VISION ARTICLE

Our 2035 Vision

Today, people are more connected than ever before. With phones, social media, and dozens of video-chatting options, we can talk to someone on the other side of the world at the tap of a button. Yet, many are somehow more isolated than perhaps at any other point in history. It is as if our ease of access to one another has ironically made it much harder to make real connections. As a result, the number of people who report having multiple meaningful relationships is decreasing each year.

But in a sector of South Dallas, one organization is helping students on three college campuses buck this trend. The Baptist Student Ministry (BSM) is impacting students at UNT Dallas, Paul Quinn College, and Dallas College’s Cedar Valley campus, and they are doing so with the simplest of strategies. In their words, they help students “grow as Jesus-followers and move as disciple-makers from their campus to the ends of the earth.”

This simple strategy is yielding incredible results. Thousands of students, many of whom are not actively religious, connect with the BSM every year. In the last decade, 400 of these previously nonreligious students became baptized Christians. The reason for these results is simple — BSM students (or BSMers) work hard at recruiting. We talked to the Student Life coordinators at each school, and every one of them said that the BSM is by far their most active organization. Walk on any South Dallas campus Monday through Thursday (when classes are in session), and you will see BSMers engaging their peers and inviting them to get involved with their organization.

BSM leadership regularly repeats the mantra, “People are built to belong.” So when students are invited to connect with the BSM, they are invited to join small groups of friends whose circles are never closed. These groups meet once a week primarily to study the Bible and challenge one another to apply what they learn to their lives. There are currently over 240 students involved in these groups, and many meet in even smaller groups for accountability, encouragement, and goal-setting. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect about the BSM is how diverse they are; no one culture dominates their DNA. From the ethnicities represented in their groups to the music they sing in their worship gatherings, the BSM is a vibrant blend of cultures.

The South Dallas colleges are known for being outward-focused, and the BSM is no different. Stephanie Cisneros, one of the recent students to join this organization, found it easy to adopt their mission as her own. “I see myself as a connector,” she told us. “As a member of the SGA, I am uniquely positioned to connect a lot of students with the BSM and, ultimately, with Jesus.” But these BSMers aren’t just concerned with their own campuses. Other schools have caught their eye. Right now, sixteen students are giving one day a week to reach four campuses that range from twenty minutes to an hour away from their own school.

These students work this hard because they are convinced that every person is better off when they have a relationship with Jesus. For this reason, they also collaborate with a local nonprofit organization once a month to serve members of their community because they believe that people experience the love of Jesus when their needs are met.

Dozens of BSMers are leveraging their free weekends and semester breaks to go even further than their local area. They have taken weekend trips to share the Gospel in cities like San Antonio. Every spring break, they spend a week at South Padre Island to share the Gospel with the thousands of college students who flock to the island. Still, more students go all over the world during the winter and summer breaks. The BSM has sent students to Mexico, England, Japan, and many other world locations.

These students stand out. They are education and STEM majors. They are athletes and musicians. From a distance, they wouldn’t appear to share much in common. But in reality, they all share an unbreakable bond and have used that bond to become an undeniable force.