Baylor BSM approved for $1.3 million challenge grant

Texas Baptist Missions Foundation officials announced they met the fundraising requirements of a $1.3 million Mabee Foundation Challenge Grant toward construction of a new Baptist Student Ministry building at Baylor University.

“This milestone could not have been reached without faithful partners in the gospel,” said Eric Wyatt, vice president of the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation.

When the Mabee Foundation awarded the challenge grant in July 2024, it required that an additional $2.447 million—the remainder of the capital campaign—be given or pledged within the next 12 months.

The funds were raised and validated “over a week ahead of the deadline,” said Jerry Carlisle, president of the Texas Baptist Missions foundation.

Once construction begins on the new BSM building, the funds will be distributed to the mission foundation, officials said.

“God continually made it clear to our team that he was working in the hearts of his people to provide for his purposes. We are grateful,” Carlisle said.

While the $7 million campaign to build the new BSM building has been completed, the missions foundation will continue raising funds for an endowment to support the Baylor BSM, Wyatt said.

“As we move forward toward the beginning of construction this fall, the Mabee Foundation grant deadline isn’t the end—a very important milestone, but not the finish line. We continue our efforts to raise $2 million for an endowment to support this new building and ministry,” he said.

Headquartered in Midland, the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation has helped fund new construction and building renovations for nonprofit organizations since 1948. It funds projects in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas.