Fall Saturdays in Alabama are synonymous with one simple word — football. At college campuses across the state, students and fans alike gather together to cheer on their favorite football teams; in response, many Baptist Campus Ministries (BCM) are reaching out to those attending the games.
Game-day ministry activities are underway at the state’s two high-profile colleges — the University of Alabama and Auburn University — but they are also being utilized at Samford University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
According to Mike Nuss, director of the office of collegiate and student ministries at the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM), the ministry activities on game day vary throughout the state. All of them share, though, the opportunity to reach thousands of fans and students with the gospel message.
“Football games on Alabama college and university campuses give Alabama Baptists — through Baptist Campus Ministries — a unique opportunity for Intentional Evangelism and direct ministry efforts to thousands of fans,” Nuss said.
Game day in Tuscaloosa means many opportunities for students at the University of Alabama, according to Senior Campus Minister Matthew Kerlin. “We frequently do cookouts at our building, and our students invite their friends,” Kerlin said. “We also use our parking lot to raise money for missions, and many folks park there and then interact with our students. Our students are decidedly upfront about the purposes of our building and our missions endeavors.”
Students have also worked with local churches on game-day projects, including one with Tuscaloosa Baptist Association to distribute materials to encourage church attendance. And, probably most simply, the building is open all day long on game days — giving students plenty of “opportunities for relationships and outreach,” Kerlin said.
At Auburn University, Campus Minister Steve Thompson said that game day is an extremely busy time on campus; therefore activities are not planned for every Saturday. Baptist students take advantage of the festivities by scheduling at least two tailgating outreach events on campus each season. “The idea for these is to stay in contact with freshmen in particular and to have a fellowship opportunity for all students to bring their friends to meet other BCM students and campus ministers,” Thompson said.
Such evangelism efforts show students how creative they can be in their ministry to others. “I have observed students get excited about using their passion for football as an avenue for ministry and evangelism,” he said. “It’s fun to see it click in a student’s mind that evangelism can be a natural overflow of their life interests, hobbies, passions and so forth.”
At UAB, football is a relatively new experience and Baptist students are taking advantage of its surrounding activities to connect students with campus ministry opportunities that they might have never heard. Tailgating “parties” are planned for every home game, according to Campus Minister Bill Morrison.
A hit with school, students
“We furnish hamburgers and hot dogs inside and outside the BCM on home game days,” Morrison said.
The response has been positive both with UAB’s administration and students, he said, because the university wants to promote all of the student activities available on campus, trying to make it more alluring for students and trying to shed some of its image as a “commuter school.”
Students, Morrison said, have felt welcomed by such activities.
“We have seen some students connect with our ministry through these events, and it has opened the door for us with administration,” he said.
At Samford University, members of the Baptist Student Center support their Bulldogs football team and reach out to fellow students in similar ways.
April Robinson, director of student ministries, said that while Samford doesn’t have a “game day” plan for every football game, students with their ministry often co-sponsor tailgate parties with local churches.
“We also often work concessions at the games and receive a portion of the proceeds, which goes towards summer missions,” Robinson said.
Perhaps the most valuable game-day ministry experience available to colleges is JoePix.
JoePix is a specifically evangelistic outreach that involves taking photographs of tailgating students — and then presenting the gospel message to those same students.
Auburn utilized the evangelism tool last year and is using it again this year.
JoePix is a nondenominational photo evangelism tool that has teams of students take photos of tailgating fans using digital cameras.
The teams go out and “snap photos of groups enjoying the Auburn game-day experience,” Thompson said. Then the groups who have had their pictures taken are given a business-size card that directs them to the JoePix Web site.
“They can retrieve a free photo of themselves and e-mail the photo to others,” he said. “While at the Web site, they have the opportunity to read more about ‘The Big Picture’ and how God wants to be a part of their lives.”
On the Alabama campus, the ministry is used in similar ways. It has been an annual outreach event that Kerlin said “has given us conversational opportunities as well as directing students to the Web site that conveys the gospel of Christ.”
The results of the JoePix experience have been positive, said both Kerlin and Thompson.
It has stretched their own students’ view of evangelism and has also reached out to hundreds — perhaps thousands — of non-Christian students, their friends and family members.
Thompson said that following last year’s outreach, students personally delivered 125 photos requested by Auburn students and also received numerous gospel presentation hits on the Web site.
“We are told typically that about 80 percent of the contact made during a JoePix event will go to the Web site, with far-reaching potential as pictures are shared with family and friends literally worldwide,” he said. For more information visit www.joepix.com.
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