International Student Track Reports
International Students Joining God's Mission
Anne Mallekoote
Lisa Espineli Chinn presented
the primary address of the second IST General Session titled, "International
Students Joining God's Mission." Her address was from the book of Esther.
In her introduction she explained that Esther is the only book in the Jewish Bible
where the word "God" is not mentioned, yet when you look carefully at
want happens, God is in every action. She compared this to the lives of the international
students before her saying, "We see God's hand in our lives through our experience
with immigrations offices, acceptance into programs, receiving scholarships …
God has brought you [to the United States] in his sovereignty. I want you to see
God's hand in your life."
Lisa explained Esther's cultural context as a Prisoner of War growing up without parents in a foreign land. She had to make choices about how she would respond to the dominant culture while preserving her own culture. She was a minority woman in a male-dominated culture, seemingly insignificant. Yet God had a plan and purpose for her in that time and place through which He would bring about His mission.
She exhorted students to not ask the question, "What should I do after graduation?" or "What should I do with my life?" but rather, "What is God's purpose in the world and what is my place in that purpose?" She said that life is about God's purposes, not individual little plans. International students have been brought to campuses to display God's purposes, to help Americans understand that the world is bigger than the world they've been used to. She questioned why baseball games are called the World Series when that "world" only includes North Americans. Students laughed and applauded as she stated that she prefers the World Cup - the reflection of a world sport.
She asked students, "Why did God bring you here? Dream big dreams. Close your eyes. Think of yourself 5 years from now. Where will you be? Where will you be 10 years from now? How about 15 years? 20 years? What do you see?" She then gave her testimony of being an international student 23 years ago in Wheaton, Illinois. She was friends with a small band of international students. They didn't know what God had in mind. One of those students was an Urbana speaker three years ago. She's now director of InterVarsity's international student ministry and a speaker at Urbana 03. She would have never predicted they would be brought to these places; yet they were willing to trust God and dream big about their part in God's purposes.
Lisa wanted students to know these purposes aren't necessarily about being a missionary or preacher. It's about being the best we can be for the sake of God's glory in whatever circumstance God places us. Whether that's being the best wife, husband, engineer, teacher, or dish-washer, in all things we need to ask, "Why am I doing this?" and "How does this serve God's kingdom?" We must not minimize the seeming little things God's doing in our lives. Everything's connected to God's kingdom.
Esther was placed in the position of being the queen of Persia at a time the Jewish nation was in great danger. Through this position and her faithfulness God worked through her to save the Jewish people. God orchestrated it all! Similarly, Lisa said, God is orchestrating each of our lives as international students. They need to recognize and submit to his leading, understanding that it is God, not their choices, that has brought them to the United States to study.
She completed her address with a challenge for echo Esther in saying, "If I perish, I perish. My life is of no value unless it is spent for the king, Jesus, and his kingdom."
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