Welcome to ACSI

By: Josh Worden

When students at accredited ACSI member school McKinney Christian Academy (MCA) traveled from Texas to Germany in the summer of 2024 as part of the Great Commission Project, the trip lasted five days.

The impact on the students, however, lasted much longer.

MCA students returned in 2025 to Stuttgart, once again immersing themselves in German culture, sharing the Gospel with local students, and partnering with a Christian school, Freie Evangelische Schule (FES).

After the 2025 trip, MCA students found out that their German peers at FES would be paying them a return visit to Texas in March 2026. 

That was especially exciting news for two MCA seniors, Katherine and Adam, who both went to Germany in 2024 and 2025 and benefited spiritually from the Great Commission Project.

“Fellowshipping with classmates and having conversations about Christ constantly did a lot for me spiritually,” Adam said.

“It is a really impactful experience to spread the Gospel to other areas,” Katherine added. “It creates lasting bonds with the students, the leaders, and the people at the school there. The memories we created are unbelievable.”

Katherine’s experience played a vital role in her decision to get baptized in March of 2025, in between her two trips to Germany.

“I grew a lot spiritually and really strengthened my faith learning how people in other parts of the world experience Christianity,” she said. “Going back this year strengthened it even more.”

The German and American students partnered together during their time in Stuttgart, going to classrooms from elementary to high school ages to share Bible stories, perform skits, and present a Gospel message. Outside of school hours, the German students showed their American peers around town and served as their interpreters.

“We did a prayer walk around the school, and it was super impactful hearing them pray in their language while we prayed in English,” Katherine said. “It also impacted me culturally. I got to see how teenagers lived their daily lives. The strong similarities we had were a great bonding experience.”

Adam was motivated to join the Great Commission Project because of a desire to serve God globally.

“My dream is to do medical missions,” Adam said. “I want to help the broader spectrum of people. Being involved in missions early on in life, to learn how that looks, sets me up for the long term.”

Seeing the Gospel at work globally was also eye-opening for Katherine, especially in an interaction with a hotel staff member in Germany.

"She came up to our group when she heard we were from a Christian school,” Katherine said. “She shared a powerful testimony about all the things she had been through. It really hit my heart.”

Even though Katherine went to Germany to serve and not be served, that interaction—and the trip as a whole—was immensely beneficial and motivating for her personally.

“It made me realize I needed to do more and go deeper with God,” she said. “I made it a goal to not have the “mission trip high” that drops down after. The next March, I got baptized.”

The evangelism activities the students participated in were also educational for the future.

“It equipped me to be more open to sharing the Gospel with younger kids,” Katherine said. “I serve in the kindergarten area of my church as a small group leader. I still do skits and use fun pictures because even though they speak English, they’re still little kids and they don’t always understand the big words in the stories. So that way, they can understand the Bible.”

To learn more about the Great Commission Project, visit the website.