Volunteers with Texas ties launch Coast Guard Academy student ministry_61404

Posted: 6/11/04

Volunteers with Texas ties launch
Coast Guard Academy student ministry

By Janelle Bagci

Staff Writer

NEW LONDON, Conn.–Two Mission Service Corps volunteers with Texas ties are launching a student ministry in one of the nation's most spiritually needy areas.

Randy and Sally Bond–graduates of Dallas Baptist University–will serve in New London, Conn., a town of 90,000 with five colleges and only one Southern Baptist church.

The schools include the United States Coast Guard Academy, one of the country's five federal service academies, which trains 850 students yearly for leadership positions.

“Almost everyone who serves in a leadership position will pass through the gates of the academy for training,” Bond said.

“Our ministry at the academy has the potential to touch a significant portion of the Coast Guard with the gospel. We were amazed to learn that one of our nation's military academies did not have an evangelical ministry trying to reach its cadets.”

The Bonds will arrive in New London June 19 and eagerly await the new cadets who will come to the academy June 28. They will direct New London Campus Ministry, a Baptist collegiate ministry that will seek to reach the cadets and students in the area.

“Campus ministry may be the key to reaching New England with the gospel. Studies show that 90 percent of all believers made their decision to follow Christ by age 21,” said John Ramirez, director of collegiate ministry for the Baptist Convention of New England.

Although the Baptist Convention of New England long has recognized the strategic nature of having a ministry in New London, the convention could not afford to fund such a position. By serving as volunteers, the Bonds fill the gap in a key ministry where mission funding is not available.

“It's scary, but we know the Lord will provide. We are called to live by faith and not by sight,” Bond said.

So far, the Bonds have accounted for 65 percent of their living expenses. They are trusting God to provide the remaining balance after they move.

The Bonds are seeking the names of incoming cadets so they can make contact with them before they arrive for Swab Summer, a “boot camp” experience beginning July 1.

The Bonds can be contacted at (318) 793-8857 or thebondfam@yahoo.com.

They also are looking for churches interested in taking a mission trip to New England.

“It could be as simple as a senior adult group who wants to come see the fall colors of New England and cook a meal for a bunch of hungry cadets,” Bond said. “It would be a simple trip that would have a significant impact on our work for the kingdom.”