The students named are Rachel Lindsay (top photo), who attends Grace Covenant Church in Clay, New York; MJ Pacheco (center photo), who attends Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Kerrick Stevens (lower photo) who attends the Community Covenant Church in Peabody, Massachusetts.
The students will travel to Thailand in July immediately prior to CHIC, which will be held on the campus of the University of Tennessee from July 12-17. The trip will enable the students to share their perspectives about the ongoing work in the country.
The shared experiences hopefully will help prepare the students in Knoxville for the offering that will be taken to benefit Thailand mission initiatives. The funds raised will be used to support Covenant-related ministries addressing needs of people in Thailand through sustainable projects.
These students will have a chance to visit downtown Bangkok, as well as travel to the outer edges of the country visiting some of the Covenant missionaries.
“They will visit the places, meet the people, and experience the programs that the offering will help to support,” says Tara Allison, a CHIC Council member and office assistant with the Department of Christian Formation. “The main objective of the trip is for the students going to Thailand to be able to communicate to their peers how important it is to be aware of the needs of people around the world.”
The students selected for the trip participated in an intense application process that began when they submitted a written application and recommendation from their youth leader. They were then invited to submit a video application, which was followed up by a telephone interview.
“We had over 60 students apply at the start, submitting paper applications and youth pastor recommendations, and then about 45 sent in videos,” said Allison. After watching the videos, we did phone interviews with approximately 20 students we felt had the best camera presence.”
“We had a number of fantastic applicants,” says Paul Johnson, North Park University ministries coordinator and a CHIC council member. “What stood out about the three students we chose were their enthusiasm for adventure, their flexibility, and ability to communicate – all of which will be important on this trip.”
