Badgers to the World

A little over four years ago, I left with 10 others from the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a year of ministry in East Asia. I can’t believe it’s already been four years since then!

So much has changed.

I’ve gotten married, had five different jobs, am living in my third city since then, now about 1000 miles away, and feel like a much different person than I was four years ago.

But the change that I’m most in awe of is what’s taken place in the hearts of students at the UW.

There were certainly those at the UW that came before us and took the Gospel to the world, some of whom we were aware of and many others we wouldn’t know about until later. But when I showed up to a meeting in the balcony of Music Hall in the fall of 2007 and over 20 students showed up to explore the idea of going to do ministry together in East Asia, I had a feeling God was up to something big.

I still remember sitting at a fall retreat my freshmen year, not even a Christian yet, but hearing about a few people who had spent summers abroad sharing the Gospel, and I thought, “Hey, that sounds pretty cool!” And there, just like that, a seed was planted that God would continue to cultivate starting that evening when I became a Christian, that summer as I went to East Asia, and for the next several years.

I’m not sure what that seed was for the rest of our group, but I’m grateful for those that presented on their trips that day.

I’m also grateful for close friends that modeled “going to the world” for me – going to places like Kenya and China.

Add to that list mentors, ministry leaders, and upper-classmen that from very early on instilled a love of the world within many of us and spent countless hours investing in us. For that and so much more we are forever indebted to you!

And I’m most grateful, that in some small way, God was able to use all of these preceding people, countless others who have gone and done similar things, and our group of 11 that took off for a year of ministry in a land 10,000 miles away to change the culture of missions at the UW.

“We’re Badgers and we go!” Prophetic words, no doubt.

I don’t have all of the numbers to know just how many people have gone and done similar things overseas, but every year since then, I’m blown away by Wisconsin students and their willingness to take the Gospel overseas to a messed up, dying world that’s lost without their Creator – places like Brazil, the Middle East, East Asia, Australia, Ghana, Uruguay and France.

I’m humbled and blessed to have been some small part of that and will continue to pray expectantly that from the same city and university where people protest hated politicians for weeks at a time, that ranks atop the nation’s list of party schools, and where many Christian parents shudder at the thought of sending their kids to college – that from there, God would continue to raise up a harvest of students that love Him and would take his Good News to every nation!

-CK

Note 1: As someone who has worked for several years in the "secular" workplace, I cannot overstate how appreciative I am of people who are able to live out the Gospel well in the jobs that God has called them to. While people in your position are often neglected when the Church speaks of missions and missionaries, your role in fulfilling the Great Commission is, in my opinion, often even more difficult, so thank you for all that you do! 

Note 2: I didn’t want to interrupt the sentence I was in the middle of to insert some absurd parenthetical comment, but if you’d like to be amused for 15 seconds, “Google” Madison to China and see the 10,000-mile route they give you. I hope you’re up for reading the names of Chinese roads, paying tolls, and taking ferries!