April 1, 2002
SPRING BREAK ministry scenes:
Top: Beach Reach baptism service.
Spring break means ministry
___Like many of their peers, Texas Baptist university students spent spring break at the beach, in Colorado, Georgia and other destinations. But unlike most of their peers, these Baptist students devoted their break to helping others in ways big and small.
___Whether plugging parking meters in Durango, Colo., or passing out suntan lotion at South Padre Island, the Baptist students found a myriad of opportunities to share their Christian faith.
___Thirteen students from Wayland Baptist University traveled to Durango, where they helped a relatively new Baptist church, Heart of the Rockies Fellowship. The students prayerwalked in the community and then performed a unique ministry in the downtown shopping area.
___They fed the parking meters and left motorists leaflets with a message from the church headlined, "We're glad to serve you."
___This ministry openedthe eyes of locals to the new church's presence, but it also opened the eyes of the Wayland students to creative outreach techniques.
___"Even the simple things, like feeding the parking meters, I would have never thought of as a ministry. But they were great opportunities," said Steve Howe, a junior from Buda.
___Wayland students also worked with a Christian organization at Fort Lewis College, surveying students there about their belief in God and personal needs. The surveys created several opportunities for faith-sharing, Howe said, and laid groundwork for starting a Baptist Student Ministry on the campus.
___Another group of Wayland students served at Mission Arlington, where they led Vacation Bible School-type events in apartment complexes.
___Not all the youngsters they worked with received the gospel message gladly, however. Some strongly harassed the student workers.
___"Some of the kids were so mean, but the most horrible kid there Monday through Wednesday was saved on Thursday and was leading others to Christ," said Korby Calley, a Wayland sophomore. "It was awesome to see that transformation. He was a leader in being bad at first, but then was a leader to bring people to Christ.
___"We just had to keep telling some of the kids, 'No matter what you do, I will always love you and Jesus will always love you.' We just had to kill them with kindness, and I think that's what made the difference," she said. "We just kept loving them."
___Dallas Baptist University students expressed the love of Christ in another way through work with Habitat for Humanity in Americus, Ga. Since 1989, DBU has maintained a close relationship with Habitat and is a charter member of Habitat's campus chapters.
___Of the 32 DBU students who traveled to Georgia this year, 18 worked in Americus alongside AmeriCorps volunteers laying foundations and framing houses. Another group of 14 students spent the week in Albany, Ga., doing Habitat work.
___"In Americus and Albany, we were divided up between five different houses, and all of us learned new things," said DBU senior Peter Murrell. "For several students, this was their first exposure to Habitat. However, even for those of us who have attended several trips, touring the Habitat for Humanity headquarters gave us a better understanding of what we are involved in.
___"It's not just laying bricks for one person, but an active, involved worldwide ministry."
___The DBU students were invited to a dinner with Habitat founders Millard and Linda Fuller and visited Maranatha Baptist Church of Plains, Ga., where former President Jimmy Carter is a member.
___Back in Texas, 362 Baptist students converged on South Padre Island to minister among 50,000 spring break revelers there. The 22nd annual Beach Reach ministry reported 248professions of faith in Christ and 103 recommitments of faith.
___Beach Reach participants made contact with 25,288 other students during the week by offering free rides, a midnight pancake breakfast, a sand-castle-building contest and doing beach witnessing.
___Texas universities represented among the Beach Reachers were Angelo State University, Hardin-Simmons University, Howard Payne University, Tarleton State University, Texas A&M University, University of Texas and West Texas A&M University.
___Up the Rio Grande near Harlingen, 34 Houston Baptist University students worked alongside five doctors and nurses to set up clinics in Mexican border villages.
___The student volunteers also painted church buildings and cleaned and removed tile. In the afternoons, they led Vacation Bible Schools.
___"A lot of the kids who came to VBS had never been to church before, and it gave us the opportunity to love on them in the name of Christ," said HBU junior Shannon Rutherford.
___Each day the medical clinics were held, the teams treated between 65 and 75 patients.
___The students stayed at Valley Baptist Missions/Education Center, where they also led a mid-week youth rally and Sunday worship.
___"There was a wonderful sense of community built during the week among the students who went on the mission," said student minister Colette Cross. "It was a week of learning and loving and getting to know one another. Things like majors and different religions were put aside. Each of us went thinking that we were going to facilitate change in people's hearts, but really what happened was our hearts were impacted."
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