Christian Challenge brings Christ to California campuses

Joe Westbury

Golden Hills Baptist Association Director of Missions Glenn Prescott explores ministry options with Georgia students Beth Hollaway of Pine Mountain, left, and Hannah Carter of Cordele, right. The trio were visiting together outside the Charles Darwin science building at Sonoma State University, north of San Francisco.

RHONERT PARK, Calif. - Without planting in the summer there will be no harvest in the fall. And with that thought in mind, two Georgia Baptist college students are busy sowing gospel seeds in California churches and collegiate communities this summer.

Hannah Carter of Cordele and Beth Hollaway of Pine Mountain are Baptist Student Union summer missionaries serving north of the San Francisco Bay Area between the months of June and August. And in so doing, they are strengthening the bonds of the partnership between the two states.

Carter, who just graduated from Shorter College in Rome, and Hollaway, a sophomore at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, are using their ministry gifts in a variety of settings from Backyard Bible clubs to collegiate ministries.

"These girls are providing a valuable service to us this summer," said supervisor Beth Melling. "Their helping us during freshmen orientation days at Sonoma State University is going a long way in laying a foundation for our fall activities."

Melling, herself a Georgia native, serves as a volunteer campus minister for Golden Hills Baptist Association, just across the bay from San Francisco. She arrived in California 20 years ago as a US-2 summer missionary through the Home Mission Board (now North American Mission Board) to provide campus ministries for two colleges in Bakersfield, far to the south.

Joe Westbury

"It's important to find other students with Christian values on campus," says Laura Oosterkamp as she registers at the Christian Challenge booth. The Modesto coed said such organizations provide an important support group as students explore newfound freedoms and face new temptations on campus.

She ended up putting down roots and developed a burden for reaching the state's students for Christ. But the road has not been easy. The state's campus ministries program took a direct hit in budget cutbacks in January 1993 when nine workers were eliminated, shuttering outreach on 31 college campuses. That makes the urgency even more critical, she says.

"I've been praying for God to raise up more workers to minister to college students in the Bay Area, and hopefully Hannah and Beth are two of many to come. The needs are so great out here, we could use volunteers from Georgia's colleges at virtually any time of the year," she explained.

Those sentiments are shared by Glenn Prescott, missionary for Golden Hills Baptist Association and pastor of Tiburon Baptist Church.

"These summer missionaries are helping on a variety of levels - in children's camps, sports camps, English Club with international students, as well as in campus ministries."

Prescott sees the role of Carter and Hollaway being played out on two levels. First, to do the work of summer missionaries and second, to enlarge the vision of how powerful the partnership can be.

"I want our churches to realize the full potential of the partnership between our states, and these girls are helping to put a face on that potential. The partnership is so much bigger than many of our churches can imagine. The opportunities to pool our resources are endless."

Joe Westbury

Ann Cater, president of Christian Challenge at Sonoma State University, explains the benefits of the campus organization to an incoming freshman during a July orientation for new students. Cater says the presence of a Christian organization on campus helps believers develop a base of support among themselves while providing an outreach to unchurched students. She says the ministry of Georgia Baptist BSU summer missionaries has helped the group lay a foundation for the fall semester.

As important as the summer campus ministry is in laying groundwork for the fall semester, students are needed throughout the year when classes are in full swing. That's when campuses reach their peak enrollment and when there are more unchurched students to impact with the gospel, Prescott adds.

"I am praying that students in Georgia will see the year-round need to come and work alongside us throughout the year. We are hoping that Hannah and Beth are just the first of many to come to California to work with us."

Part of his role as associational missionary and pastor is to lead California churches to see the local college as part of their mission field. When that occurs, the ministry will be strengthened considerably, he says.

"We have many churches that are located near a college campus but they just don't see that as being part of their outreach ministry. We are working to change that vision to help them realize that the world's future leaders are studying just a few blocks from their church, and they need to hear the Gospel."

Melling agrees.

"It's important for us to impact as many of these future leaders as possible with the Good News of Jesus Christ. The college years is a time when students are finding themselves and are facing a variety of decisions and temptations that will shape their future. We cannot afford to ignore them at such a critical time in their development."

The Christian presence at Sonoma State, with its 8,000-member student body, is nominal but the need is why Melling and others continue to persevere.

"We don't have the luxury of having a BSU Center so that forces all of us to be out on campus. Our group, called Christian Challenge, rents rooms on campus for our meetings and turns those into witnessing opportunities. I think one of the greatest outreach ministries we have is to those students who staff the information desk in the lobby and have to stay there until the building closes at 10 p.m.

Joe Westbury

Georgia BSU summer missionaries Beth Hollaway, left, and Hannah Carter, right, field questions about Christian Challenge during freshman orientation at Sonoma State University. Hollaway has identified more than 400,000 students in the San Francisco area who are virtually untouched by a Christian campus outreach.

"It can get pretty lonely at that desk, but we go out of our way to include them in the refreshments and just to befriend them while we are there. They learn a little about who we are and we learn something about them and their needs. That goes a long way to building relationships on campus," she says.

To explore just how great the need is for more Georgia students to come to California to minister, Melling asked Hollaway to determine how many students were in the area.

She gave the Georgia student a list of community colleges and state universities, as well as state universities and private colleges, in an area from San Jose north to Mendocino and east to Sacramento. Within the region Hollaway identified more than 400,000 students who are virtually untouched by a Christian outreach.

Melling ends with a hard-hitting question which focuses like a laser on the need:

"It's easy for us to criticize campuses like the University of California at Berkeley for being so liberal, but if we don't care enough to have a Christian presence on their campus do we really have a right to judge them?"

Joe Westbury

Beth Melling, a volunteer campus ministries director, explains the benefits of Christian Challenge to parent Kathy Oosterkamp. Melling is praying for an increase in the number of Georgia Baptist college students who come to California to serve in campus outreach. Melling is a native of Coleman in southwest Georgia and grew up in Faith Baptist Church in Cuthbert.