UTA students confront poverty on mission trip

SAN ANTONIO—More than 90 students with the University of Texas at Arlington Baptist Student Ministry caravanned to San Antonio to spend six days sharing the hope of Christ by partnering with churches to host Backyard Bible Clubs in low-income neighborhoods and apartment complexes, as well as serve the homeless at a soup kitchen and minister to residents at a nursing home.

In the midst of hugging children, sharing Bible stories, painting a food pantry and playing bingo with the senior adults, many of the students were surprised to find they were surrounded by extreme poverty just a few hours from their university.  

For David Weick, a business management major at UTA who helped repaint and repair the food pantry at Harlandale Baptist Church, the mission trip opened his eyes to the poverty in the area but spurred him on to serve Christ no matter what people God brings into his life.

“One of the main things that surprised me is the neighborhood here around the church has a lot of poverty,” Weick said.

“It’s a level that most of us don’t see when we go around in our towns. It’s amazing to see the need of the people here and to see how the church is stepping up to meet the needs with the food pantry here, getting out into the neighborhood reaching those that we would even consider scary, like drug lords, gang members and the underprivileged people here, reaching out and telling them God loves them too.”

The students’ efforts were part of Texas Hope 2010, an emphasis by Texas Baptists to pray for the lost, care for the hurting and share the hope of Christ with all Texans.

A team of students with the University of Texas at Arlington BSM helped repair and repaint the food pantry at Harlandale Baptist Church in San Antonio. The BSM took 92 students to San Antonio during spring break to partner with area churches to host Backyard Bible Clubs and serve at a soup kitchen and nursing home in low-income, poverty-stricken neighborhoods. (PHOTO/Carrie Joynton)

Because the UTA BSM is diverse, filled with international students as well as both new and long-time Christians, the ministry staff wanted the mission trip to reflect that diversity, giving everyone the chance to experience what it is like to serve God out of their typical setting and to take part in a Christian ministry and community.

“This is a unique mission trip in that it’s not just Christians that are on the trip doing missions, but it’s also international students who are still seeking out truth for themselves,” said Brooke Brandon, an intern at the UTA BSM.

“It’s students who have a very strong walk with the Lord and those who are very new in their faith. It’s a great way for them to come alongside one another and grow in their faith as they are sharing the gospel and loving on kids and helping each other. It’s a great witness to our students who don’t know Christ yet to see their fellow friends and students alongside them serving.”

The goal of this method is to allow students to meet needs in the community, see the gospel lived out and hear the hope of Christ proclaimed all week long, said Gary Stidham, director of the UTA BSM.

BSM students from UTA work beside volunteers from Harlandale Baptist Church in San Antonio to serve lunch to the children who came to a Backyard Bible Club. The student team that worked at Harlandale Baptist Church shared the gospel with children and families in the neighborhood, as well as repairing the food pantry at the church. (PHOTO/Carrie Joynton)

During the week, the 92 students were separated into 11 teams that hosted backyard Bible clubs through local churches or low-income apartment complexes, focused on college campus evangelism and volunteered at a local soup kitchen and nursing home.

Each group spent time at the ministry site from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and then the rest of the day was focused on building relationships within the BSM group. Some of the community-building times included a student talent show, a superhero skating party, a team dodgeball tournament and an evening of ice skating.

“We do get to really help a lot of small churches in San Antonio,” Stidham said. “We get to meet some practical needs, have a lot of fun and build community in our group. At our BSM, we have commuter students who live all over Dallas-Fort Worth, and when they come together on this trip, it helps them bond. Then they can go back to the campus and work together there.”

As Rahul Gaba, an international UTA graduate student from India, participated in the Backyard Bible Club at Harlandale Baptist Church, he realized the need for churches to be involved in the community, sharing the hope of Christ with those in the neighborhood.

“I come from a country with many religions, with Hinduism being the main religion,” Gaba said. “There are not many churches there but still I knew what the Bible was. I knew at least who Jesus was even if I didn’t know what he did for us. … And I come here where there are a lot of churches, and still people don’t know about the Bible and about God. That has been really moving and surprising.”

Emilio Sanchez, a junior music major at UTA, helps Miguel finish a craft during the Kids’ Club at Harlandale Baptist Church. Sanchez was one of 92 students from the BSM at UTA who chose to serve in a low-income area of San Antonio during spring break. (PHOTO/Carrie Joynton)

Because of what Christ has done in his life, Gaba had a strong desire to make sure the children who came to the activities during the week understood the importance of a relationship with Christ.

“When I was a child, no one shared with me,” Gaba said. “I missed out on a lot of stuff. I realize that when I went to my undergrad and came here, people shared the gospel with me, and I was really happy.

“I missed out on that stuff for so many years, and I don’t want these children, at least in this coming week, to miss out on that and that I could share with them the gospel.”

Some students on the campus evangelism team spent their days taking spiritual surveys and prayer-walking at the four university campuses on San Antonio, allowing the Holy Spirit to lead them to people who need to hear the hope of Jesus Christ.

“Our goal has been just to listen to God’s Spirit,” said Stacey Johnson, a social work graduate student at UTA. “We have had to be really flexible, so our goal has been to share the gospel however God prompts us to, whether that is through surveys or prayer walking. The goal has been to get the feel to see if there needs to be a BSM on that campus and to connect students to Bible studies on that campus.”

During one afternoon of prayer-walking, Kristina Morris, a sophomore at UTA, was able to share her faith with a man at the University of the Incarnate Word.

“I explained to him so much of God’s love—even if you are the only person on earth, God still would have sent his Son. You are that worthy,” Morris said. “I explained to him about how to have a relationship with God. … At one point, he started crying when we told him that he is worthy, and I think he knew he had walls up and that they were starting to come down. I know God was working in his life.”

Through participating on the campus evangelism team, Johnson said, she learned the importance of prayer in all that she does.

“I think something that surprised me is how God taught me how important prayer has been,” Johnson said. “We have been going out on the campuses and sharing, but prayer goes into that. When we couldn’t find students to talk to, we just prayed for that campus. It taught me that whether I am here or at UTA, I need to always pray constantly, and that has been something he has showed me needs to be a part of my life all the time.”

For others like David Morgan, a junior at UTA who served on the soup kitchen and nursing home team, the trip taught him that God can equip his people for the tasks to which he calls them.

“I think God has shown me that he can use people wherever they are and to do what he would have them to do, even if they didn’t see themselves doing that—like me with the soup kitchen,” Morgan said.

“I don’t know that I saw myself doing that, but I think that is where he wanted me, and that is a God moment for me. … It’s a really great time to see the vision God has for the city and to see how many people are in need and serve their needs.”

As the students return to Arlington, Stidham hopes that this week will fuel a passion in the students to go back to their campus, live intentionally and share the hope of Christ the same way they did during Spring Break.

“I hope they walk away more eager to share their faith when they get back to Arlington,” Stidham said. “We hope they walk away with a great sense of community with one another. The biggest thing is for them to reach their college campus where they live with the gospel so they can bond and come together around that mission even more when they get back.”