BCMs focus on mission to reach, equip, send
University VP to BCM campus minister: We just purchased an apartment complex that will house most of our international students, and we want your ministry to help us serve our students because we know you love our university and will serve our students well.
BCM campus minister on another campus: This past year we had a student who began to engage our ministry through various outreaches. Over time this student began coming to one of our small group Bible studies and our large group worship gatherings.
She heard the gospel, responded and now she is training to become a leader for us.
These are stories happening every year in your BCMs across the state.
Baptist Campus Ministries exists to reach the thousands of students on our university campuses who don’t know Christ.
BCMs exist to disciple and equip the students who have a relationship with Jesus, which will result in sending hundreds of students each year on missions and ultimately to their churches and career fields.
As we begin another year of reaching, equipping and sending students, we are grateful for your partnership as you give through the Cooperative Program, serve alongside us on campuses across the state and pray for us as we reach campuses that are overwhelmingly unreached.
If you know of a student attending college this fall, we’d love your help to get them connected. You can visit bcmlink.org for more information about specific BCMs or ways to contact us.
The first couple of weeks are the most critical for freshmen, and our BCMs will offer multiple ways for them to connect.
We want to help.
This generation is passionate, teachable and sendable, and when Alabama churches, through the BCMs and our partnering collegiate church plants, point students to Jesus we will ultimately see our churches grow and the nations reached.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Find more resources for high school and college students and their leaders from the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions at ymlink.org, onemissionstudents.org and bcmlink.org.
Ben Edfeldt
SBOM director of collegiate and student ministries
The call Jesus put to potential disciples was “follow Me.” It’s really simple.
Amid assignment deadlines, exams, projects and papers, the same call comes to university students: Follow Jesus.
The temptation is to postpone. They think, “I will spend more time with Jesus when the semester is over, and I have free time.”
Really? There’s going to be stress and busyness of another kind when this version is over.
The only place you can follow Jesus is where you are right now.
As a wise older believer shared with me one time, “If you’re not serving Jesus now, it’s likely that you will never serve Him. You will just keep postponing, waiting for the ‘right time.’”
That time may never come.
I have a secret to share with you. Life will always be busy. There will always be something for you to do.
What are you waiting for? Will you follow Jesus even in your busyness? The right time is now.
Gary Brittain
Baptist campus minister
Jacksonville State University
When people sincerely ask how they can help and support Samford, I ask for their faithful prayers.
This is a community of prayer. This campus and its people are bathed in prayer every day from faithful people all across the globe, and we covet those prayers.
We appreciate the ways people pray for this place, its people and its mission.
This is a university filled with faithful people who are totally wed to the unique mission we have to combine faith and ideas.
We want to contribute to our students’ critical thinking skills. We want them to listen to the best arguments for ideas outside of the prevailing Christian worldview so they can, as the Bible tells us, bring a ready defense for their faith in a world that frankly is questioning those ideas. We do that with care.
We want to expose our students to the world of ideas, and we want them to navigate with grace and truth the competing ideas in the world.
That doesn’t mean we’re losing our Christian moorings. It doesn’t mean we don’t take the Bible seriously.
Students at Samford are quite eager to engage in conversations about things like having grace-filled conversations, embodying civil discourse and disagreeing well with others while still being a winsome messenger of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We had some really good conversations this past year at Samford about civil discourse and the role of civil discourse among faithful communities. Our students led the way.
They don’t always have all the answers, nor do we. But they are really eager to engage in conversations with one another about how they can treat one another, especially those with whom they disagree, with grace and charity while also fighting for the truth as they see it. I’m very encouraged by that. (Adapted from a recent TAB Media special report)
President Beck Taylor
Samford University
As we at the University of Mobile gear up for another academic year, I cannot help but reflect on the seriousness of our mission.
As a historian who has spent 43 years studying politics and societal trends, I am convinced this nation, now more than ever before, needs the product we in Christ-centered education offer.
Even a casual glance at current events bears this out.
From mass shootings, to emotional and mental health issues, to racial strife, to fear of our economic future, all demonstrate that we must produce graduates who are not only experts in their respective fields of study, but who are also grounded in the principles of faith.
The “Higher Purpose” that is the key part of our university motto compels us to turn out students who are, in the words of Paul, “made holy, useful to the Master, and prepared to do every good work” (2 Tim. 2:21).
The good news is that the faculty and staff of the University of Mobile are ready, able and willing to meet these challenges.
From move-in day (Aug. 12) forward, we will teach, mentor, equip and send out the young men and women who have been placed in our care. It is always exciting to watch the anxiousness of that first day soon give way to confidence and, eventually, to boldness.
I am so very grateful for the Alabama Baptist family who support us so generously. With that support comes an expectation that we will remain faithful to our calling and mission as the convention’s higher education entity.
Please know we are here to serve the local church. If we can assist your local ministry in any way, do not hesitate to reach out. We look forward to the start of our 61st year.
President Lonnie Burnett
University of Mobile
From the Twitterverse
@rvelunta
Christian Education is not about training the laity to become “little pastors.” Since the church is 99% laity, Christian Education should be about inspiring, empowering and enabling the laity to be the best lay people. #education #ChristianEducation
@LeavellCollege
“And may the LORD make you increase and abound in love …” #walkwithChrist
@LincolnLearning
Electives are a great way to dive into topics of interest.
@LC_University
Challenges and obstacles can make it feel like you can’t move forward. But really, you just need to take a second. Follow these three strategies when the occasional speed bump appears.
- Positive thinking. Create an affirmation you can remind yourself of anytime you need an extra boost!
- Visualization. Imagine the tactics you will use to be successful in overcoming the obstacle.
- Control the controllable. Make a list of things that are within your control and focus your energy on those next steps.
@FreeHomeSchl
Through practice, gently and gradually we can collect ourselves and learn how to be more fully with what we Do. SO PRACTICE UNTIL YOU CAN’T GET IT WRONG
@faithwesteagles
How our students treat each other is very important to us. In our classrooms we model how to love one another with a Christ-like love.
@HomeschoolDr
According to Barna Group research, most will walk away from their family’s faith tradition and values sometime between their late teen and early adult years.
@BoyceCollege
As the excitement and anticipation grows for the coming semester, it’s a perfect time to begin praying for this new semester.
@SEBTSBushCenter
Our congregations need age differences. There’s beauty in age diversity in the church.
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