Students Are Called to Go with the Light of the Gospel at Gathering Chapel

Gathering Chapel also provides opportunities for Southeastern and Judson College students to engage with the staff of Southeastern’s Center for Great Commission Studies, to learn more about upcoming mission trips, and to consider their own pathways for fulfilling the Great Commission.

At the beginning of chapel, students heard testimonies from two of their fellow students who went on mission this past year and saw God at work through the proclamation of the gospel.

Thomas Rivers, a Judson alumnus and current student in the seminary, shared about a conversation he held with a young Muslim man on a mission trip to Southeast Asia. After listening to this man share about the Islamic faith, the need for good works, and his fear that he wouldn’t make it into Paradise, Thomas shared his own faith.

“I know I’m going to heaven,” Thomas told him. He explained that this confidence wasn’t because of his own works, but rather, “It’s because I’ve placed my faith in Jesus Christ who did everything necessary for me to be saved; so his righteousness becomes my righteousness, and I’ll get to be with him forever.”

“And whenever he heard that,” Thomas said, “I could see the gears turning in his mind. He didn’t give his life to Christ that day, but for the first time I saw with my very own eyes the one true gospel of Jesus Christ confront false faith in Islam that doesn’t offer any hope, doesn’t offer any peace. And it lit a fire in me, and now I have to do that for the rest of my life.”

For the first time I saw with my very own eyes the one true gospel of Jesus Christ confront false faith in Islam that doesn’t offer any hope, doesn’t offer any peace.

Attendees also heard from Judson student Kaylee Hall, who shared about an experience she and a teammate had on a summer trip in the mountains of South Asia.
God opened the doors for Kaylee and her teammate to stay in a remote village that, to their knowledge, had never heard the gospel before. Upon their arrival in the village, God answered their prayers for a translator who could speak English.

They met a young man who not only spoke English and the native language but also revealed that his family owned a Bible.

“Twenty years ago,” Kaylee explained, “someone had given the Bible to his father. So he brought the Bible over.” She explained how he told them, “‘When I was younger, I tried to read this, but I couldn’t understand it. How can I understand something unless I have someone to explain it to me?’”

Over the coming week, Kaylee and her teammate spent hours reading the Bible with this young man at his request. He told them, Kaylee said, that “he stopped being a practicing Muslim because he no longer found any hope in Islam.”

By the end of the week, their translator surrendered his life to Christ and believed in him as the Son of God.

“I want to challenge you,” Kaylee exhorted those listening, “that the gospel is powerful, and it needs to go to the darkest places in the world. We have the light and the power of the gospel! Please don’t waste that opportunity.”

We have the light and the power of the gospel! Please don’t waste that opportunity.

Following the student testimonies, Chandler Donegan, pastor at Faith Franklinton and Southeastern alumnus, preached from Luke 8:16-18, in which Jesus tells his followers that a light is not meant to be hidden under a basket but, instead, shown clearly for others to see.

“What will you do with the light?” Chandler asked.

“Friends, Jesus this morning is teaching us a valuable lesson about the nature of his word; but he also knows that you and I have a tendency to cover up the light,” he explained.

Chandler reminded his listeners that Jesus is not only the word of God but also the one who created light and the one who is light.

“Allow the light of God’s word to shine in you,” he said. “And secondly, allow the light of God’s word to shine through you.”

This word of God that believers have been given, Chandler explained, was not meant to be withheld from others.

“It’s meant to be given and given away,” he said. “The word of God is given to you so that you can then be commissioned to help others delight in God as well.”

The word of God is given to you so that you can then be commissioned to help others delight in God as well.

This word, the gospel of Jesus Christ, is the driving force behind Southeastern’s mission and commitment to equip students to go. As the Southeastern community gathers around the words of Jesus, to “go into all the nations,” we are reminded both of his great grace in our own lives and of the light we have been given to bring into all the world and share with those who are lost in darkness.

To learn more about Southeastern’s Great Commission heart and how you can join with us in this mission, visit sebts.edu/cgcs.