How God is moving at Texas Baptists universities

This past week has been a busy week on the road for me, preaching in churches, preaching chapel at one of our universities, speaking to seminary students and speaking at a Hispanic Men’s Retreat. It is a joy to watch God at work in all these settings throughout our state.

I was honored to preach at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor’s chapel, which was twice packed with students. Dr. Randy O’Rear, president of the university, is committed to providing Christ-centered higher education par excellence and is a friend of Texas Baptists.

UMHB is one of our Texas Baptists-affiliated universities. Jason Palmer, dean of Spiritual Life and University chaplain, states, “University of Mary Hardin-Baylor is distinctly Christian and has been preparing students for leadership, service and faith-informed discernment in a global society for 179 years.”

As I visited with university leadership I learned that the office of Spiritual Life and the Baptist Student Ministry work closely together to share the gospel, make disciples and mobilize students for mission. The Baptist Student Ministry, which has been present on campus for more than 100 years, is led by Daniel McAfee and has an average of 100 students attend their Tuesday gathering for training and discipleship.

During chapel, a student announced that they were beginning to organize their spring revival. Last spring’s revival, held under a tent on campus, had approximately 1,000 students attend each session and 150 students made commitments to follow Christ, rededicate their lives or answer the call to vocational ministry.

God has been moving among the student body at UMHB in such a powerful way that an Office of Global Outreach was established in 2019. Through this office, 16 short-term mission trips are planned each year in addition to student participation with Texas BSM in Beach Reach and Go Now Missions.

As I sat at the lunch table with university leadership, Dr. John Vassar, provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs, asked us to pray for a student in his Old Testament class. The student approached him after the first class and told him she had never read the Bible and asked for help in understanding chapters and verses. This was a reminder of the opportunity our Texas Baptists universities have to impact the lives of students who have no previous religious formation with the Scriptures and the gospel.

UMHB has also recently received the Hispanic Serving Institution recognition, which is given to not-for-profit institutions of higher learning with an undergraduate Hispanic student enrollment of at least 25%. They are intentionally reaching the population in our state.

We are thankful for our Texas Baptists-affiliated universities, their Christ-centered quality higher education, their commitment to spiritual life and their opportunity to impact a generation with the gospel. They are the local church’s partners in being a mission field where students are reached with the gospel, discipled and mobilized for global missions.

I invite you to pray for UMHB and for our other Texas Baptists universities, to consider referring students so they can receive a quality education surrounded by rich spiritual life and continue to give through the Texas Baptists Cooperative Program and participate in this kingdom initiative.