November was a pretty busy month for our Baptist Student Ministry—the much-anticipated NoShave November. This year, we started selecting teams the last week in October to get everyone hyped up for the month ahead. We worked hard to incorporate students who are not specifically involved in BSM activities.
Kim Lilley GarnerThe idea behind Mustache Wheel of Doom is to separate students into teams, then encourage guys to grow out their facial hair all month. Throughout the month, teams hold fund-raisers and encourage others to sponsor their “face” through giving. We also sell T-shirts with the theme for that year on them, which always are popular with our students.
It is great to see students get involved in this project. Through this, we get to share Jesus and our love of missions with churches, families and peers. We encourage our students to tell why they have their facial hair grown out and let people know the money they raise will be used to sponsor Go Now missionaries. We draw a lot of attention to BSM and missions just from the campus seeing the guys’ crazy facial hair, and it’s a fun way for everyone to get involved.
The Mustache Wheel of Doom.The month-long emphasis concluded Monday, Dec. 8, at our campus-wide pancake supper. This is a fun event where faculty and staff serve students, and we all get to hang out and enjoy fellowship before the craziness of finals set in.
This is the last opportunity for the teams to sell T-shirts or solicit donations from those who attend. I always enjoy seeing the teams get donations from other teams and seeing the faculty become involved in donating. It is cool how the whole campus makes an impact.
The final losing team then has to spin the wheel of doom to see how they will wear their facial hair for the week of finals. The choices range from half-beard, hulk Hogan to pencil-thin mustaches. Everyone has one they absolutely do not want! This is the one event when all the campus rallies around the BSM, and we get to enjoy giving during this season.
Kim Lilley Garner is serving with Go Now Missions as a campus ministry intern at Howard Payne University.
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