28 student life leadership starts young Harding’s mission statement stated, “Integrating Faith, Living and Learning,” meaning that Harding wanted to provide students with opportunities to incorporate their Christian beliefs with the rest of their lives. One opportunity Harding provided for its students was through spring break campaigns. Every year, hundreds of students devoted their spring break to spreading the gospel to places around the world. Campaign groups traveled across the United States, Canada and to many other countries including Ukraine, Haiti and Honduras. However, the most unique aspect of the spring break campaigns was not the location, but the leadership that took place long before anyone left for the break. Starting eight to nine months earlier, student volunteers began working on the campaigns for 2008. Recent graduate Nicholas May, the student director and finance director, was the liaison between the spring break missions office and the participating students. “It was a nice way to get involved with students that I would not normally see or interact with,” May said. “There was always an inspirational story from the students that affirmed that even working for just a week was worthwhile.” Junior Brice Priestly led an individual group campaign in 2007 and was asked to be the travel director over all of the 2008 campaigns. “Missions are important,” Priestly said, “But if you can’t get the people there in a safe and efficient way, the mission can’t happen.” Priestly knew that even though his job would not directly affect the people being served through the campaigns, he realized that any way he was able to help would allow the trips to run more smoothly. “Just being a part in any way, we were able to serve and do so much good for so many people who needed to hear the gospel,” Priestly said. Nathan Copeland, assistant to the president, oversaw the spring break campaigns and helped the student leaders as they worked towards successful campaigns. “When I saw all the student leaders get so passionate about preparing to serve, [it] forced me to think critically about how I choose to use my life for the Lord,” Copeland said. Students who led the campaign groups had more of a direct influence on the outcomes of their campaigns. Recent graduate Luckson Previl led a campaign to his home country, Haiti. The goal of this group’s campaign was to encourage church members and children by painting church buildings and hosting a vacation Bible school. Previl, who understood the culture shock that could potentially affect students, was able to prepare his teammates for a trip that would be trying. “The students just needed to be willing to go out of their comfort zone,” Previl said. “I realize that for lots of kids at [Harding], the poverty of Haiti is something that most people have never seen before.” Though student leaders began working many months in advance, they were still faced with obstacles. Similar to any event that needed planning, Harding’s spring break campaigns had their challenges to be overcome. “Challenges in the pre-stages were things such as working with the contacts at different locations. We were working on both their schedules and ours to get everything together,” May said. “And there were always students who just don’t seem to cooperate with what you ask them to do, whether it was [missing] deadlines or having no apparent concern for money.” For Priestly, his challenges were keeping students accountable to their teams. “We start so early in the year that in the beginning, people get excited and sign up for the campaigns,” Priestly said. “But the year rolls around and people lose interest. They want to do other, more exciting things. Keeping those students on their teams and active members is the biggest challenge.” Even through difficulties, these leaders felt that using their gifts and abilities was well worth the effort. “It is important for Harding to be involved in missions. Harding, as a Christian institution, and our students should be involved because they get a chance to see how people really live in other parts of the world,” Previl said. “In America, it’s very different from how people live in Europe or Asia. I complain about the [cafeteria] food, but then I think about how people in my country are starving. Mission trips open your eyes and make you more thankful for what you have.” Hannah Ware
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