During the week leading up to the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s annual meeting last month, Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) students were practicing their serving all across the state. Early numbers reflect that about 50 students reached more than 500 people in their schools’ communities through acts of service every day for an entire week.
“We wanted our communities to see that we have a desire to serve them,” said Tyler Estes, a senior at USC Upstate and current BCM president. “We cast a vision for service and wanted to share God’s love with others.”
BCM students served meals in soup kitchens, made peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and gave them out at homeless shelters, visited in nursing homes and wrote thank-you cards to custodians. What they found was that the idea of serving was of interest to some of their non-Christian friends, who also wanted to participate.
“Even those who don’t know Christ want to know that their life will make an impact, and some wanted to serve with us,” said Tracy Turner, BCM campus minister. One student who is not a believer and does not usually participate in BCM activities heard about the service projects and participated every day.
After the success of “Serve Week,” Estes said BCM plans to hold a similar event in the spring, where he hopes to challenge students to share their faith daily for an entire week. “It should be a constant challenge for us, and doing it intentionally for one week will hopefully jumpstart that desire,” he said.
Estes, a member of Cross Roads Church in Greer, reported that 100 students have made professions of faith since the fall semester began in August. BCM is well on its way to Estes’ goal of seeing 300 students come to know Christ through BCM this school year. – SCBC