Riverside, Calif., May, 2000--Edith Wharton once said: "There are many ways to spread light: to be the candle or one of many things that can reflect it." These words ring true in the La Sierra University Home Base office. Home Base is a relatively new department at the university and "requirements" for joining the program are limited but specific: Any student who wants to serve Christ is in.

Home Base is split into three sub-departments, all of them under the attentive eye of Jodi Cahill, La Sierra associate chaplain and director of Home Base Ministries.

Student Missions: Perhaps the most established of the three sub-departments is Student Missions, an office that facilitates the whole process of missionary service for college students. Currently, there are 23 La Sierra students serving in nine countries and these figures represent a dramatic increase since Cahill first started in 1997.

Some credit Cahill's non-stop, full-court press to encourage service. But the gregarious chaplain credits a higher power for the renewed interest in service. "God's spirit is really moving here and we're seeing a real change in student attitudes."

Home Base: While Student Missions focuses on overseas needs, this office directs missionary endeavors toward needs in Southern California and the Southwest.

"Every student has a desire to serve, but sometimes they don't have the luxury of going far away," Cahill said. "But we always try to remind students that they should work for the Lord no matter where they are."

Members of Home Base travel teams journey throughout California's Southeastern Conference and Arizona Conference. Students assist churches in a variety of ways including dramas, special music, children's stories, the occasional sermon and even a whole weekend of spiritual programming if the need arises.

Response to this new outreach has been immediate and enthusiastic. "I was impressed with how excited the students were," said Kevin Kakazu, an interim pastor at the Loma Linda Japanese Church where a Home Base crew visited in February. "Our congregation could really sense that these young people were on fire for the Lord."

As of May, Home Base teams have visited more than 45 churches during the 1999-2000 school year. These visits have included churches in Barstow, Burbank, Canoga, Downey, Eagle Rock, Glendale, Ridgecrest, Northridge, Loma Linda, Riverside, and as far as Phoenix and Tuscon, Ariz. Home Base students also lead out once a month at the La Sierra University Church.

International Outreach Program: The newest Home Base Department reaches out to La Sierra's ethnically diverse student body. Far from home and their families, international students can feel isolated. Home Base International Outreach responds to this need by directing students to the wide variety of spiritual offerings on campus and to other support networks.

The three-pronged Home Base effort has meant spiritual reinvigoration for participating students - and for the campus where they live and work.

It's also meant a lot of long hours for the hyper-kinetic Cahill. "People ask me why I don't get any sleep. It's because of these students. I'm always trying to stay just one step ahead of their ideas and that's an exciting problem to have," she said.

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Story by Marc Moran, a La Sierra junior communication major from Redlands, Calif.