During their spring meeting, trustees of the North American Mission Board passed a resolution formally requesting that the SBC’s collegiate ministry assignment be entrusted to the organization.

The request was made as a result of changes, proposed earlier this year, to LifeWay Christian Resources’ ministry assignments. At the February 2021 meeting of the SBC Executive Committee, the EC voted to recommend the proposed amendments to LifeWay Christian Resources’ ministry assignments, and those changes will be presented to messengers at the 2021 SBC annual meeting in Nashville for approval.

The proposed ministry assignment reflects extensive collaboration between the SBC Executive Committee staff, NAMB leadership, and the leadership of the Baptist Collegiate State Directors.

“Our team is thrilled for the potential opportunity to serve pastors, collegiate ministry leaders and students across the nation,” said Paul Worcester, NAMB’s national director of collegiate evangelism. “I believe that our college and university campuses are the most strategic mission fields in our nation. It is critical that we reach this generation of students and train them up to be the next generation of leaders for the church.”

The college population in the U.S. totals around 20 million students. Last year, LifeWay reported that more than 750 Baptist collegiate ministries impacted nearly half a million students, with more than 70,000 students involved in campus-based and church-based Baptist ministries across North America.

NAMB’s request for the new ministry assignment will be referred to the EC for consideration prior to the annual meeting.