Imagine getting a brand-new, larger ministry facility in a prime location, opening new doors to reach a large group of unchurched people — and it comes without a penny changing hands.
Baptist Collegiate Ministry at Clemson University is getting such an opportunity. When students return for classes in August, a new 7,000-square-foot ministry center is set to open in one of the most visible areas on campus. And all it cost was the center’s 35-year-old former building.
“It was just a trade,” said Doug Hunt, who has been BCM director at the university for the past four years. “There has been interest in our property by different people. This particular developer just wanted it bad enough that they were willing to go to an extreme offer.”
The developer offered to build the new center in a more visible location on S.C. Highway 93 near the intramural field and tennis courts, making it more accessible to students. Hunt said the new building will have upgraded kitchen facilities, an outdoor patio gathering area and about triple the number of parking spaces of the former facility.
The new facility will be about 2,000 square feet larger than the old building, which Hunt says will give the organization room to grow in its weekly worship gatherings and outreach activities. About 120 Clemson students are active in BCM.
“This new building is essentially such a gift that it’s hard to miss the old one very much,” he said. “It definitely is going to be more visible, more easy to access. Everybody knows where the intramural field is, and everybody on campus goes down this road. Thousands and thousands of people walk down that street on a [football] game day.”
Hunt said he and others are beginning to think about new opportunities for ministry at the new building and location.
“We will look for ways to creatively serve people,” he said. “A lot of people will literally walk within 15 feet of us, going to a game. The heart of who we are is not our building — it is relationships with people for the sake of Jesus in their lives. We’re trying to get connected to people so we can invest in their lives and they can become disciples of Jesus.”
Jeremy Walters, of Hardeeville, who is completing two years as a BCM semester missionary, said the building’s location is important. “It is very easy to point to the new building and say ‘there it is,’ instead of having to work your way around your elbow to find the old building,” he said.
Lee Hinson, a graduating senior from Cheraw, said the center will help others experience God’s love and grow in faith. “The new building will draw a lot of people’s attention,” he said. “Then, once we get their attention, we can start new relationships with people and minister to them and tell them about Jesus Christ.”