February 26, 2001

Texan seeks to arrange 'adoptions' with Northwest
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___SEATTLE, Wash.--A Texas Baptist who has adopted the American Northwest wants fellow Texans to help her arrange similar adoptions.
___That's the message from Leigh Ann Powers, a transplanted Texan now working with Baptist Collegiate Ministries in Seattle, Wash.
___Powers, who moved to the Northwest after being recruited while studying at Baylor University in Waco, said the need encompasses both churches and individuals.
___"We are looking to Texas to find churches that will adopt one of our colleges or universities during 2001 and 2002," she said.
___Churches that adopt a school could offer financial support, provide prayer support, supply "Jesus" videos, or send construction or renovation teams, Powers explained.
___"We also hope to find eight volunteers who would be willing to give a year to serve in Seattle as a minister to college students on one of our campuses," she said.
___ "These individuals would be used to strengthen existing Baptist Student Ministries and to start new ministries on campuses where right now there are not any."
___Powers estimated 175,000 college students attend school in the Seattle area.
___Seattle will be one of the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board's strategic focus cities in 2002--a center of evangelistic and missions activity during the year.
___"Skills are not as important as where their heart is and the ability to go out and meet people and show them the love of Jesus," Powers said of the qualifications for the student ministry volunteers.
___While a minimum of support might come from the North American Mission Board or the local association of churches, volunteers would need to secure other financial support, Powers reported.
___Ideally, the new volunteers would be in place in the Northwest by August of this year, she said.
___The volunteer student ministers will spend about 20 hours a week on campus developing relationships and about the same amount of time working with area churches to develop their ministries to college students, she added.
___Powers is involved with the student ministry effort because she saw the importance of college ministry during her years at Baylor.
___"Life-changing decisions are made during these years. People are deciding on jobs, who to marry, a lot of things that are really major decisions," she related.
___"God needs to be a part of those decisions. These decisions will affect the rest of their lives. We need to be ministering to students during that time."
___For more information, contact Powers at (206) 523-1511 or baohongen@juno.com.

Get printer-friendly version of this story


Send this story to a friend

---

Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!