EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was corrected at 2:45 p.m., April 10, to read that The Bridge Collegiate Ministry at the University of Missouri was started by Missouri Baptist campus missionary Scott Westfall.
COLUMBIA – For a mission field as ripe as a college campus, it makes sense to send a missionary. That’s exactly why former missionary and current Missouri Baptist church-planter Colby Corsaut aims to reach college students in Columbia.
Corsaut comes to mid-Missouri by way of 10 years of collegiate ministry at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, followed by time as an International Mission Board church planter in France. When he and his family began to feel God’s call to Missouri, they knew they wanted to focus on college students to ensure the church continues with fresh generations of leaders.
“The amount of pastors in their 60s has tripled over the last few years,” Corsaut said. “There’s just not a ton of guys in the pipeline between 18 and 40.”
That realization and the desire to do something about it led them to Columbia.
“As a missiologist, it was pretty shocking to look at the city and see the lostness,” he said. “There are 100 nationalities here. There are students, there are refugees. Over 65 percent of the general population and 85 percent of the collegiate population identify as non-religious. By some statistics, it’s the fastest growing city in Missouri, but just far enough outside the major cities that no one feels responsible for it. All 50 states and all 115 of Missouri’s counties are represented here, so it’s unbelievably influential.”
Though there are still solid churches in the college town, theological drift and liberalism have caused that number to shrink dramatically over the years, with the gospel’s visibility shrinking with it. More Bible-believing churches are needed to minister to and train vast swaths of the population – especially college students.
“There’s a desperation among the existing Christians here to see God do something, but the idea of winning almost seems like a foreign concept,” Corsaut said. “But if you can reach people in these places, they often become the best missionaries to go anywhere else, whether they’re going back to Kansas City or Bangladesh.”
Corsaut prays a new, reproducing Kingdom work partnering with solid local churches that remain in Columbia will engage and reach college students. He partners with The Bridge Collegiate Ministry, a new Baptist presence at the University of Missouri started by Missouri Baptist campus missionary Scott Westfall. The Bridge Collegiate Ministry has grown to 20-30 students. Many of those students are helping with the church plant, The King’s Church, which began having prayer meetings this spring with 20-30 adults, with the goal to have its official launch this September.
“We want to see that collegiate work be the spear tip that reaches tons of young leaders, and funnels them back to not just The King’s Church, but also our existing sister churches,” Corsaut said. “We’d love to train them as youth pastors, children’s workers, and maybe give them an opportunity to preach.”
Corsaut asked for prayer from Missouri Baptists as the new church plant gets off the ground, including: for the lost to get saved, and the saved to be baptized; for partners in the harvest, for the core launch team, and for staff to lead the ministry.