Virginia students understand life's uncertainties, Proffitt says

David ProffittNAMB

Jordan Minnick, left, and NAMB church planting missionary David Proffitt, right, baptize new believer Allyn Clark, a student at Virginia Commonwealth University, in the chilly James River in Richmond, Va.

HARRISONBURG, Va. (BP) — The passion that grips North American missionaries David and Shirley Proffitt is winning the next generation to Christ by planting churches near college campuses – and their passion has turned into a family affair.

Seven years ago, the Proffitts left Southern California – where the couple and their grown son and daughter had been planting new churches for 25 years – to move to Virginia. There they have been planting collegiate churches as missionaries supported by the North American Mission Board and the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia.

David and Shirley are two of more than 5,000 missionaries in the United States, Canada, and their territories supported by the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions and Southern Baptist churches’ gifts through the Cooperative Program. The theme of this year’s giving is “Live with Urgency: Seize Your Divine Moment.” The 2008 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering’s goal is $61 million.

At James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., the Proffitts’ first Virginia church plant, Aletheia (Greek for “truth”) Church, has grown in six years from four members to a regular attendance of about 400 each Sunday.

The Proffitts’ son, Aaron, 29, is Aletheia’s worship leader and pastor. Amy, their 30-year-old daughter, serves as a counselor for the church, which meets in a renovated warehouse in Harrisonburg. Aaron’s wife, Ashlee, is a semester missionary while Amy’s husband, Jon, also is on Aletheia’s leadership team.

“Three-quarters of the 400 are students,” David said. “The rest of them were probably former students who have gotten married and now have their own children. This is a church that has leadership, supports the Cooperative Program, sends missionaries out, disciples, trains, and teaches,” he explained.

James Madison University, located in the scenic Shenandoah Valley, has an enrollment of some 17,000 students – 4,000 of them freshman, the largest freshman class in the school’s history. Most of the students are from Fairfax County and northern Virginia.

The 57-year-old Proffitt – who relocates and plants campus churches much like itinerant missionary Johnny Appleseed planted apple trees – says starting a church on a college campus can be difficult.

“The challenges come when the university is not friendly toward a Christian organization, Christian ministry, churches, and Christian campus organizations,” he noted. “They’ve been pretty friendly here in Virginia.

Alice RusherNAMB

Missionary church planter David Proffitt, far right, and North American Mission Board semester missionary Alan Sheriff, standing, share the gospel with students at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., and invite them to Aletheia Church.

“We have to realize that each place is a unique setting. Even though they’re college and university students, they still are different, no matter where.”

When it became clear that Aletheia Church in Harrisonburg was in the good hands of Aaron, Amy, and their spouses, David and Shirley moved on to Richmond, home of Virginia Commonwealth University, the largest university in Virginia with 32,000 students. There they launched yet another church, also called Aletheia, in downtown Richmond.

When they first planted the Richmond church, the Proffitts began by holding a series of Bible studies. For each Bible study, Shirley would invite and feed up to 18 people in their campus apartment.

“Shirley has been our hospitality leader and always prepares terrific meals for all the people we invite over. She uses hospitality to assist with the evangelism process,” Proffitt said.

“Every day our team is going out on the campus of VCU and to surrounding housing and talking to students, building relationships, and doing intentional evangelism,” he noted. “We’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of people become Christians. We have even baptized new believers in the James River.”

Because of the heavy international student population at VCU, Proffitt’s ministry, Richmond’s Grove Avenue Baptist Church, and some other SBC ministries combined efforts and resources to hold an international student Thanksgiving dinner last November. About 300 people – mostly international students stuck on campus with no place to go during the holidays – attended and enjoyed the 11 roast turkeys and all the trimmings, prepared by Grove Avenue Church members.

With Aletheia Church in Richmond now running about 200 people each Sunday, David and Shirley have moved on to Norfolk to plant a third Aletheia at Old Dominion University.