FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – “God has been moving big here this semester and it has been amazing to see and be a part of,” said Hayden Leonard, a junior Industrial Engineering and Operations Analytics major at the University of Arkansas (UA).
Leonard is an intern for the college ministry at First Baptist Church in Fayetteville, and he serves as president of the Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) at UA.
Arkansas Baptist State Convention (ABSC) Baptist Collegiate Ministry Specialist Lynn Loyd said, “The only way I know to say it is the way one of our students said it. Is that there is a ‘good vibe’ with our group and on our campus.”
There have been several experiences this semester where Leonard said he has seen God moving on and around UA. A few of those instances include a visit from the Gideons, the Unite US gathering and Discipleship Now at Pea Ridge First Baptist Church, where roughly 50 students serve.
When the Gideons visited campus and handed out hundreds of New Testament Bibles to students, Leonard received one and was encouraged to give it to the person sitting next to him in class.
“I sat down in class and showed the guy sitting next to me the Bible. He took it and started looking at it and seemed interested in seeing what it had to say. I told him he could keep it, and he spent the rest of the class reading through the first few pages of it. He even spent the next class period reading it when our professor was giving us the answers to the homework,” Leonard said. “That interaction has led to more Gospel conversations, and I am excited for what God is doing in his life.”
Additionally, Unite US, which traces its origins to a mass baptism at Auburn last September and has been organizing large gatherings of students at multiple universities in recent months, led a gathering in September on the UA campus.
Leonard described it as a “incredible night of worship and life change.”
Unite US reported that 10,000 students from 67 different universities gathered in UA’s Bud Walton Arena to seek Jesus Christ and find salvation in His name.
“It was so amazing seeing 10,000 college students praise the name of Jesus and to see so many people who were looking everywhere for something to satisfy them find purpose and life in a relationship with Jesus,” Leonard said.
Leonard also recently had the opportunity to serve as a college leader at Cultivate which is a Discipleship Now event with First Baptist Church in Pea Ridge. They spent the weekend at New Life Ranch worshiping Jesus and pouring into the kids there.
“My favorite part of these weekends is getting to talk to the kids in small groups. I love seeing and hearing what God is doing in their lives and encouraging them in their relationship with Jesus. It was so encouraging to me to hear their passion for sharing the Gospel. The kids there are on fire for sharing the name of Jesus and letting their classmates know about the life and hope they have found in Him. God is moving in so many ways in our generation,” Leonard said. “College and high school students are both tired of chasing the hopeless and lifeless things of this world, and they are searching for and seeking out the true hope and life that can only be found in Jesus.”
Cole Myers, a UA junior and intern with the BCM, said Unite was “really cool.” He said the BCM was able to set a table up at the arena a few hours before the event and talk to students as they waited in line.
“I have never seen that stadium that packed for a basketball game … let alone a worship service,” Myers said. “It was crazy. The atmosphere of it was really cool. You could just tell everyone there was super excited and on fire for the Lord. It was really a life changing kind of event.”
A day after Unite, Myers said several BCM students headed toward Camp Siloam to attend Replicate, a weekend geared toward challenging students to live a life that ‘replicates’ Jesus.
“Replicate was really cool because you could tell all the leaders were really excited getting to go coming off of Unite, coming off that excitement,” Myers said.
During Replicate, there were 20 salvations reported and 24 recommitments. Twenty-eight students expressed interest in baptism and 12 were called to missions or ministry.
So far this semester, Myers said he is seeing a lot more students wanting to be involved, noting several students going out of their way to lead a Bible study.
“I think our building gets used almost every morning for a different Bible study,” Myers said. “I think this year has just felt different with students. They are more engaged on a spiritual level.”
Myers said he has seen a steady growth of their student body in Christ this semester.
“It’s a different energy than before because it felt like you had to fight in a sense to get students wanting to be involved, not just come to an event. Now … it’s hard to keep them in the BCM because they are getting so involved in their church. That’s awesome. That’s what our main goal is,” he said.
Over the last few weeks, Loyd said they have seen at least one student come to Christ every week.
“It’s just reflective of what God is doing on our campus,” Loyd said. “I am having a hard time finding words to try to tell everybody what is going on. It’s just unique. … It brings great hope and a lot of excitement.”