasons.听

鈥泪t was my first time outside of the U.S. and also my first time on a plane,鈥� she said. 鈥淎 lot of firsts.鈥�听听

Ian Macurda, a rising senior majoring in Supply Chain Management in the AU College of Business, was looking for avenues to serve in some type of ministry. Learning about the UK trip in chapel, he felt led to sign up.听

Serving as a chaplain in the caf茅 wasn鈥檛 without its share of challenges for Macurda and others on the mission team.听听

鈥�We had a lot of opportunities to speak about the gospel鈥� It was very difficult to make a connection,鈥� Macurda said. 鈥淎 lot of them have heard about the gospel鈥� they kind of shut off to the point that they鈥檒l avoid the conversation. They鈥檒l turn the topic in a different direction. It was really challenging to try to make that connection spiritually.鈥澨�听

Anna Mosqueda, a rising sophomore majoring in Business Management, admits she was apprehensive about speaking with others on a spiritual level, but she found ways to connect.听

鈥�They were pretty receptive, and even if they weren鈥檛. They gave you the time of day to listen to you and talk to you. Very polite conversations,鈥� Mosqueda said. 鈥淢y favorite part was probably all the different people that I got to meet. We did an English as a Second Language (ESL) class and I got to teach English to a woman from Afghanistan.鈥�听

Barrientos observed, 鈥�Something that really surprised me鈥� The English people don’t seem very approachable, but as soon as you start to just invest in them and ask them how they’re doing, they’re open to sharing their life problems.鈥�听

For any challenges Macurda faced, he felt there were also blessings.听

鈥�I got to work with a refugee from Iran who was working in the caf茅 and I got to hear all about his story and really connect with him over the course of a couple of hours,鈥� he said.听

As they ministered to others, members of the team formed strong bonds among themselves.听

鈥泪 went on this trip not being friends with anybody else (on the team) and I was able to make a lot of good friends that I probably would have never met, even though we all go to the same school,鈥� Macurda said.听

鈥�We didn鈥檛 know each other before then, so we got to know each other throughout the trip. I think that was a bit challenging at first, to be intentional with ministry at first, but by the end of the week, we were really close,鈥� Barrientos said.听听

When the team wasn鈥檛 ministering, they enjoyed a side trip to the nearly thousand year-old cathedral at nearby Lichfield. They also traveled to London for a day.听

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Van Ness was honored recently by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) as Athlete of the Year in Orange County, California.

Van Ness, who plays as an outfielder for the Trojans Baseball Team, is a senior majoring in Criminal Justice and minoring in Homeland Security. He accepted Christ as his savior at a young age, then in high school he became involved in FCA.

FCA camps were an integral part of growing up for Van Ness. While in high school, Van Ness got the chance to pay it forward through a ministry role, coaching at FCA baseball camps and leading in ministry. He also became president of FCA for all of the high schools in Orange County, a populous county located just south of Los Angeles.

During high school, Van Ness started looking at college options. His mom encouraged him to think beyond colleges that might recruit him to play baseball, check out a few Christian colleges and consider where God might be leading him.听

鈥泪n obedience to mom, I started doing some research on my own and that’s actually how I found AU鈥μ� simply through just Google search and looking for some schools that that have the values that I have and good community and things like that,鈥� said Van Ness, who was also seeking a good Criminal Justice program. 鈥淭hrough that process, I ended up qualifying for the Presidential Fellows scholarship that we have here. Once I qualified for that, it was kind of a no brainer, 鈥榟ey, I might as well go through the steps鈥� and apply for that and send in the resum茅 and the essays and whatnot鈥�. And then spring rolled around, I ended up being a finalist for that, so I flew out here for a visit, spent a whole weekend here on campus, and I loved it. I love the people I met. It was an incredible experience going through the competition.鈥�

鈥泪t was right when COVID hit. I was a high school senior in 2020, they shut down my baseball season and I was still uncommitted. I was like 鈥榤an, I don’t know what I’m going to do now,鈥� and I got a letter in the mail from Anderson saying hey, congratulations, here’s the Presidential Fellows scholarship鈥攁t that point it was like a no brainer. God closed many doors and then opened up this really big one to give me the opportunity to play baseball here and then also add on the full ride scholarship.鈥�

Since coming to 91福利社, Van Ness has been involved in leadership for FCA on campus. He has a burden for student-athletes recruited to don the Trojan black and gold.

鈥淭here’s this mission field of students right here at AU. I want to reach these athletes,鈥� Van Ness said. 鈥淲e got to redesign how FCA looked at AU and got a full leadership team to be involved with the spiritual leaders from each team… We鈥檝e got an FCA director on campus.鈥�

Nate Norwood, FCA representative for 91福利社 and chaplain for male student-athletes, says Van Ness is all about making sure others come to know Jesus.

鈥淔or me, the thing with Jackson鈥� He鈥檚 phenomenal with what we do,鈥� Norwood said. 鈥淗e helps lead small groups we have after our gatherings each month this past year, but more importantly the example he sets for guys on his team, the heart he has and his ability to connect. He leads campus visits. Him reaching out to guys and being willing to go out of his way to connect with other athletes.鈥澨�

During the summer, Van Ness would go home and engage in ministry, working with kids young enough to be putting on their first cleats and into their teen years. While the young players enjoy playing baseball, they learn how much more rewarding it is to make Christ Lord in their lives.听

Isaac Friesen, director of Operations for the Summer FCA ministry team in La Mirada, California, first got to know Van Ness as a high school student and watched him grow in his FCA leadership roles. Friesen has seen Van Ness using his God-given gifts to engage with young players.

鈥淗is ability to speak and communicate is really up there as far as guys that we’ve seen,鈥� Friesen said. 鈥泪 love how passionate he is and he鈥檚 well spoken, very biblically focused. He also has a great ability to connect with people. He just finds connecting points and is able to bridge that gap of stranger to friend pretty quickly鈥攖hat means a whole lot.鈥澨�

鈥淭hree of my four summers here, I’ve gone back to work full time ministry for FCA in California. We do mission work in Mexico and inner LA and then we also do like eight weeks of summer camps,鈥� Van Ness said. 鈥淎thletic summer camps are our big thing we do. We get over a little over 1,500 campers and stuff. And so we’re in full ministry and then also bringing FCA here on campus at AU.鈥�

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Amidst all the revelry, there鈥檚 some soul searching going on among students. That鈥檚 why a team of 91福利社 students joined more than 1,500 students from different colleges and universities for BeachReach, three weeks of outreach organized by Baptist Collegiate Ministries (BCM) to help others realize they can fill that void with Jesus鈥� love.

鈥淭his is one of my favorite events of the year because it is taking the Gospel where college students are,鈥� said 91福利社 Assistant Vice President of Christian Life James Hanson. 鈥淓very year, this year included, I see students grow confident in sharing their faith and walk with them as their hearts are broken for their peers who are lost. This ministry has been going on continuously since 1996 with only a one year break for Covid. This is my fifth time going, and it never disappoints.鈥�

Student Josh Tofel described their trip as a combination of retreat and mission trip. Most days, according to Tofel, consisted of blocks of prayer time as well as some free time, and then from about 8 p.m. until 2:30 a.m. was devoted to ministry.

鈥淲hen you go up to talk to people, the challenge is not starting to talk to them, but it’s transitioning from small talk to spiritual questions, because as soon as you make that transition, if you’re not careful, they’ll stop listening,鈥� said Abigail Locke, a sophomore majoring in Music Performance.听

This was also the first year BeachReach organized late night pancakes at Church at the Beach, where students from the teams sat alongside others who came for free pancakes, sharing conversation and a message of hope.

鈥淭here was a guy who came with his girlfriend, and me and some other people on our team were able to just sit with him and talk for a really long time,鈥� Locke said. 鈥淗e made a profession of faith that night鈥� I think definitely the good encounters were what impacted us more than the bad encounters.鈥澨�

For Gabe Lindner, a senior Homeland Security major, this was his second Beach Reach.听

鈥泪t鈥檚 just a good opportunity to get outside your comfort zone and evangelize, get down to the nitty gritty and ask if people know who Jesus is,鈥� Lindner said. 鈥泪鈥檝e had a lot of good conversations.鈥� Lindner and others from 91福利社 joined students from various colleges and universities preparing pancakes for the hungry crowds.听

鈥淧eople are actually hungry for the gospel, they鈥檙e hungry for something more,鈥� Tofel said. 鈥淎ll it takes is asking the right questions and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and then you鈥檝e got somebody that sees their brokenness and perfect transition to the love of Christ and the victory He鈥檚 brought us.鈥澨�

Hanson noted that during the three weeks of Beach Reach 2024, student teams transported 18,972 shuttle riders, served 1,662 plates of pancakes, prayed for and had Gospel conversations with 10,697 people, 310 of whom prayed to receive Christ.听

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