Department Continues Long Tradition of Vocational Missions

Early March screams spring break, with many students heading to the beach or the last ski trip of the season. However, a group of eight accounting graduate students used the break to travel with professors Marty Stuebs, PhD, and Don Carpenter to Amsterdam on a mission trip. This trip continues a long line of Department of Accounting and Business Law mission trips that emphasize the role accounting has in service. For well over 10 years, the department has sent small teams to places such as Uganda, the UK, Spain and the Netherlands in short-term mission service.

“This is the third trip to Amsterdam in what has developed into a mutually beneficial partnership with Youth With a Mission (YWAM),” said Carpenter. 

YWAM is a worldwide organization that trains young adults for Christian-based service focused particularly on unreached areas. YWAM Amsterdam is led by Steve Ashworth, a Baylor Accounting graduate, who has lived in the city for more than 30 years. 

As a non-profit organization, YWAM is required to have its annual financial results audited by an accredited firm, with the financial reports being due each June. The audit firm submits a list of workpapers and other information that is required to facilitate the review to YWAM’s accounting team. With a fairly short turnaround, it stretches the team to provide timely responses while maintaining their other responsibilities. In step, the Baylor students each take an assignment and complete the auditor’s request while under the oversight of the YWAM accounting staff. 

“As graduate students, most on the trip have served on audit teams during their internships,” Stuebs said. “This project allows them to not only serve but see the other side of the audit process.”

Logon Nelson worked on account reconciliations. 

“Working with YWAM Amsterdam pushed me to apply everything I’ve learned in accounting,” Nelson said. “We also weren’t just doing busy work. We were helping prepare them for an actual audit, identifying and correcting issues that directly impacted their operations. The people there were incredible, and the trip showed me how accounting, when used to serve others, can have a real and lasting impact.”

Sophia Massey teamed with another student to prepare the donor database for audit review. 

“This trip was so impactful because it strengthened so many parts of me,” Massey said. “I was fed spiritually, academically and culturally. It was a joy to work and worship with YWAM’s missionaries and staff! Additionally, exploring new cities and trying foreign foods was amazing! However, the surprisingly best part was using my accounting knowledge for a greater purpose. I saw the fulfilling fruit of my studies at Baylor come to life as I worked to prepare YWAM for its audit. It made me even more excited to begin full-time work after graduation.”

Although the focus remains the same each year, the team is always a new group of students. And over the three-year partnership, the scope of the work has broadened. These past two years, the team has included at least one student with a tax concentration who assists YWAM staffers from the US with tax issues that arise in the expatriate context.

And it’s not all work. While in Amsterdam, the team finds time for spiritual reflection, such as joining the YWAM staff and trainees for their Tuesday morning worship. They also visit the Ann Frank house, compete in a scavenger hunt in the Rijksmuseum and canvas the city on a bike tour.

While benefiting our partner, the trips are also designed to allow our students to experience firsthand how the skills they have acquired as accounting majors can be used in Christian service.