Flashback: Winter Retreat 2010

The BSU Winter Retreat happened at the beginning of February. Gary Permenter was our speaker. Chris Layton did our music. We had a little over 80 students participate. Gary spoke about David and several of the Psalms he wrote. We began Friday night and finished up by lunch on Saturday. The folks at the Pearl River Baptist Association were gracious enough to allow us to use their facility.

There were guided small group times throughout the weekend. Small groups=valuable.

On Friday night, students played Name that Tune.

Guys vs. Girls. Not sure who won but there was no lack for competition that night!

BSU and International ministry

This article was written by our friend Lori who worked with us for 10 months this year. She has since left Hattiesburg and is about to head overseas for assignment. She played a major role in helping our students minister to our international friends. We will miss her investments in the lives of our students.

God has given the student leaders of the International Team great opportunities to reach internationals on campus this semester! Last semester, (Spring of 2009) we averaged about nine international students with several Americans attending our weekly Coffee Talk (English practice) event, but this semester we’ve had about 21 internationals and 25-28 American students attending! The leaders have seized many opportunities to check internationals into their dorms the moment they arrived from the airport, taking them out for meals, inviting them into their homes, giving them rides to Wal-Mart, taking them to church every Sunday, and spending extra time doing various activities with them both inside and outside the BSU. The students have already invited many international students to go home with them over the holiday in order to experience what it’s like for an American family to celebrate Thanksgiving together, with the purpose of telling them what we are most thankful for: Salvation through Jesus Christ!

The International Team has made the following items their central goals:

1 - For every international student on our campus to have heard the gospel message in full AND to have been given a personal invitation by a Christian BSU student to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior & Lord.

2 – For every Christian BSU student to have shared the gospel message in full with an international student.

Based on these two goals, they are not only leading internationals to the Lord, but are also mobilizing other BSU students to become involved in reaching internationals. Together, they are leading internationals in Bible studies, sharing the gospel message with ones who are lost and are discipling the ones who have accepted Christ. The world is at our doorstep…the field of internationals is plentiful at USM, and these students are stepping up as workers in the harvest field to lead them to faith in Jesus Christ. They are using both fun activities and the activities of daily life to build purposeful relationships with them. The leaders are striving to share the love of Christ with internationals in both words and actions while leading other BSU students to do the same…all for the expansion of the kingdom and for the glory of God!

Telling the BSU story with pictures

The BSU Praise Band: Josh Richards (leader), Timothy McMillen (bass), Kelsey Mitchell (backup vocals), Jared Arrington (keyboard), Daniel Netterville (drum) and Josh Rodgers (electric guitar). This team leads our worship through music every Tuesday night at 6:01.

Missions Banquet 2009: The theme was TV Land and this group got their Star Trek on! Missions Banquet is a night of celebration where we ask our students to give $50 to BSU student missions. Every student who came gave sacrificially. What a night!

Stephen Williams from Meridian won the best male costume for the night. Here he's holding up his award.

The best female costume went to the Golden Girls. (L to R) Anna Colby Tanner, Sarah Mordica, Sarah Stafiej and Cassie Clayton.

Our hosts were TV repairmen. Robbie Merkosky and Danielle Hamilton. They had more fun than they should have!

Serving the dinner. Like a well-oiled machine.

Christmas CoffeeTalk party. Coffeetalk is a time for Internationals and Americans to get together over snacks and coffee. This provides a great platform to talk about Jesus every week with internationals.

Coffeetalk Christmas group shot

BSU Christmas Party. The last hangout time for our students before the semester ends.

Great food and fellowship!

Report from CSC

College Student Conference was a great experience for all 124 of our students this past weekend. It was a great time to get away and listen/learn from one of the best speakers in our day-Dr. David Platt. Dr. Platt challenged our students to let go of worldly things and turn our affections to Christ. The Lord used Dr. Platt to communicate what it means to follow Christ to about 1,000 Mississippi students. We had a Friday night session and then headed over to Cleary Baptist Church where we spent the night. Cleary Baptist has been so generous to allow us to stay there. By staying there it keeps the cost low for our students plus we have a chance to play games and hang out. CSC is always a bonding time for our BSU. Thank you for praying!

College Student Conference this weekend!

The statewide BSU retreat called CSC is happening this weekend at Morrison Heights Baptist Church in Clinton, MS. Approximately 1,000 college students are expected to be there. The USM BSU will bring around 120 or so...(the numbers keep coming in). Would you please pray for us?

• David Platt will speak during the weekend. Please pray for him as he shares what God has put on his heart.
• BSU Summer Missions will be introduced to many students this weekend. Please pray that God will call out MS students to go next summer and respond to the needs around the US and the world.
• Pray for our time together as a BSU. We will have some fellowship time and a chance to build new friendships. May Christ be glorified in our relationships at BSU.

Thank you!

Pictures of what's been happening lately

This semester has started very well. Thank you for praying! Here are a few pictures of what's happening with the ministry here at the USM BSU!

28 students are on this year's leadership team. Prior to everything starting up this semester, we took some time to train our leaders. We spent one day at Challenge Country. It was a tremendous experience as our team learned about team building. The ropes course was awesome!

A group of new students enjoying each other and pizza at the BSU welcome party.

Former USM BSUer Chris James spoke at the first 12:01 of the semester. We served spaghetti, bread sticks and salad. The first 12:01 of a semester is always free and yes, it was nuts that day. Free food and college students tend to mix very well.

Survival Weekend 2009 large group shot taken on Saturday morning August 22. A great group this year. Not sure how the numbers compare to the past. We did have 40 international students this year.

Dr. Ken Hester was back as the speaker. Ken is pastor of FBC Pontotoc. He's a great friend of BSU. Thank you Ken!

Please be praying for:

• An international Bible study led every Wednesday evening by Nick. The response has been good. International students are hearing the Gospel. Many of these were not familiar at all with Christianity.
• Fridays at lunch: a group of about 20 students are going out every Friday on campus to share with their fellow students. Please pray for our lost students on our campus.
• 6:01 & 12:01: that our weekly large group meetings would bring glory to Christ and that His word would be taught AND obeyed by our students.

Thank you for praying for the USM BSU!

Fall of 09 is under way!

We have been back in full swing here at the USM BSU now for about a week. We have hosted every new USM international student here in our building, trained and prepped leaders for the upcoming year and we've even done a ropes course a Challenge Country. 28 students leaders have taken on the task of serving their fellow USM students. It has been a privilege to be a part of this team. Laura Bullock is our BSU President. She's a senior from Florida and a Film major. She has such a heart to see Jesus worshipped on our campus and around the world. This is going to be a special year. Would you please pray for us? Here are some suggestions on how to pray for us:

• Our students leaders are still students. They will be juggling their time. Please pray that they will choose to use their time in a way that glorifies Christ.
• Survival Weekend is coming up this weekend. Please pray for our speaker (Ken Hester) and our family group leaders as they serve their "families" of new students.
• Please pray that God will continue to send out students. 30 USM students were out this past summer. We hope to hit 50 next summer.
• Pray for the BSU staff (Lloyd, Kris and Lori). Pray for us as we lead. Pray that our desire alone is that Christ be glorified. We have already had some things come up that are causing some problems. Pray that we not lose focus.
• Pray for lost USM students. Those who have never heard about Jesus, those who are religious and those who raise a defiant fist to God. Please pray for them.

These are a few requests. I may add more later. Thank you for keeping up with us!