September 19, 2024
How important is Collegiate Week to the International Mission Board? It’s important enough that 25 IMB personnel attended the most recent event, with half being overseas missionaries.
Earlier this month, more than 1,700 students and college ministry leaders from across the U.S. and Canada met at Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center, near Davis, Okla. Collegiate Week is known for helping college students be equipped to live Christ-centered lives as they prepare for the new school year and beyond.
This was Andy Pettigrew’s third Collegiate Week to attend. He leads IMB NextGen Mobilization which serves youth, college students, young adults and their leaders toward engagement in the Great Commission. His team was prepared to cultivate relationships with both students and college ministry leaders and promote the many mission opportunities IMB provides.
“When you have more than a thousand people in one place, particularly students, what an incredible opportunity it is for us to walk that journey with them,” Pettigrew said. “As students engage in biblical teaching and discovery of ways to be on mission, leaders from across the country bring their students to provide the right boost before the school year begins. This week provides us the opportunity to say to those leaders, ‘We are here to serve you.'”
The mornings during Collegiate Week were filled with worship services and breakout sessions. Afternoons offered free time, when students could visit the IMB Missions Cabin.
The living room atmosphere provided free snacks but, more importantly, space for students to talk with IMB missionaries and staff. The cabin featured a casual college apartment vibe with rugs, pillows, low couches and chairs and lots of cushions. Students moving through gathered around small tables for conversations and left with IMB memorabilia, as well as NextGen materials and prayer guides.
One student attended the Call to Ministry breakout on Monday morning, which featured a panel of IMB missionaries speaking to people who indicated a specific ministry calling. The student was eager to hear more and came to the Missions Cabin to meet with Stephen Alexander, IMB Europe student strategist, who was on the panel.
“We have missionaries serving all over the world who know the importance of Collegiate Week and will engage students this week,” Pettigrew said. “Our field personnel are here to help students and develop partnerships with leaders to help them ‘connect the dots’ in their place in God’s mission.”
Pettigrew said numbers have increased among college students and young adults who are serving in the different missions pathways the IMB offers. Eight opportunities for 2025 were promoted exclusively at Collegiate Week, representing all the IMB affinity groups. Pettigrew said these trips were designed to challenge students to “go, no matter the cost.”
Emma Cook has been an IMB Journeyman for a year and a half and came to Collegiate Week to help college students who are going through a similar experience of figuring out their call to ministry.
Cook, a former campus missionary with the Baptist Collegiate Ministry at Middle Tennessee State University, attended Collegiate Week a few years ago with a group of BCM leaders and students.
That week she met Lauren Ulmer who serves with the IMB in Quebec among French speakers. Ulmer told Cook, “You should pray about coming to Quebec.” Cook replied, “I guess I can’t say no to prayer.”
Over the next year Cook prayed about serving in Quebec, as well as other places. She started the Journeyman process soon after and credited that experience at Collegiate Week for where she is now, serving the Québécois people as part of the IMB university ministry team.
“The province of Quebec is the most unreached place in North America,” she said. With a population of 9 million, Quebec has a low percentage of Christians.
“Being at Collegiate Week is a great opportunity for meeting people from all over,” Cook said. “God can work at building amazing connections. Having an IMB presence here is so worth it. Students need to see that the IMB cares about those who have this calling in their life from God to help reach the nations.”
As part of Collegiate Week late-night events, IMB hosted an International Bazaar in Falls Creek’s Mathena Family Event Center. All eight IMB affinities were represented and offered a taste and feel of the work across the world.
Going from tent to tent, participants tasted food and experienced cultural activities such as bead crafting and contests involving carrying water jugs on their heads.
Henna, a skin art tradition common in the Middle East and in South Asia, proved popular at the bazaar. A special henna design involving the verse Revelation 7:9 was in high demand.
“Students saw a tiny speck of what a culture looks like of a different affinity, of what our missionaries are doing,” said Sarah Farley-Beall, IMB senior NextGen mobilization strategist. “They were able to say, ‘I want to go join them.’ This was an opportunity for them to grab ahold of a God who is working globally and for them to say, ‘I can participate. It’s not as scary as I thought it would be.’”
Through having conversations in the Missions Cabin and offering cultural experiences around the world at the International Bazaar, IMB left an impression on NextGen during Collegiate Week. IMB missionaries and leaders pray the impression will lead to more workers impacting lostness.
