A Fantastic Year

Baptist Student Ministries experienced an amazing year! God blessed us tremendously and we are seeing incredible things happen!

1) God has raised up a strong core group of students who are the most mission minded young people (or adults for that matter), that I know. These students are actively and intentionally engaging their campus, developing friendships with the lost, and going out of their way to serve the lost on campus. Our students have grown immensely. They no longer see Baptist Student Ministries as a "bubble" where they can hide safely from a lost campus-rather they see our organization as a place to be equipped, to worship, to be built up and re-energized so they can go out into the mission field that is the University of Texas, San Antonio.

2) Lives are being changed. I recently received an email from one of our students stating how significant Baptist Student Ministries was to her in her life. In her words, "I was heading down the wrong path when I came to the university, and God used BSM to change my life." This young girl is one of the most vibrant believers I know. She is actively serving others and sharing Christ. There are many stories like hers.

3) The lost are responding. We have been spiritually mapping our campus. By that, I mean we have been surveying students on campus to gain a better feel for the spiritual climate at UTSA as well as to help us understand our mission field and people's perceptions of Christianity, the Church, Christian organizations and their receptivity to further conversation and exploration. We have found students surprisingly open to talking. We have encountered Neo-Pagans, Atheists, Agnostics, Satanists and people from other religions and alternative lifestyles. Interesting: While many are open to talking about Jesus, many have negative views of Christianity and the Church. Even more interestingly-after listening to their stories respectfully, these students are open to exploring Christianity with BSM.

4) We are growing. The students have been faithful to till the spiritual soil, to work the ground, to plant, to sow, to water, to continue to do good, to not grow weary, and we are seeing the first fruits of a potentially tremendous harvest. We have outgrown our rooms for luncheons as well as our worship time. God blessed us in that next year we have two larger rooms for both meetings. It is amazing to see how God has and is using our students for His Glory.

Please continue to pray for BSM! We look forward to our summer mission trip and to spending time this summer preparing for an incredible year next year!