The schedule for HLGU鈥檚 2019 Carroll Missions Days includes 10 am chapel services Wednesday and Thursday in the Parker Theatre of the Roland Fine Arts Center.

Each year, HLGU celebrates their global vision through a week of emphasizing missions on campus. Missionaries from all over the world travel to the HLGU campus to interact with students. HLGU students have had the opportunity to not only listen to missionaries from Africa, Asia, Central America, Europe, and South America speak, but to also sit down one-on-one and discuss their experiences and potential opportunities to serve.

This year鈥檚 featured speaker is Dr. James T. Draper, Jr., president emeritus of LifeWay Christian Resources. Dr. Draper has six doctorate degrees in divinity, humanities, and laws. Before serving as President and CEO of LifeWay for 15 years, Draper pastored at eight churches across Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas from 1956 to 1991.

Since 1974, Draper has served as trustee and in other leadership roles at 14 universities, conventions, and associations and is currently serving as a trustee at Criswell College and as chairman of the board of visitors at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has written 31 books and has won five denominational awards from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Union University, and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.

Draper has traveled to 36 countries around the world, leading in evangelistic services, activities, conferences, and meetings with missionaries and nationals. In 1990, he organized and led a crusade in Kenya where over 60,000 professions of faith were made.

He and his wife Carol Ann have been married for 62 years and have three children, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Carroll Missions Days are a result of the vision and generous resources of the late Kenneth and Rheyma Carroll of Monroe City, MO. Before his death in 2008, Mr. Carroll said he wanted to do something that would make a difference in eternity. With the establishment of the Carroll Missions Week and the building of the Carroll Missions Center and Carroll Science Center, Mr. and Mrs. Carroll are touching eternity through the lives of thousands of HLGU students.

For more information on Carroll Missions Days, contact Caren Sheputis at 573-629-3075, or via email at caren.sheputis@hlg.edu. For information on HLGU missions, visit the website at hlg.edu/missions.

The team partnered with Heritage Park Baptist Church (HPBC) to serve the community of Webster, TX, a suburb of Houston. They spent Friday, October 13 through Monday, October 16 tearing out drywall, installing drywall, cleaning up, moving furniture, and moving destroyed belongings to the curb.

Christina Ruiz, one of the HLGU employees on the trip, talked about how the damage surprised her.

鈥淓verything looked ok on the outside, but then you go in one of these homes that had three feet of water inside, and it鈥檚 a different story,鈥� she said.

鈥淪o many people lost everything, and they are rebuilding at this point, but hearing the stories of what people went through, there鈥檚 a lot of emotional damage still.鈥�

Ruiz said that HPBC has a huge presence in their community. Opening a command center for work orders, and providing supplies, volunteer work, and support, the church has given aid to more than 200 families.

鈥淭he coolest thing I saw was the church responding as a church should,鈥� said Ruiz. 鈥淚t was really encouraging to see them reaching out and loving their neighbors so well.鈥�

Ruiz said she was also encouraged by the students on the team, how they responded to the situation and were very encouraging and flexible with each other and with those around them.

by Rebecca Sneed ’12

The schedule for HLGU鈥檚 2017 Carroll Missions Week includes 10 am services Tuesday and Wednesday in the Parker Theatre of the Roland Fine Arts Center. There will also be a corresponding missions fair, set up in the lobby of the Roland Fine Arts Center, with representatives from ten different organizations. The public is invited to all services.

Each year, HLGU celebrates their global vision through a week of emphasizing missions on campus. Missionaries from all over the world travel to the HLGU campus to interact with students. HLGU students have had the opportunity to not only listen to missionaries from Africa, Asia, Central America, Europe, and South America speak but to also sit down one-on-one and discuss their experiences and potential opportunities to serve.

Carroll Missions Week is a result of the vision and generous resources of the late Kenneth and Rheyma Carroll of Monroe City, MO. Before his death in 2008, Mr. Carroll said he wanted to do something that would make a difference in eternity. Through the establishment of the Carroll Missions Week and the building of the Carroll Missions Center and Carroll Science Center, Mr. and Mrs. Carroll are touching eternity through the lives of thousands of HLGU students.

Marrs is a native of Kansas City, MO and earned his bachelor鈥檚 degree in Christian Ministry from Southwest Baptist University. During his time at SBU he served as youth pastor at Glendale Baptist Church in Springfield, MO, where he met his wife Kerry. He returned to Kansas City in 1996 to attend Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MBTS) and to join the staff of Northland Baptist Church. He graduated from MBTS with a Master of Divinity degree in 2000.

Matt served at Northland Baptist Church for more than 15 years, leading the church to be involved in a variety of church planting efforts. In 2011, Matt became the director of the Clay Platte Baptist Association. As the city coordinator for Kansas City, Matt is expanding his impact to the entire Kansas City metro area.

Matt and Kerry have three children, 16-year-old twin sons Mason and Micah, and 12-year-old daughter Kalynn.