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Anyone who attends California Baptist University knows that we are a school committed to the Great Commission. But how can someone commit to something they never encounter?

Sadly, many students like myself grew up going to church but were never taught to "go make disciples of all nations" despite its foundational value to the Christian faith. If taught at all, only a select few were called to be missionaries. Followers of Christ who served overseas were elevated above followers of Christ in America. Some Christians used the excuse that they were not called to be missionaries.

Later I learned that all followers of Christ were missionaries who served God where He placed them, but were obedient if God chose to use them elsewhere. Christ commanded all his disciples to share the gospel proactively. No exemptions. No exceptions.

It wasn't until I came to CBU that I learned that my faith was global. Participating on an International Service Project, studying under Assistant Professor of Global Studies Jeff Lewis and living in Kenya for a semester redirected my life as I finally discovered the fundamentals of the Christian lifestyle. All of a sudden something I thought was only for super Christians was a command for all followers of Christ. "Why wasn't I told this before?" I heard every day in my Global Perspectives class.

God's heart is for the nations. Revelation 7:9 says that every nation, tribe, people and language will worship God before his throne. Jesus embraced a cross-cultural life in his time on earth. He was born in Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth and migrated through the Middle East in his three years of formal ministry. Jesus healed a Canaanite woman's daughter. In Jerusalem he healed a blind man. He fed 4,000 gentiles with less than seven loaves of bread and a few fish. He ministered to a Samaritan woman at the well. He drove a demon out of a man in Capernaum. Jesus ministered to both Jews and Gentiles, even though the Gentiles were of another race. He extended the gospel to them because it is not partial to one ethnicity.

CBU opens doors for students to be obedient in exercising their faith in a global context. The nations came to CBU with over 20 nations represented on campus, but we also have the opportunity to go to the nations. ISP is a great avenue for students to put their faith into action as they go into the world and share the love of Christ with those they encounter. ISP participants serve in about two-dozen countries. They use their skills and hobbies from teaching English to playing basketball to trekking through mountains and engage with spiritually starving people. ISP gives people eyes to see the gospel in action.

ISP served as a catalyst to show me Christianity in a global context. I went to Rwanda in 2007 to teach English in an English school. I met African Christians who loved God and yearned to know more about him. I shared what I knew and saw God work through my life. I loved it; I was a global Christian, but wanted more. Three weeks was not enough time for me to engage the people; grasp a better understanding of their culture and attempt to connect the gospel to their lives.

The ISP office connected me with the International Mission Board that had a program called "Hands On" where I could serve as a student missionary for a semester. I jumped on an airplane on July 31, 2008, with 36 other college students I had never met to serve in Africa for four months. Even though I had little experience sharing the gospel, God led me to a bartering market where nationals asked to hear it every week. I learned how to surrender to God and embrace a cross-cultural life and ministry.

As I served with career missionaries, I noticed their lifestyle overseas was no different from most American families - except that they looked for opportunities to share their faith when they were with Kenyans.

Followers of Christ in America and overseas serve the same, unchanging God whose heart breaks for the nations, tribes and people who may never hear the life-giving message of Christ before they enter into the next world.