Newsletter

January Newsletter - BSU Director Review

1/18/2024

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At the end of each semester, I would like to give a review of the incredible things that the Lord has accomplished so you can glorify Him, and a review of the mistakes I have made so you can pray for my improvement.
Here is a quick summary of things to glorify the Lord over in relation to His work within the BSU.
- Our first bible study had 13 new students, and even as some students filtered out due to work and scheduling issues, we maintained 10+ students until the last month of the semester during “crunch time.” This is due to us welcoming a new student to our Bible study every few weeks.
- Our bible study was moved on campus to the Fireside Room in the Student Center, a public location in a room that has two walls that are fully exposed, meaning anyone outside or inside the building can see us studying God’s Word.
- We took a trip to the Exeter Corn Maze and brought a van full of students who had never attended Bible study before. This included several international students.
- 10 students were interested in attending the Defend Apologetics Conference at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. 8 signed up to go.
- Our core group is students who come to Bible studies, who meet us at the Wednesday lunches just to say hello, who go out to eat with us to discuss the Bible and life, who message us about things going on in their lives, who seek us for answers to their questions – these are our disciples. We have witnessed some amazing things within this core group.
- A student shared his testimony for the first time.
- A student is working harder than ever to make faith the priority in his relationship.
- A student is witnessing to his family for the first time.
- A student witnessed to her professor in a major way, we were very proud!
- Several students went around campus asking their peers how we could pray for them when I challenged them to do so.
- Several students practiced sharing the gospel for the first time in front of their peers.
- Several students began witnessing at their workplace, homes, and on campus after we trained and challenged them to do so.
- At least two students are now seeking opportunities to share the gospel on campus in a major, public way.
- Many of our students have made new breakthroughs and discoveries in their faith during Bible study.

Listed below are areas where I fell short of my expectations for myself and for the ministry.
- I was hoping to do more outreach events – events designed to make our presence known, or events designed simply to share the gospel on campus. This shortcoming was mainly due to my desire to “get a feel for my first semester” and not be too ambitious yet, as I tend to be.
- I needed to have more outings, hangouts, and fun events with our students – but I was concerned about spending so much of the BSU funds during my first semester.
- I did not visit the association churches as much as I would have liked.
- I received approval to have a weekly time of worship on campus, which would have been an hour of praise songs with a short gospel presentation at a set time each week. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find a suitable host for the music side of things.

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December Newsletter - The Nature of Discipleship Ministry

1/18/2024

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The BSU is a discipleship ministry. As a BSU director, my goal is to disciple my students, and I have the unique opportunity to do whatever it takes to disciple them based on their needs. The way my wife and I approach this goal is by figuring out where our students are in their spiritual lives, finding out exactly what they need from us in order to be challenged and grow spiritually, and then doing everything we can to facilitate this growth. Naturally, we could never achieve these things by simply gathering students together one day a week like a church congregation and preaching a sermon from the pulpit to them. If you look and act identical to the local church, students will be tempted to consider the BSU their church, which is unbiblical and dangerous. BSU directors have the unique opportunity to engage their students in ways that pastors can’t engage with their congregation.
In my Bible studies, I sit around a table with my students. We eat pizza and I ask them how their week has been going, I ask for updates on personal things, and many times we all poke fun at each other. I ask how their spiritual lives are going, and if they indicate that they lack discipline in certain areas, my response is often, “We love you, do better.” After this opening time we dive into the Word addressing topics that are relevant for our students. I don’t stand in front of my students and preach from a pulpit, I sit with them, I have them read Scripture aloud, I ask students to explain the text or draw conclusions, and I affirm, correct, and add the necessary commentary from myself. This is usually followed with personal questions and challenges that we discuss together. Lastly, I always have students write answers to questions. Our bible studies are personal, challenging, and our students are very involved, and we read a lot of Scripture.
Our discipleship doesn’t stop there, in fact, most of it happens outside of our weekly bible study. As I stated above, my job is to disciple our students based on their needs and do whatever it takes to achieve spiritual growth. This means that my wife and I have to attend sports games and events, we have to learn more about our students hobbies, we have to be available to meet with students when they are available, we have to be willing to seek out students when they start to distance themselves, we have to engage our students in messaging groups, we have to plan trips and events even when we are busy. One thing my wife and I have been doing much more of lately is taking a student to lunch to have one-on-one discipleship (my wife takes the ladies, and I take the guys, of course). Some of our students can’t come to bible study anymore because they have work or other activities. Do we give up on those students and simply say, “Hope you turn out ok, we will pray for you”? Of course not. Our solution is to take those students out to lunch and schedule other events that work with their schedule. We cater to our students for the sake of discipleship. Last week, Chloe drove all the way to Joplin (from Noel) just to have lunch with two of our ladies who couldn’t make it to Bible study that night. We visit students at work sometimes. Two weeks ago, a student asked me to join him for lunch to discuss theology. Last week I took two guys to dinner to discuss biblical manhood and marriage.
This is the nature of discipleship ministry. It’s expensive, it’s spontaneous, it’s exhausting, and it’s very effective. Each student is at different places in their spiritual lives and have different discipleship needs. With one student, I act like a basketball coach, always challenging, always pushing, and always expecting more. While another student may need something akin to spiritual coddling, where my wife and I act as gentle as could be and listen much more than we teach. This article is intended to give you an idea of what ministry is like on campus, not to show the lengths that my wife and I take to do ministry.
Any good achieved is a result of the Spirit’s work, any mistakes are a result of my work. Glory be to God.

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November Newsletter - Discipleship Success

1/18/2024

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The focus of our BSU Bible studies has been the Great Commission. When we first started meeting, we challenged our students to feel compassion for the lost people on campus, at work, and at home. We spent the next couple of months “training” our students to share the gospel and to be a light on campus. We studied the gospel, using Roman’s road as a foundation and building from there, making sure our students fully understood each truth that comprises the gospel. We then gave practical advice, like using prayer and testimony when sharing the gospel. Aside from these things, we also challenged our students to ask their classmates how they could pray for them, and to invite others to our Bible study and outreach events.
After weeks of doing these things, we started to get new students at our Bible study, and many new students at our outreach events. At this point, I decided it was time we tackled the basics of our faith and addressed any big questions, doubts, and ideas that our students had. During a night out with the students, I asked each one of them to tell me how their “spiritual life” was going, the good and the bad. Each student shared with the group, and we were surprised at how honest our students were. I also passed around a paper and had them write down anonymously, any doubts or question they had about the faith or the Bible. At the following Bible study, I started covering the basics of the faith. Following the structure of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, I explained the how we received the scriptures, and explained each member of the Trinity. I again passed around a paper and had students write down doubts and questions that they had about their faith.
For the remainder of this semester, we will be covering those doubts and questions in our Bible study and will continue going through the basics of the faith. My goal was to challenge our students to feel compassion for the lost, train them to do something with that compassion (share the gospel), and lead them into a deeper understanding of the faith they claim and the faith they share with others. We have been continuously affirmed that the Lord is blessing this ministry. We had a student share his testimony for the first time with the group, we had several students practice sharing the gospel for the first time in front of the group, we have a student witnessing to his mom for the first time, we have 3 students who are maturing into spiritual leaders each week, we have students confronting their doubts and sharing personal struggles and questions, we have many students eager to attend spiritual development events such as the Defend apologetics conference, and more growth that only the Lord knows.
Aside from all of the growth and affirmation happening within the BSU, I can certainly say that our reputation and visibility/presence has positively increased since moving our Bible study on campus and doing more advertising. People know who we are, what we do, and why we do it, and our reputation with staff and students is outstanding. This is in large part due to our Wednesday lunches that are vital to maintaining a positive reputation and having consistent outreach on campus. Some of my most impactful conversations with students were during a Wednesday lunch. I’d like to give a special “thank you” to all the churches that support our Wednesday lunch.
The BSU needs your continued support with the Wednesday lunches. Another area of support we need is financial. I’m asking once again that churches step up and donate to help pay for our students to attend the Defend Apologetics Conference at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in January. We have around 8 students going, which is a big number for a conference that is essentially a weeklong lecture in apologetics. There are no fun and games here, this isn’t like Collegiate Week. We have at least 8 students who are eager to learn how to Defend their faith. The cost for each student is around $300. We deeply appreciate the donation we have already received, and any further that come in.

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October Newsletter - What We've Been Studying

1/18/2024

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My wife and I make one thing very clear to our students in the BSU; our purpose for being on campus is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our expectation is that BSU students will become spiritual leaders on campus and actively engage in evangelism.
With these goals in mind, we have spent every Bible study training our students to share the gospel. During our first meeting, we studied Matthew 9:36-38, and challenged ourselves to have compassion for the lost just as Christ did. At the end of our meeting, I had each student write down the name of a lost person and gospel worker we could pray for. During our next meeting, we took a deep dive into the gospel. To make gospel sharing easy for our students, we have been studying Roman’s road.
During this 2nd Bible study, titled, “Roman’s road with detours,” we looked at appropriate cross references for each verse. We answered questions such as, “why do humans need the gospel, what did Jesus do for us, what is the appropriate response to the
gospel, and what are the results of salvation?” It was a great study with a ton of reading, but our students understand that we need to know the gospel well to share it well. Our 3rd study saw my wife Chloe and Mindy Dalbom share their testimony with our students. Their focus was using our testimony when sharing the gospel.
Our most recent study showed us that our efforts and training towards our students was being blessed by the Lord. During our 4th study, our students stood up in front of the group and practiced sharing the gospel with Chloe. It was an incredible moment after weeks of studying the ins-and-outs of sharing the gospel. We are so proud of our students for doing this. Not only did they practice sharing the gospel in front of the group, they were all eager and motivated to continue learning so that they could be done with practicing, and start being a light on campus. During this study, we focused on prayer in gospel sharing and prayer in general. During the week before, I had spent several days on campus asking passersby for prayer requests, and I challenged our students to do the same. The BSU collected over 30 prayer requests, and during this 4th bible study, each student prayed for these requests out loud with the group. This bible study proved to us that the Holy Spirit is working in these students, discipling them, and raising them up to share the gospel and be spiritual leaders on campus. We couldn’t be prouder of our students. It’s not easy to stand up in front of others and practice sharing the gospel and to pray out loud with everyone listening. We are privileged to be the ones tasked with discipling and challenging these students. Aside from this, these students have simply become our friends.
We’ve done several hang outs and events together, such as serving at the Care Net PRC’s annual banquet. Every time we do anything with our students it’s a new highlight for us. It’s always a blast and I can tell just how much the BSU means to them.
Please continue to pray that our students would be motivated and bold to share the gospel with their peers. My plan is to start sending students out during our Wednesday lunch to share the gospel in the lines and at the tables. Please pray
for this. A few of our students have been inviting others to BSU as well. We had two new girls last week.
Lastly, our students could use some financial support to attend the Defend Apologetics Conference at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in January. Our students are really excited to go to this and learn how to defend their faith, but the cost is high. I’d encourage you to bless a student and play a role in their discipleship by donating to this trip. I’m hoping that each student can receive $75 each. We expect to take 6-8 students with us.

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BSU September Newsletter - Fall Semester Begins

1/18/2024

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The BSU has finally kicked off and Chloe and I are really excited about the way things are looking for our first year serving Crowder. We had our Back to School BBQ on the 23rd and it was a great success! With help from First Baptist Neosho, we cooked and served a few hundred students and staff and made a great first impression with many of the students. Over 25 students signed up to join the BSU and to be notified about our upcoming Bible studies, events, retreats, mission trips, and ways to serve in the BSU as a student leader. Honestly, we were not expecting so many students to put their name, number, and email down on a sign-up sheet that anyone walking by could look at. A handful of these students came to use specifically and told us that they were looking for a bible study on campus. Praise the Lord, and keep praying for this ministry.
I’ve made a lot of administrative changes with the BSU, including the email, logo, slogan, and completely updating our website and social media. These changes don’t really affect how the BSU operates, but I have made some other changes that will. I have moved our weekly Bible study to Monday nights at 6:30, and we are meeting on campus in the student center, instead of the BSU building. I’d like to break down my thought process for making these changes.
I talked with several Crowder employees who gave me insight onto the most populated days and times on campus. Commuters are not on campus on Sunday, and leave early on Thursday. Most flex students don’t have class on Wednesday or Thursday. Wednesday night and Sunday night, in my opinion, should not include BSU activities because those are the nights when local churches are likely to do ministries and activities. These situations left me with Monday or Tuesday as my options for the BSU Bible study. I had originally scheduled it for Tuesday, but Student Life at Crowder kindly asked that we switch to Monday since most Student Life activities take place on Tuesday night.
As for moving our Bible study on campus, this is part of an overarching decision making process where I have been led to feel as though the BSU needs to be on campus as much as possible. I love our BSU building, it has a large fellowship room, a kitchen, student lounge, and large yard. When I first took office, I had planned to update all of these rooms and buy sports equipment for outside, but I simply felt led away from that decision. After visiting and being influenced by experienced campus missionaries at Campus Missionary Training in Jeff City, hosted by the MBC, I was fully convinced that the BSU needed to be on campus as much as possible. This is what led to the decision to move our Bible study on campus, and it’s the reason why nearly everything we do will continue to be on campus. Several students have told us they are happy that the BSU Bible study will be on campus, because they wouldn’t be able to come otherwise. I think being on campus, in the student center, will increase our visibility and reputation, and will create a more welcoming environment for students. As for our BSU building, our students still have access to it, and we plan to use it for specific events. It will be open for students to use for studying, hanging out, and cooking during my office hours, and also for our BSU bonfires, yard games, and various other activities.
As always, I am open to change and suggestion. We are simply trying a new approach to the BSU ministry that was advised by several local pastors, several Crowder staff, and the students themselves. We will see how the Lord directs.
As for upcoming events, we are still doing our Pie Day on Sept. 7th. Our 417 Collegiate Retreat is Sept. 15-17 in Mt. Vernon. We will also be participating in Wellness Week Sept. 19-21, where we will be praying with students and hosting a worship night, if we find musically inclined volunteers.

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BSU August Newsletter - The Relationship Between the BSU and the Local Church

8/2/2023

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In my last newsletter, I made the point that the BSU is not a local church, nor a replacement for one. I wanted to continue that thought in this newsletter to explain what the relationship between the BSU and the local church should look like. The BSU exists as an extension of the local church, or to speak with biblical language, as a “member” of the body of Christ that has a different and complementary function. The BSU’s main functioning relationship with the local church is to be a safety net that catches young adults who are entering a time in their life where they are statistically more likely to start falling out of local churches. The BSU catches these young adults, disciples them through teaching, evangelism, fellowship, service, and worship in the BSU, and directs them back into the local church. Our goal is to make disciples who make disciples of Jesus Christ, and disciples of Jesus Christ belong in His instituted local church.
This isn’t to say that the BSU doesn’t have a specific ministry that it provides to college students. The BSU and its Director are actively involved in campus life and culture in ways that no other ministry can be. The BSU relates to college students in ways that no other ministry can. The BSU has countless more open doors to evangelism and discipleship on campus. The BSU is a place where students and staff can ask questions, request topics for study, and be vulnerable in ways that many local churches don’t offer. Importantly, the BSU’s reputation is that of a ministry that is specifically “here for the campus.” A local church serves people across different counties and is involved in various different types of ministries. A BSU is seen as a ministry that is specifically in
place for its campus, and there is real value in that.
The BSU serves its students and campus in unique and specific ways that simply aren’t available to the local church. There are two points to draw from this. The first is that partnership be tween the BSU and the local church is essential and necessary for the benefit of both ministries and for the sake of following the biblical guidelines for believers being a part of a local church. Secondly, without college ministries like the BSU, countless more students would fall out of the local church during their time at college. Our statistics for college students who stop going to church would be much higher without college ministries such as the BSU.
Local church, our relationships is essential and necessary. Let us pray and consider how we might partner for our shared calling of building up the Kingdom of God.
With this in mind, we are now heading into the beginning of the fall semester. There are many ways that local churches can partner with us. Our Back to School BBQ, Wednesday Lunch, Pie Day, and bible study nights are scheduled, and the only way I plan to change these things is to add some improvements, such as offering free coffee during Wednesday Lunch, handing out goodie bags with local church information during the Back to School BBQ, and more. I will continue to meet with churches and seek more ways for us to partner. One thing I would ask of you is to send me weekend projects that your church needs done. Manual labor jobs, evangelistic ministry events, and anything you need volunteers for, reach out to me and I’ll start scheduling times for the BSU to come your way. Lastly, I want to reiterate that my door, phone, and email are always open. Send me your opinions, ideas, suggestions, and partnership opportunities.
There are many important and valuable collegiate events coming up that our BSU students will have to pay for. If you are interested in providing financial help to BSU students to attend these events, mission trips, and more, reach out to me [email protected]

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BSU July Newsletter - Is the Baptist Student Union a Local Church?

7/5/2023

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Many local churches are hesitant or skeptical about Christian groups that meet together each week that aren’t necessarily attached to a church. The Baptist Student Union is one such group, a Christian group that isn’t necessarily attached to a local church, and as such, it’s important for the BSU to speak on the matter.
The Baptist Student Union is not a local church and it’s not a replacement for the local church. BSU students are encouraged to attend a local church.
The BSU is comprised of believers who make up the Body of Christ, and we often refer to this Body as the Church, but Scripture has clearly defined the institution of the local church. Those definitions are exposited in the Baptist Faith & Message 2000. Skimming over article “VI. The Church” would have
some believe that a good and faithful BSU could be a church. The BSU is a local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, and notably seeking to
spread that gospel to the ends of the earth. The BSU also has a Director who operates in nearly all of the same ways as a pastor does.
Though the BSU could be considered a local church if one was willing to stretch the governing laws, definitions, and requirements associated with the local church, there are some obvious problems with
doing so. The first is the simple fact that the “congregation” members in the BSU are expected to leave within 1-4 years depending on the college. The second is that the BSU is not a place where “all of the
redeemed of all the ages…” are expected to meet, the BSU is only for college students. Is there biblical support for a church that only focuses on one specific people group for just a few years? Nope.
There are more serious problems that could be discussed, but these simple objections are enough to convince us that the BSU cannot be considered a local church. So, what is it then?
The BSU is an extension of the local church. As an extension of the church, the BSU should model the church in any areas that it can. Many recognize that there are five functions of the local church; Teaching, Evangelism, Worship, Service, and Fellowship. These functions encompass how a church serves its Lord and its congregation. They also encompass the lifestyle expectations that all Christians are given from Scripture. It is my belief and vision that the Crowder College BSU should model all 5 of these
functions, while acknowledging our status as an extension of the institution of local churches.
Copied from our website, here are five overarching ways that the BSU will model these functions.
Teaching – The BSU is a welcoming place where believers learn and are equipped from the Inspired Word of God.
Evangelism – Students experience the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ at the BSU, and are equipped to share that experience.
Worship – The BSU worships the Lord during every activity, and also has dedicated musical worships
nights and events.
Service – The BSU serves its Jerusalem, Judea/Samaria, and the World through local and international missions and projects.
Fellowship – The BSU is place to find community, build relationships, and simply have fun and hangout!

For more on the beliefs and mindset behind the BSU, visit crowderbsu.com, the website has been heavily updated. To the local churches, always feel free to reach out with suggestions, concerns, encouragement, or partnership opportunities.

- Austin Pfrimmer, BSU Director
Excerpt from the Shoal Creek Baptist Association Broadcaster

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Shoal Creek Baptist Association Hires New BSU Director for Crowder College

6/22/2023

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Monthly Newsletter

January Newsletter - BSU Director Review

December Newsletter - The Nature of Discipleship Ministry

November Newsletter - Discipleship Success

October Newsletter - What We've Been Studying

BSU September Newsletter - Fall Semester Begins

BSU August Newsletter - The Relationship Between the BSU and the Local Church

BSU July Newsletter - Is the Baptist Student Union a Local Church?

Shoal Creek Baptist Association Hires New BSU Director for Crowder College

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