By Mackenzie Grizzard | Staff Writer
Baylor’s annual Missions Week kicked off Monday, making Fountain Mall the place to be to find opportunities to serve locally or globally through Baylor Missions.
Bailey Hebert, senior program coordinator for Missions and Public Life, helped start Monday off with a bang on Fountain Mall with inflatable bounce houses, free food and tabling for local service opportunities.
“We have over 35 organizations coming to talk about the missions they do,” Hebert said. “It’s a really big, good group of people, and we’re excited to have them here.”
Baylor’s annual Missions Week equips students with the opportunity to get involved with faith-based organizations on both a global and local scale. This division of the Office of Spiritual Life hosts the week-long event for students interested in serving a community or just getting involved.
Missions Week at Baylor has evolved as missions have changed over time, according to Sarah Nelson, assistant director for global missions operations. The goal of Missions Week, however, has remained the same.
“Our goal is for these missions organizations to come and let students know who they are, the work they do and the opportunities they have for Baylor [students],” Nelson said.
Missions Week fosters life-long connections for students whether it is an internship, a summer job or a long-term mission, Nelson said.
According to the Missions and Public Life website, over 30 local and global organizations will be present for students to talk with over the course of the week. Monday through Wednesday of Missions Week is packed with networking and social opportunities to visit tabling organizations, including Dr. Pepper Hour in the Barfield Drawing Room and dinner at the Bobo Spiritual Life Center.
“We have many different ways for [students] to get involved locally through the service side, and then globally we have our mission trips,” Nelson said.
Baylor global missions teams are usually between 14 and 20 students selected by faculty advisors in the department, according to Nelson. Last year, Baylor missions sent out 25 different teams to 13 different countries.
“Most of these are discipline-specific, so we have a lot of pre-health focused ones looking at shadowing physicians and health lessons,” Nelson said.
The Global Missions Teams website details the list of countries Baylor students will be traveling to in 2025, which includes Costa Rica, Romania, South Africa and more.
Nelson said when student attends a Missions Week event, their name is entered into a drawing to win a $200 voucher for one of Baylor’s upcoming mission trips.
“[Students] are going to be with other college students who are coming with that same heart to serve around the globe,” Nelson said.
