More than 1,000 Texas college students on mission over spring break

ARLINGTON—Unlike their peers who spent spring break partying on a beach or catching up on sleep, more than 1,000 college students chose to serve selflessly in more than 25 locations throughout the state, nation and world, proclaiming the hope of Christ and meeting needs.

Students with Texas Baptist collegiate ministries shared their faith through rebuilding a hurricane damaged home in Galveston, showing love to children living near the Texas-Mexico border, handing out hot chocolate at the Paralympics, teaching a sport to neighborhood youth, repairing a food pantry at a local church or sorting through donations at Mission Arlington.

In the process, many saw God touch the hearts of the people they encountered. But they saw God change their lives, too.

“Their week looks completely different (from the typical spring break) because they have given up their week to go on a mission trip,” said Brenda Sanders, student missions consultant for the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

“Those students are doing everything from digging a water well in Nicaragua to working with children in the inner city. And yes, some of them are at the beach with Beach Reach. But instead of partying, they are witnessing and sharing with their peers. College students have spread out all across the state of Texas and as far as Canada and Brazil to share the hope of Jesus Christ.”

Brooke Brandon, an intern with the Baptist Student Ministry at the University of Texas at Arlington, enjoys time with a little boy who attended a Kids’ Club at Wheatley Court Apartments in a low-income neighborhood in San Antonio. (PHOTO/Carrie Joynton)

This year, more than 570 of the students from 29 campuses and churches served at Beach Reach, a ministry that serves the 50,000 students who go to South Padre Island during spring break.

The Beach Reach teams served 17,500 pancakes outside of a busy bar, gave 13,500 van rides and saw 61 students give their lives to Christ. At the end of the week, the group baptized 14 of the new believers in the Gulf of Mexico.

While Beach Reach saw new believers from the endeavor, many students with the Baptist Student Ministry at the University of Texas at Arlington had their eyes opened to poverty in Texas during their mission trip to San Antonio.

As the BSM took 92 students to San Antonio to help with Kids’ Clubs, a soup kitchen and a nursing home in a low-income area, many witnessed for the first time the poverty that exists in Texas, just hours away from their university.

One student encountered a child attending the Backyard Bible Club hosted by the BSM who had never heard about Jesus before.

The Baptist Student Ministry from Navarro College spent a week building a house with Casas por Cristo in Acuña, Mexico. Despite inclement weather, the group was able to complete the home, providing shelter for a family in need. (PHOTO/Alena McFalls)

“We definitely have seen students stretched because of the issue of poverty in San Antonio,” said Gary Stidham, BSM director at UTA. 

“A lot of our students are small-town or suburban kids, and they come here and see in some neighborhoods in just abject poverty. It stretches some of their assumptions and beliefs about what they need in life.”

Sanders agreed, adding students don’t have to go halfway around the world to find ways to help with poverty since it exists in their own backyard.

“It’s been interesting hearing the students talk about encountering poverty—whether that is driving down the street or realizing people don’t have enough food to eat or hearing the stories of the children,” Sanders said.

“It has been very eye-opening for them to realize this is in Texas, this is just a van ride away from my campus. But the reality is that in Arlington, Texas, this is blocks from their campus. My hope would be that their eyes and hearts are opened to realize there are needs all around them.”

For other groups, like the BSM at UT Southwestern Medical School, Spring Break meant spending the week showing love to people with physical and medical needs. During three BSM mission trips, 55 students cared for more than 570 patients at clinics in Laredo and El Paso, tending to physical needs and bringing spiritual hope.

Students from Dallas Baptist University work on a Habitat for Humanity project in Pensacola, Fla. (PHOTO/DBU Communications)

Still more students spent their time reaching out to children through Champs’ Camps at First Baptist Church in Brownwood and Harlingen. The camp reaches out to communities through teaching children sports and the hope of Christ.

Although the mission trips were focused on taking the hope of Christ to people in need, many BSM students grew in their faith as they verbally shared their faith with others for the first time. B.J. Ramon, BSM director at the University of Houston, said this growth happened with several of his students while they were at Beach Reach.

“Some of the students shared their faith for the first time during Beach Reach, and they haven’t stopped since,” he said.

Because the students were faithful to step out of their comfort zones and share the hope of Christ, eternity was changed for many men, women and children, Sanders said.

“I think during this week they get to be the hands and feet and eyes and ears of Jesus,” Sanders said. “They get to show the love of Jesus, whether that is hugging a child or playing bingo with a senior adult or serving in a soup kitchen or giving a van ride to a drunk peer on the beach.”

Above all, Sanders hopes students walk away from Spring Break ready to minister in the same way and be bold in verbally sharing their faith when they return to their college campuses.

“So often after Spring Break, we see students go back to their campuses, and they are more intentional about sharing their faith,” she said.

“After Spring Break, the light goes on, and they realize there are people just like this on their campus who need to know the Lord.”