North Carolina college students are traveling to nine locations this summer as the inaugural cohort of N.C. Baptists’ Go Collective. Representing eight local churches, they completed months of training and mentorship to prepare for a summer of strategic missions.
Eleven college students begin traveling this week to nine locations across the United States and around the world as part of the first cohort of North Carolina Baptists’ Go Collective (GoCo).
The students come from eight N.C. Baptist local churches participating in GoCo, an initiative designed to help every N.C. Baptist church send college students on mission.
GoCo trains students through online meetings, independent readings, mentorship with local leaders, weekend equipping retreats and summer mission projects.
Anu Onipede, a psychology major at Wingate University and member of Provision Church in Monroe, will go to Los Angeles for six weeks to serve with Abiding Church, where she’ll serve on the welcoming team and participate in evangelism and community outreach.
During a trip to Boston last summer, Onipede heard someone say something that she continues to live by: “The call to missions is ‘yes’ until God says ‘no.’”
“I took that and ran with it,” she said. “I kept going because if it’s working out, then God is saying yes.”
That’s what she held onto throughout the process of praying about and applying to GoCo.
Onipede said GoCo prepared her in ways she didn’t know she needed. She credited a training from a retreat earlier this year that focused on cross-cultural evangelism for preparing her to serve.
“It made me feel more comfortable to step out,” she said.
Ashanti Glass serves as the women’s college director at Provision Church and mentors Onipede. She’s seen GoCo offer students more opportunities to learn about missions and what it can look like.
Five GoCo students recently attended a meeting of the N.C. Baptist board of directors, where board members prayed for and commissioned them. Glass said their presence at the meeting was one of several opportunities students have had to tell others about their summer projects.
They have grown in being “more confident in the mission they’re going on, being able to support raise and help other people be bought in on the mission, then articulate the mission well to leadership,” said Glass.
Onipede serves in children’s ministry at Provision, where she’s also a student leader. She learned about GoCo through the church, which she said played a significant part in supporting her summer project.
During a recent service, the church prayed over her and two other students being sent through GoCo. A few families from the church financially supported her trip and committed to praying for her throughout the summer.
On mission ‘anytime, all the time’
Alex Domingo-Sanchez, a biology major at Wingate University, also attends Provision Church. He’ll spend his summer in Medford, Oregon, serving with Living Hope Church.
In June, Domingo-Sanchez will focus on evangelism and community outreach, including park events and potentially building temporary shelters for people without homes. In July, he’ll help lead a week-long camp for high schoolers and younger students.
Domingo-Sanchez came to faith in Christ less than two years ago.
When Alex Hugo, N.C. Baptist college ministries strategist, visited Provision’s college worship service to share about GoCo, the application deadline was that night. But the group would get a one-week extension.
“It felt like God was telling me to go for it,” Domingo-Sanchez said. “It was like this pull and tugging on my heart to sign up.”
He contacted Hugo and applied the next day.
Domingo-Sanchez said GoCo has shaped his understanding of evangelism, especially through something shared by Ronjour Locke, lead pastor of Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Raleigh. Locke, who also teaches at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and his wife, Annie, led a session during one of the GoCo retreats.
Locke encouraged them to recognize the vocations they’re preparing for as doors to ministry. As a future chiropractor, for example, Domingo-Sanchez would have more opportunities to share the gospel than a pastor like Locke might.
“He’s going to be surrounded by believers,” Domingo-Sanchez said. “I’ll be meeting all sorts of people. … You don’t have to be a pastor or missionary to be on ‘on mission.’ You can be on mission anytime, all the time, and that’s how we should be living our lives.”
For Hugo, spending time with the students has highlighted their capabilities and ambition.
“These students aren’t afraid of hardship and want to make a lasting impact,” she said.
“My encouragement to N.C. Baptist churches is this: rather than being afraid to ask too much of students, raise the bar – because I think they will rise to the occasion,” said Hugo. “My hope is that these students return home with a better understanding of who God is, who He has made them to be and what it means to live life on mission.”
Lifelong kingdom impact
Addie Bain, a speech-language pathology major at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, is being sent by Goodwill Baptist Church, where her faith was fostered from a young age. She also serves at Mercy Hill College on Tuesdays.
About a year ago, Bain began feeling called to missions, realizing her faith wasn’t something to keep to herself.
“As I’ve grown in my faith, I’ve experienced so much joy,” Bain said. “If there’s any way that I could share that with someone else, why not?”
Over the last several months, a Goodwill member discipled Bain throughout her GoCo experience. She said growing up at Goodwill showed her the value of spiritual leadership and examples of faithful disciples.
Bain will spend six weeks in Halifax, Nova Scotia, serving with a church plant. She will engage a nearby college campus and participate in evangelism efforts. She’ll also serve at a soup kitchen every week and help with church setup and teardown.
She’s traveling with another student she met through GoCo, a connection that illustrates one of the initiative’s values: building deep friendships with like-minded students who share a passion for God’s kingdom.
When Bain was in a car accident in February, her new friends from GoCo were among those praying the hardest for her, she said.
Even though she had only known them for about two months, “it felt more like family than anything else.”
GoCo also connected Bain with a minister to the Deaf population, potentially opening doors for her future career in speech pathology.
The Go Collective challenges students to think differently about vocation, calling and mission. It connects students passionate about God’s kingdom, provides training for a lifetime of missional living and empowers them to step boldly into God’s mission.
As students depart for their summer projects, they’ve asked N.C. Baptists to pray for:
- Boldness and confidence rooted in God as they share the gospel in new contexts
- Softened hearts among people they encounter, with eyes and ears opened to the truth of Jesus
- Team unity and meaningful relationships with fellow students, local church members and those they’re serving
- Safe travels and God’s protection throughout the summer
GoCo is made possible by the faithful missions giving of N.C. Baptists through their local churches.Student ministers, leaders, parents and students can learn more about GoCo and apply at ncbaptist.org/goco.
By Liz Tablazon, N.C. Baptist Contributing Writer
