A Baptist Campus Ministry student ministers to children in the Dominican Republic.

Since so much of the energy of the Great Commission Resurgence is focused on international missions, I’ve tried in this Great Commission Kentucky blog to direct attention to some of the many ways Kentucky Baptists are participating in international missions through their state convention. One of the most significant of these is Baptist Campus Ministry.

In Kentucky, we have 12 full-time campus ministers located on the largest colleges and universities in the state and another who serves several schools in the Owensboro area. We also have nine part-time campus ministers who serve many of the smaller campuses where we don’t have ministry centers.

Baptist Campus Ministry in itself is one of the most important ministries in which Southern Baptists engage. At a time when research is showing that our congregations are aging, that too many young people are leaving their Christian involvement behind when they go to college, and that people are most receptive to the Gospel when they are young, Southern Baptists need to be pouring more resources than ever into ministering to young people on our college campuses.

I’ve have had two sons involved in Baptist Campus Ministry at two different Kentucky universities now and am grateful for these ministries. They help to disciple young people, get or keep them involved in a local church during their college years, and help to awaken a love for sharing their faith with others. I believe that both of my sons are stronger Christians today due, in part, to their involvement with Baptist Campus Ministry.

But Baptist Campus Ministry is not only about reaching out to the young people from Christian families or even only to English-speaking American students. An important part of Baptist Campus Ministry is focused on international missions right on the college campus.

My youngest son is involved in the BCM at Western Kentucky University where he is working with that campus’s international ministries. The students are taking the Great Commission very seriously as they seek to build relationships with young people from all around the world. The BCM very intentionally reaches out to these students by having conversational English programs, activities that celebrate the cultures of international students, programs that seek to connect individual American BCM students directly with individual international students to build both English skills and relationships, and events that bring international students from many cultures together for fun and fellowship.

I’ve heard my son talk about positive interactions he’s had with numerous students from Asian, Middle-eastern, European and Hispanic cultures. In some cases, these have led to further contacts with ethnic groups within the community beyond the WKU campus. The BCM students are also seeking to connect international students with ethnic congregations in the area or with receptive Anglo congregations.

And these ministries are having an impact for the Kingdom. Just this past weekend, I heard my son share about a Chinese student who is close to making a profession of faith, a Korean student who is asking serious and intelligent questions about Christianity that shows the Holy Spirit at work, and about a Middle-eastern student who was spending the weekend with a Christian family and may be close to making a decision for Christ.

I believe that in some cases we may actually be able to have as much impact on a nation through campus ministries in the United State than we can through direct missionary work in that nation. I say this in relation to those countries that are technically closed to our missionaries and where Westerners are closely monitored. If we can reach students who are from that nation (many of whom who are destined for various leadership roles) while they are here in the United States, we, in effect, create new missionaries to that nation when they return home.

Baptist Campus Ministry’s impact on international missions isn’t only through ministry to international students on campus, however. A large number of students go out through BCM each year on short-term mission trips. In the past year, nearly 2,600 Baptist Campus Ministry students participated in mission trips in Kentucky and around the world.

And, each year, some of our best BCM students get to participate in the 1:8 Leadership Experience, a intensive discipleship and missionary experience during the summer. Last year’s 1:8 Leadership Experience took young people to the Dominican Republic. This year, students will work alongside International Mission Board personnel in Romania.

These missions experiences are not only valuable for what is accomplished in the lives of the people with which the young people interact, however. They are also valuable because they help to shape the spiritual lives of young people who will become the IMB missionaries and Baptist church missions leaders of the very near future.

It’s almost becoming cliche to say that “the world is coming to us.” But it’s true and I’m so glad to know that Kentucky Baptists are a part of fulfilling the Great Commission by reaching out through Baptist Campus Ministry and made possible through our gifts to the Cooperative Program.