World Missions Workshop

The 2004 World Missions Workshop was held at York College in York, Nebraska. We left at 7:00 AM from Searcy, AR on a van with seven people following a bus of about 40+. Around 8:30 PM, we arrived at York College. The weather this weekend was quite different from our warm southern weather as we experienced a cold front and temperatures of 60's during the day and 30's at night. We went with the intention of making contacts for possible supporting congregations. Even though we didn't have the chance to hand our packets out to anyone, we were able to share our information with several people and receive lots of encouragement. This weekend was one of refocus for us. We have been away from Harding (not to mention our teammates) for over a month and it was nice to be around lots of people with the same interest and heart for missions. We were also able to see friends we haven't seen in a while and find out where they were in life. Of our list of things we'll take from the weekend, riding in the van with Monte Cox, Sam and Nancy Shewmaker, and Oneal Tankersley is at the top. We were able to have conversations with them that they often don't have time for during their university schedules. We had their attention for 12 hours to Nebraska and when we returned home. They are wonderful mentors to us both and we cherish our time with them. The next few items on our list would include different classes we attended (together and seperately). Brett's favorite class was Wendell Broom's "Snapshopts of Africa" where he gave some history on the entry into Africa as well as missions in Africa. He is a wise man with much wisdom to offer. April benefitted most from Becky VanRheenen's "Reluctant Warrior" class. April felt she connected with so much of Becky's story and was encouraged to hear that such an amazing woman began her ministry as a reluctant warrior. Other class topics we attended included: Video and Drama (Oneal Tankersley), Team Mission Efforts: Pros and Cons (Sonny Guild), Missions in the Family (Gordon Hogan), Syncretism in Africa, Israel, and America (Wimon Walker), Raising Funds (Terry Fischer), Contextualization (Monte Cox), and split panel classes. Of the keynote speakers, we both agree that Shawn Daggett was our favorite. He presented his message clearly and captured the audience as he shared his thoughts. York College is a very small school compared to Harding, ACU, etc. With that in mind, they did a great job hosting the World Missions Workshop. Next years workshop will be at Harding University. As much as we'd like to be a part of that, we hope that we're not in the country, but on our way to Africa.