EDITOR’S NOTE: The pastor’s name has been changed for security reasons.
BUTTE, Mont. (BP) – Park Street Baptist Church and the BSU (Baptist Student Union) at Montana Tech University co-mingle to encourage the congregation to tell others about Jesus as they disperse around town, around the country, and around the world.
Judson frequently crosses borders into security-sensitive areas, models Acts 8:4, “Those who have been scattered preached the word wherever they went.” He does so even with the shoes he wears when he preaches: His Chuck Taylor Converse “trainers” have Acts 8:4 printed on their sides.
“For the most part we’re just trying to get our people out there,” said Judson. “God still wants your kids to be salt and light wherever they go, to effectively share with others what they know about Jesus.”
He moved to Butte in 1988, two months after he graduated from California Baptist College (now University) for a two-semester stint as the director of student ministries at Montana Tech, the state’s “premier STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] university,” according to its website. At that time collegiate ministries were called “Baptist Student Union”.
A year later, he became a US-2 (two-year) missionary so he could stay in Butte. He cajoled his way into two additional years and then started Park Street Baptist Church, three blocks from the university campus, to stay longer. He’s been in Butte ever since. Thirty five years in all so far.
“‘Butte America,’ as the locals call it, was the great melting pot in Montana,” Judson told Baptist Press. “At one time, more than half of the people who lived in Montana lived in Butte. People from all the world came, lived, worked and made Butte a little different than anywhere else in Montana.”
About 50 students participate in BSU at Montana Tech each semester. About 100, including Butte residents and college students, attend Sunday and Wednesday church services at Park Street Baptist.
“College students are at a great age,” Judson said. “They’re trying to figure out who they are, what they’re going to do, what they’re going to be. It’s just a great time to be interacting with their lives.”
Park Street Baptist’s Facebook page tells of numerous baptisms – 12 in 2023 – as well as weddings, baby and family dedications, annual “church in the hills” outdoors weekends, Wednesday night dinners and Bible studies, seasonal banquets, kids’ sports and crafts activities, and more.
“The weirdness of our church is that almost everyone in [the] BSU comes to our church,” Judson said. “BSU is a ministry of the church as much as anything else.
“But you can’t be a college student forever,” said Judson, “BSU isn’t church and church isn’t BSU. When they graduate and scatter, we want our grads to Acts 8:4, to preach the word wherever they go.”
Among their on-campus ministries, BSU returning students help first-semester students move in and get acclimated to college life. Park Street Baptist doesn’t have any designated ministries because members are encouraged to get involved in other community ministries.
“We really encourage our people to just be involved, to live their lives in our community,” Judson said. “It’s Acts 8:4. We want that practiced throughout town.
“To be lifelong productive citizens in the Kingdom, students need to be ready to serve in churches,” Judson continued. “We think we can graduate people who can integrate into church, who can combine their lives with church.”
A fall retreat sets the stage for the next semester of BSU. “We just interact, interface, try to create community,” Judson said. “We’re just trying to change the world. We think that is not a far-fetched idea. The world comes to the university and the university scatters graduates to the world.
“It’s Acts 8:4,” Judson said.
In 1993, Park Street Baptist bought a three-story school building built in 1900 for $1. The church still doesn’t use all of it, though a 4-H group meets in the building Sunday afternoons.
In addition to the STEM graduates, who go out globally, Park Street Baptist allocates 7.5 percent of its undesignated offerings to missions through the Cooperative Program, the way Southern Baptists work together to fulfill the Great Commission; plus four percent to Treasure State Baptist Association and four percent to the BSU.
“If you’re going to be a Southern Baptist church, why would you not give to support what we’re doing?” Judson asked.
“You don’t ask, ‘What does our giving get us?’ We’re not giving to a country club, we’re not writing a check so we can give to receive. We’re giving through the Cooperative Program to a missional cause,” Judson said. “I don’t always agree with how it’s spent and I’m okay with that too. It’s still good to give to Jesus’ work; we’re giving to missions, to help fulfill the Great Commission.”
Judson continues his ministry to college students long after they’ve left. He travels frequently to visit with and minister at the request of those students.
Judson baptized one student 30 years ago who recently found him on Facebook. He asked Judson to “come, visit, and see.” The former student is an elder in a church in Southeast Asia.
“He came here, met Jesus, went back home and all these years later he’s still serving the Lord,” Judson said. “That’s what he got out of BSU.
“Acts 15:36, that’s a big piece of how we operate,” Judson continued, referring to, “After some time had passed, Paul said to Barnabas, ‘Let’s go back and visit the brothers in every town where we have preached the message of the Lord and see how they’re doing.’”
Only twice in 35 years has Judson gone overseas where he didn’t have former students. He also has ministered in Haiti with BSU students.
“Outside of ourselves I don’t think there are any obstacles,” Judson immediately responded when asked about difficulties he’s experienced in church and at BSU in today’s culture.
“Telling people about Jesus isn’t any harder now. The only obstacle we have is Acts 8:4. Do we or don’t we preach the gospel wherever we go?”
