NORBORNE – Pastor Paul List’s favorite place on earth is his 13-acre family farm in the rolling hills just north of Norborne. It’s a gift he doesn’t keep to himself; he uses it for kingdom building anytime he gets the chance. And one of his favorite avenues of kingdom building is college ministry.

Earlier this spring, List, the pastor of First Baptist, Slater, invited eight male student leaders from The Bridge Collegiate Ministry at Missouri Valley College to join him for a weekend of male bonding. Those eight men invited their friends, ending up with a total of 25 college-aged men who spent April 19-20 playing games, fishing, shot gun shooting, and studying the book of James with List on his beloved farm.

Pastor Paul List

“The guys all said the weekend was really encouraging,” says The Bridge Campus Missionary Marita Avilez. “This time together helped them connect with some of the other guys that they don’t normally interact with.” One student, Mason, came to the retreat unconnected to a small group through The Bridge. The weekend helped him see that “it’s about a relationship, not religion.”

Luke Clayton, a junior physical education major from Wichita, Kans., says, “I grew closer with my brothers in Christ and was able to evaluate where I was in my walk with Christ.”

Doryan Cole, a Moreno Valley, CA native who graduated in May with a degree in Psychology, says the men’s retreat was “nothing short of a God centered environment of fun, connection, and intentionality. Bringing together a group of young men who are all on different parts of their journey with Christ to learn and share those experiences with one another while seeing how life with Christ was very enjoyable and fruitful living in the world but not of it.”

For Nelius de Jager, a junior hailing from Upington, South Africa, the men’s retreat was a welcome break from the busyness of college and working life. De Jager is triple majoring in finances, economics, and agribusiness and minoring in accounting and agronomy while playing varsity golf and serving as a student ambassador on campus. He says, “I had a great time out on the farm and was able to spend much needed quiet time with God and do some self-reflection as well as having fellowship with fellow men of God. I am looking forward to going back out there with the guys and Pastor Paul!”

List, an MDiv graduate from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MBTS), has pastored FBC Slater since 2018 and is in the process of planting Relevant Church in Marshall with the Send Network. He has a heart for college students, serving as the Campus Chaplain for Missouri Valley and President of the Board for The Bridge.

List first got involved with The Bridge after meeting Scott Westfall, who started The Bridge at MoVal a few years ago and has since expanded the ministry to Mizzou. Westfall invited List on a house-building mission trip in Mexico, and they’ve been close friends ever since. List preaches regularly at The Bridge’s large group meetings, helps lead mission trips, and disciples several students weekly. He’s currently in the process of obtaining his DMin in Leadership from MBTS and plans on doing his doctoral dissertation on increasing college student peer-to-peer discipleship techniques.

Initiating this men’s retreat flowed out of his existing discipleship relationships. Several of the men List meets with regularly were asking him to do something special. The farm provided the perfect getaway for them to share deep devotionals, fellowship, fun, and refreshment.

List mobilized students to lead the devotions from the book of James, helping them with the preparation process so they could lead their peers through an hour of rich discussion. “Each time they led the devo, I saw them step up and out of their comfort zone,” he says. “I saw a hunger and filling up on God’s Word like nothing I’ve ever seen before!” He also let them clean, cook, fish, and shoot sporting clays. Every participant left spiritually full and longing for another retreat next fall and spring.

Getting to see students grow in their faith and increase in biblical literacy by being involved with college ministry “is an absolute blessing”, says List, and an encouragement to him as a pastor. “College ministry brings a freshness to the local church of young people actively searching for the Lord. Many students walk away from their faith during the college years; it is an absolutely critical time in their lives and an amazing opportunity for the local church to step up and ministry to them,” he says.

From one pastor to another, List admits college ministry can be exhausting, expensive, and time-consuming—but believes “it’s worth the effort and expense to find how thirsty and eager these students are for genuine fellowship, spiritual mentors, and a community that is gospel-centered.”

List encourages other pastors to seek out students in their area and spend time with them, mentoring them and inviting them into their churches and family events.

“Giving them an opportunity to catch a fish, roast a s’more, and lead a Bible study is, to me, as good as it gets!” says List. “The fruit of them turning around and discipling their own peers on their own time is a beautiful picture of biblical multiplication. I cannot imagine my life without college ministry as a major part of what I do; it is very addicting!”