NORBORNE, Mo. (BP) – Pastor Paul List’s favorite place on earth is his 13-acre family farm in the rolling hills just north of Norborne. It’s a gift he doesn’t keep to himself; he uses it for kingdom building anytime he gets the chance. One of his favorite avenues of kingdom building is college ministry.
Earlier this year, List, pastor of First Baptist Church in Slater, Mo., invited eight male student leaders from The Bridge Collegiate Ministry at Missouri Valley College to join him for a weekend of male bonding. Those eight men invited their friends, and soon 25 young men spent the weekend playing games, fishing, shooting and studying the book of James.
“The guys all said the weekend was really encouraging,” said Marita Avilez, The Bridge campus missionary. “This time together helped them connect with some of the other guys that they don’t normally interact with.”
Doryan Cole, a Moreno Valley, Calif., native who graduated in May with a degree in psychology, said the men’s retreat was “nothing short of a God-centered environment of fun, connection and intentionality. Bringing together a group of young men who are all on different parts of their journey with Christ to learn and share those experiences with one another while seeing how life with Christ was very enjoyable and fruitful living in the world but not of it.”
For Nelius de Jager, a junior hailing from Upington, South Africa, the retreat was a welcome break from the busyness of college and working life. De Jager is triple majoring in finance, economics and agribusiness and minoring in accounting and agronomy while playing varsity golf and serving as a student ambassador on campus.
“I had a great time out on the farm and was able to spend much needed quiet time with God and do some self-reflection as well as having fellowship with fellow men of God,” de Jager said.
List, an alumnus of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, has pastored FBC Slater since 2018 and is in the process of planting Relevant Church in Marshall with the Send Network. He has a heart for college students, serving as the campus chaplain for Missouri Valley and president of the board for The Bridge.
He first got involved with The Bridge after meeting Scott Westfall, who started The Bridge at MoVal a few years ago and has since expanded the ministry to the University of Missouri. Westfall invited List on a house-building mission trip to Mexico, and they’ve been close friends ever since.
List preaches regularly at The Bridge’s large group meetings, helps lead mission trips and disciples several students weekly. He’s currently in the process of obtaining a D.Min. in leadership from MBTS and plans on doing his doctoral dissertation on college student peer-to-peer discipleship techniques.
The men’s retreat flowed out of his existing discipleship relationships. Several of the men List meets with regularly were asking him to do something special. The farm provided the perfect getaway.
List mobilized students to lead the devotions from the book of James, helping them with the preparation process so they could lead their peers through an hour of rich discussion.
“Each time they led the devo, I saw them step up and out of their comfort zone,” he said. “I saw a hunger and filling up on God’s Word like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
List urged churches to get involved in reaching college students.
“College ministry brings a freshness to the local church of young people actively searching for the Lord,” he said. “Many students walk away from their faith during the college years; it is an absolutely critical time in their lives and an amazing opportunity for the local church to step up and ministry to them. …
“It’s worth the effort and expense to find how thirsty and eager these students are for genuine fellowship, spiritual mentors, and a community that is Gospel-centered. …
“Giving them an opportunity to catch a fish, roast a s’more, and lead a Bible study is, to me, as good as it gets. The fruit of them turning around and discipling their own peers on their own time is a beautiful picture of biblical multiplication. I cannot imagine my life without college ministry as a major part of what I do; it is very addicting!”
This article originally appeared in the Pathway.