When Gavin Norris was in college, God found him right in the middle of a destructive path.
“My brother passed away when I was 15, then I just started making a bunch of bad decisions,” Norris said. “I became very much a loner and got into drugs and drinking and vaping to try to fill the void inside.”
At 19, he hit a “really low point,” and he turned to Jesus.
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“I was raised in the church and I knew Jesus was the place to go, and I had claimed to be a Christian all that time, but I knew I wasn’t living right,” Norris said.
He started reading his Bible and eventually got to the point where he surrendered everything to Christ.
“That whole year I felt like I was basking in God’s grace, and I realized, ‘Oh, I need to give this to other people,’” he said.
So fast forward a few years, and the role he’s currently serving in at the University of North Alabama’s Baptist Campus Ministries is a perfect fit.
Strategic missions field
This past year, Norris has been the campus missionary there, a new position created at four Alabama universities by the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
The University of Alabama, Alabama State University and Troy University were the other three BCMs with campus missionaries.
Ben Edfeldt, director of the SBOM office of collegiate and student ministries, said the idea of this role is similar to the International Mission Board journeyman program, in which recent college grads take on a short-term missions assignment.
“We’re asking students who are leaders in their BCMs to give a year back to reach one of the most strategic mission fields in the state — the college campus,” Edfeldt said.
The SBOM provides the funding for the internship-like program, and the campus’ BCM provides the housing.
“We’re hoping to have 10 serving in this role across the state next year,” he said.
At UNA, a female graduate will serve as a new campus missionary, and Norris will also be coming back for a second year.
‘Seamless transition’
Matt Daniels, the Baptist campus minister there, said having Norris on staff this past year “has been awesome for us.”
“It’s been great to expand our gospel reach on campus through lens of evangelism and discipleship,” Daniels said. “It’s been a seamless transition in adding him. We’ve seen significant depth come from him discipling our students and helping them be better at sharing their faith and reaching the campus.”
Daniels said Norris has “a real heart for the Lord” and has increased what the BCM is able to do.
“Having more people who can help us reach students we may not be able to reach, it’s just a huge blessing, and it adds to the excitement with fall coming on the horizon,” Daniels said.
Norris said he just wants more people to know Jesus and also know the community the BCM has to offer as they grow as disciples. He said his time as a student at the BCM was formative for him.
“It was a major turning point in my life,” he said. “I had never been in a Christian community like that where there were so many people around me who were zealous for God.”
He got involved in a discipleship group, then started leading one.
“I couldn’t get enough of it,” Norris said.
So when Daniels mentioned the possibility of the campus missionary role after graduation and said he would be spending his days sharing the gospel and discipling students, it sounded like a dream.
“I love it so much — my two biggest passions in life are the two things they wanted me to focus on,” he said. “I’m just very happy they let me do it.”
Norris said the campus missionary program is a place where he feels like he has been “discipled so well” as he’s been able to live life and ministry alongside Daniels.
“I think this program is so good, not just for people who feel called to campus ministry but anyone who feels like they’re called to ministry and doesn’t know the next step,” Norris said. “It’s very intentional, and it comes at a perfect time to prepare people for their future. It’s been very, very helpful to me.”
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