Born and raised in Miami, Florida, Victoria Azurdia’s “understanding of the Gospel was very skewed,” she said, “until I had the Gospel preached to me faithfully through a youth group.”

Through that youth group, Azurdia accepted Christ and continued to grow in her faith, eventually desiring to attend a Christian university. She was struck by the fact that the only building on North Greenville University’s (NGU) campus open 24 hours was the prayer chapel. “This campus really prioritizes faith, and I wanted to pursue that,” she said.

Discipled and Sent

Now a senior majoring in political science, Azurdia said that she came into NGU as a “bare bones believer.” New to the faith, NGU provided a place to be discipled and learn how to live missionally. With aspirations to become a lawyer, NGU “reinforced the idea that I can use my passion and my desire to go into law or policy for the sake of the Gospel by doing good work.”

That same idea of missional living was strengthened by her time in SCBaptist’s Palmetto Collective, where students are regularly asked where is the “most strategic place to be for Jesus after graduation?” Azurdia emphasized how formative the experience has been for her in growing her understanding of missions and in forming a community of like-minded believers. Through a trip to Utah, she spent two months working alongside a church plant, which gave her a “passion for the LDS people and wanting the Gospel to reach them.”

Now serving as an intern for the ERLC and preparing for her senior year, Azurdia carries with her a deepened faith, a passion for missions, and a calling to live strategically for the sake of the Gospel, wherever her path may lead.