NAMB Week of Prayer missionary Mike McQuitty (right) spends time with students on the campus of Syracuse University in Syracuse, N.Y., sharing the Gospel with those who don't know Christ and discipling those who do.
Mike McQuitty has almost always seen himself as a missionary. He gave his life to Christ at the age of 6 and in high school realized he loved ministry work and especially missions.
Mike McQuitty has almost always seen himself as a missionary. He gave his life to Christ at the age of 6 and in high school realized he loved ministry work and especially missions.
"In college I served as a summer missionary in Colorado and
Russia. And while in seminary at Southwestern, I served in youth
ministry and then collegiate work for three years at University Baptist
Church in Fort Worth," McQuitty said. "Through these experiences, my
heart for missions and college students continued to grow."
As McQuitty considered ministry career options, he was drawn to campus ministry because he sees it as missions work.
"The
college years are a time when young people are making the decisions
that will shape the rest of their lives, yet often it is a time when
faith is put on a shelf," he said.
"You have
literally thousands of students gathered in one place where we're able
to repeatedly expose them to the Gospel and the transformative power of
the Holy Spirit that comes through a relationship with Jesus. That's an
amazing opportunity."
McQuitty is one of more
than 5,300 missionaries in the United States, Canada and their
territories supported by the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North
American Missions and the Cooperative Program. He is among the North
American Mission Board workers featured as part of the annual Week of
Prayer, March 7-14. This year's theme is "Live with Urgency: Share
God's Transforming Power." The 2010 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering's
goal is $70 million, 100 percent of which benefits missionaries like
McQuitty.
When McQuitty graduated from
seminary, he and his wife Vicki began looking for the place where God
would have them invest their lives.
"We began
looking for needs and saw an urgent NAMB Mission Service Corps request
to come to the Northeast," he said. "There were a variety of
universities looking for campus ministers and Syracuse University was
on the list.
"We flew up and investigated, prayed and began to feel God calling us here, to central New York, to invest our lives."
There
had been some campus ministry at Syracuse in the past, but when the
McQuittys arrived there was just one student left from the former
ministry.
"Her name was Alaya," McQuitty said. "She had a great heart for God and wanted to see Him do great things on this campus."
Mike, Vicki and Alaya began with some simple steps -- Bible study, discipleship and outreach activities.
"A
few students began to come and we began to invest our lives in them,
and they began to catch a vision for how God could use them to reach
not only their peers but the world with the good news of Christ,"
McQuitty said.
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Baptist Press
Jami Becher
