About 12,000 students in the Southern Baptist world right now say they feel God has called them into ministry.
Steve Masters, Baptist Campus Ministries director at Louisiana State University and former contract worker for Lifeway Christian Resources, said he created “SBC Called” with those students in mind.
SBC Called, an online resource at sbccalled.com, offers tools to help them sort through their ministry calling and avoid obstacles that might keep them from fulfilling it. The site is sponsored by the six Southern Baptist seminaries and both mission boards, plus Lifeway, the SBC Executive Committee and Canadian Baptist Theological Seminary. It offers advice on how to prepare, such as how to understand the calling and learn about different kinds of ministry roles.
It also talks about how to avoid debt, tips on marriage and how to maintain purity.
“A large percentage of people who apply to serve on mission can’t go because of their debt,” Masters said. “This helps students avoid some of those dangers.”
Understanding the denomination
SBC Called also offers information to help students better understand the Baptist world. And as the site grows, it will include apologetics and discipleship resources, among other tools.
Masters said the vision for the site started back in 1982 when he was campus minister at Arkansas Tech University.
Before the Baptist Sunday School Board became Lifeway, it had up to 10 staff dedicated to working with ministerial students. One of their products was a brochure about “exploring your calling,” and Masters said he distributed those brochures to his students until he ran out.
SBC Called is the 2021 version of that resource, he said. In one of his first BCM gatherings of the new school year, Masters had four students tell him they felt a new call to ministry.
He said he hopes the website will be helpful to them and thousands of others exploring their calling.
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