By Christina L. Kern, office assistant

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. — Campbellsville University students, staff and faculty members will serve on six different mission trips during spring break, March 4-8.

Trips include two to Haiti (one with CU's School of Nursing), two to Florida, one to New York and one to Guatemala.

Campbellsville University's School of Nursing is traveling to Haiti for their third mission trip as a school, March 1-7. Fourteen students, two nursing faculty and two missionaries are Angie Atwood, assistant professor of nursing, said the group will provide free medical clinics, visit orphanages and feed a village in Susab, Haiti, all while spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.

For many nursing faculty and students, this is their third trip to Haiti. Atwood said, “The desire to serve others is quite strong. Students are eager to use the skills and nursing knowledge they have learned to help others less fortunate than themselves.”

The team is working with Missionary Support International to arrange clinic locations and is working with Ken Bolin, a 1981 graduate of CU from Manchester, Ky. Atwood said the team's focus is to “support both the spiritual and physical needs of the Haitian people. As Bro. Ken Bolin says, ‘Spiritual healing is eternal.'”

Mackenzie Gentry, a sophomore nursing student of Greensburg, Ky., said nursing and mission work have been dreams of hers. The opportunity to use nursing and missions together, she said “are being given to me as the beginning of my life's work.”

Traveling with CU's School of Nursing to Haiti are: Natasha Brown, senior, Jamestown, Ky.; Crystal Rexroat, junior, Russell Springs, Ky.; Mackenzie Gentry, sophomore, Greensburg, Ky.; Lauren Barr, sophomore, Brandenburg, Ky.; Sarah Morris, freshman, North Vernon, Ind.; Jessica Hayes, senior, Nancy, Ky.; Megan Foley, junior, Russell Springs, Ky.; Mary Chris Denison, senior, Horse Cave, Ky.;

Chelsea Nicholas, junior, Campbellsville, Ky.; Cha'kilrra Lawson, senior, Campbellsville, Ky.; Tina Sanders, senior, Harrodsburg, Ky.; Kelsi Richerson, junior, Campbellsville, Ky.; Ashley Mann, junior, Campbellsville, Ky.; Barbara McGuffin, junior, Columbia, Ky.; Amy Beard, clinical instructor in nursing, Greensburg, Ky.; and Angie Atwood, assistant professor of nursing, Greensburg, Ky.

A second team will travel to Neply, Haiti, led by Dustin Ford, a 2011 nursing alumnus of Campbellsville University. They will work with an orphanage which takes care of disabled children and finds them families within the village.
Ford, who has been to Haiti twice already with CU's School of Nursing, said, “When I found out we would be working with disabled children I couldn't turn down the opportunity. I love Haiti and have a passion for the people there.”

Traveling to Neply, Haiti are: Dustin Ford, 2011 graduate, Campbellsville, Ky.; Hannah George, freshman, Shelbyville, Ky.; Savannah Workman, freshman, Fort Gray, W.Va.; and Jeremy Bell, junior, Harlan, Ky.

Members of Campbellsville University's football team will travel to Florida for a softball prison ministry. They will travel to correctional facilities in the area and minister to prisoners through the game of softball.

Cameron Looper, a junior of Paducah, Ky., has been on this mission trip in past years. What motivates him to go back is “seeing their faces knowing they now know Christ actually cares for them in their hard times while in prison.”

Looper said Christ's love is what makes him want to give up his spring break to go on a mission trip. “Spring break can easily be spent at Panama City Beach living the ‘normal college dream' but through Christ I'm not normal. I desire to see others come to Christ. Why spend time doing the typical when I can assist in the extraordinary work of Christ?”

On last year's trip, Looper met Clarence, a man who had served time in prison since the 1960s. Clarence told him, “Son, it's kiddoes' like you that give us hope. To see a kid that has given it all to serve Christ warms our hearts. Keep fighting in the faith, you have it worse out there than I have it in here.”

Traveling with the Florida prison ministry team are: McKale High, senior, Tompkinsville, Ky.; Seth McFerrin, junior, Old Hickory, Tenn.; Chris Brown, senior, Pelham, Ala.; Eli Mitchell, freshman, Elizabethtown, Ky.; Wes Cain, sophomore, Alachua, Fla.; Roderick Dickerson, senior, Memphis, Tenn.; Kendrick Raley, freshman, Mount Washington, Ky.; Hunter Smith, junior, Munfordville, Ky.; Cameron Looper, junior, Paducah, Ky.; Nick Jones, junior, Old Hickory, Tenn.; Hunter Cantwell, assistant football coach, Campbellsville, Ky.; and Jim Hardy, assistant head football coach and fields manager, Campbellsville, Ky.

A group of CU students will be going to Panama City Beach, but not for the parties. Instead, they will minister to the partiers through a ministry called “Beach Reach.” Students from across the country will meet to minister to 100,000 students on spring break. Pancake breakfasts are served each morning, and rides are given at night to those who aren't safe to drive.

Traveling to Panama City for Beach Reach are: Alexa Moore, junior, Clarksville, Tenn.; Audrey Wunderlich, junior, Frankfort, Ky.; Sean Dotson, sophomore, Campbellsville, Ky.; Chasity Worthington, junior, Campbellsville, Ky.; Fontez Hill, freshman, LaCenter, Ky.; Stacia Bryant, sophomore, Harrodsburg, Ky.; and Cameron Talbot, sophomore, Corydon, Ind.

The team going to Guatemala will work in Prince of Peace orphanage, an orphanage for girls in Guatemala City. Prince of Peace is directed by Jon and Elaina Barron, who moved there last June, after serving for 10 years as the campus minister/BCM director at Eastern Kentucky University. The team will do some light construction and repairs around the facility, lead worship services and minister to the girls.

Traveling to Guatemala are: Allysyne Lockhart, freshman, Lancaster, Ky.; Lucas Pepper, sophomore, Hodgenville, Ky.; Trent Creason, campus ministries intern, Campbellsville, Ky.; Dave Walters, vice president for admissions and student services, Campbellsville, Ky.; and Ed Pavy, director of campus ministries, Campbellsville, Ky.

Another team will go on a mission trip to New York working with Urban Impact teaching lessons at their learning centers and helping in after school programs. Urban Impact, according to their website, is “a ministry that shares Jesus' heart of compassion and reaches into the darkest areas of our inner cities, showing young boys and girls the hope, the real hope found in Jesus Christ.”

Traveling to New York are: Meg Brown, sophomore, Russellville, Ky.; Amber Watercutter, freshman, Versailles, Ky.; and Rachel Shannon, senior, Shelbyville, Ky.

Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 3,600 students offering 63 undergraduate options, 17 master's degrees, five postgraduate areas and eight pre-professional programs. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.