Earlier this summer, three b-school professors, Dr. Jim Litton, Dr. Darryl Jinkerson and Dr. Andy Little headed to Mission Lazarus, in the Choluteca area of Honduras. ACU and the College of Business, in particular, have a unique relationship with Mission Lazarus. COBA grad Jarrod Brown co-founded the mission after a high-paying job was leaving him unsatisfied. Brown says, “The defining moment was seeing a need in the mission field where my business training from ACU could be a valuable asset for the Lord’s kingdom, rather than just for my pocketbook.”
Mission Lazarus focuses on four specific areas: agricultural teaching, medical clinics, educational programs and schools and spiritual formation ministries. To read more about Mission Lazarus, visit their website here.
We recently caught up with Dr. Little to find out more about their visit to Mission Lazarus:
- What was the purpose of the trip? What did you all do while there?
The Griggs Center sponsored our trip to Honduras to scout potential locations and partners for future global business programs for COBA students. Jim Litton, Director of the Griggs Center, invited Darryl Jinkerson and me to join him in visiting with Jarrod Brown and the Mission Lazarus staff on-site in the Choluteca area of Honduras. We spent time touring the Mission Lazarus facility, meeting with Jarrod to discuss possible opportunities, and getting to know the Honduran people and culture. We paid particular attention to ways in which COBA students interested in social entrepreneurship might be able to work with Mission Lazarus in some kind of short-term internship opportunity. Future plans are still in the embryonic phase, but this trip gave us tangible data by which to assess the possibilities and inspired us to work to provide students with opportunities in Central America.
View from the Mission
- Why do you think it’s important that are students have the opportunity to visit and work with Mission Lazarus?
Mission Lazarus is an amazing place, led by a dynamic team. Jarrod is a visionary leader of the highest caliber, and he has surrounded himself with talented people and supporters who help him implement his dream of transforming an impoverished nation for Christ. He has taken several otherwise traditional organizational models–evangelistic missions, for-profit business, rural health care, and education–and combined them in a way that is unique and all-encompassing. I think COBA wants its students to have access to and be inspired by this kind of leadership. More than this, Mission Lazarus fits perfectly with the social entrepreneurship emphasis in the Griggs Center.
- What do you hope our students learn from the class?
Our goal is to put together a multi-week program that combines stateside coursework with an internship at Mission Lazarus focusing on social entrepreneurship in the developing world. If we are successful in making this offering happen, we think it can be a flagship program for the Griggs Center and give students real-world experience with social entrepreneurship. Ultimately, I think much of what students could learn will be internal: the experience we hope to create will help them find out who they are and what really matters to them.
the Refuge at Mission Lazarus
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If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity or the Griggs Center for Entrepreneurship & Philanthropy, feel free to send an email to coba@acu.edu.