Promoting Your Church Through The BCM

One of the purposes of the BCM is to promote local church attendance and involvement of students that are involved in the BCM. Here is some ways a local church can promote their church and partner with the BCM in ministry to college students.

1. Place information in BCM publications/newsletters/e-newsletters for incoming freshmen about the church. The church may need to help with printing and or postage costs.

2. Participate in ministries sponsored by the BCM to kick off the fall semester. These may include picnics, dinner, Survival, scavenger hunts, etc…

3. Place information about your church on the website of the BCM.

4. Ask the BCM to provide your church with the names and contact information of first time visitors to the BCM. Provide follow up contact of the students and invite them to your church.

5. Participate in “Church Night” worship services of the BCM. Set up a table display with information about your church.

6. Recruit church members to help with dorm move ins on the campus.

7. Recruit church members to adopt an International student involved in the BCM ministry. The member(s) would have in their home, take them out to eat.

8. Attend Collegiate Week at Glorieta in August with the BCM.

9. Partner with the BCM in sponsoring and participating in a mission trip.

10. Publicize special events and ministries of your church through BCM emails, announcements, etc…

11. Provide the names of the high school graduates of your church to the BCM Direct of the college or university they will be attending.

12. Participate in regular meetings of all of the collegiate ministers of the local collegiate churches of the BCM and the BCM Director for fellowship, calendar planning, prayer, etc.

13. Participate in a “Collegiate Ministers Panel” at a BCM lunch or worship night.

14. Participate with State Collegiate Ministry Conferences of your State Convention. Some are in the fall, some are in the spring.

By: Steve Masters

Churches and Campus Based Collegiate Ministry-Roles and Cooperation

The campus based collegiate ministry of the SBC has various names that vary from state to state. The most common name is Baptist Collegiate Ministry which will be the name that represents the SBC campus based ministry in this section.

Baptist Collegiate Ministry is the ministry arm of the local and state churches to a campus. The BCM is not a church. The BCM is a religious organization whose purposes include: 1. Share Christ with students that do not know Him as Savior. 2. Provide opportunities for participating students to grow and mature in their faith in Jesus Christ. 3. Develop students as Christian leaders. 4. Provide opportunities for students to participate in local, state and national mission ministries. 5. Help students to stay or become involved in a local church.

There is much discussion today about college ministry. In some places, the discussion relates to how to do it better and deal with the strong response. In other places as finances decline, the talk is whether to do away with it or not. College ministry is necessary if we care about the future. Some would advocate doing away with campus based ministry and doing it solely out of churches. Others suggest that we need to plant churches on campuses and that is the only way to do it. In other situations, the campus based ministry is having to compete with the very local churches it is trying to help. Many of these tensions can be eased simply by appreciating the value of both church and campus-based ministries. Their differing roles allow more students to be reached and discipled. In fleshing out this partnership, several aspects need to be considered.
First, we must recognize that no simple answer fits all situations and locations. Those that suggest that college ministry should only be done out of churches almost always come of large churches or even mega-churches with considerable budget and staffing. This is not the norm. In many situations, if the campus based ministry were not there, there would be little or no intentional ministry with the local campus. Church based and campus based ministries really have different roles. The campus based ministry relates to a college administration, is involved in leadership development and often is able to provide specialized ministry to such groups as freshmen and international students. The campus based ministry is a convenient entry point for many students that would not attend a local church, at least in the beginning.
A huge role of the church based ministry is to help students to connect to, love and see the value of the local church. This cannot happen anywhere else. When students graduate from college and move into young adulthood, will they connect to a church? The church based ministry can have a huge role in that happening. The grads that have been in the total life of a church see its value. In some situations the church based ministry copies a successful campus based ministry. When this happens, it often results in the emphasis being placed on week night student only events. This does not connect students to the total life of the church and instill a “love for church”. The church based ministry needs to recognize this and work to see the students connect through the Sunday School, Sunday Morning Worship, etc.
Campus based ministries have the responsibility to train leaders for our churches of the future. Many church leaders received their first experience in serving and leading as a “BCM committee member or leader”. It is also the task of the campus based ministry to encourage and help local churches in their ministry to students. For churches with full or part-time staff this means it’s critical that the church based collegiate minister and the BCM director meet, plan, evaluate and work together to maximize their partnership and understand their different roles in the lives of students. The BCM based ministry provides the college ministry for the smaller churches that cannot provide one.
Some denominational leaders advocate doing campus based collegiate ministry at a local church. If only the “mega-church” provides a college ministry, should the college students from other churches move to that church?
One well known college church pastor has advocated the idea that students be active in the campus ministry their freshman and sophomore year and a local church their junior and senior years. This raises the question of who will be the role models and the leaders for the campus based ministry? In most situations, some students will lead out on campus and attend their college church. Others will simply attend some on-campus events and lead out in their church. Again, it is not a one size fits all answer. Both the church based and the campus based ministries should give consideration to when each schedules their events. Many have simply said, the church based ministries get Sundays and Wednesdays and the campus based take the other week day nights.
No one ministry can do it all. Church ministries can best help students connect to all generations and learn to love the church. Campus based ministries can best help students understand and deal with the transition to college life and see ways to minister on campus. In some places there are no local churches for college students and there the church on campus approach meets a need. But, in situations where there are local churches actively reaching out to students, to start a church on campus is to provide what is more likely an unhealthy competition.

No one ministry can do and be all. We need both church based and campus based ministries and we need leaders that see the value of both and work for the good health of both.

By Arliss Dickerson, Leadership Contract Worker

How Churches Can Reach Freshmen Through The BCM

Reaching freshmen is one of the priorities of the campus based ministry of our denomination. Incoming freshmen who are living at home will be referred to as commuter freshmen. Freshmen that move to a dorm or apartment to attend college will be referred to as resident freshmen. The partnership between the BCM and the local church is critical in regards to helping students either stay or become involved in a local church during their college years. For the commuter freshmen that are still living at home their involvement in BCM can be an encouragement to them to stay involved in their church. It can also help them be involved in small group Bible studies, participate in mission trips, meet and get to know other Christian college students, etc…

Being involved in the ministry of the campus based ministry by a commuter freshmen can also greatly help their church to reach the resident freshmen that have moved to the university to live in the dorm, an apartment, a fraternity, sorority house, etc.

The partnership of the BCM and the local church is at its best when these resident freshmen meet and get to know commuter freshmen that are involved in a local church. If the commuter freshmen from a church are not involved in the campus based ministry then their church loses representation, a voice, a touch, etc. to that student. The resident freshman will end up visiting and attending and joining the church where other college students meet, get to know and reach out to them at BCM ministries.

BCM ministry is not a church and has no desire to be so. One of the major goals of BCM is to help students stay or become involved in a local church. In order to do so in the most effective manner it’s important that local churches encourage their commuter students to be involved in the BCM to help them reach out to the new resident students. It’s also important they encourage their resident students, freshmen and upperclassmen to stay involved in the BCM after they have become involved in the local church. If upperclassmen from a church are involved in the BCM they will be able to reach out to freshmen in the BCM. BCM and church involvement is at it best when it is a “both and” and not an “either or”.

The BCM secures names of incoming freshmen in a variety of ways which includes: 1. The college or university admissions office 2. Local and state churches 3. Conferences such as Centrifuge, Missionfuge, World Changers, etc. 4. Orientations for freshmen. The BCM then contacts these students by telephone, newsletter, email and facebook to invite them to become involved in the BCM ministry and to either become or stay involved in a local church. If your church would like to help with this contacting of these incoming students then please contact your local BCM director. They would greatly appreciate your partnership in outreach.

As freshmen attend the BCM the name and contact information of these students is available for local church ministry follow-up by the BCM. If the student is not a Christian this provides a wonderful opportunity to share the gospel of Christ with them. If they are a believer the local church can invite them to become involved in their ministry.

It is important that the BCM and the local churches do all they can to reach out to freshmen during the first few weeks of the fall semester. However, it’s also important to remember that the reaching freshmen is not just limited to that period. Freshmen can be reached throughout the year.

Many freshmen are overwhelmed by all of the changes in their lives as the fall semester begins. As their lives begin to settle into a routine they may realize their need for spiritual growth through the BCM and or a local church. It’s important the local church ministry realizes this and continues to reach out to students throughout the school year. In situations where there are multiple collegiate churches of the BCM it may be November, December or even the second semester before they choose a local church to be involved in.

Involvement in the BCM ministries, events and conferences by a collegiate minister of a local church can greatly help the spiritual growth of BCM students from all the local churches and not just the church of the collegiate minister. In this case the collegiate minister develops relationships with, provides spiritual leadership and examples to students that don’t and may not ever attend their church. This enriches the unity and community of the BCM and its sponsoring churches and benefits students in their growth in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

By: Steve Masters, BCM Director at LSU

The Top 10 Mistakes Churches Make When Reaching Out to the Campus

By: Becky Crandall & Matt Wofford

10) Relying too heavily upon the campus ministry / minister – Often, campus ministers are approached by churches that want to reach out to the campus. While most ministers are excited by the prospect of volunteers helping to pick up some of the load, it is easy for churches to unintentionally add to the minister’s work load, causing them to have to sacrifice other important aspects of the ministry. Want to reach out to college students and do so effectively? Start by bringing your ideas to the table along with a willingness to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. The campus can be one of the closest mission trips that your church will ever take.

9) Not being aware of the rules – Every campus has unique policies set in place regarding everything from on-campus promotions (flyers and posters) to off-campus groups reserving space. Be sure to talk with the campus minister about the specifics of every school. Also, be flexible and understand that the minister’s primary responsibility is to uphold the rules of the school. After all, they have to deal with school administration long after a church leaves.

8) Not looking at the campus context – College students have changed a lot, even in the past five years. Before deciding on the type of outreach project that you want to do, be sure to do a little bit of research. Spend time talking to the campus minister to learn about the needs of the students and the things that they are passionate about. Also, every college is different. Just because something worked on one campus doesn’t mean that it will work on another. Be willing to do your homework before settling on an outreach idea.

7) Not looking at the campus calendar – Churches operate on an entirely different calendar than the universities do. Be mindful of test weeks. Before settling on any date, check out the campus calendars found on the school’s website. Check both the academic calendar, as well as the campus activities calendar. The campus minister can give you direction on this as well. One of the biggest mistakes that churches make is not taking into consideration simple things like the students’ busy seasons.

6) Not being true to your church’s culture – This generation longs for authenticity. They know that groups see them as an easy target, and because of that, they are very jaded and see right through anything less than absolute sincerity. Churches often mistakenly think that they have to make themselves something they aren’t in order to appeal to collegiates. The best way for a church to impact a campus is to ask: 1) What is the campus culture? 2) What is our church culture? 3) Where do they overlap?

5) Expecting students to come to you – While it makes sense that a church would want to host an event at their facility, students often aren’t willing to participate in any event that is held in a facility that they see as being affiliated with a religious organization. Even if the event is neutral and not spiritual in any way, their opinions on Christianity and their fear of “the bait and switch” keep them away. The other downside to programming off-campus is a reality that is easily forgotten – many students don’t have cars. Consider moving your event to an on-campus space. Most campus ministries are willing to help secure the necessary reservations.

4) Thinking that “free” gets a crowd – Many times, churches think that simply offering something free is the key to winning over college students and drawing them to an event. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. Students are so used to groups using giveaways as a marketing ploy that they have become somewhat immune to them. “Free” is still an added plus, but it cannot be counted on as the primary drawing point.

3) Taking a “shotgun” approach rather than a “sniper” one – Strategy will be key in effectively engaging a campus. While you will certainly need to utilize mass marketing opportunities, relationships will be vital to your event’s success. When planning, begin by looking at your immediate context. Consider, “What connections do our students have with other groups on campus?” Utilize them as point people in promoting the event to their peers. Encourage them to look beyond even their friends and plan ways that they can personally represent your event to the other student organizations they are a part of, their residence hall, or their department. Have a big enough vision to seek other student groups to partner with you and the campus ministry to host the event. While the vision for the event grows by taking this approach, the marketing of the event becomes more focused and more strategic. And, when other student groups are committed to and invested in an event, they are more likely to help you in promoting the event to their circles of influence. The fact is: people join people, not programs. Strategic use of natural relationships and partnerships is a must-do.

2) Thinking that bigger equals better – It will be easy to want to gauge your event’s success by the number of students who attend. However, you must remember that in today’s culture, students are fickle. Even university administrators have commented on this generation’s lack of follow through and tendency to change their mind at the last minute, based on whether or not a “better opportunity” came about. While this can be a little disheartening at first, never forget that every student you impact is one more than your church was ministering to before the event. Learn to celebrate even the few.

1) Thinking that once in a while is good enough – The biggest mistake that churches make when trying to reach out to the campus is thinking that once in a while is good enough. What is the biggest test of a church’s heart for college students? Their willingness to invest in the campus on a regular basis. Relationships with college students must be nurtured, and that takes time. Students will never believe that you care about them if you are only willing to be a part of their lives on “special event” days. Whether it’s taking students to lunch or coffee on campus or being open to attending campus ministry events, even when your church has no role in the program, be committed to the campus. Work with the campus minister to find good opportunities to engage students in settings that are natural for them. Let 1 Thessalonians 2:8 drive your approach to the campus – seek not only to share the Gospel with them, but your life as well.

7 Deadly Sins of College Sunday School

Providing a quality Sunday School experience for college students can be one of the most challenging ventures in the life of a church. It can also be one of the experiences that helps lead your church to revival and to a new level of discipleship and commitment to Christ. As you work and pray to create a Sunday School time that engages students and helps them learn to be passionate about God and His Word, there are some missteps that you can make that will limit the effectiveness of your time to

1. LECTURE – Today’s generation of students is an interactive one. They have grown up in a time of open discussion and they truly value opportunities to discover what they believe through discussion. The preferred style of learning for the vast majority of today’s students is discussion. They want a time where they can ask questions and learn from not only the “teacherÃ?¢?? but also each other. Using lecture as your primary teaching method kills that spirit. Lecture does not interest them and they find it dull! Even if the Biblical lessons that you are teaching are important, students will check out if the material is presented in lecture format. Consider adding discussion and small group interaction to your teaching time. Often, college Sunday School leaders are intimidated by the types of questions that students are asking. They tend to ask ultimate questions. By ultimate, I mean questions dealing with BIG issues such as the problems of evil and a loving God; predestination versus free will; knowing and living God’s will and more. These are certainly not easy questions. Theologians and Christians have struggled for centuries to find answers for some of the questions that they will ask. Do not be afraid to allow them the opportunity to ask these questions. Allowing them to ask questions allows you as the leader to:

-Understand where they are in their lives with Christ
-Have an opportunity to follow up with them about their questions at another time
-See a place where you and the student can grow in your knowledge of God
-Help the students feel important
-Develop future Bible studies that address their heartfelt needs

2. INCONSISTENCY – Regardless of what students tell you, they are creatures of habit. They love reliability and stability. In conversation with students you will be convinced that this is not true, but it is. They love fun, spontaneity, and new ideas, but they also crave some stability and consistency in their lives. Students of today live at a breakneck pace. Between classes, work, volunteer hours, internships, a culture that tells them that more is always better, and an advertising industry that pushes them to consume more and more, they are a pushed generation. Providing a consistent time for them on Sunday morning, whether they consistently take advantage of it or not, if reassuring to many students. They will come because they know that you are there for them.

3. PASSIONLESS TEACHING – Students crave models of the Christian life that are truly living a life for Christ. They are looking for a cause and for people that are working and living for the cause of Christ. They will not be a part of a Sunday School time that only goes through the motions. Honestly, do you enjoy meetings where people are just there because they are supposed to be? Neither do I. Inject some passion into your teaching. If that means that you stray away from the quarterly Sunday School curriculum from time to time….IT IS OKAY. Let students know what you care about, what you struggle with, the lessons that God is teaching you. They will identify with you and will learn that the Christian life has challenges and struggles and that Christ will help us with those dark and hard times in our lives.


4. THE ONE (WO)MAN SHOW – Sometimes as leaders, we fool ourselves into believing that we are the only ones that can lead the Sunday School time. We tell ourselves lies such as: no one will help me, students are terrible teachers, I know more of the Bible than the students. Encourage students to lead out through teaching Sunday School. It may intimidate them. It may frighten them. It may also bless them. God has given many people (including college students) within the church the gift of teaching. Help them discover that gift and let it be affirmed. Even if the time does not go very well, the student will discover that their gifts do not lie in teaching and they can begin to look elsewhere for their place of service. Of course, you will want to coach students as they prepare. Be careful to not equate a lack of experience with a lack of talent or gifting. In the end, STUDENTS LISTEN TO STUDENTS.


5. KEEPING SUNDAY SCHOOL ON SUNDAY MORNING ONLY – As Christians, we have a long tradition of Sunday School. For us Sunday School has been a time on Sunday morning just before church and it will stay that way. Originally, the purpose of Sunday School was to provide a safe way to reach out to non-Christians and to be a gateway for them into the church. Unfortunately, in some situations, Sunday School has become a sacred cow. You know what a sacred cow is: something that used to help us, but now only stands in our way and impedes progress. Don’t read what I am not writing here. In many places, traditional Sunday School is still a great tool that is working well. In others (perhaps in your situation) it is a sacred cow. It’s not working. It should be killed and made into burgers, but it is too holy to do away with. If the purpose of Sunday School is to provide a safe place where students can bring non-Christian friends and introduce them to God’s Word and Christians, and that purpose cannot be fulfilled in your area on Sunday morning in a church building, then move your college Sunday School. Move it to a restaurant, move it to Sunday night, move it to a home, or move it to your campus.


6. BEING BORING – Ask yourself this question, “Was Jesus boring?Ã?¢?? No really, do you believe that Jesus was boring! Hardly! In fact, Jesus was never boring. He challenged, he took on the Pharisees, he asked tough questions, and showed amazing compassion. The Christian life was never intended to be boring especially when we are learning about Christ. Take some time to plan new and creative ways to teach about Jesus during your Sunday School hour. Use experiential learning. Take students places during Sunday School, setup a phone conversation with a missionary during your time, and look for interesting ways to communicate the lesson. Look for ways to use humor to teach. Jesus used humor.


7. NOT HAVING A CAUSE – Students want to do something for God. They don’t just want to learn about God. They want to experience God and work on His behalf for His kingdom. They want to help people find Christ. Share Christ’s cause with them and give them specific ways that they can be involved. Yes, they are limited in time and money, but they are not limited in heart and they will surprise you with their capacity to do, give, and go in Jesus’ name and for His sake.


Leading collegiate Sunday School IS challenging. It takes time, effort, and perseverance, but you can be assured that your investment is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58 states, “So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord's work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless." (NLT)

Crew from the Hood

By Kariss Lynch, FBC Lubbock College Student

“From now on, we will no longer call you the ‘Crew from Texas Tech.’ You will now be known as the ‘Crew from the Hood,’” Ted Napp, the Director of Missions in the Crescent Bay Baptist Convention shouted out to a rousing round of applause to conclude the testimony service on the final night of our mission trip in Los Angeles, California. The room buzzed with one hundred and five people from Texas, members of six congregations in the LA area, fresh paint, and new wood standing proudly as a new stage at the front of the sanctuary.

On March 13, 2009, ninety-three college students from Texas Tech University, Lubbock Christian University, Wayland Baptist University, and South Plains College loaded onto two buses with thirteen adult leaders to begin the twenty-two hour trek from Lubbock, Texas to Los Angeles, California to spend the week fixing up churches in underprivileged areas of LA. The trip first started in the spring of 1985 with Sam Douglas, the then University Minister at First Baptist Church of Lubbock, Texas. Douglas had a vision to encourage college students to experience mission work through service and helping others. The first year, four cars full of students made the trip to Richville, Utah to work on a church there. The next year the trip grew to a couple van loads of students with the final destination being Sheridan, Wyoming.

Douglas’ dream caught on and the trip continued to grow every year. Since 1985, the First Baptist University Ministry has traveled to Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Idaho, California, and Mexico to help build, repair, and encourage churches that are unable to afford necessary repairs. The goal every year is to help fellow Christians further their work by meeting the needs of the church in regards to their building facilities.

Eventually, Douglas left and Keith Brister took over, taking eighty to ninety students to Utah where they built a church in a week. He also was the first one to bring in adults from the church with construction experience to aid the mission trip goers in attaining their goals more effectively and efficiently as they served. Bill and Diane Davis, the current trip coordinators, began their spring break mission trip experiences in 1988. In 1991, Bill began to lead the trips, coordinating with directors of missions in California to see which churches had the greatest need. After Brister, John Strappazon took over the ministry, continuing to expand it, followed by Bruce Venable, the current University minister of four years.

From the outside looking in, the trip may seem simple enough: a handful of students go spend a work doing a Christian service project in another state; however, those of us that go on the mission trip know differently. The students and adult that go on the trip give up their spring breaks, taking off of work and setting aside homework and projects to pay two hundred and eighty five dollars to spend a week working every day for roughly ten hours a day. Tyler Ferguson, a sophomore in the ministry, described it as “an incredible picture of the body of Christ at work. Every one of us has different abilities and passions, but God is here teaching us to serve, humbling us. If everyone in America would learn how to serve like this, we would be able to fix our nation.”

This was my third mission trip with the First Baptist University Ministry to California, and it never ceases to amaze me how God moves. God does something special and powerful when His people commit to serve. There is nothing easy about the trip and there is nothing special about the students that go. We simply acknowledge that God has called us to serve and we do what is required.

Before leaving, every student is asked to fill out an evaluation of skills that they are capable of doing from roofing, painting, electric work, sheet rocking, and working with power tools. Many students embark on the trip with no experience, simply a willingness to serve. With our group of ninety students this year, we were able to work on six churches in southern LA including: First Southern Baptist Church of Anaheim, Faith in Christ Baptist Church, New Rock of Ages in Hawthorn, First Baptist Church of Southern LA, Greater Good Shepherd Baptist Church, and Southside Bethel Baptist Church.

The group discovered as a whole this trip that we came to be a blessing and encouragement to the congregations and pastors, but over and over again we were blessed through them as well. At services every night, Bruce would continually remind us that one day both our group from Texas and the congregations from California would praise Jesus in Heaven together, without thought about race, economic status, occupation, background, or political opinions. God truly does a work in His body, and it was a blessing every night to worship our God with believers in a different state that we had never met before and may never see again.

Throughout the trip, Bruce and Bill continued to ask us, “What is God teaching you this week? What is He showing you through this experience?” Ryan Wilkinson, a first time goer, said about the week, “I feel like God opened my eyes in the sense that I don't need to drink and go out to have fun. I also feel like he let me see the joy in helping people in need, and that prayer should not consist of my wants but I should focus on his will.”

We were able to complete our tasks at five of the six churches, leaving information and necessary resources for the members to finish at the sixth. As Bruce has continually stated since our return back to Lubbock, “God has blown a fresh wind into our ministry through this experience. How will you apply what you have learned to your daily life now that we are back?” We experienced God in a big way on mission trip in Los Angeles, California. But He continues to be the same God who calls us to do the same things in Lubbock and in our various hometowns.

As a University Ministry we have claimed Acts 20:24 as a prayer for ourselves in our city: “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” We pray that God will continue to use us in the days ahead on our campuses, because in the end, it is all for His glory. As we sang one night in service after a long day of hard work and sunburns, with our new friends and fellow believers in LA, I realized that nothing that was built, painted, or repaired would have happened without the Lord. We will one day sing again with them in Heaven, “How Great is Our God.”

Kariss Lynch is a creative writing major at Texas Tech University. She loves swimming, reading, and going for walks with her golden retriever, Wise Guy.

FBC Lubbock Student's Beach Reach Mission Experience

Lubbock students travel to Florida for unconventional spring break

It seemed normal.

A group of 50 college kids in a charter bus, dubbed “The Party Bus” by a few of its riders, who were antsy and excited to get to Panama City Beach, Florida, one of the world’s most popular spring break destinations.

However, the group’s purpose for going to Panama City was anything but normal compared to the majority of students in the city.

“The general response is ‘What is this?’ ‘Why are y’all doing this?’” said Clint Wren, one of the 50 students from First Baptist Church of Lubbock who participated in Beach Reach. Beach Reach is an evangelism-oriented mission trip put on by Lifeway.

Wren said the students gave up their entire spring break in order to serve and share the love of Jesus with spring breakers, most of whom are desperately seeking something.
“It just blew my mind to see how many people, even though they were there partying, they just had a turnaround,” said Elise Peak, a freshman at Texas Tech who went on the trip.
To reach the spring breakers, the students would begin their mission work at around 9 p.m., and finish for the night anywhere between 3 and 6 a.m. The night was divided into two shifts, and there were three roles the students served in.

One of the roles seems simple, riding a van, but that was not the only aspect of the role. Students had canvassed the area known as the strip, where most hotels and clubs in the city are located, with promotional cards advertising free van rides and a free pancake breakfast in the morning. Spring breakers were able to call a phone number and get a safe van ride to and from anywhere on the strip for free. When they took advantage of this service, they were greeted on the vans by beach reachers, as they became known, who were prepared to have conversations and establish relationships with the spring breakers and to intentionally steer the conversation towards Christ, in hopes of being able to share the Gospel.

“We’ll just talk with them while we take them to wherever they want to go and just pray that God will lead it into a spiritual conversation,” said Ricky Bolander, a sophomore on the trip who also went on the trip last year. “It usually happens, so it’s pretty cool.”
Another role was called street team, where students would get dropped off at an area of the strip and talk with people walking down the streets of the city.

“It was more casual so that people would talk with us, but then once we struck up a spiritual conversation it was just amazing where it took us, “ Peak said.

Tim Puckett, a graduate student who went on the trip said people are often very open to having lengthy conversations, even if they are heading to a specific destination. Puckett greeted a student who was on a way to a party to meet with a girl.

“He stopped and we ended up talking for probably 45 minutes, maybe an hour. He ended up rededicating his life to Christ,” Puckett said. “It was one of those things where like, he had his own plan and his own intentions, but clearly God had a different plan for him. Just the fact that he stopped, cause he was like on his way to go to this party and meet this girl, the fact that he stopped and we talked for so long and he made a decision that hopefully will change the rest of his life I think that was pretty cool.”

Wren, Peak, Bolander and Puckett all said prayer was the most important aspect of the trip, and much of that prayer originated from the prayer room, the third role the students served in. The prayer room was set up at the hotel the students stayed at, and had two screens at the front of the room displaying updated prayer requests. The requests came via text message from students in the vans and on the streets, so students in the prayer room were able to lift up spring breakers by name

“Our prayers were completely answered,” Peak said. The power of prayer was completely proven night after night.”

Puckeet said while the prayer room was important, prayer was a major aspect no matter where the team was.

“I think the coolest thing about the trip is seeing prayers answered right before your eyes,” he said. “I think the biggest summation of the trip would be prayer and seeing God work through that.”

After serving in these roles the students slept for a few hours and then woke up to go to the free pancake breakfast, to which they invited many of the spring breakers they ministered to the night before. The pancakes were prepared by a team of senior-adults from Georgia and given away free to anyone who came. Beach reachers then started conversations with spring breakers while they ate in an effort to continue to grow the seeds they planted in previous nights.

“Whenever we sat there in line and saw people we had seen the night before come to the pancake breakfast it was so refreshing because you know, there are people out there that are hungry for the Word,” Peak said. “People want to know the word.”

All four of the students said they were amazed by how God worked through them during the trip, and said their personal spiritual walk grew as the week progressed.

“For that one week there’s that intimacy and closeness with God that is almost indescribable,” Wren said. “It’s almost exactly what was intended for us as Christians to have with God. You can’t beat that.”

“Of course, you see God show up in miraculous and crazy ways,” he said. “(There were) just a lot of events that only God could ordain.”

The week of Beach Reach FBC Lubbock’s students attended resulted in more than 20 first-time decisions for Christ and numerous rededications.