November 11, 2026
WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — A Georgia Baptist effort to replace aging Baptist Collegiate Ministry buildings is beginning to put students into new ministry space while creating a $6 million fund that leaders say will support missions, evangelism, and campus ministry for years to come.
Georgia Baptist Mission Board Executive Director Thomas Hammond gave messengers an update on the redevelopment project Tuesday during the Executive Committee report at the 204th annual meeting of the Georgia Baptist Convention.
The Mission Board once owned 14 BCM properties on college campuses across the state, Hammond said. Many of the buildings were 60 to 80 years old, and maintenance was costing Georgia Baptists between $700,000 and $800,000 annually, with some repair needs approaching $1 million.
“We were spending more money keeping buildings up than we were actually spending on resourcing the different ministries on these campuses,” Hammond said.
The Mission Board entered a redevelopment agreement with CCI under which the company purchased three BCM buildings for $3.5 million. Georgia Baptists retained ownership of the land while the developer replaced the old buildings with larger developments that include student housing and new BCM ministry space.
“We, as Georgia Baptists, the Executive Committee of the Georgia Baptist Convention, kept the land,” Hammond said. “The land belongs to us.”
The three projects are at the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Georgia Southern University.
At Georgia Southern, the new space is already being used. Hammond said BCM attendance has nearly doubled this year since the ministry moved into the facility.
Georgia Tech’s new facility is under construction and is expected to be completed in May or June. At UGA, construction is also underway on a development near Sanford Stadium. BCM will occupy the main floor, with gathering space, offices, a coffee shop, and areas for students to spend time together.
The developer is investing about $150 million in the three projects, Hammond said, while Georgia Baptists have no construction, utility, security, or cleanup costs associated with the developments.
The UGA project also brought an additional opportunity.
As plans were being developed, the university approached Georgia Baptists about acquiring the existing BCM property, which stood in the path of the university’s plans for expansion of the Terry College of Business. UGA offered a nearby tract about twice the size of the original property along with $1 million.
Earlier this year, Mission Board leaders said two other BCM properties, at Georgia State University and the University of West Georgia, were sold for about $750,000 each after they were removed from the redevelopment project.
Combined with the $3.5 million from the original agreement and the $1 million from the UGA land exchange, those transactions have produced about $6 million for collegiate ministry.
That money is now invested, Hammond said, and is expected to generate about $500,000 to $600,000 annually.
“Our desire is to send 200 students on mission trips every year,” he said. “We want to also do large evangelistic events on university campuses all across our state.”
The earnings will also be used for repairs and improvements at BCM properties Georgia Baptists continue to own, reducing the amount of Cooperative Program money needed for building expenses.
Mission Board leaders outlined another use for the earnings earlier this year: helping students pay for summer mission assignments through Send Me Now. About 135 students were participating in summer missions at the time, with a goal of increasing that number to 200. The plan calls for providing each student with a $500 scholarship toward mission expenses.
Hammond said collegiate ministry is currently active on 40 campuses in Georgia. More than 130 students participated in Send Me Now mission trips during the past year.
He also noted that about 10% of International Mission Board missionaries call Georgia home, connecting the work of local churches and BCMs with the sending of missionaries around the world.
During the report, messengers watched the testimony of JT Hill, a Georgia Southern student who served in Guatemala through Send Me Now. Hill described visiting a family with a local pastor and translator and sharing the gospel with them.
Hill said the experience changed the way he looks at the people around him after returning to Georgia.
“Our goal was we’re just reaching one more person with the gospel,” he said. “And then coming back has been my challenge to my friends, to my family, to my church … and then also in my own life of sitting in class and that classmate that’s beside me, just take the earbuds out, stop listening to music, and look around and see who I can go engage with for the sake of the gospel.”
The BCM redevelopment effort is part of a broader financial turnaround at the Mission Board. Hammond said that progress has come in part through a deliberate effort to reduce the board’s physical footprint and redirect dollars to ministry.
“Every dollar you send to your Mission Board, we know it’s a sacrifice,” Hammond told messengers. “And we will do everything we can to get the most gospel work out of every dollar you send us."
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