Lipscomb community gathers to remember life of Jared Eubanks

Lipscomb community gathers to remember life of Jared Eubanks

The Lipscomb community gathered for a time of mourning, remembrance and encouragement in the Doris Swang Chapel Sunday night after the passing of student Jared Eubanks. Eubanks died Monday, Sept. 7, after a lengthy illness. He was a senior nursing major from Hendersonville, Tennessee and lived in High Rise men’s residence hall. Eubanks was also a member of men’s social club Sigma Iota Delta. Among several SID members in attendance was President Braden Davidson, who read a note from one of Eubanks’ close friends. “Jared [Eubanks] was the type of person who would never think about himself,” he read from the note. “He put others first in everything he did and would go above and beyond for everyone, no matter how well he knew them.” One of the ways Eubanks exhibited this trait was through his studies in Lipscomb’s School of Nursing. Dean of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Roger Davis said Eubanks’ life touched many on campus. Davis shared that Eubanks had qualities that couldn’t be taught — empathy, compassion and love and desire to share his knowledge and skills with others. Davis said these are signs of a true professional in the health sciences field, but these qualities were not strangers to Eubanks. “In the past year, he has taught our students, our faculty and our staff across campus, but particularly in the school of nursing, what it means to be a true professional,” Davis said. “He will continue to be an example for our school, our university and for every person who comes through our nursing program here.” School of Nursing officials “pinned” Eubanks with a nursing pin and white coat — that...

Rebecca Burris combines love for serving, teaching for spring break mission trip

Senior education major Rebecca Burris will return to Cozumel, Mexico for her fourth spring break to serve the orphans at City of Angels. The City of Angels is a Christian children’s home where young children who have been orphaned, abandoned or abused can find a permanent home. Originally from Mitchell, Indiana, Burris had not heard of the City of Angels until she arrived at Lipscomb. The missions fair introduced her to the opportunity. “I went to the info meeting and as I heard more about it, I realized I would love to go on this trip,” Burris said. As an education major, Burris was naturally attracted to the trip because of the emphasis put on spending time with children. “It’s a super laid back trip,” she said. “We do VBS two days and ESL [English as second language] classes two days and the last day is carnival day.” After her first trip, she decided to get more involved as a student leader. “Mark Jent is the leader and he asked me to be a student leader [my sophomore year] so I started doing that and I’ve been that ever since, so I have gotten to be a little more involved each year,” she said. Burris has had a hand in planning the VBS portion of the trip for the last two years. Her and the team spend time teaching, singing and doing arts and crafts. This year Burris will be playing a new role on the trip, though. “This is my first year to be on the [ESL] group,” she said. “We will be giving them English vocabulary words and Mad Libs...

‘Ray of sunshine’ Anastasia Sloan honored in celebration of life

The friends and family of the Anastasia Sloan gathered to celebrate her immensely impactful life in the Ezell Center’s Swang Chapel Wednesday night. “She was such a ray of sunshine,” Walt Leaver, vice president for university relations, said. Ms. Sloan, a 2013 graduate of Lipscomb University, lost her life in an auto accident late Monday night. “As we have all mourned greatly in the past couple of days and will continue to do so over the days and weeks ahead, the purpose of tonight is to bring a message of hope,” said Mark Jent, the director of missions outreach for Lipscomb. Jent and his wife Beth were Ms. Sloan’s team leaders on two mission trips to Australia in 2010 and 2011. “She has been a blessing and joy in our life,” Jent said. During the service, those in attendance joined in worship, prayer and reflections of Ms. Sloan’s life and impact. “I think the greatest blessing for me is knowing her heart,” friend Kaylynn Allen said. “She loved people.” Shuen Lim, of Brisbane, Australia, came to know Ms. Sloan during one of Lipscomb’s mission trips. “I was just blown away by her adventurous spirit,” Lim said. “She was so brave to go and bless the world.” Dean Scott McDowell, senior vice president for student life, recounted reading some of Ms. Sloan’s blog posts on the website for the World Race, a mission trip she was planning on going on later this year. He recommended that everyone in attendance go back and read Ms. Sloan’s powerful words. “You will be blessed by doing that,” McDowell said. Various memories were shared from the...
Summer missions teams spend 106 days in service

Summer missions teams spend 106 days in service

With final exams now nearly one month in the rearview mirror, Lipscomb students have turned their focus to their next objective – serving Christ across the globe this summer. Over the course of 106 days, from May 4 through Aug. 17, Lipscomb Missions will have 24 teams on the ground in 18 different countries. The timeframe is broad in scope – all summer long – and so are the locations and types of services being offered. From discipline-specific trips in Engineering that will be serving communities in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic to a first year trip to Moldova where a team of graduate psychology students will be providing therapeutic counseling to girls once caught in human trafficking, some students have the opportunity to take what they have learned in the classroom and apply it in a mission field. Students will experience a variety of cultures, from the two trips to Australia (Brisbane and Perth) where students will engage growing churches and encourage youth, to two trips in India where Lipscomb teams will spend five weeks in Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta ministering in a country where Christians are the minority. In each of these missions, students will have the unique chance to literally “go into all the world,” as Jesus directs his followers in Mark 16:15. This year’s 24 summer trips are a record for Lipscomb Missions, up from 20 trips in 2011 and just eight trips three years ago in 2009. There has been a significant shift in the landscape of the Missions Program as the number of trips offered has flipped from being heavily weighted on spring break efforts to the current majority of summer trips leading...
Mission Trip Journal: Ciudad de Angeles; Cozumel, Mexico

Mission Trip Journal: Ciudad de Angeles; Cozumel, Mexico

I was so tired from not having slept nearly at all on Friday night. I had packed, done laundry and finished my last minute shopping with little time left to sleep before time to meet up with the team at 3 a.m. Saturday March 12 Once we got to school to ride the bus out to the airport, my tired eyes weren’t even a concern because I was so excited to be with my team, ready to go for the week. We prayed together over our trip and all of the other groups leaving from Lipscomb to serve God’s grand kingdom in the world. After several hours in airports and on airplanes, we arrived at the Casa Mirage where the girls from the team stayed for the week. I was incredibly excited to get to Cozumel. Being back there after a year was such an incredible feeling; I loved smelling the smells and feeling the breeze that I hadn’t felt since last spring break. Saturday night, we went to the campus of Ciudad de Ángeles and served dinner and smores to the “angels” and the staff there. I was pretty nervous because I didn’t know if any of the kids would remember me from last year. I don’t know why I worried so much. Even though some of them didn’t recognize me at first, the girl that my family sponsors was waiting to greet me with a hug. I also met a boy who had just moved to Ciudad last year. It is amazing to see how God is blessing Ciudad de Ángeles daily. Last year, 8 new angels...