Students come together for ‘Connection 2000’

More than 650 Baptist students and campus ministers from Alabama’s colleges came together Oct. 6-8 for “Connections 2000,” the fall gathering of the state Baptist Campus Ministries (BCM).
   
The theme of the event, hosted by Dawson Memorial Baptist Church, Homewood, was “Celebrating Worship.” It offered students the opportunity to participate in various styles of contemporary and traditional worship.
   
The weekend event began with a Friday night worship service led by Texas praise band MercyMe and Pastor Tim Lovett of Huffman Baptist Church, Birmingham. The night ended with a full concert by MercyMe, who drew the crowd to their feet. Earlier that day, MercyMe also attracted a crowd of 1,600-plus people to their first public signing event at Birmingham’s LifeWay Christian Store. LifeWay manager Mike Jolly commented that this was definitely the largest crowd the bookstore had seen in several years.
   
Saturday, participants had the opportunity to attend two of several worship seminars on a variety of topics, including “Types of Baptist Worship,” led by Brookwood Baptist Church (Birmingham) minister of worship Robert Brandon, “Role of Confession in Worship,” led by First Baptist Church, Fultondale, Pastor Ross Lankford, and “Is Summer Missions for Me,” led by state BCM representative Oxford Smith. 
   
Following the morning seminars, the students had their choice of three simultaneous worship services. One service followed a traditional format, led by Huffman Baptist Church; the second was in the African-American style of worship, led by Lawrence Robertson III; the third emphasized the more contemporary model, led by The Church at Brook Hills.
   
Students of BCMs of Troy State University, Auburn University and Jacksonville State University led Saturday’s evening worship. The service included a second sermon by Lovett, as well as a missions testimony by Jimmy Ray Mauldin, Southern Baptist missionary to Ghana, West Africa. Presentations were also made to Ben Hale, Dawson’s newly appointed minister of missions and evangelism, and Smith, who is celebrating 35 years involvement in Alabama’s BCM. The Sunday morning service took place at Samford University’s Reid Chapel, led by students from Samford’s student ministries and BCMs of the University of West Alabama, UAB and the University of North Alabama.