When they watch the Olympics on television next month, several Lander University students and alumni will recognize many of the sports venues as places they visited during their recent Canadian mission trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, which is hosting the winter games.
Lander's Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) sponsored the trip, and those who went on it spent 10 days, from Dec. 29 to Jan. 8, interacting with high school and college students among Vancouver's growing population of Chinese immigrants. Charles Smith, a 2008 Lander graduate and BCM semester missionary and team leader, said the group was invited by the Chinese Christian Gospel Church.
Lander BCM president Meredith Newman, a senior nursing student from Columbia, said they spent a lot of time building relationships. The students and their Chinese counterparts took part in discussions about education, religion and family. They also joined in recreational activities, including tours of Olympic sites in and around Vancouver.
The members of the Lander group agreed that it was a good cultural exchange in which the two sides learned from each other.
The three other current Lander students who took part in the trip were sophomore business major Austin Fuller of Greenwood; Lacy Little of Abbeville, a sophomore majoring in exercise science; and senior Jamie Lewis, an early childhood education major from St. George.
In addition to Charles Smith, the other Lander alumni on the mission trip were his sister Cherry Smith, who graduated in 2006 with a degree in visual arts; and Crystal Pryor Goforth of Clinton, an assistant in collegiate ministry, and a 2005 graduate with a degree in biology. Her husband, Michael Goforth, a Piedmont Technical College graduate, also made the trip.
Charles and Cherry Smith are the son and daughter of Scott Smith, the longtime director of Lander's Baptist Collegiate Ministry. He said BCM members take part in annual summer missions and have traveled to Boston, New York City, St. Louis, West Virginia and other locations to perform all manner of hands-on tasks such as working in food banks, soup kitchens, battered women shelters and schools.
"The students return home with a different perspective and a deeper appreciation of their faith and what they have."
BCM members also volunteer in Greenwood and the surrounding area. They conduct Bible study and other programs at Connie Maxwell School, teach Sunday school at Temple Baptist Church and partner with the Greenwood Food Bank.
BCM offers Bible study, worship services and other events at its center on West Cambridge Ave., drawing about 250 Lander students and alumni each week.