Once a cadet, now a leader in Christian ministry

James Forrester is the only Georgia Baptist campus minister who is saluted by every student in uniform that he meets on campus.

Forrester is campus minister at North Georgia College and State University in Dahlonega and the North American Mission Board-endorsed chaplain of the school’s military students, called the Corps of cadets. He works alongside senior campus minister Ken Jones.

Forrester first came to the campus in 1988 as a student. The Bainbridge native chose to go to the school – which requires all residential males to be enrolled as cadets – because of its reputation for teaching leadership.

“A lot of the guys go on to join the Army, but I didn’t feel called to serve,” he said.

But the years he spent on campus did change the direction of his life.

“I grew up in church, but when I was a freshman in college I was all over the place,” Forrester admitted.

Then he met Jones, senior campus minister at the college.

“Ken discipled me. That helped me understand the importance of being a Christian,” Forrester said.

Before he left the campus, he served as president of the Baptist Student Union and became known on campus for his Christian leadership.

After graduating with a biology degree and marrying Beth, a teacher, the couple worked in Dahlonega and Gainesville.

“We worked as volunteer junior high ministers in our church and really enjoyed it. In 1999 I accepted the call to full-time ministry and we quit our jobs and went to Southeastern Seminary,” he said.

After serving on a church staff in Florida, he heard about the job opening at the North Georgia campus.

The NGCSU BSU has always had a reputation for developing strong leaders and participating in missions – it is one of the top schools in the nation for sending summer missionaries around the world. But, they never had strong participation with the military students.

“We always had a military representative on our leadership council and we had some participation,” Jones said.

All that changed when Forrester came on board. He went straight to the cadets.

“I knew what it was like. You live a life on campus and when you go to BSU you live a different life. My passion is for those cadets,” Forrester said.

One aspect Forrester understood was time. Cadets head for physical training at 7 a.m. most mornings. They have required field drills. Then there is the time for studying. And, they have only three or four free weekends throughout an entire semester. Often, there isn’t time to walk across campus to the BSU.

So, Forrester went to them.

He began to hold Bible studies in the military dorms. He worked out with the students during physical training. He “hung out” in dorm lobbies and the cafeteria.

“I told them I’d love for them to come to BSU, but if they don’t come across the street, I’m still going to be here,” he said.

Jones agreed with that strategy.

“The cadets are so busy, you’ve got to play on their field. It can’t be a ‘ya’ll come’ type of ministry,” Jones said.

It wasn’t long before Forrester was called into the Colonel’s office.

“Col. Tom Palmer told me that he’d seen a difference among the cadets. He asked me to be the volunteer chaplain and even gave me rank (captain). That means nothing outside this campus, but it means something here,” he said.

Forrester took the job seriously and went to work on a five-year plan. He developed a chaplain system among the cadets with a brigade chaplain overseeing two battalion chaplains who work with their company chaplains. The school’s precision drill team also has a chaplain.

This past fall – Forrester’s second year on campus – he started training students, covering everything from character to witnessing to basic counseling skills.

He’s already seeing results. The once-a-month prayer breakfast used to be attended by a dozen or so cadets.

This semester, the average attendance has been 250 cadets praying together in the school cafeteria.

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There are 27 full-time and part-time campus ministers in Georgia supported by the Cooperative Program. They work with more than 8,200 students involved in campus ministries. For information about campus ministry, contact the Collegiate Ministries office at jgraham@gabaptist.org, (770) 936-5248 or 1 (800) RING-GBC.

 

You and your church may send Cooperative Program gifts to:
J. Robert White, Executive Director, GBC
2930 Flowers Road South, Atlanta, GA 30341-5562