What does it mean to “live SENT”? For many of us this phrase may not mean much but for 15 university students and 6 young adults from Greensboro, North Carolina, this saying holds much weight. For years, one of our sending churches, Mercy Hill, has led a movement across university campuses called City Project where students leverage their lives for the name of Jesus to be made known locally, nationally, and internationally.

 “Living SENT” is focused on the reality that Jesus was sent to us, so we desire to be sent for Him. These students will sacrifice eight weeks out of their summer to grow as a disciple of Jesus, share the gospel with the world, and travel to support an international church plant. 

This year Mercy Hill has decided to send their students to Halifax, Nova Scotia to come alongside Port City where they will be trained in contextual evangelism, share the amazing news of Jesus with locals and foreigners, learn what it looks like to plant a church in Atlantic Canada, and much more. Although these students will only be here for one week, the goal is for their hearts to overflow with a missional mindset that will carry them for the rest of their lives. 

This is a pivotal time in these students' lives as they seek to live countercultural to the world. As Jesus declares in Luke 10:2, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to SEND out laborers into His harvest.” These students are seeking to live out this text not only through prayer but through being the ones who are sent as well. 

There is much to pray for:

• Please pray for them as they lean into what it looks like to take huge strides in their discipleship. Pray that their affections for Jesus would grow immensely so that living SENT would not be seen as burdensome, but rather as beautiful. 

• Pray for the staff of Mercy Hill and Port City as they seek to lead these students for the glory of God. May it be a challenging week but full of rest in the gospel. 

• Pray that the Lord would be working on the hearts of university students in Halifax and those in our city who will hear the gospel from the City Project students. Pray that conversations would be healthy, challenging, and loving while keeping the gospel at the focus. We are confidently asking the Lord for salvations, and that many would call Port City home as a result of these interactions. 

• We also want to come to the Lord in prayer asking that this would be a life changing time in these students' lives. Yes, they are coming to assist our church plant, but we truly desire to see the Lord work on their hearts in miraculous ways. 

• Would we pray that many of these students would surrender their lives to living missionally both in their hometowns and overseas; from across the street to across the globe. May it even be possible for one of these students to move their lives, while in university, to Halifax to help reach this city with the greatest news ever!