Three days may seem like not enough time to make an impact. But when Olivet Nazarene University students devoted three days to making a difference, results are obvious.
A team of 19 students — led by Jordan Gerstenberger ’11/’17 M.B.A., director of recruitment in Olivet’s Office of Admissions, and his wife, Kati (Downs) ’11, a resident director at Olivet — arrived at First Church of the Nazarene in St. Joseph, Michigan, on Friday morning. By Sunday evening when they left, they had:
Painted the doorways of each room
Redecorated all the bathrooms, nursery and main hallway
Painted the teen room and gave it a fun design in the process
Made signs and shelves from pallet wood
Cleaned the entire church building
In addition, four team members led worship for the Sunday morning worship service.
“Our team worked incredibly well together,” says Brody Schweigert, a senior engineering major and team member. “I could feel the true passion that the pastor, Brian Robbins, and his wife, Ashley, have to serve God with the St. Joe church.”
Brian ’08/’14 M.B.A. and Ashley (Downs) ’08 Robbins joined the St. Joe Naz family in 2016 when Brian became the pastor. “I am always overwhelmed at the caliber and class of our Olivet students,” Brian says. “Now as a local pastor on the receiving end of an ONU mission team’s work, I’ve never been more proud to be an alumnus. Olivet changed my life and is still so distinctly in the business of transforming young lives for expanding of His kingdom.”
View a video of the team’s experiences on this trip here. Interesting fact: This video was shot from the head of the Robbins’ son, Caleb. He wore a GoPro camera and got this footage just for fun.
To learn more about mission teams and service opportunities at Olivet, contact the Office of Admissions at admissions@olivet.edu or 800-648-1463.
