Reflecting on my past two years at the University of Alabama, I can see how the Lord has led me and prodded me, answering my prayers and growing my faith through my involvement at the Baptist Campus Ministries. My freshman year at UA, I didn’t try to get involved like I should have, afraid of not knowing people and not fitting in. I went to a few events at the BCM but did not truly make a push to get to know anyone or let anyone know me. Despite my hesitancy, I joined a Freshmen Journey Group, and I can say unequivocally that that was the best decision I made my first year on campus.
Through the group of girls that I met with every Monday night, the Lord was answering my anxious prayers for a place and people to support me and help me grow in my faith. My Journey Group girls encouraged me to become more involved, and when I came back for sophomore year, after a very long Covid summer, I decided to make the conscious effort to participate, volunteer, and step outside of the box I had made for myself. Throughout the past year, the Lord blessed my efforts and used the community I found at the BCM to draw me closer to Him and increase my love of Tuscaloosa and the University. Recently, though, the Lord has brought to my attention just how much I have been focusing on myself so far in college. Being involved in a Journey Group, volunteering, and getting to know other Christ-pursuing students is awesome and life-changing, but I have neglected a huge part of my faith by not looking outside of myself to the pain, brokenness, and need for Jesus on our campus.
In the center of the most beautiful college campus in America (I’m definitely not biased!), the BCM provides us with a place to be together with other believers, worship, play Boggy, study, and eat free food. While all these things are awesome if they are all we do we are missing the whole point. We have been designed to know Jesus and to make Him known, and as college students, we are in an incredibly unique position to do this, with opportunities we will never have again. This coming year, I am committing to making my involvement at the BCM mean a greater focus on reaching people with the Gospel of Jesus, and I hope that you will join me and keep me accountable in doing this. See y’all soon and roll tide!
Haley Kubilus. | Junior | Gilbert, SC