It wasn’t much of a road — more a dirt track through the mountains of South Asia — when the aging four-wheel drive vehicle lurched, slid and rolled backward as it lost a drive shaft.

One wheel grabbed hold of the road, and The Salt Company summer missions team bailed out.

“It was all part of God’s plan,” Derek Black* told Baptist Press. “A bunch of (that nation’s) people came to help, the driver (taking the students 15 miles to the nearest village) seemed very interested in hearing about Jesus, and we went to a new village we wouldn’t otherwise have gone to.”

Black, a junior at the University of Central Florida, was one of 362 Salt college students from across the United States participating in a six- to eight–week summer mission trip overseas.

“Our churches send student teams to hosts overseas who are connected locally to churches interested in reaching university students, to see students in their city reached with the gospel,” Rudy Hartmann told Baptist Press. Hartmann is on staff with The Salt Network, which is a family of churches that focuses on reaching college students and planting churches. These 40 churches spanning 22 states each have a college ministry called The Salt Company.

“We are convinced by Scripture of the need of the nations for the gospel,” Hartman said. “We’re also driven by a near-culture missiology shaped by our experience here of students being the best to reach students in America translating to students being the best to reach students overseas.

“We find it to be an incredibly powerful experience for a student’s discipleship to go on mission overseas and for them to catch a vision to live on mission overseas after graduation or with one of our church plants in America.”

Black described his conversation with a local.

“I got to share the gospel with one lady,” he said. “She recently moved to the village where we were serving. Her husband had died. She was lonely, had no one, and she was longing for truth.

“God had been working on her heart,” the Florida junior continued. “She told me, ‘Hinduism leads to death and it’s not real.’ As I talked with her, I could just watch as she began thinking, ‘This might be true.’ I could see the gears turning.”

That was the closest he got to seeing someone make a profession of faith in Jesus, Black said, but what he did see was God at work.

“I got to see a new perspective of God’s sovereignty. I’d never seen it to that extreme. I got to see people we wouldn’t have had a chance to see accept the gospel as a result of things that went wrong.”

Senior Lynna Layton* was one of 40 students from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to participate in a Salt mission trip this summer. The team she was on went to Central Asia.

“Our goal was to meet with people who were just walking around, have dinner or coffee with them, build relationships and set them up with the local IMB (International Mission Board) guy,” Layton said. “We wanted to share the gospel and then connect them with people who could continue to pour into them.”

Layton and a teammate were “doing a ministry walk” when they came upon a woman about their age who was carrying a bouquet of flowers. They began chatting with her about the flowers, and she said she was on her way to deliver them.

“It was such a coincidence to connect with her,” the Nebraska senior said. “She invited us to go with her. She invited us. That was the Lord.”

They told her about the gospel, about Jesus, and then Layton asked, “Who do you think Jesus is? ‘Before or after this conversation?’ she asked.” Layton continued. “We saw so much fruit from just talking with people.”

Neither Black nor Layton at this time plans to go overseas again next summer, but both said they plan to be involved in missions in the United States. 

“I definitely feel a huge call to be on missions here,” Layton said. “Just the other day I met someone from (Central Asia) right here in Lincoln. In Lincoln. I never would have thought. I feel like I’m being a part of global missions right here.”

Keila Mingo* is associate director of The Salt Company at the University of Central Florida, where about 70,000 students are enrolled. That school sent 15 students overseas this summer. They served in two nations in South Asia and one in Central Asia.

“They were all evangelism-focused; all very different experiences,” Mingo told Baptist Press. “Even though they were so varied, the students all sang praises of the Lord and how the Lord worked this summer, showing faithfulness to use our students to reach the unreached.

“We’re heading into our third year here,” the Florida leader said, referring to The Salt Company, which connects with 10:02 Orlando, a Southern Baptist church. “We are just thankful for how quickly the Lord is raising up laborers. We’ve been blown away by how He has allowed us to reach the city and the nation.”

Bill Canady* is mobilization pastor at CityLight Lincoln, a Southern Baptist church where its Salt ministry focuses on reaching the 30,000-student University of Nebraska.

“We sent 40 overseas this year, the most ever,” Canady said. The Salt Company summer missionaries from Nebraska went to Central, South and Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe. “We tried to prioritize nations that were more unreached and less evangelized and to partner with healthy teams there that would empower our students. So we paired the urgent need with partnering with healthy long-term teams.”

A team in South Asia went to a famous temple, where they were in line with hundreds of mostly South Asians for more than an hour to see a statue.

“They saw the devotion of the people to this idol,” Canady said. “They said their hearts broke for the people, for the lostness in the community. That spurred them on to share the gospel this summer with those who had never heard of Jesus.

“Our students fall in love with their host teams,” the Nebraska leader continued. “They share meals with the long-term workers and see their ministry firsthand.”

The International Mission Board is one of The Salt Company’s major partners in hosting the summer missionaries.

“I am deeply grateful for the flourishing partnership between the Salt Network and the IMB,” Andy Pettigrew told Baptist Press. He leads the IMB’s NextGen Mobilization team which specializes in guiding youth, college students, young adults and their leaders toward actively participating in the Great Commission.

“As an organization committed to serving all Southern Baptists in fulfilling the Great Commission, it is both natural and strategic for us to walk alongside Salt as they pursue a bold vision to plant healthy, mission-driven churches across the globe,” Pettigrew continued. “But this partnership is more than collaboration. It’s a symbiotic relationship that accelerates our shared Revelation 7:9 vision.

“With more than half the world’s population under the age of 29, the need for next-generation engagement is urgent,” Pettigrew said. “Salt is in the trenches, mobilizing young leaders and churches, and their impact is unmistakable. As they continue to give, pray, go and send, they are not only shaping the future of Southern Baptist missions. They are advancing the kingdom in profound ways.”

*Names changed for security reasons.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Karen L. Willoughby is a national correspondent for Baptist Press.)