Some GOOD NEWS for College Ministry in Georgia

 For the past three years, the Georgia Baptist State Convention has been making cuts in personnel in their collegiate ministry program as part of their overall downsizing.  About one hundred (100) Convention employees have lost their jobs over this period.  So, it is encouraging to hear a good word.  It was announced in the last few days that Beverly Parrish Skinner will assume the role of "Director of BCM Campus Expansion".  For the past eight years Beverly has been serving as Women's Ministry and Communications Consultant for the Georgia Convention.

The good news here is that Beverly is a wise and experienced college ministry pro.  She has served in collegiate ministry on the campuses of Ole Miss and Texas A&M.  She also led the Summer Missions program for the Mississippi Baptist State Convention.  Beverly has done college ministry, done it well and worked in some large ministries. She knows and is known  by the college ministry leaders around the country who can and will be resources to her and to Georgia.  No Baptist college ministry pro is more respected than Beverly. There could not have been a better choice for this position.

 The article by the Georgia Index said, "the moves are intended to increase the campuses where Georgia Baptists are engaged from the current 43 to 96, which is the total number of universities, colleges, and technical schools in the state."   It would seem to me that drastically cutting the number of College Ministers is not likely to double the number of campuses being reached.  I wish we could sometimes say, "With the limited resources we have, we feel like this is a good plan."  And, that would be true.  I think we need to look Baptists in the eye and say, if reaching and retaining young Christians is a priority, then we need your continued and increased giving.  And, we need to decide if college ministry is or should be a priority.

The news release did not indicate Beverly's job description or the plan.  And, I have not talked with Beverly at this point.  But, I would assume the plan is for her to enlist churches and individual volunteers to start and or continue to lead ministries on all these campuses. Beverly, with her background and experience, will be excellent at recruiting,  training, and preparing people for these roles.  But, it is a gargantuan task....and particularly if it is just Beverly.

So, let's celebrate that someone made a good choice in who is to try to pull this off and let's commit to pray for Beverly..  Plus, is there something else we can do to help? And, why don't we challenge Southern Baptists to do more.

Arliss Dickerson's college ministry books are available at amazon.com/dp/B08CMD9CXX.