~1ISSIONS CONTINUE AFTER HARDING By Micaleigh Coleman ?\Iany tudents \\e1-c im·olved in OULReach America, a program to help cnga~e students in mission work after graduation. ;\lar\'i11 Crow~on, the domestic missionary in re idcnce. saw a need to encourage students to plug into their nc,v communities post-graduation. After Crow~on and his wife, Judith, served man years in Jamaica and then in different '·gateway.. ciLies acros~ the U.S., they came to Harding looki ng to help sllldc11ts to make connections throughout the nation. '·College kids hm-c no fea1;·' Crow on said. ''They will do anything if they hclieYe in it.'. Crowson hosted retreats and weekly gatherings in his !tome for sll!clents imrrestecl in the program. He encouraged students who were wanting to move to diffrrcnt areas aero.s the U.S. to form teams to act as a support system as the students broke out from their typical friend groups in order to meet the local people and find new ways to help. This ,va a fundamemal purpose of the program. ":\obody is reaching the cattle people - the people [\\·ho] were born, raised and live there.'· Crowson said. 'Td like you LO go to Seattle and reach the people [who] arc born and raised there.'· Sophomore Derck King, a Bible and ministry major. was one student who plugged into OutRcach America 10 take adrnntagc of its support. For the past eight ycar5, King and his farnilv lived on Vancou\'er Island in Canada. They returned to Harding to complete their degrees and were eager to return to their community in Canada. ·'Ou1Rcaeh ,\mcrica's bigge L asset is that they are trying to get u connected with each other [toJ help each other:· King said. Taylor Williams, in. tructor of engineeri ng and physics, firstjoined Outreach America when he was still a Harding student back in 2003. Williams and his wile, Jennifer, kept in close touch with Crowson, and made it a point to be close friends- a communi1y with a shared mission, goal and ,-ision for what they dr amccl Goel might do through them when they moved LO Quincy, .\lassachusctts. "Outreach America was particularly helpful LO us in [understanding] the grandeur and Qargc community] of the church," \\'illiams said. '·[It also hdpcd us to realizcJ how the concept of church wa. n't constrained Lo Lhc congregational model that mo L of us grew up with, and training in how we, as indi\'iduals. brought strength to our team and how we could complement each other. effectively [workingl together and [accomplishing] something together bigger than we could C\'Cr hope to do indi\'idually."' OutRcach America was not about training full-time missionaries to pread across the nation. They focused on people going out, practicing their own ,·o ation and not being afraid to engage in surrounding communities. They looked for diligent and energetic people. ·'\\'e arc to be knm,·n because everywhere we go, we lo\'c people," Crowson said. "There i no more po,,·erful force than that." Senior Madeline Jones and alumnus Daniel Casella talk and work together at an OutReach America meeting in the Mclnteer Bible and World Missions Building on March 23, 2016. Students were encouraged to share previous mission experiences and discuss ho w they could better themselves for future missions. \ Photo courtesy of Marvin Crowson OutReach .·lmerira .sponsor .\larvin CrowJon JjJeaks lo its memben on ,\larch 23. 2016, in the .Uclnteer Bible and Jl'orld .\fissions Building. Crowson and his wife, J udith, were missionaries in Aji'ica and shed light into church JJ/anting and growth. \ Photo cour/eJ_y qf Alarvin Crows~n 111111.L -( ) 'j'J
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