Mission Statement:
The BSU exists to help college students at Missouri State University and the surrounding colleges find a life-giving community, grow lifelong friendships, learn to serve others, and grow in a personal relationship with God and others.

Tell us about your journey to becoming a Campus Missionary.
I have served as a youth pastor, music minister, college pastor, discipleship pastor, family pastor, church planter, campus pastor of a multisite campus, and senior pastor through my 28 years of ministry. Upon returning to Springfield in 2015, I went on staff at FBC Springfield (my home church) as Pastor of Discipleship & Families. I also led the college ministry there. While at FBC Springfield, I served on the board of the Springfield BSU for 3 years prior to coming on staff to serve with Chris. I am a graduate of Missouri State and was involved with the BSU while I was in college.

What do you love about doing ministry on your campus?
I love meeting new students and their families...especially during the summers and throughout the school year with parents and students coming on campus visits. There is something really special about the college years! There is so much potential for the Kingdom in every class and every student, every year.

Tell us about yourself and your family.
I was born and raised in Springfield, as was my wife, Jenny (m. 1995). We grew up at First Baptist Springfield. We actually don't remember meeting for the first time—we have always just known each other through church activities. I was a band kid and sang in choir in high school as well as at Missouri State. Jenny is an opera singer and teaches elementary music at Strafford.I got my M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in spring of 1999. We have served in churches in MO, OK, TX, and FL. We have two sons, Taylor (b. 2001) and Tucker (b. 2005). Taylor is a senior at Missouri State and the president of the BSU. He is studying political science and public administration and would love to work for the Department of Labor. He will be staying at MSU to get a masters in public administration. Tucker is a junior at Strafford High School. He is a talented guitarist and plays in worship each week at our church, Sunshine Baptist Church. Both guys followed my love of sports, especially golf, but they are WAY better than dear old dad. We live on a small homestead farm in Rogersville, MO on almost 12 acres in an old 1892 farmhouse. We have 3 cats, 2 dogs, and would love to have chickens again soon!

What do you hope to see happen on your campus/within your ministry in the next few years?
I would love to see some of the connections with identifiable groups (football team, band, resident assistants, etc.) bear fruit and grow. We would love to become the "go to" group for these groups to send their students if they are looking for community. Obviously, we would love to grow in numbers, but we also would love to grow in our serving capacity. I pray the building project will be fruitful as well to bring our mission field to us in that new residential project.

What are some of the things your ministry does?
We are going to Collegiate Week at Falls Creek August 7-11. Our welcome week schedule is going to be busy with several service projects. We are serving the band (around 400 students and faculty) each day during boot camp, the week before school. We are going to be serving them cold treats at the end of each outside practice. We are also serving on Bear Crew, which will be helping students move in to the dorms the weekend before school starts. We will be meeting on campus this year in the Student Union each Thursday night for our gathering. We are planning on having small group Bible studies throughout the week as well. We will be having four Sunday night free meals that our church partners will be helping us with. We had a good first year of serving the football team, but we want to reach out to other groups as well. We will be inviting the band, our resident assistants (and obviously their students on their floor), along with the football team. Our prayer is that these meals can be another outreach event that will allow us to build relationships with our campus outside of our Thursday meetings.