by Chelsea Anderson, James Madison University BCM

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This year, JMU BCM will graduate our first four-year involved seniors since our relaunch in 2021. Our value system as we engage students on campus from freshman through senior year is that once they attend the collegiate ministry, they begin a formation track that prepares them to be a missionary in the "real world." We see their time in JMU BCM as an on-the-ground missionary training program that we release them from when they graduate as seniors. This year, for our first four-year graduates, we've engaged them in "send-off" sessions, helping them think through what it means to form community, engage in church life, work well (without holding it as an idol and keeping biblical perspectives in work), and more. To do this well, we've involved community members to share their own experiences and triumphs in areas of work and family. On May 3, we hosted our "ceremony" of sending off the seniors in traditional style of laying hands on them, talking about how they contributed to the good of the community while they were here, and prayers, well wishes, and a "charge" moving forward.  

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