JEFFERSON CITY – In October, The Pathway reported that sixteen Missouri college students had come to faith in Christ through MBCollegiate ministries in the first six weeks of the fall semester.
God continued to work profusely in the hearts of MBCollegiate students throughout the rest of the semester, bringing another 21 students to salvation by the end of the year. Here are some of their stories, as relayed to us by campus missionaries and student leaders.
Campus Missionary James Mohler reports that a Three Rivers student who committed to discipleship at the beginning of the semester professed that he now believes and trusts in Jesus.
Maryanna, a student leader with the Lighthouse ministry at Northwest Missouri State, had the privilege of leading two peers to Christ. Maryanna had spent time reading and discussing the book of John with another student, Jackie. After doing this for several weeks, Jackie put her trust in Christ.
Maryanna says, “It has been really encouraging to watch her because she wasn’t super religious before she came to school, but she has dived into the faith and learning what it means to be a Christian more whole-heartedly than I’ve ever seen anyone do.” Just weeks later, Maryanna led another student, Emmah, to Christ.
Clint Mahan, BSU Director for the Concord Baptist Association, reports the salvations of two Lincoln University students. Of the first, he says, “One of our student athletes had been attending our athlete Bible study and going to church with a few of the athletes. The Holy Spirit kept pursuing his heart; he has been convicted of change and placed his faith in Jesus. It has been cool to see his lifestyle and passions shift toward godly things.”
The other student, an international football player from Germany, had been attending BSU Bible studies. One Sunday he went to church with fellow football players where he surrendered his life to Jesus!
Student athletes have come to Christ on other campuses as well. At Hannibal-LaGrange, a baseball student who was formerly Buddhist accepted Christ after his colleague and his coach shared the gospel with him.
A male student leader with The Bridge Collegiate Ministry at Missouri Valley College was talking with his football teammates about Christ one day, and his teammate, Augustus, said he wanted to follow Christ! He was baptized on Nov. 10 at Relevant Church.
A Mizzou student got baptized in December after coming to faith in Christ. He’s been plugging into The Bridge Collegiate Mizzou and King’s Church.
The Lighthouse BSU ministry at Southeast Missouri State University saw three students come to Christ before the end of the year. A South Asian student professed faith through one of their evangelistic Bible studies led by campus missionary Reese Hammond and a local church member. A Middle Eastern graduate student professed faith during a weekly meetups with Hammond.
The third SEMO student came to faith at Winter Conference with the Lighthouse Ministry. “We had some really good conversations that the Lord helped use to bring him to understand the Gospel,” says Hammond.
Collegiate Impact, a metro-wide ministry in Kansas City with a presence on multiple campuses, saw five students come to Christ before the new year, two from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, two from Blue River Community College, and one from Maple Woods Community College. Caleb Fain, campus missionary at Maple Woods, shares,
“I got to meet a student for coffee recently. I’d had opportunities to talk about the gospel with him before but hadn’t had the opportunity to sit down and hear his story. After hearing him talk about going to church as a young kid, he said he knew about who God was but did not have a relationship with Him. I walked him through the Story of God circles, after which he recognized he was on the side of brokenness and wanted to become a new creation.”
Crowder BSU held its biggest event of the year in November, a student-led worship night on campus. After Scripture reading and worship through song, a student leader shared the gospel with everyone. Another student leader shared her testimony, followed by several other students who got up and spontaneously shared their testimonies.
At the end of the testimonies, campus missionary Austin Pfrimmer felt prompted to make a few remarks before concluding the evening with prayer. Pfrimmer says, “After I was done praying…some of our students called me over and told me that I had made their friend cry. The student had been moved by the gospel message and my closing remarks; she wanted to receive salvation. One of our student leaders took her to my wife, Chloe, and Chloe walked her through repenting and believing in the gospel.”
John the Baptist came to prepare the way for Jesus, calling people to “repent and believe the gospel”. Across the state, our campus missionaries and student leaders are carrying forth that same message across their campuses. By God’s grace and the Spirit’s power, students are repenting and believing through faith in Christ!
