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2008 In Review

Baptist Campus Ministries: Brad Simmons
Saturday, November 1, 2008

As I look back over the last calendar year, it is great to see how God has been at work. Every semester and every year brings new blessings from God.

In January, we went to Life Impact in Denver. Life Impact is a collegiate conference held every two years that focuses on evangelism, discipleship and missions. The conference featured some great speakers, and was organized by Max Barnett. We were all challenged to be more disciplined in our walks with God. Many of the students who went had never seen the Rocky Mountains, so seeing that beautiful part of God's creation was an added bonus.

As usual, we welcomed many new students in January. We picked up several dozen new students from the airport, and helped them to get settled into life at Wichita State University, and in the United States. Olivet Baptist Church opened up their fellowship hall to us, and allowed us to host a welcome dinner. We planned and cooked for 150, but by the time the night was over, more than 200 international students were fed. We were not sure how the food went so far, but we were thankful it did. Many of our students spent time connecting with the new students, and telling them about The Mission's ministry on campus. We also promoted our annual Valentine's event.

February brought our fourth annual Valentine's "drovie." This drama-movie-musical-dancing show has grown in popularity each year. Despite the cold and rainy night, this year around 300 students came out to see the show, which ended with the message of God's love for us.

Over Spring Break, about 20 of us went to Webster Conference Center to help with projects there, and do some leadership training. We planted trees, cleaned gutters, tracked down railroad ties that floated away, and cleaned out a very dusty, dirty storage shed loft. The week was spent casting a vision for changes that were coming in the way we do our small groups. It was also spent in worship and prayer, and refocusing ourselves on what God had for our lives.

Early in the summer we received word that Clear Creek Baptist Association in Arkansas, was going to be donating a van and a trailer to The Mission. This wonderful gift has already been put to use in picking up students from the airport, and hauling our sound equipment to and from campus each Sunday. In fact, during the week prior to classes starting in August, I was in the van with six other people, and all of us were from different countries. We are very thankful to the people of that association, and for their vision to partner with us.

As we look ahead, there is still much work to be done. There are around 13,000 students at Wichita State University, and about 1,500 of them are international students. So many of these students are curious about Americans, and about the American way of life, and for many of them this includes an interest in Christianity. We are thankful for the lives that have been changed so far, but we continue to pray for the harvest that is yet to come.