A Centers Series: Equipped to Fulfill the Great Commission

For Southeastern alumna Blair Davis*, God used a CGCS mission trip to reignite her love for missions and the lost — and as a student mobilizer for the CGCS, she has seen him grow this same passion in the hearts of many others.

On the Path to Clarkston

Upon arriving at Southeastern, Blair was no stranger to short-term mission trips. In previous years, God had provided her with numerous opportunities to spend her summers on mission in cities across the United States. In fact, these experiences prepared her for her role as student mobilizer, walking alongside students at Judson College who are considering a future in missions.

When she first stepped into this role at the beginning of her studies in 2022, Blair expected to see hearts changed, but she didn’t expect God to work that same transformation in her own heart only months into her time at the CGCS.

The CGCS operates as Southeastern’s hub of missionary mobilization and exists to mobilize and equip students, faculty, and staff in fulfillment of the Great Commission. It accomplishes this mission in the classroom, the community, and among the nations in partnership with local churches, state conventions, the North American Mission Board (NAMB), and the International Mission Board (IMB).

Each year the CGCS plans a variety of student mission trips, and in recent years, hundreds of Southeastern students have gone on such trips to partner with church planters and missionaries both overseas and here in North America.

Blair’s first mission trip in her new role with the CGCS occurred in spring 2023 in Clarkston, Georgia. This trip, an annual occurrence, gives Judson students an opportunity to experience foreign missions at home. Clarkston is widely known as one of the most diverse places in the country and is a prime location for refugee ministry.

During the trip, Blair worked alongside college students to minister to refugees and share the gospel in a difficult context. Many of those they served were Muslim and knew little to no English. The trip as a whole was challenging, and Blair found herself pushed out of her comfort zone. And yet that’s exactly where God wanted her.

A Moment of Awakening

“I remember this time of debrief at the end of the day in Clarkston,” Blair recalled. “I was tearing up, realizing that God was really refreshing me and softening my heart again.”

Before coming to Southeastern, Blair had been deeply involved in church ministry to the point of burnout and apathy.

“I think I just forgot why we minister, why I was doing it,” she expressed.

I think I just forgot why we minister, why I was doing it.

Blair’s experience in Clarkston jolted her awake. She realized just how much distance had grown between her heart and what she knew to be true. In her interactions with unbelievers in Clarkston, God began to challenge her fears and remind her of the need for people to take the gospel to hard places.

Not only that, but she realized that she could do hard things and that she enjoyed discussing and learning about missions.

The Clarkston trip that spring and its corresponding class were led by Keelan Cook, director of the CGCS and associate professor of missions at Southeastern.

While she herself wasn’t there as a student, the more Blair listened to Cook teach and discuss elements of missions and missiology with the students, the more she grew interested, until one day “a light bulb went off,” she shared. “I realized I could talk about this all day.”

That moment was the impetus for Blair’s decision to switch her degree to a Master of Arts in cross-cultural counseling, preparing her to use her counseling skills in an international or cross-cultural setting.

Hearing Hard Truths

After changing degrees, Blair was eager to pursue missions, but the prospect of serving overseas in another country still intimidated her.

However, God waited patiently. By placing her in the CGCS, he surrounded her with people full of wisdom and experience who were able to walk alongside her over the coming years.

While the CGCS is most publicly known for its mission trips and many resources, mentoring, consulting, and guidance also goes on behind the scenes.

Students who feel called to go or who are simply curious about what that might look like in their own lives can set up a “Go Meeting” with one of the CGCS mobilizers. These meetings help students explore their calling, discern between different ministry pathways, and consider practical steps for moving forward during their time at Southeastern.

Because of the CGCS and Southeastern’s Great Commission emphasis, a large population of students on campus have come from the mission field and are preparing to go back out long-term.

“I remember the first time Dr. Cook proposed, ‘Maybe you should do Journeyman,’” Blair recalled. Journeyman is a program through the IMB that sends young adults, fully funded, to serve internationally for two years alongside IMB field workers.

She was uncertain at first, but Cook reminded her, “It will be the hardest thing you do, but that does not mean that it’s a bad thing.”

It will be the hardest thing you do, but that does not mean that it’s a bad thing.

His words both challenged Blair and helped her reframe in her mind what it meant to go and sacrifice for the sake of the gospel.

“There are a lot of return journeymen here,” Blair said. “I’m friends with many of them. I’ve always worked with a returned journeyman, and I’ve lived with one. Studying on campus, you automatically have access to a lot of people who have gone on mission. You hear about their experience and people they know on the field, and you learn what it looks like to be on a team — things that they liked, that they didn’t like, and that you can ask questions about.”

Blair’s coworkers have helped her think through missions and the practical steps of Journeyman, encouraging and affirming her but also challenging her when necessary.

“They tell me the hard truths,” she laughed, recounting the times Cook and his wife Meredith have welcomed her into their home and spoken into her life in moments of uncertainty and searching.

While the truth is always present, it is consistently accompanied by kindness, patience, and compassion — and this attitude is representative of all the CGCS and its work.

Faithfully Moving Forward

In her role as student mobilizer, Blair has seen her own story reflected in the lives and experiences of other students who have gone on trips with CGCS and come back with changed hearts. She has been reminded of God’s faithfulness as she has seen him work time and time again in his people, giving them a greater heart for the lost as they move forward in obedience.

To the student who is uncertain about next steps or where to go, she advises, “Take advantage of the people here at the CGCS. They all want to talk to you. They’re not going to pressure you to do anything, but they will help you answer your questions and maybe open your eyes to what it could be like to live on mission. People here have a lot of wisdom and experience that you can’t get elsewhere.”

Blair has also been encouraged by the many students who are willing to go in obedience. In her role she has learned to lean on God and trust in the results that he brings from her work, realizing that it isn’t up to her to convince people to commit to going on mission. She must simply be faithful.

That faithfulness now extends to her own commitment to go.

Today, graduated with her MA in cross-cultural counseling, Blair is in the final process of determining the destination for her two-year Journeyman term. She asks for prayer as she waits on the Lord and continues to seek his will.

“I still have some of those fears and anxieties — I’m human,” she said. “So I just want to continue to entrust those to the Lord and see this work as worthwhile, not believing the lies of the enemy.”

God is at work, and the harvest is plentiful. His laborers must simply say yes and go, wherever he calls them.

To learn more about the work of the CGCS — its events, resources, and trips — and how you could be equipped to go to the nations, visit sebts.edu/cgcs.  

 

*Names have been changed for security purposes.