Baptist Campus ministers wear many hats. They wear the hat of a mentor, providing leadership for student ministry teams and giving counsel to individual students. They wear the hat of a teacher, often leading students in studies of God’s Word on a weekly or even daily basis. They wear the hat of administrators, keeping track of ministry finances, campus details and other important deadlines. They can even wear the hat of a handyman, fixing toilets in the Baptist Campus Ministries (BCM) office, hanging pictures or painting a new wall.
But if you ask the football team at Jacksonville State University (JSU), the first hat they see campus minister Gary Brittain wearing is the hat of a popsicle delivery man. Brittain has found an innovative way to reach football players at JSU — by sharing frozen treats with them after a grueling practice. For years, Brittain and BCM students delivered popsicles to the marching band members who would often spend 12 hours on the field as they prepared for the fall season. In 2014 they began to bring popsicles out to the football field too.
It may sound simple but the small act of providing a popsicle has opened a lot of doors for ministry for Brittain and for JSU’s BCM. Students Milton Bice and Jared Jones, both active in BCM and on the BCM leadership team, have been involved in this outreach to football players. Jones shared that this is part of their vision to reach people by meeting their needs. The popsicle ministry has given opportunities for Brittain and other students to connect with the football players, coaches and staff.
Why student athletes? Bice and Jones both shared about how, even though it might be intimidating to go up to a football player, especially in Alabama, football players really are people just like everyone else.
“Especially with bigger schools in the South, football is such a big thing everybody idolizes,” Jones explained. “But at the end of the day these guys are normal college kids.” And football players, just like the other students on campus, need to hear the good news of the gospel, he said.
Grueling schedules
Bice, who played football as a freshman at Huntingdon College in Montgomery before transferring to JSU, explained that it can be hard for football players to have time to connect with ministries and churches. “The student athlete’s life is structured from the time you get up in the morning until the time you go to bed,” he said. “It doesn’t leave you a lot of time for things other than school or football. … We want to reach the football players where they are.”
Because of grueling schedules, Brittain and BCM students quickly realized that if they were going to reach football players it wouldn’t be done passively. Football players might not have the time to show up at the front doors of the BCM building for Bible study on their own. Students involved in BCM would have to go to them and meet them where they were to start building relationships. So that is exactly what Brittain and the other students started to do, bringing along their cooler of popsicles.
Doors opened for Brittain after the coaches and players realized his motivation wasn’t self-centered. He wasn’t getting anything for himself out of it but was facing the heat of late Alabama summer and even the cold of the early winter simply because he cared about the team and wanted to support them.
Knowing each player
Bice shared that this support isn’t just on the football field; Brittain has a poster of the players in his office and uses that poster to learn their names. He wants them to know they matter to him and that he cares about more than just their number, position or latest stats.
As Brittain and BCM students build relationships, other doors have opened. One key focus at JSU’s BCM is discipleship. The ministry hosts several discipleship groups that are made up of students wanting to grow and be discipled. These small groups meet together anywhere from 12 to 18 months before replicating and starting new small groups. Brittain is hoping this will provide exponential growth as students learn more about their faith, are challenged and grow deeper in relationship with God and with one another.
Since January, Brittain has been meeting with three football players and one of their friends, all of whom are now in his discipleship group. Beginning in the new year, this group will split and the hope is that these players will find people to lead in new discipleship groups, spreading the good news even further.
Jones and Bice both encouraged churches and other BCMs to consider how they might reach out to student athletes on their campus, including football players.
Bice encouraged Alabama Baptists to pray for student athletes who are believers on collegiate teams. “Pray for boldness and peace for them to be able to stand up and minister to some of their colleagues on the team [who may not be believers].”
He also encouraged Alabama Baptists to pray that God would give them the strength and courage to stand up and live for Christ in the face of tremendous peer pressure — that they would use their witness and position to point to Jesus.
Challenge to churches
Bice challenged churches to reach athletes where they are.
“Go out of your way to reach them where they are,” he said. “They don’t have time to go looking for you. Maybe that’s at their practice or showing a presence at their games, supporting (them).”
Jones encouraged churches to consider partnering with BCMs on their local campus and to think about ways they might be especially equipped to meet students.
“Don’t just write a check and show up once a year,” he said. “These college students are here every day on campus, waiting to be reached. … To reach these groups on campus we need more church involvement. We need churches partnering with BCM and we need students on campus ministering and meeting needs. We need to bring these students into the churches. If Alabama churches caught that vision it would make a huge difference.”
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