Kearns excited about new MBC ministry
Now heads all BSUs in state
By Allen Palmeri
Senior Writer
April 18, 2006
JEFFERSON CITY – Matt Kearns, who has been serving as student evangelism specialist for the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) since Jan. 1, 2005, is now student ministry director. The change in his ministry title took effect in April.
Kearns is now over all of the Baptist Student Union (BSU) ministries in the state of Missouri. There are six full-time BSU directors in the MBC orbit, Kearns said, and one part-time director. There are also about 15 part-time and bivocational college ministers in Missouri with no ties to the MBC, Kearns said.
He estimated that there are 400,000 college students in the state. The “student” in his new job title refers to more of a streamlined focus, he said, among the age-12-through-25 bracket. That type of focus would include homeschooled, junior high, high school and college students, Kearns said. The total number of junior high and high school students in his realm is approximately 600,000, which would mean that there are an estimated one million souls within a jurisdiction that now falls under his job description, Kearns said.
Kearns, who previously worked for the North American Mission Board before coming on staff with the MBC, is eager to begin.
“I’m excited about the opportunity,” he said. “It’s going to mean a shift in thinking for me. I’m going from being primarily responsible for a small team here to now moving to have responsibility for our collegiate BSU and anybody who’s working in support of that, and then continue developing a team here. We’re hoping to draw in five additional interns here this summer to work with us.”