Passion for Missions Sweeping Through SEU Student Body

Something is happening on the campus of Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida. Students are attending prayer services by the hundreds; it’s become commonplace to see students praying for one another in public settings; and this year nearly 900 students have submitted an application to participate in a missions trip.

“Last year, we sent over 500 students out on missions trips — more students than we have ever sent out before,” states Ahmed Velez, director of SEU Missions. “Currently, we have received 877 applications for missions trips from students who have applied and been interviewed for a team.”

It's important to note that SEU students are solely responsible for raising their own funds for the trips, they aren’t required to go on a missions trip in order to graduate, and every one of the roughly 35 to 45 annual trips are student led!

“We firmly believe in the equipping and training of students to go out and lead their fellow peers,” Velez says. “Student (leaders) come in and we train them and equip them on all things, such as spiritual leadership, logistics, how to handle themself in customs, and even what to do if approached by secret police. However, they do lead alongside trusted partners that are already on site (AGWM missionaries, Convoy of Hope teams, AGUSM missionaries, etc.).”

Velez says that these trips expose students to the vital importance of being part of the Great Commission, while empowering and training students to lead at a higher capacity.

“Many of these students will one day lead a church, business, or perhaps a non-profit organization,” Velez notes. “And they’re being trained and equipped now to do that.”

SEU Senior Barrett Colerick, who has been on two missions trips (one to Jamaica and the other to Norway), is preparing to lead his first trip to Cambodia in May.

“Each year, all leaders are taken to a training camp for several days,” Colerick says. “There we learn how to do short term missions honorably, cross-culturally and with sensitivity, and how to shepherd a missions team. The focus is, it’s not about us — God is writing a story that we are part of, but it’s not about us and the story will continue on long after us.”

Colerick believes there are a number of reasons for the dramatic increase in interest in missions.

“Many ministry and missions students have been very involved with short-term missions,” he observes, “but there’s been a disconnect for non-ministry majors, because they didn’t feel like they have a role in it. SEU has become very intentional in its messaging to students — it's the Great Commission and every single person is called to the Great Commission, whether as a missionary overseas or as witness in your profession, and short-term missions has a spot for everybody.”

Velez believes that the missions trips themselves add fuel to the interest as so many students return from these trips with a new view on life and with a hunger to see the lost won for Christ.

“Students come back and are continuing the mission here,” Velez says. “Lakeland has a lot of people who need the Lord, who are not financially well-off, who need help. We have a ministry called Love Lakeland (Love LKLD), where we’ve seen a significant number of students become involved in that.”

Through Love Lakeland, SEU students partner closely with other compassion organizations, including the local Dream Center, to help people in need in Lakeland. SEU students even have their own area called “SEU Street,” which is solely serviced by SEU students who volunteer to go to clean-up streets, assist residents, and provide services for people in need.

The growing hunger for God to work through them has also resulted in students making chapel services, especially the weekly prayer chapel service, a priority.

“We’ve seen a revival on campus through students coming together and seeking the Lord,” Velez says. “Every single week 600 to 700 students are coming for an hour and just praying — they’re not coming for the lights or a production, they’re coming to worship . . . that’s something really cool we’ve seen happening on campus.”

Velez says his favorite part is seeing students equipped, empowered, and ready to go for what the Lord has for them.

“A phrase we hear over and over again from students returning from their missions trip is, ‘How can I not do this for the rest of my life?’” Velez says. “It’s not always a call to be a full-time missionary, but to be a ‘missionary’ within their profession . . . through these trips students are discovering their divine design.”

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