MissionLab Provides Gospel-centric Service Opportunities for Church Groups
This past summer, church groups from all over the country gathered at NOBTS for a jam-packed week of missional living and community service known as MissionLab. MissionLab partners with local churches and non-profit organizations to provide mission teams the opportunity to practice living on-mission in a big-city environment.
Participants are trained in evangelism while being immersed in the unique and diverse culture of New Orleans. Groups stay on the seminary campus and are provided corporate worship and a biblical message. Hundreds of participants, including many teenagers, stayed on the seminary's campus for MissionLab this summer.
During a typical calendar year, MissionLab hosts between 2,500 to 3,000 participants from a variety of different states.
MissionLab Director Jonathan Victorian described the program as "an action-packed experience that transforms not just the city that is being served, but also transforms the people doing the work as well."
Victorian, who officially became director of MissionLab in Feb. 2025, said the goal of MissionLab is to help visiting groups serve New Orleans in a Gospel-centered way.
"It's one thing to just do something for the sake of helping people, but it's another thing for it to be Gospel-centric," he said. "People are consistently coming in from outside the city, not just to serve and help people in our city, but to advance the Kingdom of God.
"MissionLab is essentially being the hands and feet of Jesus. We prayed to God for laborers to come to the harvest, and God has blessed us with a vehicle like MissionLab to be able to bring those laborers to the harvest here in New Orleans.
"This is one of the main things I saw as a highlight of MissionLab when I became director, and so I just started looking at how we could take that to another level."
MissionLab participants spoke to the impact doing such Gospel-centric work had on their groups.
Making a Real Impact
The ministry sites MissionLab partners with span across New Orleans — local churches, food banks, community outreach organizations, nursing homes, community gardens, and evangelism teams. Each group is matched with sites that align with their team's skills and interests, ensuring a meaningful and purposeful week.
What makes MissionLab distinctive is not just the work itself, but the theological grounding behind it. NOBTS faculty teach evangelism and missions training throughout the week, equipping participants to share the gospel with confidence and compassion.
Groups consistently report that the combination of hands-on service and theological formation creates something that goes beyond a typical mission trip — it's a week that reshapes how participants see their ordinary lives back home as mission fields.
Come and Serve
MissionLab hosts program weeks in the spring and summer, with custom year-round dates available for groups who want to come outside the program calendar. All groups stay on the beautiful NOBTS campus with housing, meals, and programming provided.
To learn more or book your group's week in New Orleans, visit the Program Dates page or contact our team directly.