Dinner on the Run links UM students, churches

Meatballs glazed in Asian barbecue sauce, pasta salad and a Hawaiian cheese balls. This isn’t the gourmet spread most freshmen expect to eat when they leave mama’s home cooking for the college cafeteria experience.   But that is precisely what a group of freshmen students at the University of Mobile (UM) enjoyed at Dinner on the Run.
   
Dinner on the Run was organized by Neal Ledbetter, UM’s director of spiritual life, so freshmen students would have an opportunity to be introduced to Baptist churches in the Mobile area. 
   
“Our school doesn’t want to replace the local church,” Ledbetter said. “We want to give them more knowledge, but the church is where we’re meant to worship together and function best.”
   
Freshmen, along with upperclassmen who were recruited to drive, gathered at 5:30 p.m. at the university and prepared for their journey to four Baptist churches in the Mobile area. 
   
Each church provided a course in this progressive dinner.  After appetizers at Dayspring Baptist Church, students enjoyed loaded potato soup, salad and rolls at Spring Hill Baptist Church. 
   
Cottage Hill Baptist Church served the main course of chicken fingers, mashed potatoes and corn on the cob.
   
The night ended with a three-table spread of desserts at Shiloh Baptist Church in Saraland.
Ledbetter said he wants to see students grow in the knowledge of God by worshiping and ministering in the local church and through involvement in small-group Bible studies with other believers on campus.
   
“I don’t want students to replace their church time with campus ministries but for them to use their gifts by serving in a local body,” he said. “I also want to see older students take leadership and do what they’re supposed to do biblically by taking the initiative to invest in younger students’ lives by starting Bible studies on campus.”
   
Dinner on the Run accomplished both of Ledbetter’s desires. Upperclassmen offered their time and gas to drive freshmen. They hoped to have opportunities during the drive to have conversations that would go below the surface, opening doors for discussions about faith while helping new students feel connected to their university family.
   
Lauren Megginson, a sophomore from Fairhope, was involved in planning events designed to open up the door for ministry to freshmen at UM.
   
“I remember how it was leaving home, meeting new people and struggling in a new place,” Megginson said. “It’s our job to minister and be an encouragement, and it’s a joy for me to do that.”
   
Although upperclassmen drivers welcomed the chance to get to know freshmen during the drive, getting free food had a certain appeal to it, as well.
   
Most freshmen who were asked why they came mentioned the free food, but they had other interests, too.
   
“I don’t live on campus, so it’s an easy way to meet people,” Heather Miller of Mobile said.
Many of the freshmen found qualities they are looking for in a church.
   
“I really like small churches, because they’re more personal and you get to know people,” Joe Hudson, a Monroeville native, said.
   
Others were looking for a strong college program and ministries focused on all age groups within the church.
   
Ledbetter was pleased with the pilot program and plans to expand it next fall.
   
“The best part was the potential and possibility of discipleship to come out of those relationships built that night,” he said.
   
Diana Lambeth of Flomaton was one upperclassman who was able to build a good relationship with the girls who rode in her car that night.
   
“After having been in the car all night having nothing but casual conversation, it was amazing what God did during the drive from the last church back to the school,” Lambeth said.
   
The Lord opened up the door for Lambeth to share some of what He had taught her in the past two years. It was this kind of opportunity to invest in another’s life that made Dinner on the Run a success, she noted.