Sieberhagen encourages Southwestern students to ‘go’ following summer mission trip

Whether in a short-term or long-term commitment, or as a sender, every believer must “give God your go” for missions, said Dean Sieberhagen, associate professor of Islamic studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, following a July mission trip to Europe with seminary students and his wife, Sandra.

“I’m unapologetic. Every student has to give God their ‘go.’ Then a short-term trip is a way to see, ‘Okay, I got a taste of the field. Am I supposed to go?’” said Sieberhagen. “Or, ‘Now I’ve seen what it means to send somebody and now, when I’m back in the U.S., as a pastor or whatever, I saw what the field is like, and why we give to Lottie Moon, and why we send people.’” 

The team from Southwestern Seminary worked side-by-side with six Christians based in Europe during the summer mission trip, serving refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Somalia, Syria, and Ethiopia. 

Jerry Hatfield*, a Master of Divinity student at Southwestern, and his wife Hannah*, a Master of Theological Studies student, moved from Austin to Fort Worth in 2020. This summer, they gave God their go, working with refugees, listening to their stories, and sharing the love of Jesus. One story was from a 24-year-old man who walked along with another refugee for a long part of his journey, under cover of darkness, from Kabul, Afghanistan, to Europe, sleeping for only a few hours during the day.

Jerry identified with that treacherous journey of escaping the darkness and coming to the light of Christ.

“We all go through the journeys in darkness,” Jerry explained. “I’ve been through that journey myself. But the light of Christ is what makes it worth the journey, because that is how you get to the point of rest.”

Jerry’s dark road came right after high school when he was involved in a deadly automobile accident. He escaped with minor injuries, but two ladies in the car he struck were seriously hurt, with the younger woman, the 40-year-old daughter of the other occupant, dying from her injuries. Following the accident, Jerry came to salvation and began to serve in leadership in Baptist student ministry and went on mission trips to help others escape from darkness. 

For the Hatfields, their “go” to missions was put on hold for two decades of their marriage. Though a 2019 trip to Rome, Florence, and the Tuscany region, was not a mission trip, missions and missionaries were on their minds and the call to bring light to the darkness was still calling them. 

With all four of their adult children grown and out of the house, and in part because the COVID-19 pandemic allowed Jerry to work from home, they relocated to Fort Worth to enroll in Southwestern Seminary in the spring of 2021, with a desire to be trained to go to the mission field. “When I was in college I had always been attracted to Southwestern because of its missions focus,” Jerry said. This summer’s mission trip reinforced their call for the mission field and to encourage others to go also. 

For Hannah, “giving God her go” came early in life, hearing from missionaries when she was 16, shortly after her own salvation. 

The July mission trip was mostly to minister to refugees from the Middle East who have never had a lot of material possessions. The refugees are dealing with tragic circumstances, and “have never experienced good. We’ve heard over and over again, ‘If God is so good, why was I born in Afghanistan? No matter where I go, people hate me because of the color of my skin, because of where I’m from,’” Hannah said. “They don’t know of the love of God.”

The work was mostly helping the refugees get ready for life in a new location, but primarily, Jerry and Hannah simply listened to the stories from the refugees. Many of the refugees know enough English, making it possible to learn their stories which consist of living constantly with the reality of war.

“This is a generation of kids who have known nothing but war all of their lives,” Jerry said. “A guy yesterday mentioned, ‘Another bomb blew up, okay. Another bomb, two people died, okay.’ It is just expected day to day.”

Jerry said there is a need for people to work with refugees. “They are overwhelmed. We’ve had a total of eight of us that are working this week. We’ve had over a hundred people every day, men and women who are coming and we’re having conversations with them. Just hearing their stories provides an opportunity to share the Gospel. … But there’s so much more need for more workers.”

Jerry said having his professor alongside of them made the trip even more fascinating. 

“It’s wonderful having Dr. Dean Sieberhagen here because he is a great resource,” Jerry observed. “It gives me more context in how to speak with this particular group of refugees, because they are coming out of an Islamic context and him being the professor of Islamic studies, having his knowledge, wisdom, and experience having been on the field [of Central Asia] for a number of years.”

Sieberhagen affirms the value of students going to the field, joining academics with the practical experience of missions. 

“We want to give students a taste of that. Jerry and Hannah here, they want to be missionaries, so them saying ‘Alright, let’s go on a trip together. Let’s see and let’s work with [those in the field], let’s see what they do and get a taste of what it takes.’ And let God use that to confirm either a place to go or just confirm when you take off,” Sieberhagen explained.

Sieberhagen loves missions and being a professor of missions, imparting that love to his students. 

“My sweet spot is teaching, and I am in my zone when I am teaching,” said Sieberhagen. “They can load me up with as many classes as they want. Being in front of students and inspiring them to reach the lost. If I didn’t think that was happening, if I was just going through the motions of teaching and no one was coming to the field, I would have to resign and come back to the field.”

Having his wife, Sandra, along on the trip was an added blessing. Sandra misses being on the mission field, both in short-term and long-term capacities. 

“I do not get as nearly as many opportunities to come on trips with Dean as I would like. Often his trips overlap during the school year, and I can’t travel because I am committed to teach,” she said, as she is an elementary school teacher. “He has been on a lot more trips than I have. I did have the opportunity to go to Madagascar four or five years ago, and then this trip.”

Sandra said that when her husband preaches for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions, at the end of his sermon he will say, “Is God calling you to go to the mission field?”

“I will be like, ‘Yes, I’ll go. I’ll go,’” she laughs.

She is comforted, though, when she sees her husband effectively imparting the couple’s passion for missions to Southwestern students. “On the days when I am really wishing I was in the field, I remind myself of that,” she said.

As a father, husband, and professor, Sieberhagen makes it clear to everyone about “giving God your go.”

“We have one more in college,” Sieberhagen said, “and when he gets through, we are hoping we could arrange a few other things financially that Sandra would be able to do way more of this. That would be our desire. I would love her to come on every trip. She’s got such a passion and is great with the students, such an extravert, and every student is like one of her own children. I would love to have her on every trip that I go.”

“I say to everybody, including my own children, that every single believer has to give God their ‘yes.’ The Great Commission to go is to everybody. Every believer needs to say, ‘Okay, God if You show me the time and place, You’ve got my yes.’”

Jerry encouraged other Southwestern students to participate in future mission trips.

“Jesus said that the field is white for harvest, but the workers are few. Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send workers into the field and that’s where we are at right now,” Jerry said. 

“What is important is that they see Jesus.”

*Name changed for security reasons.