‘The trip gives you more of a global awareness and a deeper sense of the Lindsey Wilson mission.’
COLUMBIA, KY. (07/09/2025) For a group of Lindsey Wilson University students, part of their first trip outside of the United States was spent inside of prisons in the Dominican Republic.
The students were members of a 16-person mission trip to Santiago, Dominican Republic, sponsored by Lindsey Wilson’s campus ministries. While serving in the Caribbean nation, the Lindsey Wilson group partnered with GO Ministries, a Christian non-profit organization, to teach vacation Bible school and take part in a prison ministry.
“The trip gives you more of a global awareness and a deeper sense of the Lindsey Wilson mission,” said Lindsey Wilson Chaplain the Rev. Tyler Brumfield, who helped lead the June 24-July 1 trip. “I’m really proud of our students. The trip pushed them a lot, but our students stepped up and made a difference in others’ lives. I’m so proud of our students and the way I saw them learn through experience.”
The trip marked the 13th time that Lindsey Wilson’s campus ministries has worked with the Caribbean-based GO Ministries. On this trip, the Lindsey Wilson group taught vacation Bible school at a church, which attracted a record 150 area children, as well as in one of Santiago’s more impoverished areas. They also helped coordinate family day at three prisons.
Humbling work
It was the first time that Brumfield, who recently completed his first year of service as Lindsey Wilson chaplain, took part in the trip.
“The work itself is humbling,” he said. “But it’s also an honor to be able to do it. It’s just very eye-opening.”
One of the Lindsey Wilson students whose eyes were opened on the trip was Amanda Skipworth ’26 of Winchester, Kentucky.
The nursing major said that she forged a special relationship with “a sweet little girl” while teaching vacation Bible school.
“(She) came up to me and gave me a hug and said, ‘I love you,'” said Skipworth. “She never left my side the rest of the week. What was so significant about this moment was that this little girl didn’t speak any English, but the longing to connect and share love defies any language barrier. The next day, she and her friend taught me the words they knew in Spanish and asked me what different words were in English. We may speak different languages or come from different countries or cultures, but deep down inside we’re all the same.”
Brumfield said he also witnessed how ministry can transcend linguistic barriers when the Lindsey Wilson group helped host family day activities at one of the prisons.
“We spoke very little Spanish, but one thing I learned is that play is a universal language — everyone knows how to kick a ball,” he said.
The power of mission
Brumfield said that serving at a prison’s family day “is somehow joyful and heartbreaking at the same time.”
“Seeing the joyful environment and reunion of family members is special, but then the reality of the situation was heartbreaking because even though they were inmates, this was someone’s dad, mom, son or spouse,” he said. “It was very powerful for our students to see.”
Graduate student Barbara Mendez of Liberty, Kentucky, said she experienced the power of ministry and mission while visiting one of the prisons. To her surprise, Mendez said she saw “the joy and happiness of the prisoners.”
“I asked myself, ‘How are they so joyous?’ Some of them didn’t even look like prisoners,” said Mendez, who is pursuing a master’s degree in business administration. “I asked one of the prisoners, ‘I see that you’re smiling and just happy to be here, why is that?’ He answered, ‘We may be enclosed within these four walls physically, but inside I am free because I have Christ in my heart.’
“That moment was truly inspirational. I will never forget it, especially because he shared that he had been imprisoned for 20 years. The same week our team was leaving the Dominican Republic, he would be a free man and go back to his family. As he said, ‘I’m going out as a transformed man.'”
Lindsey Wilson University Campus Ministries sponsored a 16-person mission trip to Santiago, Dominican Republic, in partnership with the Caribbean-based GO Ministries. The Lindsey Wilson group taught vacation Bible school and helped organize family day at three prisons.
Lindsey Wilson University students Braxton Crook of Lebanon, Tennessee, and Barbara Mendez of Liberty, Kentucky, teach a vacation Bible school class while on a mission trip to Santiago, Dominican Republic.
Lindsey Wilson University student Brianne Beck of Lebanon Junction, Kentucky, receives a hug from a student while serving on a mission trip to Santiago, Dominican Republic.
Lindsey Wilson University students Kameron King of Madisonville, Kentucky, and Braxton Crook of Lebanon, Tennessee, are joined by two students from their vacation Bible school in Santiago, Dominican Republic.
Lindsey Wilson University is a vibrant liberal arts university in Columbia, Kentucky. Founded in 1903 and affiliated with The United Methodist Church, the mission of Lindsey Wilson is to serve the educational needs of students by providing a living-learning environment within an atmosphere of active caring and Christian concern where every student, every day, learns and grows and feels like a real human being. Lindsey Wilson offers 28 undergraduate majors, five graduate programs and a doctoral program. The university’s 29 intercollegiate varsity athletic teams have won more than 120 team and individual national championships.
(Duane Bonifer – Lindsey Wilson University)