A Family’s Call to Global Missions
By John Mark Robeck ’98, PhD, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Programs, School of Theology and Ministry, and Rebekah Robeck ’26
During the summer between my junior and senior years of high school, I (John Mark) participated in a short-term trip to Costa Rica. It was on this trip that I received a call to the ministry. I grew up in an Assemblies of God church that emphasized global missions, and I had always been fascinated with the stories of women and men who had responded to the call to go into all the world and make disciples. This led me to apply to Southern California College (now Vanguard University), completing a Bachelor of Arts in Religion with an emphasis in Cross-Cultural and Urban Studies, and then an MDiv. I returned to Vanguard in January 2004 as a staff member in the IT department, while also teaching in the School of Theology and Ministry while beginning work on a doctorate.
In the fall of the 2006, Vanguard approached me about leading a team of students on a summer service trip to El Salvador in partnership with ENLACE, a faith-based NGO working in the region and directed by Vanguard alumnus, Ron Bueno ’90. My answer was simple: I was happy to lead the trip on one condition; my family needed to participate. This included Cristina Robeck, MBA ’07, Rebekah who was three at the time of departure, and Caleb who had just turned one.
As soon as I stepped off the plane in El Salvador for the first time, I felt like the Lord spoke to me saying, “This will be home.” We led five more trips over the next seven years, ultimately moving to El Salvador to host VU study abroad students between 2014 and 2017, after which I returned to VU to join the faculty.
These summer service trips transformed the way that our family engages in life and ministry (Rebekah). Each trip held a purpose and formed new perspectives. Despite being young when I first engaged in the short-term trips to El Salvador, these opportunities still had a long-lasting impact on my life. I learned the value of a slow-paced life and taking the time to form long-lasting relationships with others. There was a reason why my parents allowed my brother and me to spend days at a time playing with the local children, learning their names, the games that they liked to play, and their language. These values were a big part of our family’s own dynamic, making sure that every night we all sat and ate dinner at the table. The experiences I had during these trips allowed me to see the beauty that God has placed in every person and place He has made, bringing to light the reality that we are all His children.
Upon our return to the United States, I had a hard time coming to terms with the move, my heart was still in El Salvador. Even more, I wanted to be a missionary again. Based on the negative experience of transitioning back to the United States and beginning junior high, I was prompted to found Let’s Be Kind, a non-profit that promotes kindness on school campuses within the Newport Mesa Unified School District. In addition, in 2022 I began my freshman year at Vanguard with the desire to become a teacher. Each summer I have participated in a summer service trip offered through the Global Education and Outreach office (GEO), resulting in exposure to various places and people around the world: Tanzania in 2023, Uganda in 2024, and El Salvador in 2025. My dad and I were able to participate in the last two summer trips together. Over the course of the past three years, I have begun to feel my own sense of calling to foreign missions.
Having spent the past 21 years in ministry with Vanguard, and with ENLACE in El Salvador, I (John Mark) have never felt a clearer purpose than to participate in what God is already doing through His church around the world. My time in the classroom is shaped by my experiences working with local church pastors who have responded to God’s call to serve their communities in transformative kinds of ways. My summer service engagement in partnership with GEO and VU students is an opportunity to live out what I believe God has called me to do. The fact that I get to do this with Rebekah is a joy and privilege.
